Old Windows mic not working on iMac

[elf69]

Firstly this is the mic:

It was a great mic on my old windows machine.
Now I'm not sure if this is a type of mic not supported by my Mac.

Can anyone confirm this mic is not compatible?
my internal mic sometimes glitches so found this in drawer and thought I'd test see if it would fix issue.
I get nothing on my iMac with it connected.

Yes I have changed input mode to 3.5mm jack in preferences.

I think maybe this mic not compatible?
At present do not have another mic but will try borrow one from work to test at weekend

 

[Fishrrman]

I'm not an expert, but I -think- this has something to do with the plug shape/size.

There might be ways to "kludge it" to work, but by the time you've spent the money required and gone through all the research and trouble... it's probably better to buy something new.

Either a mono or stereo USB mic comes to mind.

 

[elf69]

an 2007 iMac has a 3.5mm microphone port.

the mic has a 3.5mm plug.
it is plugged in now.

shape and size is same as port on rear of iMac.

 

[BrianBaughn]

This may have something to do with the mic and plug being stereo. The Mac has a mono jack.

Have you tested the mic lately on something else?

 

[MC6800]

I believe your 2007 iMac has a line-level audio input, not mic level. But see the last post in this thread for how to check.

 

[elf69]

think this from mac-forums is the answer:

"This is the problem with your mic: The cheap computer mic is usually an electret type. This means that here is a field effect transistor inside the mic that requires a power supply. PC's that have a mic input have a supply voltage to feed the transistor but the Mac does not have a mic input, only a line in which means there is no supply voltage. This can be arranged externally if you know how. You could try a dynamic mic which does not need a supply but audio outputs from dynamic mics is very low and will probably not work."