I had somebody asking me why none of their shipment of Mac Mini’s worked with their standard microphones. I wasn’t entirely sure either, so I had a look around on Google for some answers. I soon found the answer in the MacRumors forum.

“The Mac mini’s input is a line-level input, whereas the mic line on most analog headsets needs a mic-level input (to power the mic). The mini isn’t giving the mic any power, so it’s not going to work.

You need something to pull the level of that mic line up to what’s known as “line level.” A lot of people use the iMic, others use audio mixers that will provide power to the mic (and other inputs) while providing a line-level output for the mini to accept.

Alternatively, you can pick up an inexpensive USB headset. Logitech and Plantronics both make very affordable USB-based solutions.

Hope this helps.”

Chris Brightwell

http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-187096.html

Hope it helped, and as usual, please do rate this post below.