Chosen Solution
I know you can plug a TRRS combination earbud/microphone into a modern MacBook Pro’s headphone jack and have the mic show up as an “external mic” input. You can also buy splitter cables that break out the headphone jack into two separate jacks, one for a microphone and one for headphones/speakers. So, the Mac definitely has a microphone input there. My question is, are the microphones in these earbud+mic setups “electret” condensers that require a biasing voltage to work (my uneducated guess is yes although I’ve heard of “permanently charged” electret capsules that don’t require power). If the answer is yes, and the Mac does indeed provide a small voltage to run the mic capsule, would that voltage be present in the mic input jack of the splitter and available to any external mic using an electret condenser element? Also, if the answer is yes, might anyone know the voltage? I have searched far & wide on the google with no answers. Thanks in advance!
I think you’ll need to talk with the headset maker you are buying to get more details as well as directly with Apple to see what they say. I’ve never encountered issues my self. The students and Pro’s I deal with use mixing boards with a USB connection as well as USB DAC units for their line monitoring. I’ve used a set of Sony noise canceling headphones which had a microphone without any issues and I know it had a condenser type microphone for VoIP calling. Maybe someone else knows more. Anyone?
Ha ha, I’m answering my own question – but that’s because I went ahead and ordered the mic even though nobody was able to tell me conclusively if it would work with my MacBook Pro. The mic is a Pyle PMHM2, and at only $15 I decided to take a shot. This morning I received both the mic and the necessary splitter/adapter, and can report that it does work with both my MacBook Pro and iPhone SE (original). My $15 wasn’t wasted! What I didn’t mention in the original post was the reason I wanted a mic like this in the first place - it’s for my wife to lead Zoom therapy sessions that involve movement. She will be standing 8 - 10 feet away from the laptop, and the regular built-in mic sounded terrible at that distance – her voice sounded far away and echo-y. This headset mic is featherweight and sounds much better – as it should, considering that the mic element is almost right on her mouth instead of many feet away! Anyway, the answer to my original question is YES, the Mac does provide “plug-in power” (a bias voltage) through its headphone jack, but you have to follow a strict procedure to make this work: you must first connect both the mic and a headset to the splitter/adapter jacks, then plug the splitter into your Mac or phone’s headphone jack! Tricky, sneaky, the audio “secret handshake”, call it what you want – it’s gotta be done like this or the headset mic will not be seen!
