I have the ~$80 apple earbuds, and it has a built-in microphone which works fine. I've used it for skype and taking calls. In Preferences, the drop down for Dictation's input has 'Line-in", but when selected, Dictation does not hear me. In Sound preferences, 'Line-in' has the full title of 'Audio Line-In Port', so it is 'there'.
So I'm just curious why Dictation won't listen via my earbud microphone.
Best Answer
Your earbuds have one plug that goes into the headphone socket on your laptop, that socket does NOT have a microphone pickup.
The socket in your iPhone is dual capable, both headphone and microphone connections.
You will need to get a headset that has both a microphone and headphone plugs if you want to use your laptop for dictation