P870KM mic-in (center out) not working

So I bought a new V-Moda Boompro mic ( http://v-moda.com/boompro-microphone/) to go with my headphones. I hate those gaming headsets, none of them have decent sound quality.

The Boompro comes with a Y-Adapter to split the headphone and mic. The audio works fine. However the mic isn't working. If I use the same without the Y-Adapter and connect the single cable to my mobile phone, the mic works fine. So I know that the mic is working.

Anyone who has a P870KM or any P870xx with the separate mic-in jack who is using a mic with it or can try it out for me ? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

have you checked on sound devices when you plug it in that it uses the correct device for the microphone?

 

Yes I have checked everything. When I unplug the Boompro, the built-in mic in the laptop works fine.

I read about the 2 standards for 3.5mm connectors - CTIA and OMTP where the Mic and ground pins are reversed. Now the Boompro uses CTIA as it is the common standard. I'm wondering if the P870KM mic-in uses the other standard. I don't have a converter now to try it, unfortunately.

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If you plug the headphone portion into the MIC and tap the speaker, does it register as an input? (Headphones work as lower quality microphones).

 

Yes I'm aware of this and yes it does register. I can hear the tap even with the mic, but very feeble even with full 20% mic boost.

 

So the MIC responds around the same or worse than the headphones?

 

Yes, the mic and headphone has almost the same response. I know the mic is responding when I set the mic boost all the way up because the Boompro comes with a mic mute button and if I mute the mic with this, then there is no response at all.

One more thing - Realtek drivers always combine the audio jacks and there is no option anywhere to separate the input jacks like you have on a desktop PC. So my internal laptop mic (Digital Jack) and external mic (Analog Jack) both are combined, I donno if this has something to do with it or how to split them. Even the Audio out gets combined so that only one plays, either the internal speaker or the headphone that is plugged in. I guess this is how it works.

 

The mic jack can be an output if you are in 5.1 mode in the audio panel but then it would not be used as a MIC input in the software so it does not sound like a jack issue but an amp issue on the input.

 

When I plug-in the mic, the Realtek Mixer pops-up asking if I plugged-in a mic or a Center speaker and I select Mic. So yea the jack is working and so is the Mic. The speaker setup is set to "Stereo". I tested the mic with my mobile phone without the splitter cable and it's super loud even if I just whisper.

 

It is odd as usually these days I think the MIC amp is integrated into the chip but I may be wrong but it sounds like a hardware issue.

 

You might be right about the AMP. I just plugged-in a speaker into the same jack and selected Center Speaker. The volume level is quite low compared to the Audio out port.
I wonder if there is some hidden setting in the BIOS or the Control Center to fix this.

 

It is the same with all other jacks. Only the audio out jack has the proper volume. All other jacks have very low volume. I tried this by setting the Speaker setup to 7.1 and connected speakers to each port, one at a time.

 

Only the Headphones out will have higher volume because only that output will use the amp.
All other connections will have a lower volume, typical balanced outs.

5.1 or 7.1 setups use:
Line Out - Side Speakers Out
Mic In - Center and Sub
Line In - Rear Speakers Out

AND the headphone is not used, at least not in a normal way, to use that one you should use a optical cable.

So Headphone is the only AMPed out (that´s why it´s louder).

As for the Mic In - Plug a mic, set it to "Mic In" when the Audio Jack Plugged Warning showing.
Adjust MIC volume in Windows Audio settings (use boost if needed).

 

You are joking right ? There is no 5.1/7.1 setup with only rear, center and side speakers. The headphone out is the front speaker out.

As for the mic, I have tried everything. Check all your messages in the Obsidian ticket please. I have explained clearly. The mic doesn't work. Even at 100% with boost, it is hardly audible. This is one of the super sensitive mics and it is quite loud even on low volumes on other laptops (basic ones even).

 

@John@OBSIDIAN-PC I was busy at work today so came late. One of the next days when you are also free, I can connect you via *TeamViewer. Feel free to check all settings that you need and we will see if the mic works.

Btw, it's a little bit funny the way you tell me multiple times (also on the website) to check mic settings and so on. I told you, I was myself a reseller, assembler, programmer (still am) so I know those settings. You are starting to sound like our IT department where if I tell them my monitor is not working, they say "Please check if you have turned on the monitor, if not press the power button".
I would not make a post on a forum and create a ticket if I hadn't tried everything I can. So please lets get past those basic tips and faqs and try to really troubleshoot this problem.

As I said, if this cannot be solved, I'm not gonna send the laptop to Portugal. I can just buy a cheap external sound card, DAC/AMP with mic-in for the same cost. So I'm just looking for any hints on why I cannot get the mic to work

 

Here is the Schematic diagram of the Audio jacks, in case a genius can figure out what's going on here

 

It´s actually a flawed design.
Tested all models that have the so called headphone amp, all behave like you describe, headphone out is louder since its amped, all other outputs are at balanced level which is the correct level.

Makes no sense actually. You cant turn off the amp, and you should NEVER send speaker signal with amplification like that, it should be balanced out.

In my head i actually thought we were not supposed to use the headphones (and you should not since its amped so it will always output louder).

A 5.1 setup would not need the headphone out but unfortunately you cant route the channels without the headphones being the front speakers.

Since 5.1 uses 3 Stereo Outs it would make sense to me, unfortunately the outs behave like this:

Line In - Can output Rear Speaker channels only
Mic - Can output Center and Sub channels only
Line Out - Can output Side Speakers only
Headphones - Can output front speakers only, the optical is another device so you cant have simultaneous playback using all outs + digital out! BAHHHH

I actually tought we were supposed to use the optical out in this types of setup.

And you cant change what each will output so your stuck with that amped headphones out.

Bahhh i really hate all audio systems on consumer level stuff, really awful. Oh and i also hate Surround...

 

Thanks John That makes more sense. My apologies for not being so polite earlier. I was really tired after work.

Lets end this discussion here and you can close the ticket. I ordered a Creative SoundblasterX G5, it comes tomorrow. Its the only portable size dac I could find which has a Mic-in. I don't like the Asus Xonar. I really don't care about 5.1. For that I have a dedicated home theatre setup with Sony and Denon. All this trouble is just for the Mic since I started playing Elder Scrolls Online and we use discord in our guilds.

Btw, it is possible to setup 5.1 without using the headphone out. Realtek drivers have a registry folder with list of jack assignments. Here you can change the jack assignments and then even the Realtek mixer shows this changed jacks. So for example, one can reassign the side speaker out to front speaker out and use that along with center and rear outs for 5.1. In this case, the headphone out is not used. Then the audio is balanced.

However it really sucks that they have such a good Dac/amp in the P870KM1, sounds great but the other 3 audio ports are useless.

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