Making a custom version of the V-MODA boom mic?

The idea that’s swimming around in my head is to make a mic set up like V-MODA boom mic, but will work with any pair of headphones you have, and I know that the mod mic is a thing, but I’m trying to go for a single cable solution. Is there a reason that this isn’t a thing that’ll work, are there any suggested parts, has someone done this before and I’ve just missed it?

You would need a 4-conductor + Ground cable for this. LiYCY-type cable should work for this.
And even then, crosstalk from the headphone-out to the mic-in may be an issue.


The “easy” part is the mechanical side of this.
Electret mic-capsule, arm (carbon fiber tube?) and some connector parts (bent metal, wood, 3D-print, etc.).

The difficult part is to do with the electronics as you need to avoid passing the bias-voltage from the microphone jack to the signal outs on the headphone jack.

AFAIK, Mic-jack pinout is like this:

Pin Function Note
Tip Signal from microphone
Ring Bias Voltage to microphone
Sleeve Ground Or shield, not super sure about its role in this

Headphone jack pinout:

Pin Function Note
Tip Left
Ring Right
Sleeve Ground

Concerning circuit setup, I would just point you at this thread on L1T:

The alteration in your case is that you don’t have an external mic-preamp, so no need to do any Op-Amp related shenanigans.

headphones have quite a few different connections. in order to make a universal, you would need the end to accept a lot of different connections that could be swapped out. something along the lines of what hart audio cables does, but in reverse(he has an adapter on the amp side)

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The three common ones are 2.5mm, 3.5mm and miniXLR.

Easiest way would be to have a 3.5mm TRS socket and using short adapter cables.
Question then is how to mount the device to a headphone.

vmoda boom mic style, have the mic come off of the cord. shrink wrap + electrical tape will make anything very stiff.

edit: or resin coated

edit2: shrink wrap + resin coat would most likely eliminate cross talk as well.

The best way is to have a shield on the aggressor conductor, or a ground-trace between signals.

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