Super Serious Question: How to make sure new headphones don't come with a microphone?

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

I'm still trying to find a set of headphones without a microphone.

These are HIGHLY recommended from Amazon:

Sony ZX Series Wired On-Ear Headphones, Black MDR-ZX110

Maximizing your personal audio experience has never been easier than with SONY ZX-Series Monitor headphones. Built with comfort and performance in mind, there's no need to compromise.

www.amazon.com

 

[DeltaMac]

Sony ... so sound should be OK. The price is right.
On-the-ear, so would not be very comfortable for me, but maybe you will be OK with that instead of over-the-ear ... which Sony also does very well.

I understand your concern about intentional microphones.
Why not just get the 'phones that you like?
If there is a microphone, there will be a contact on the headphone connector. Just tape over the mic contact. The microphone cannot communicate to the outside world, if there is no connection.

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Sony ... so sound should be OK. The price is right.
On-the-ear, so would not be very comfortable for me, but maybe you will be OK with that instead of over-the-ear ... which Sony also does very well.

I understand your concern about intentional microphones.
Why not just get the 'phones that you like?
If there is a microphone, there will be a contact on the headphone connector. Just tape over the mic contact. The microphone cannot communicate to the outside world, if there is no connection.

Thank you for your reply!

I know in the past that when I'd buy PC headsets that included headphones and a microphone I'd need to plug in the 2nd cable to the microphone port on the PC/Mac for the microphone to work, but now it seems like the microphone can work even if the headphones only include one cable???

EDIT:
I noticed that some headphones come with a gold 3.5mm jack, but I don't know what this means in terms of improving audio?

 

[DeltaMac]

The microphone would use a connection with the one of the plug's contacts. Stereo audio uses a 3-conductor plug. If there is a microphone, you will see 4 contacts on the connector, including the tip. The usual Mic contact will be the 4th contact (the band furthest from the tip). I haven't seen headphones with an extra plug for a long time (maybe 30 years?)
Gold does not rust/corrode, so more likely to keep a good connection over time. So, in a sense, gold contacts will stay cleaner. Doesn't actually improve audio, per se, but will keep whatever quality more consistent.
Note than Gold is not the best conductor. Copper is better, and silver is best conductor. However, both copper and silver will oxidize, or tarnish, requiring contacts made of those materials to need cleaning, or a coating, which may cut down on the electrical qualities. Gold does not need that kind of attention.

 

[usagora]

Just buy these as previously recommended and be done with it 😉

Sony ZX Series Wired On-Ear Headphones, Black MDR-ZX110

Maximizing your personal audio experience has never been easier than with SONY ZX-Series Monitor headphones. Built with comfort and performance in mind, there's no need to compromise.

www.amazon.com

No mic
3.5mm
nearly 100,000 ratings with 4.5 star average
$10

What's not to like, given your criteria? In fact, they're so inexpensive, I'd buy 2 just in case the first pair ever goes bad.

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

The microphone would use a connection with the one of the plug's contacts. Stereo audio uses a 3-conductor plug. If there is a microphone, you will see 4 contacts on the connector, including the tip. The usual Mic contact will be the 4th contact (the band furthest from the tip). I haven't seen headphones with an extra plug for a long time (maybe 30 years?)
Gold does not rust/corrode, so more likely to keep a good connection over time. So, in a sense, gold contacts will stay cleaner. Doesn't actually improve audio, per se, but will keep whatever quality more consistent.
Note than Gold is not the best conductor. Copper is better, and silver is best conductor. However, both copper and silver will oxidize, or tarnish, requiring contacts made of those materials to need cleaning, or a coating, which may cut down on the electrical qualities. Gold does not need that kind of attention.

Thank you for your reply!

I'm going to be using the headphones I buy on a Windows 10 laptop, not a Mac. The Windows 10 laptop only has the 3.5mm jack to connect for sound, but it DOES NOT have a microphone port.

Since it doesn't have a microphone port, does this mean it'd be impossible for the headphones to have a working microphone?

 

[DeltaMac]

If those headphones have 4, not 3 connector contacts on the plug, then the headphones don't need a separate microphone port.
Think of PC laptops that are used for gaming. Users will plug in a headset (so they can both listen and talk), using a 4-contact headphone jack that may be a standard connector for plugging in headphones or headsets
Look at the headphone connector plug.
If you see 4 contacts on the connector, the those headphones also have a microphone.

You don't have to have a separate plug for a microphone, all that is needed is the 4th (microphone) contact in the headphone port, which would be used when plugging in a "headset", which you will expect includes a microphone, and would use that 4th band on the headphone jack to make the input connection for the microphone.
If there are only 3 contacts on the headphone's connector, and there is no separate connector the could be used for a microphone, then, I think you can be assured that there is no microphone built-in to the headphones.

Do keep in mind that those headphones that have a "noise-cancelling" feature might use a microphone (which essentially uses the audio output to "cancel" the noise (the headphones have to know what noise needs canceling, and would certainly use a microphone as one technique to pick up that noise, send it through some noise-cancelling circuitry, which then provides the noise-cleaned audio signal back to your ears. But, that's a closed circuit where any Microphone would be for that purpose, All affected audio is for the wearer, and unlikely that audio goes anywhere else (except, as I mentioned, that you have a headset, rather than headphones, but I have aready mentioned that instance.

And, it seems like a hopeless use of paranoia to even be concerned about microphones in headphones, when that would be so simple to avoid, simply by taping over the only contact that could possibly be for a microphone, even it it was built in.

 

[usagora]

Thank you for your reply!

I'm going to be using the headphones I buy on a Windows 10 laptop, not a Mac. The Windows 10 laptop only has the 3.5mm jack to connect for sound, but it DOES NOT have a microphone port.

Since it doesn't have a microphone port, does this mean it'd be impossible for the headphones to have a working microphone?

Not trying to be abrupt, but why haven't you already purchased the headphones I and others linked you to (see post 30)? They're cheap, have no microphone, and are highly recommended by thousands of people. I don't understand why you're still worrying about this. The solution is there.