# MS LifeChat LX-3000 volume issue



## SnowzSan (Dec 5, 2011)

Yesterday I bought an MS LifeChat LX-3000 USB headset and I have a few issues that I've been scouring the net for answers, and have come up with none.

So my issue is obviously volume. It's FAR too low. I mean, I used a cheap pair of headphones before this and they worked great (plugged into the line-in) but the sound quality was a little... low. So I went out and bought these simply because they combined two things I needed. Mic and Stereo Headphones. Well the mic works great! But the Stereo headphones leave a lot to be desired.

So I've tried adjusting the volume using the Windows Sound Mixer, I've tried the loudness equalization trick (made the volume lower), I've tried uninstalling the Headset and reinstalling the driver, I've tried letting Windows assign the driver, I've tried uninstalling the sound card driver and installing the driver directly from the website and letting Windows automatically assign it, I've tried setting one speakers volume 1 point lower than the other in the balance. None of these helped.

I mean, the computer's volume is fine. It's loud enough for a laptop but I generally enjoy headphones a lot more. Anyways, the Windows volume control shows the internal speakers running great (the green bar that jumps up and down showing you how loud it is. It's always almost maxed out. But on the headset it never goes above the halfway marker. 

It may be a little confusing but there's just so much **** I've tried and I'm getting frustrated. Any help would be greatly appreciated! If you have any other questions please ask.


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## SnowzSan (Dec 5, 2011)

(Here's a more detailed and better written post)

Alright so I bought this headset (USB) yesterday. Before this I used a stand-up mic and a pair of headphones that plugged into the headphone jack on the front of my laptop. So I got it home and tested it out on my game (Star Trek Online) and the mic works great! Score 1 for me. The speakers worked as well on the headset but they were a little low on the volume side, even with the volume cranked. 

So I decided to use them for the other use I used the old headphones for... Youtube and Windows Media Player. Again, the volume was extremely low, even with all the volume controls cranked. So I decided to unplug the headset and try the headphones. The volume was extremely loud through the headphones. I tried unplugging the headphones and using the laptop speakers, again very loud for laptop speakers. So it all came back around to the headset speakers. 

But here's the part that gets me the most. The little icon in the task bar at the bottom that controls the system volume, when left-clicked on, shows the bars with the slider. While music is playing it shows a green bar that fluctuates with the sound level of the music/video playing. When the volume is turned down, it shows a grey bar behind the green bar that shows you what it would be playing at if you had the volume maxed out. So with the volume maxed out, it shows the internal speakers green bar almost always filling the entire slider area. The headphones are the same thing, where the green bar fills almost the entire slider area. The headset on the other hand never goes past the marker in the middle showing the midway point on the slider. There is no grey bar behind it so I know it's not saying the system volume isn't cranked for the headset. But, again, the green bar for the headset never passes the half way point. 

So I looked it up online and it looked like this issue was pretty common, however I couldn't find any of the solutions listed that worked for me. Here's a few things I tried: 

-Uninstalling the sound card and re-installing it using Windows Update and using the driver package from the manufacturer's website. 
-Setting the speaker balance 1 point off from one another (left at 100 and right at 99) 
-Turning on Loudness Equalization (actually made the volume even lower) 
-Uninstalling the headset and using the driver from Microsoft's website, the one from the disc, and the one from Windows Update. 
-I've obviously tried cranking the system volume for everything. 

To no avail. 

Here are my system specs, if it's relevant: 

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64 
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz P7350 
RAM: 4GB DDR2 
Sound Card: IDT High Definition Audio CODEC (that's all it says) 
Video: Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS 
Model: HP Pavilion DV3510NR 

Any help would be greatly appreciated to increasing the sound volume on the headset. Again, the mic works and sounds fine. It's simply the volume of the playback sound on specifically the headset that I'm concerned about. 

Thanks in advance!


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

As normal headphones work, it is NOT the audio chipset or drivers.

Which leaves two possibilities, 1) the software/drivers for the headset, or 2) the headset is junk

Most USB headsets, have their own software utility with many of the same options controlled by the sound card. So verify the setup/configuration. Otherwise, exchange or try something different.


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