Been thinking about getting a sound card

[Doco]

Hey all, thought I'd come here for some advice/opinions, recently I've been thinking about getting a sound card, other than getting one just to have (which is a contributing factor) one actual reason is because I've been getting a slightly annoying issue with my on-board sound.

When I have my headphones connect into the back-panel all is fine, I can swap out my headphones/2.1 speakers all day no issue, but for some reason if I add a microphone into the equation I'l bump into an issue where I'l have no sound for a period of time, it goes like this, say I'm using my speakers or headphones and want to game up so I switch to my bitfenix headset (won from here ), I connect the headphone jack and everything is okay, connect the mic in and realtek pops up saying Ive connected a microphone device - but its after this that I'l lose all sound from my system, I cant open any sound-panels or info at-all - it's like my system sound hangs and takes awhile to respond (best solution I've found is just to open up a video/music file and wait until my audio comes back, which can take up to a minute if its being especially annoying, same issue arises if I'm using the front jacks on my case, also when this happens I can disconnect the mic and just connect the headphones but I still have to wait for sound to re-appear, again it looks like once the issue starts it takes my system (I'm assuming onboard sound) a while to actually properly register changes and deliver audio. At this point just always have my mic plugged in and swap from my headphones to headset when needed (time it takes seems reduced but I still have the no audio issue).

So whats the verdict? sound-card go-ahead, I'm not using anything fancy for my listening equipment in-case that affects sound-card suggestions

Headset - Bitfenix flo - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-003-BX

Speakers - http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/#!aego/cgnd

Headphones - http://en-uk.sennheiser.com/audio-headphones-stereo-hifi-closed-hd-215

Thanks for having a look and I look foward to any suggestions and advice.

 

[rids57]

Doesn't sound like a hardware fault to me, more like Windows doing something that it shouldn't when you connect a microphone. Something to do with your Windows communication settings maybe?

 

[Doco]

Doesn't sound like a hardware fault to me, more like Windows doing something that it shouldn't when you connect a microphone. Something to do with your Windows communication settings maybe?

Could be, anything I should look out for? Il have a wee look after work.

 

[rids57]

Windows will mute or reduce the volume when it decides that a communication is incoming, so check on the settings for that.

 

[Doco]

Just seen that its set to reduce all volume by 80% - I'l change this to do nothing, see how it goes.

 

[rids57]

Another possibility is that you may have another device set as default for communications, such as your graphics card and if you don't have anything plugged into it then you won't get any sound.

 

[stuie]

Your using headphones / headset id be tempted to get a dgx for the headphone amp alone they often come up on today / two for sub 20quid bargain buy for anyone using cans

 

[Doco]

Another possibility is that you may have another device set as default for communications, such as your graphics card and if you don't have anything plugged into it then you won't get any sound.

I do get sound, the issue only really occurs when I first plug in a mic, windows will tell me I've plugged in a mic, Realtek HD audio manger window will pop up saying the same, but I'l get no audio for say up to a minute (time varys though from a few seconds to a minute)

Your using headphones / headset id be tempted to get a dgx for the headphone amp alone they often come up on today / two for sub 20quid bargain buy for anyone using cans

I'm open to all possibilities - Sold my 2nd 7950 and got £89 for it, I'm planning to re-invest it into the pc and other than getting a new gpu (but I'm waiting to see what the craic is with the 8XX series or amds response before I but any, so only real thing I can think of to get an upgrade for is my audio solution)

 

[Doco]

Just thought I'd give an update - changing the reduce volume to *do nothing* didnt help, yesterday I switched from headphones to speakers and back - each time I did so I had to wait approx 2 mins for sound to return, today however,swapped same equipment twice and I;worked without issue. I do have my system over-clocked so there's always a possibility that some things interfering so I'l try to run my system for about a week and see if the same issue occurs, anyone else got a suggestion thoough?