Reassign the front panel 3.5mm jack to mic in

[Dae]

Is it possible to reassign the front panel 3.5mm jack to mic in?

I'd like to connect a headset (mic + headphones) to be able to talk on Skype, but unfortunately there is no normal mic in — just like on all Macs. I bought a cheap jack-to-USB converter (basically, small USB soundcard) on eBay but the sound is a little noisy when I use it.

From my PC experience I remember that reassigning was usually possible either directly from a control panel of the soundcard driver or using some hax in the registry.

Even if it's not possible on Mac, how did you solve the problem or how would you recommend to solve the problem? Buying a pre-amp for hundreds is not an option for me.

Thanks.

 

[Dr.Pants]

I'm not the person to really comment (since I don't know if it can be done), but I think that you have the USB soundcard as your best bet. What model are you using? It might either be defective or has a bad signel:noise ratio. I assume that there are space issues that aren't allowing you to route the cables from the rear ports.

 

[Dae]

I'm not the person to really comment (since I don't know if it can be done), but I think that you have the USB soundcard as your best bet. What model are you using? It might either be defective or has a bad signel:noise ratio. I assume that there are space issues that aren't allowing you to route the cables from the rear ports.

I bought one of those.

Routing isn't a problem with a small extension cable