G1W-H: audio quality issues

[Module 79L]

The first videos I watched online made with this camera led me to believe that the audio quality was not as good as the G1W's, and that was one of the reasons that made me choose the G1W in the first place, but since it started having some picture stability problems - not related with the mount - as well as that stock bluriness on the left edge that became worse and worse with the hot weather, I decided to have a go at the H, so I started searching for some more videos. That search brought me here and the more videos I watched (and listen to), the more I was convinced that there really wasn't any issues with the audio, because they all sounded so much better than what I've heard until then.
My camera is exactly like this one https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/g1wh-from-gearbest-com-review-30fps-1080p.6640/. When I got it and watch the first footage, I couldn't believe what I was hearing: the audio quality was complete and utter rubbish! Everything was barely audible (the engine noise, the horn, the external and internal sounds, even the radio at higher levels than usual) and it sounded completely flat and harsh.
One thing I noticed right away was that the only sounds that are reasonably acceptable are the ones produced right behind the mic's hole, all the other ones are either too faint or too distorted when above certain levels. Another thing I noticed was when there are some louder noises or sounds inside or outside the car, all the other faint sounds suddenly become loud too, as if the mic suddenly "opened" and started picking up everything that was below a certain threshold.
I tried every firmware available here and, if there's any difference, it's minimal. None of them makes the mic sound better.

So now I have an unusable G1W with good audio quality and a brand new G1WH, with good video quality and rubbish audio. One of my areas of expertise is audio software and hardware, therefore from what I heard in so many videos I believe the problem is a faulty mic on this specific camera, otherwise they all would sound the same. Since I'm not gonna even bother trying to figure out what's wrong with the G1W I was thinking about doing a mic swap, so I need your expert input.
Can it be done?

 

[Street Guardian USA]

The G1W is a bit of a crapshoot it seems. It's hard to give advice with so many factories making this product and different quality standards/components used.

 

[jokiin]

as long as you have the required skills a mic swap should be no issue, if you wire it to the board and keep it further away from the PCB (rather than directly mounting it to the board) you'll generally eliminate a lot of the background whine they normally suffer

 

[Module 79L]

The G1W is a bit of a crapshoot it seems. It's hard to give advice with so many factories making this product and different quality standards/components used.

I know, I've seen G1W's in at least three different boxes, but in this case I'm comparing mine with the one that Sunny reviewed, which has the same box, so I'm assuming it's the same manufacturer.

 

[Module 79L]

as long as you have the required skills a mic swap should be no issue, if you wire it to the board and keep it further away from the PCB (rather than directly mounting it to the board) you'll generally eliminate a lot of the background whine they normally suffer

Yes I have the skills and the equipment necessary to do it, but since I've never opened one of these I don't know if the mic is soldered directly to the PCB or if it's wired and glued, either to the casing or the PCB itself. It'd be useful to know this beforehand.

 

[jokiin]

There's probably photos of one open here somewhere, there are multiple versions of the product though so it may not match what you have

What box it comes in is never a good indicator, the boxes come from public box factories pre printed

 

[niko]

@jokiin is right, on some models microphone is soldered, on others its wired.

G1W xxx series pcb is oversll similar, just other shell is different design.

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...a-nt96650-ar0330-1080p-30fps.3543/#post-40778

 

[Module 79L]

What box it comes in is never a good indicator, the boxes come from public box factories pre printed

Wow, all the reviews I read before buying the camera said that one should stay away from the orange boxes because all the "fake" G1W's reported came in that box! That way is impossible to know what you're buying.

 

[jokiin]

generic product is always a lottery

 

[Module 79L]

generic product is always a lottery

When I have th€ tim€ I'll think about buying a non-generic camera.
I already took a look at some models below €200, now that we have a trusted european retailer.

 

[Module 79L]

Ok, enough with the off-topic, back to the topic.

Mic swap done successfuly and, as expected, the problem was in the mic. Did a trial run afterwards and the audio is perfect, just like in the "old" G1W!

One thing that surprised me was that both PCB's are exactly the same. And when I say exactly, I mean EXACTLY!
They're both S1088_M_Ver1.0 and the only difference is that the G1w has a Samsung memory(?) and the H has a Nanya. I'll post the photos later.

 

[Module 79L]

Not the best quality (they were taken with my phone) but enough to illustrate what I wrote above:

G1W:

G1W-H: