Microphone Connection

[AdonusX]

ok, everywhere I have looked I have seen this description as far as connecting a microphone to the pandora: "ability to connect external microphone through headset"

could someone clearly explain exactly what this is supposed to mean? I am interested in something like buying a pc gaming headset for my pandora and listen to music or whatever and if I wanna hop on something like skype (I know, may never be ported) just my mic off mute from the headset and start talking... is this possible, or do I need something proprietary?


guess I might as well ask if anyone thinks a usb soundcard would work at this point, or should I open a separate thread about that?

 

[marshal]

It's just a 3.5mm mini jack connector which can carry a stereo signal and the mike input (mono).

It's pretty standard on mobile phone too (although some phone have proprietary connector of course). On phone they are often 2.5mm though versus the more standard 3.5mm of the Pandora.
I personally have one of those headset (3.5mm) that came with my nokia n800. I probably intend to use that with the Pandora.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector
Boring wikipedia stuff...
QUOTE
A three- or four-conductor version of the 3/32" (2.5 mm) plug is widely used on cell phone handsfree headsets, providing mono (three conductor) or stereo (four conductor) sound and a microphone input. Common stereo headphones with the 3/32" plug are often not compatible with this type of socket. A 1/8" (3.5 mm) version of this plug is now commonly available on mobile telephones as well. A 1/8" stereo-plus-mic plug is available that is compatible with standard 1/8" stereo headphones.

 

[urjaman]

ok, everywhere I have looked I have seen this description as far as connecting a microphone to the pandora: "ability to connect external microphone through headset"

could someone clearly explain exactly what this is supposed to mean? I am interested in something like buying a pc gaming headset for my pandora and listen to music or whatever and if I wanna hop on something like skype (I know, may never be ported) just my mic off mute from the headset and start talking... is this possible, or do I need something proprietary?

AFAIK - i dont remember the source atm and not sure, the Pandora's headset jack would be capable of receiving either a standard 3-connector stereo headset minijack (the norm), or a 4-connector (essentially longer version) jack that has the extra pin to allow mic connection.
4-connector jack:

(source)
normal 3-connector:

(source)

So it depends on the headset, though most computer headsets would need an adapter.

guess I might as well ask if anyone thinks a usb soundcard would work at this point, or should I open a separate thread about that?

I think that if there's drivers for the usb soundcard in the linux kernel, it should work ok...

And yeah, marshal beat me to it, but i didnt want to waste my post...

 

[Tor]

I bought one of those splitter plugs which converts from the combo mic/headphones to separate mic and headphones, just so that I could use the headset that I already had, with the Nokia tablet (I can't use the provided earbuds set). The splitter I bought was labeled as for an HP IPAQ IIRC.

 

[marshal]

I saw some of those splitter on Ebay... no really sure what they're worth though.
I actually only user the nokia handset why I use Skype. Otherwise I always use much better in-ear. So I might be getting one of those. At the same time the Pandora build in mic might be enough for a occasional VOIP call

 

[EdCa22]

IIRC you can also get stereo mics using the the ext port and the TV out connector.

 

[AdonusX]

Thanks for the info all... now this has me wondering if I can do bluetooth audio and maintain a bluetooth conneciton with a cell for internet purposes... (essentially considering testing voip)...

 

[valhalla]

IIRC you can also get stereo mics using the the ext port and the TV out connector.

you could, but you would need to add some hardware inbetween to bring the signal to line level