Line In mic too quiet on Windows 10

[th3coolst3r]

Hey all, long time no type

So basically, im just trying to record some covers and stuff, maybe a few voice overs with my MXL V63M, i have it plugged into a phantom power supply with an XLR to a 1/4" jack, which is then plugged into a 1/4" female to 3.5mm male adapter so i could plug it into my line in jack on my PC. I'v had this problem with other PC's before as well. I'v tried to plug it into my normal mic jack but the quality drops drastically, when its plugged into the Line in jack, i cant adjust much other than overall volume on the mic, theres no boost or anything, no effects in the sound setting on windows or anything, it only stays on CD quality as well. When its in the normal Mic jack on the front of the pc, like i said, the quality drops drastically, but im able to adjust the boost and volume of the mic, plus it comes through way louder than in Line In. It also seems to cut in and out whenever i sing at higher volumes.

Does anyone know why this is happening? Could it be the driver? I wouldnt think it would be since all my drivers are updated and all my equipment is in working order.

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[Snaffle J. Bean]

You're able to adjust the boost on the mic input because it has an amplification circuit, and the reason it sounds so bad is either because it's poorly isolated from interference generated by the rest of the components on your motherboard or the components in the amplification circuit are of poor quality.
What you need is either a dedicated mic preamp with integrated phantom power which you would plug the output of into your motherboard's line input, or a USB audio interface that has a mic input and integrated preamp with phantom power. The former method is going to be a lot easier to setup and get working with whatever applications you use (since it relies on your computer's onboard audio hardware which is supported by practically everything), while the latter will generally offer marginally better audio quality over the typical motherboard's onboard sound chip, but at the cost of having to deal with the audio interface's own device driver and any possible issues that may bring.
If you're going to be using your mic strictly with a DAW program, you're probably not going to run into any issues with the audio interface, but if you're planning on using your mic with VoIP applications like Discord or in-game voice chat you should definitely go with the dedicated mic preamp route since it can be a pain in the ass getting an audio interface to work with everyday non-DAW applications.

[Vigil]

Mics have a significantly weaker signal than a line-level signal. You need something before plugging into your line input to be able to amplify your mic signal, as Snaffle said, to line-level. The line-in on your computer is meant for headsets/mics that already boost the signal before entering the computer.

Just get a Scarlett 2i2, and everything will work fine.