What the heck Apple, Line-in is not powerd :|

So after trying to help some one to get their Mic working using line in (3.5mm jack). I decided to test mine, well, it doesn't work either, and some one else there said theirs didn't work too. Then he posts this link.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/mac_microphone_line_in_only_port_is_a_real_drag

Wow, so the Line-in port is not powered, that means any Mic that isn't powered will not work. Seriously? How stupid is that. Good thing I used USB Mics, but it's still stupid.

 

Yep, I have heard many complaints here as well from people wanting to use a decent unpowered mic for VOIP apps. One musician totally lost it when he had to get another adaptor so he could hook up a mic pickup for some basic guitar recording with an unpowered professional mic.

 

do any laptops offer a preamp'ed line in?

i don't think so...

 

Not much of a preamp, but most with a realtek HD audio chipset have a small preamp. My Dell D-620, Acer Aspire 5517, HP DV5000 all have a small preamp.

CF-18 and CF-30 do as well.

 

My Acer Aspire One does.

 

Oh... Damn. Well where is my line in preamplifier?!

 

Practically every non-Apple laptop/desktop. This isn't exactly news - Apple line-in ports have been line-in only for ages. I suppose the reasoning is that the built-in article is perfect for the targeted user (or that they will never realise it's use), and that anyone else will be a 'pro' (as far as an Apple flavour of 'pro' goes) who would be looking at an external soundcard.

You'll need an iMic or similar. http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

 

Not to detract from the issue at hand, and if it's a problem or not, but this is the wrong way to record audio. There is a reason that professionals use DigiDesign/mbox hardware to record with. One single line-in isn't enough to give a full sound. You want at least two mics per instrument.

 

I agree fully, but occasionally it makes a handy quick and dirty recording to send off ideas to his fellow musicians, without hooking up extra equipment. Lots of people will do a quick crappy recording for creative thought apparently ( im NO musician )

 

I use an iPhone compatible headset on my Headphone port on my Macbook pro... which does input, not just output, and it is amped just fine... its only the other Line In port that isn't... but most people don't know that both can handle input.

 

Man, I didn't even know non-preamped line-ins even existed. Learn something new everyday.

 

What is interesting is when I originally got my santa rosa mbp in 2007 I had a set of headphones that worked with my line in port. Shortly after that it stopped working. No matter what I did it wouldn't work. I don't know if some update stopped it working or what. The headphones aren't the problem either, they still work on any desktop.

 

Apple's notebooks (the current lineup) actually all support in-out through an iPhone style headset 1/8"connection, which is by far the most common type of headset out there now a days.

I highly doubt any laptop's default soundcard is able to send 48v power to an external mic, and for good reason, nobody records music through any computers built in line-in. Apple's line-in will power the mics it was designed to power.

And to be perfectly fair, any modern gaming headset is using usb anyway, or should be, just to cover all the basis.

No offense to the person that wrote the article, but any of those cheap headsets that were purchased likely had jacks for in and out, and would probably work perfectly well that way.

I am glad to see Apple getting rid of the line-in ports entirely on their 13" line as it just doesn't make any sense any more, nobobdy is plugging a damn thing into it.

 

actually until the last couple of years ... "Line In" was always without any amp... computers would have a "Line In" and a "Mic" port.. and that was the only difference between the two.... but int he last couple of yeas I have seen a few people make standard Mic ports and call them "Line In"

 

Yeah, I am adding to the standard confusion.

 

I'm not sure where you're looking at in terms of headsets. Apple headsets maybe - that's common for you, right? And a mic pre-amp is different from phantom power. A good deal of modern USB gaming headsets - in fact, any of decent quality worth mentioning - are also not (fully, since they usually offer HRTF, etc) compatible with the Mac.