izy

no what i mean is the virtuoso works with 3.5mm unpowered i can have it in usb mode plugged into my devices and the mic works perfectly fine. the mic isnt getting any form of power except the LED undicators it only doesnt work without power specifically because your using an old macbook pro that doesnt have a mic input and only has a line in looking up models from around that year a ton of people had the same issue for that reason alone and the solution for everyone at the time was to use a usb headset or get an external preamp wouldnt it be easier to get a 3.5mm to mic/output splitter for your main pc and use it wired then use the macbook wirelessly since you are using it for media anyhow oruse the macbook as the usb or get a cheap usb dac for the macbook to use the mic input properly.

the cup can be removed if your squeeze hard and twist clockwise the original pads themselves cannot be removed normally and have to either be permanently or use a 3d printed pad holder to twist on replacements. i myself am using brainwaves hybrid pads

the mic does in fact work on 3.5MM when USB Mode is enabled you can easily test this on mobile devices and this is how i usually use it on my phone. this seems more to be an issue with your macbook treating it as a line in input and not the headset itself