ASUS STRIX sound card quiet microphone (like, really quiet ...)

ASUS STRIX sound card quiet microphone (like, really quiet ...)

[auspicious]

Dear mailing list individuals,

I currently am using an ASUS STRIX RAID DLX sound card. It contains the 
following processor:
C-Media USB2.0 6632AX High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 384KHz / 
24bit)

More information:
https://www.asus.com/Sound-Cards/STRIX-RAID-DLX/specifications

It gets detected as so on Debian testing with Linux kernel 4.6:
card 1: DLX [STRIX RAID DLX], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: DLX [STRIX RAID DLX], device 1: USB Audio [USB Audio #1]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: DLX [STRIX RAID DLX], device 2: USB Audio [USB Audio #2]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

The output of the card has been wonderfully fine ever since I have had 
it, but the microphone bit has always been troublesome. On Linux Mint 
17.3 it would not work (kernel 4.1 I believe).

On Linux Mint 18 (kernel 4.4) it started working but it is incredibly 
quiet. On the loudest setting, I have to put the microphone against my 
mouth for anyone to hear.

On the same system using on-board Intel audio, this issue does not 
occur. I am using Debian testing to have more recent software, but 
nothing made a difference.

What can I do about this? I do not really know whether I need to contact 
the Linux kernel guys or ALSA. I am rather inexperienced with Linux 
driver things.

Sincerely yours,
Desperate Individual

Re: ASUS STRIX sound card quiet microphone (like, really quiet ...)

[Clemens Ladisch]

auspicious@inventati.org wrote:
> I currently am using an ASUS STRIX RAID DLX sound card. It contains the following processor:
> C-Media USB2.0 6632AX High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 384KHz / 24bit)
>
> the microphone bit has always been troublesome.
> it started working but it is incredibly quiet.

You did not mention mixer controls.
Does it have any?  (Try alsamixer.)


Regards,
Clemens

Re: ASUS STRIX sound card quiet microphone (like, really quiet ...)

[Clemens Ladisch]

auspicious@inventati.org wrote:
> On 05/07/2016 07:19, Clemens Ladisch wrote:
>> auspicious@inventati.org wrote:
>>> I currently am using an ASUS STRIX RAID DLX sound card. It contains the following processor:
>>> C-Media USB2.0 6632AX High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 384KHz / 24bit)
>>>
>>> the microphone bit has always been troublesome.
>>> it started working but it is incredibly quiet.
>>
>> You did not mention mixer controls.
>> Does it have any?  (Try alsamixer.)
>
> Attached image in the attachment

That "Input Gain" looks OK.
Does it actually work?  Does it make the mic input quieter?

It's possible that there is some vendor-specific stuff that the
USB audio driver does not know.  Does it work in Windows with
Microsoft's generic USB audio driver, or does it need a custom
driver from Asus?


Regards,
Clemens