Just bought AKG N700 NC M2 love the sound but volume from mic is tiny - any solutions?

[tech-jock]

Hello all,

Any thoughts about how to increase the volume of the mic for voice when using bluetooth? Note: the problem occurs on my iPhone 13 and also on my RealMe 3 Pro. Other people on the call can barely hear me, but it does not occur when connected to my laptop, where the mic volume is absolutely fine.

Anyone solved this?

Cheers!

TJ

 

[Berwhale]

Are you sure it's using the mic in the N700 and not the mic in the phone? i.e. the N700 is connected with the headset profile, rather than the headphone one. The connection profile is usually reflected in the status icon on Android (I don't know about iOS), something like this (bottom one is headset)...

 

[tech-jock]

Thanks Berwhale,

I don't see that symbol per se, but here's the bluetooth info page for the device:

Does that help at all?

Cheers!

TJ

 

[Berwhale]

It's connected for phone audio and showing the headset icon, so it looks fine from a profile perspective.

 

[Berwhale]

You can try changing the Bluetooth AVRCP Version to 1.6 (it might be set to 1.4 or 1.5 depending on your phone - mine defaults to 1.5). You have to change this setting in Developer Options which have to be enabled to be visible...

To enable Developer Options: open settings -> system -> about phone -> tap build number 7 times

Developer Options should then appear on the main settings menu somewhere (type 'Developer' in the settings search box if you can't locate it).

The Bluetooth settings are usually about halfway down the Developer Options screen - I wouldn't play about with anything else in there unless you know what you are doing!

 

[tech-jock]

You can try changing the Bluetooth AVRCP Version to 1.6 (it might be set to 1.4 or 1.5 depending on your phone - mine defaults to 1.5). You have to change this setting in Developer Options which have to be enabled to be visible...

To enable Developer Options: open settings -> system -> about phone -> tap build number 7 times

Developer Options should then appear on the main settings menu somewhere (type 'Developer' in the settings search box if you can't locate it).

The Bluetooth settings are usually about halfway down the Developer Options screen - I wouldn't play about with anything else in there unless you know what you are doing!

Thanks for the idea Berwhale.

Sadly, switching from the default 1.4 to 1.6 made no difference at all to the level. Note that I am using the ability of the Telegram client to leave a voice message for yourself to test the level. As an additional control, I also did the same while recording in my Android voice recorder app.

However, I have a set of cheap bluetooth in-ears for the gym etc and tried the same tests with them. The surprising result was that they too recorded at a low level in Telegram and voice recorder.

So while I was doing all this my son messaged me on the facebook messenger app. So I left him an audio message in return. Once I had finished the audio message, I played it back and lo and behold, the level the message had been recorded at was much higher than for Telegram and Voice Recorder.

I was on the verge of returning the AKG to Amazon but now I'm thinking the behaviour may be app specific, so I will experiment a bit more.

Cheers!

 

[tech-jock]

Another update:
Plugged in the headphones with supplied wire (not possible on my iPhone 13) but on Android, the mic volume was loud - as expected.
So is this to do with how an individual app processes Bluetooth?

 

[tech-jock]

Hey there - me again. It's over two years since I started this thread but I recently started using these headphones at work as they have a radio and I want to block the sound.

Anyway, I connected the headphones to my laptop and I have been using them to make and receive calls via the VOIP softfone that we use here. People have been telling me that I sound very far away on phone calls, so I did a test by calling my mobile and leaving a message. The volume of me speaking on the message was indeed very low - far too low really.

I then started a Zoom meeting (just me on the Zoom) and set it to record and spoke some sentences. I then played back the meeting recording and my voice level was absolutely fine, not low at all.

So the above leads me to believe (as I postulated two years ago) that certain apps (both in Windows and on the phone) seem to 'hear' the audio at different levels and it doesn't seem to be fixable. Perhaps it's something to do with codecs that are being used by each app, I just don't know.

 

[staticV3]

Hey there - me again. It's over two years since I started this thread but I recently started using these headphones at work as they have a radio and I want to block the sound.

Anyway, I connected the headphones to my laptop and I have been using them to make and receive calls via the VOIP softfone that we use here. People have been telling me that I sound very far away on phone calls, so I did a test by calling my mobile and leaving a message. The volume of me speaking on the message was indeed very low - far too low really.

I then started a Zoom meeting (just me on the Zoom) and set it to record and spoke some sentences. I then played back the meeting recording and my voice level was absolutely fine, not low at all.

So the above leads me to believe (as I postulated two years ago) that certain apps (both in Windows and on the phone) seem to 'hear' the audio at different levels and it doesn't seem to be fixable. Perhaps it's something to do with codecs that are being used by each app, I just don't know.

On your laptop, open the Sound Control Panel, go to Recording->AKG N700->Properties->Levels and check that it's high enough.

If the level really depends on the Bluetooth codec, then you can try using another codec via Alternative A2DP Driver.