[Help] ModMic + Xonar DGX stopped working overnight :'(

Hi all, hoping someone could help...

Yesterday my mic worked perfectly fine, and has been fine since I got my rig about two month ago.
Today I booted up, launched Discord and my mates could hardly hear me, just a muffled far away sound when I stuff the mic literally in my mouth, they could barely make out the words.

I've got a:
- MSI Z170A M5 Mobo
- Xonar DGX soundcard
- Sennheiser HD 598
- Antlion ModMic

When it was working:
- My integrated on-board sound was enabled (Realtec) but unused,
- I used the line-in/mic 3.5mm jack on the DGX for the mic.

Sice then I've tried to no avail:
- Uninstalling rebooting and reinstalling and rebooting the latest Xonar DGX drivers,
- Switching the mic to the front line-on/mic 3.5mm jack instead of the DGX plug,
- Disabling the integrated on-board sound

Here's what did work only slightly better:
- I grabbed a pair of shoddy iPhone headphones with a built and mic/ Only then could my mates on Discord hear me, but still not clearly like it used to be, I still had to put the mic against my lips.
- With the partially working iPhone headphones, my windows default mic set up program can hardly detect the voice, no better than the Antlion ModMic, yet Discord users could hear me.

What on earth could have changed overnight?
The only software I've installed recently is EA Origin + BF4.
Its' very hard to imagine the physical hardware mic itself (modMic) just stopped work!?
There must be some other hardware/software clash, I just don't know :'(
Any ideas much appreciated.

Notice the tiny green slither on the mic volume detecting my voice:

Could be the Modmic itself, although that could be unlikely if another microphone is also quiet.

However, if the microphone on the earphones worked much better, then it's probably worth trying the Modmic with your onboard audio. See whether it works as expected with that, or whether the problem lies with Modmic.

No such luck. Both the modmic and iphone mic are bad with the onboard audio.
*rage*

In

Sound > Recording > (Microphone) Properties > Levels

What is the volume set to?

rogueblade said:

No such luck. Both the modmic and iphone mic are bad with the onboard audio.
*rage*

Click to expand...

Bad, as in the audio quality is bad?

What is the volume level with the Modmic like though?

If the volume is fine, then it can't be the Modmic and must be the DGX. Best to rule out the microphone being the problem first. No point trying to troubleshoot the sound card, if the fault lies with the microphone.

southernorth said:

In

Sound > Recording > (Microphone) Properties > Levels

What is the volume set to?

Click to expand...

I'll double check when I'm home but I'm pretty certain it was 100.

Marsman said:

Bad, as in the audio quality is bad?

What is the volume level with the Modmic like though?

If the volume is fine, then it can't be the Modmic and must be the DGX. Best to rule out the microphone being the problem first. No point trying to troubleshoot the sound card, if the fault lies with the microphone.

Click to expand...

The volume is very very low and muffled. It's more 'quiet' than 'bad'.
The Modmic sounds like this in both the DGX port AND the integrated port.
Likewise with the iphone mic though it is more audible. I wish I had another good quality mic to test in both ports as it's hard to say whether the iphone mic is just generally poor quality.

Other software I realised I recently installed was the latest nVidia graphics drivers. But I can't imagine that being related.

You on windows 10? The latest anniversary update has busted peoples webcams, mics, soundcards, mice etc.

Bad bad update.

OK, with a clear mind I tested again and recorded my voice with three separate mics!

In the Xonar DGX mic:

1. iphone headphones mic.
   Result: super low volume as if miles away, but can make out words.
   
   
2. samsung headphones mic.
   Result: super low volume as if miles away, but can make out words.
   
   
3. ModMic.
   Result: super low volume as if miles away, but can make out words.

In the integrated audio mic:

1. iphone headphones mic.
   Result: super low volume as if miles away, but can make out words.
   
   
2. samsung headphones mic.
   Result: super low volume as if miles away, but can make out words.
   
   
3. ModMic.
   Result: super low volume as if miles away, but can make out words.

@Greebo That's a goodpoint. My PC installs updates when I shutdown and I've never considered them. How do I check when and what the last Windows update was?
My above test results leads to me conclude it is a software/driver issue: All 3x mics sounded bad AND there's no way on the hardware side that both the soundcard mic and onboard audio mic have simultaneously failed.

This brings my latest hopeless suspicion to the automatic Windows updates...?
What do you guys think based on the above?

It's not likely a problem with the DGX, if the result is similar with onboard audio. Unlikely to be the Modmic either, if there's a similar result with the iphone microphone.

As above, could be Windows 10 update. Windows 10 just seems so problematic for quite a few people when it comes to sound. I know you don't have one, but Asus' Strix cards are rubbish on Windows 10, and it wouldn't be the first time a Windows update has mucked up people's sound.

Marsman said:

It's not likely a problem with the DGX, if the result is similar with onboard audio. Unlikely to be the Modmic either, if there's a similar result with the iphone microphone.

As above, could be Windows 10 update. Windows 10 just seems so problematic for quite a few people when it comes to sound. I know you don't have one, but Asus' Strix cards are rubbish on Windows 10, and it wouldn't be the first time a Windows update has mucked up people's sound.

Click to expand...

I do have a Strix 1080
Any source on that info?