I need serious help with microphone audio levels

[Jayden933]

Okay, I got a condenser mic a couple of months back. I had it plugged into my computer via XLR to 3.5mm. The sound levels and gain boost were maxed in Windows 10 recording devices settings, but the audio was *extremely* quiet. I got Equalizer APO and Peace GUI and maxed out the gain there as well to +30 decibels. It helped, but it was still on the quiet side, and I had to be turned up all the way in Curse for my friends to be able to hear me well. I got an XLR to USB cable to see if that changed anything. Not a lick of difference. I eventually switched over to a dynamic microphone because I didn't want my keyboard sounds being picked up in the background, and I figured I'd see how the levels were for it. I got a Behringer Ultravoice XM8500. It's also incredibly quiet, even when my mouth is on the microphone and I'm screaming into it. This is the case with XLR-USB and XLR-3.5mm. With it boosted all the way in Windows and in Peace though, it's again barely acceptable. I've installed Realtek audio drivers and tried that instead of the standard Windows ones, and it honestly sounded worse with them, so I got rid of them. And now, I bought a Neewer NW-100 48V phantom power supply thinking that would surely solve my problems. I've plugged both my condenser mic and dynamic mic into it with XLR-XLR and the power supply into my computer via both XLR-USB and XLR-3.5mm and it does absolutely nothing! I'm very fed up by now, and I really don't want to dish out more money to try yet another microphone which will likely still give me the same issues. Does anyone have any suggestions of something I haven't yet tried? Can anyone help me with these awful audio problems I'm having?

 

[Corwin65]

Your best option is an audio interface. It provides phantom power, and is it's own soundcard with it's own drivers.

 

[Jayden933]

Your best option is an audio interface. It provides phantom power, and is it's own soundcard with it's own drivers.

That may be what I have to end up going to. But do you have any idea why the setup I've got isn't working? I mean how can the phantom power do literally nothing for the condenser mic?

 

[Jayden933]

Your best option is an audio interface. It provides phantom power, and is it's own soundcard with it's own drivers.

Do you think I should go straight for an interface like this? Or should I try a dynamic USB mic like this?

 

[Corwin65]

You can try the dynamic mic, but what exactly do you want to do with it?

Streaming, Music Production?

While built in soundcards are great compared to "back in the day", nothing beats an audio interface for quality.

As far as why the condenser mic is not working even with your phantom PS, unfortunately it just happens sometimes.