Does the Mac mini M4 headphone jack support TRRS headsets with microphones?

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Level 1

12 points

Does the Mac mini M4 headphone jack support TRRS headsets with microphones?

I’m new to the community, and I noticed some posts saying that the Mac mini M4’s 3.5 mm jack does not support microphones.

However, I tested this myself and got nice results:

With an Apple headset (4-pin TRRS), the Mac mini detected the microphone correctly.
With a RØDE NTH-100M, the microphone wasn’t detected at first — but when I pushed the TRRS adapter in more firmly, it was recognized as an external microphone. Some interesting details are:
- When I tried to record something in Quicktime, as opposed to my interface I was surprised to see the microphone recording sounded on both speakers! (People using audio interfaces usually only get it on the left side)
- When going into the sound settings menu I saw users can toggle the microphone volume way higher. I think this is because of the 32bit-Float providing better dynamic range as opposed to 24bit interfaces.
- Turning on voice isolation on the camera/microphone icon that pops up when live also really helps clean the voice sound from the environment.

This makes me think that with the right TRS/TRRS adapter, users with other headsets with separate headphone + mic plugs could also work?

Mac mini (M4)

Posted on Sep 16, 2025 04:45 PM

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Answer 1

MartinR

Level 7

23,541 points

Sep 17, 2025 06:37 AM in response to mortyc-136

Apple specs for the headphone jack do not indicate support for TRRS inputs. This is across the entire Mac product line. There have been many threads over the years about whether or not TRRS actually works. It has worked for some users but not for most, and AFAIK there has been no consistency to the reported successes.

There has been some conjecture that the TRRS wiring in the Apple headset and/or the Mac is not standard TRRS pinout. In point of fact there *are* different wirings for different devices that use TRRS connectors so there may be some truth to that.

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