Mic quality

Does anyone else have horrible mic quality? Everyone on skype and any voice program complains about my sound quality. More specifically, they say my sound is very "bass-y" and theres a lot of static. Also when the fans kick up, they can't hear anything. I'm using the audio driver on the website and would appreciate any help.

 

Well I got the same experience with my R1.

I tried to use the integrated mic on mumble/murmur and got complains, I could see the mic was activated all the time for some reason (the gpu fans i guess) and i had to speak very loud to make sure the mic worked when I wanted it too. You can always try to modify the options, they can help, but it never made it work like i wanted.

Since then I'm using a gamer headset and haven't got a single complain. So yeah, from my experience the integrated mic is crap.

 

Meh not the answer I was looking for. Why is it that AW/Dell can't use better accessory components? The trackpad blows and now the mic's are horrible too.

 

Skype is famous for having mic issues - do a search and you'll see.

If on W7, you need to adjust not only the IDT properties but also the W7 mic device settings. Check Device Manager. Try turning off all W7 Audio Enhancements for the Microphone.

Mic works fine for me in-game and I have no complaints since setting it up correctly. Again, with Skype - its a skype thing.

 

What exactly do I need to adjust with IDT properties? I've turned off the W7 audio enhancements.

 

is there a way to test your mic.when i am online playing left4dead 2 some people have terrible mics and cant understand a word they're saying.i hope the alienware built in mic should sound supurb since i paid an arm and a leg for it.lol

 

Aside of Skype, I've tested the mike out on MSN, Yahoo Msngr, and some other random thing which I don't remember.

Mike quality is on and off. Sometimes just a few adjustments work.. or an external mike will have to do (I have one sitting for backup just in case skype goes all weird).

Also, the camera on this while good is of slightly poorer quality than when I had my M15x (which was like the most perfect laptop I've had to date lol).

Again.. Skype can indeed be tempermental. Do a bit of testing!

 

This happened to me when I had to replace my screen. (Mic and camera weren't included for some reason) Everything used to sound fine. then after my screen replacement it was really bad so i opened her back up, and there are tiny foam pads that seem to be like a tube they where bent blocking the normal channel.(I guess that was what was causing the mic issues for me.

I would check that as a last resort.... unless you don't mind opening up the laptop.

 

I wanted to start a thread about this issue and found this one.

I experience the same problem, my friends in skype complain about awful sound quality, so I have to use external connected mic, which works just fine. They say sound very distorted and contains side noises.

As BatBoy said, that it is skype's issue, I can say it is not.

I tried recording my voice, and it is bassy, with metallic notes, like I speak sitting in a small metall box, the side noises are awful disgusting and very annoying which I guess come from fans (like vibration).

It has somehow disappointed me, because I didn't expect from a 3500+EUR system such a surprise (again, minor issue, I use external mic from the first day of use)

Some my friends using less a 1000 worth laptops and their built in digital array microphones sound perfect. And this is not the reason for me to deal with Dell service, as the mic actually works, and this is impossible to demand the microphone replace in order to get normal sound quality...

Now I know at least, I'm not the only one with this issue

 

Ok, it may not be a skype issue then (even though countless google hits say skype has mic issues), that aside however, I dont see in your post anything about settings, driver ver, etc.

Be sure you not only tweak your IDT settings but ALSO your W7 mic settings. try different W7 enhancement settings, turn off enhancements, etc.

Make sure you are using the current IDT driver from the 17xR2 support page.

 

I have crappy mic quality when talking over Steam games or on Vent, mostly complaints that it sounded like "the fans were on super high" on my end. It's definitely the built-in mic quality.

 

The driver I use is stock, same version as the current on Dell's support site, the W7 recording device settings are 24bit 48000Hz Studio Quality, at the beginning they were 16bit 44100Hz CD Quality, so studio quality setting didn't improve sound, tried to enable boost, it increases the level but those fan vibrations are amplified as well. Audio enhancements enabled. Haven't tried to change IDT settings. I'll try playing with all these settings in a cross way, will try all combinations. Hope, that helps, would be nice to use the native hardware of this ultimate machine

I'll post the results


Thanks

 

Ok, I've tried changing IDT and W7 recording device settings in all possible combinations, this did nothing to the sound quality, especially to that background noise which comes from inside of the rig, fans, hard drive, etc etc..

The hard drive I don't hear at all, whatever I do, it is so quiet, but on the record... it sounds like there is one additional very sensitive mic inside attached to the motherboard...


That is small thing, but is a pity.

very expensive device, crappy mic.

Maybe I should forget that my M17x has built-in microphone