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I have a Bose Q25 headset, it uses an iphone compatible trrs jack.
It contains stereo input, mic output and the button controls.

I split it into 2xTRS jacks using a commercial splitter, the mic is still disfunctional.
I tried to contact Bose support and asked them how to connect it to the PC.
Their answer:

Due to the fact that Bose Corporation is a privately held company, we consider the information that you have requested to be proprietary in nature.

That's absolutely ridiculous, as if the iphone connector standard would be a proprietary secret. There are hundreds of companies making such connectors/headsets.

However, I am not familiar with it.
Does anyone here have any knowledge how the mic is connected, what sort of circuit would be required to get it compatible with PC input? (either line in or active mic)

I have a standard TRRS headset without buttons (just mic and speakers), that one works flawless. So the button circuit board does something that needs to be taken into account.
It can not be a big thing as all the smart phones (Android as well) can interface with it.

Maybe it's just polarity (I don't want to risk damaging the 300€ headset) or some simple circuit I have to apply to the connector to get the mic through.
Anyone ?

P.S. As I found Boses answer to be very customer disrespectful (I did not ask for a schematic or the DSP programming..) I would like to keep this question updated until I have it solved so other people can benefit from the information.

John
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    Commercial splitter? As in a "standard" Y cable, or a dedicated iphone standard TRRS to 2x TRS cable? – Passerby Nov 30 '14 at 01:13
  • I searched quite long, it is a "HAMA" Y splitter that is not specifically made for I-phones. it works with a normal trrs headset without active buttons (that also works on iphone btw). When I press a button the mic spikes shortly, so the connection is there. However either I need a circuit or I need just to reverse polarity. – John Nov 30 '14 at 01:17
  • Update: I got another splitter, this time it was specifically made for iphone headsets to connect to PC and people noted on Amazon that it is of bad quality but "works". In this case it did not work. Whatever Bose did, it's not the same usual headsets use (maybe an active mic with some data exchange of the proprietary button protocol ?)

    I am now waiting for another order to change the polarity of the microphone pins (I don't want to cut the cables), maybe that will do it. If not I'll let it be

     – John Dec 03 '14 at 02:23

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Here is an in depth explanation of jack pinouts http://www.cablechick.com.au/blog/understanding-trrs-and-audio-jacks/

Its super late and im glancing at your problem in my seprate search on a different subject that lead me here but based on what i read from your problem and what that websites says it seems like BOSE swapped the pin locations on the TRRS jack to make it hard for people to use it with anything other than a bose product. One thought I had would be to make your own "adapter" by taking a female TRRS jack from some other bose component (if you dont mind partially screwing it up) and wiring that female jack to a regular male TRRS. Hope this helps man JUST NOTICED I overlooked some info in your post. but im too tired to delet the irrelavent stuff i suggest you take a look at the diagram for an Iphone TRRS on that link i posted i feel like it will answer your problem. let me know how it goes!

John Willis
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    Welcome to EE.SE. Here we have a review queue where many things get looked after. We strive to have accurate and concise answers. Please in the future, if you notice something in the question that would change your answer, change it. It makes your answer look better for you and everybody else. – Funkyguy Dec 31 '14 at 08:46
  • Thank you! Normally I wouldn't be lazy like that but it was 3 a.m. and i was falling asleep at the wheel but still wanted to help.... Also John if I remember correctly PC jacks don't have a MIC pin that's why they have a separate jack for it (or because they have a separate jack for it.. whatever lol) So I imagine what you'd need is an adapter that splits the MIC line to a separate jack giving you two one stereo out and one in – John Willis Jan 01 '15 at 23:38
  • I tried 3 different adapters that split up headsets to PC. One of them was made especially for iphone headsets, the others are general ones. They work with every headset I have (android and iphone) except for the Bose one. So something is especially special with them. The headset works on all phones just the mic is not working on PC – John Jan 02 '15 at 00:44