# Razer Headset (Carcharias) Microphone issue.



## Pineh (Sep 7, 2010)

Hey, I'm really needing help with my Carcharias' microphone. It seems to be picking up any sound coming from within my headset such as any music I'm playing, and I can hear my music or any other sound I'm listening to while recording with my microphone, and my voice comes out pretty clear and not too loud. It's not a stereo mix problem, I've tried disabling it. The sound the microphone picks up is very shallow, if you know what I mean, so it can't be directly transmitting whatever I hear. The Razer Carcharias is an open headset and leaks some noise, but not such a ridiculous amount. This issue makes recording myself and talking to somebody (Via Skype and such) nearly impossible, and at best very annoying to my conversation partner(s). 
Any help is really appreciated, as my mic is kind of rendered useless right now


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## Solaris17 (Sep 7, 2010)

in the mic control panel in windows try turning down mic volume. or the boost.


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Sep 7, 2010)

I have an old Razer headset that had the same problem.  I found the problem was with the inline amp controller (you know the volume control) picking up a signal from the speaker wire as the amp was unshielded.  I "shielded" the inside of the amp with aluminum foil and added ferrite rings on both sides and it fixed it.  

It seems you might be getting feedback some other way however, more to do with a flaw in the open air design of the heatset?


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## Solaris17 (Sep 7, 2010)

PVTCaboose1337 said:


> I have an old Razer headset that had the same problem.  I found the problem was with the inline amp controller (you know the volume control) picking up a signal from the speaker wire as the amp was unshielded.  I "shielded" the inside of the amp with aluminum foil and added ferrite rings on both sides and it fixed it.
> 
> It seems you might be getting feedback some other way however, more to do with a flaw in the open air design of the heatset?



ya i have these. the mic is pretty good. but too good. the sound is powerful out of them and the mic pics it up pretty easily. the control switch on these only controls volume. no mic control except on off. i had to adjust my boost volume in order to get it less sensative. im afraid do to the way its made you can only make it better though. you wont be able to fix it. in teamspeak or a game certain people or certain really loud noises will still trigger the mic


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## Pineh (Sep 7, 2010)

The thing is, I'm not listening to my music ridiculously loudly, and and if I turn boost off the sound the microphone picks up from within the headset is still pretty noticeable and my voice is quite a bit quieter. With boost on my voice isn't ridiculous loud, I'm told it's just right.


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Sep 7, 2010)

Solaris17 said:


> ya i have these. the mic is pretty good. but too good. the sound is powerful out of them and the mic pics it up pretty easily. the control switch on these only controls volume. no mic control except on off. i had to adjust my boost volume in order to get it less sensative. im afraid do to the way its made you can only make it better though. you wont be able to fix it. in teamspeak or a game certain people or certain really loud noises will still trigger the mic



I have a similar problem with my mic and headset combo.  My mic is integrated into my laptop, and I have Grado SR-60i's.  I love the headphones, but they are open air, meaning the volume leaks like nothing else.  In the beginning I would get massive feedback, but I slowly learned that if I turned off the boost of the mic, and set the DB amp to -10DB (in the volume area) then it fixed the issue.  If I record silence while listening to music you can no longer hear the music.


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## Solaris17 (Sep 7, 2010)

Pineh said:


> The thing is, I'm not listening to my music ridiculously loudly, and and if I turn boost off the sound the microphone picks up from within the headset is still pretty noticeable and my voice is quite a bit quieter. With boost on my voice isn't ridiculous loud, I'm told it's just right.



then try mic volume. its all about the sound settings. like i said. you wont be able to fix it. just make it better. why are you listening to yourself anyway? do you constantly have it in "listen to this device" mode?


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Sep 7, 2010)

Yeah, make sure the the listen to device thing is unchecked, otherwise you will have a fun time hearing your voice over and over!


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## Pineh (Sep 7, 2010)

Yea, I have the listen to my device unchecked. I've gone back to test my voice, mic volume is maxed in my AuzenTech X-Plosion card's drivers and in windows sound control panel and boost is enabled in both control panels, but my voice is coming out really quiet when I record it with Adobe Soundbooth or Windows Voice Recorder, however anybody I've talked to on Skype hasn't complained about that, and when recording myself with the echo sound test service, my voice comes out just at an appropriate volume. I'm afraid if I turn boost off my voice will be very quiet, and the same if I turn down the volume on it.


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## Solaris17 (Sep 7, 2010)

Pineh said:


> Yea, I have the listen to my device unchecked. I've gone back to test my voice, mic volume is maxed in my AuzenTech X-Plosion card's drivers and in windows sound control panel and boost is enabled in both control panels, but my voice is coming out really quiet when I record it with Adobe Soundbooth or Windows Voice Recorder, however anybody I've talked to on Skype hasn't complained about that, and when recording myself with the echo sound test service, my voice comes out just at an appropriate volume. I'm afraid if I turn boost off my voice will be very quiet, and the same if I turn down the volume on it.



well different programs and codecs will make your voice sound different. but if your not willing to turn down boost or volume. than all you can do is turn down the system volume. unfortunately these really are the only options. unless you might be able to pull off a cotton ball ontop of your mic.


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## PVTCaboose1337 (Sep 7, 2010)

Solaris17 said:


> well different programs and codecs will make your voice sound different. but if your not willing to turn down boost or volume. than all you can do is turn down the system volume. unfortunately these really are the only options. unless you might be able to pull off a cotton ball ontop of your mic.



The cotton ball is there for a reason.  What you will find is when you pull that off you get ALOT of vibrations from the environment appearing in the mic.  For instance, if I pull mine off the sound is more realistic, more bassy, less "pitchy," but you will realize fast that the mic then hears EVERYTHING.  My advice is to keep it.  

I personally cover all my mics in neoprene (super thin) and I believe it gives the best sounding sound while not taking stuff from the environment.


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## Solaris17 (Sep 7, 2010)

PVTCaboose1337 said:


> The cotton ball is there for a reason.  What you will find is when you pull that off you get ALOT of vibrations from the environment appearing in the mic.  For instance, if I pull mine off the sound is more realistic, more bassy, less "pitchy," but you will realize fast that the mic then hears EVERYTHING.  My advice is to keep it.
> 
> I personally cover all my mics in neoprene (super thin) and I believe it gives the best sounding sound while not taking stuff from the environment.



their is no cotton ball on these. i was saying add one.

i ment pull off as in attempt my B i wasnt using proper english again


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## Pineh (Sep 7, 2010)

I'm afraid if I turn down the volume or turn boost off, my voice is too quiet. At max volume and boost it comes out just right. I guess I'll try the cotton ball idea, but it's quite a daunting problem I have here. Thanks for your help so far, you guys are awesome!

Edit: The cotton ball doesn't really alter how my voice sounds and I can still clearly hear whatever I'm hearing using Skype's call testing feature. Maybe I didn't apply a thick enough layer (I just pushed the tip of the mic into the cotton ball, looks really ridiculous).

Edit 2: Yea, adding another cotton ball didn't help anything but made it look even sillier. Thanks for the advice though. I'm not sure where to go from here, a bit surprised this issue hasn't arisen for anybody else (As far as google/forum searches have gone).


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## ktr (Sep 7, 2010)

When I was headset hunting couple years ago, I bought and returned the Carcharias just for that reason. The ear muffs leak way to much noise, and the microphone pics it up, even though I loved the comfy fit. I ended up getting one of those Creative Fatal1ty headsets. Pretty much identical headset, but w/o the issue. It is just a flaw in design.


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## Solaris17 (Sep 7, 2010)

honestly i came from barracudas (died) i miss the 5.1 but these are stronger. i miss the HS it didnt leak but these get louder (mostly deaf in one ear) with razer it seems hit or miss. if they made a 7.1 headset with neodymium magnets with closed off muffs and amp't using USB id be in heaven. i might even pee a little.


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## Pineh (Sep 7, 2010)

The problem is, I can't return this headset! They said at NCIX it's not returnable because the ear cups will get dirty upon use since they're velour muffs. So I guess I'm stuck with this headset without  a mic, that really sucks. I also have the Sound Blaster Arena but it's a USB headset, and when I got my AuzenTech X-Plosion (For a great $40+$20 MIR) at NCIX's grand opening door crasher, I also got the Carcharias for a sweet 50 bucks to go with the sound card since I can't use my old USB Arenas with it (And my Arenas would go to my brother who also needs a headset but doesn't have a soundcard and doesn't plan to get one any time soon). So I'm stuck with this headset (Which sounds and feels great) that doesn't have a microphone. I guess I'm gonna have to buy a tabletop mic or something of the sort, which is unfortunate since I really prefer the convenience of headset mics. Well, thanks for all your help anyways guys. I appreciate any further advice you might have, though!

Edit: Alright, I'm seriously looking at http://www.canadacomputers.com/prod...item_id=026886&sid=qj2esqg9ng1ppq22mt7shfmj83 now, because it seems really cheap and just what I need (I really love my Sound Blaster Arena, it's just that it's USB and thus not compliant with a sound card) and this seems to be the exact same thing but with 3.5mm connectors, so it seems perfect. I'll have to sell off my existing Sound Blaster Arena USB Headset or my Carcharias before buying this though...


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