Meze Boommic

Use your favourite headphones for gaming or work

The Meze Boom Mic Cable offers a solution for audiophiles who want to use high-quality headphones for work or gaming without sacrificing communication clarity.

With a lossless wired connection and audiophile-level sound, it’s an appealing choice for those who appreciate sound fidelity and low-latency audio, especially during work calls or gaming sessions.

But while I did love using the Boom mic for the past few weeks especially when paired with the right headphone, there are some cases where it might not be suitable for you and some of my headphones where it did not work as excepted.

So read on to find out if it’s the perfect way to use your favourite headphones while gaming or on long work conference calls.

Why Choose a Boom Mic Cable?

I believe a wired boom mic cable is an excellent choice for several reasons:

• Lossless sound: Prefer a clean, wired connection over lossy wireless audio?
• Headphone quality: Want to enjoy your favorite audiophile headphones while working or gaming
• Low latency: Is minimizing audio delay crucial for your tasks
• Super simple connectivity: No messing with bluetooth settings just plug, play (and talk)

For those who work from home or occasionally in shared spaces, where work meetings are frequent, having a quality headphone equipped with a boom mic is a great alternative to a ‘bluetooth’ headset / TWS or worse using your laptop’s microphone.

Unboxing and Build Quality

The Meze Boom Mic Cable comes in a sleek, well-designed package:

Taking it out of the box you get a nice pleather bag to carry the mic:

The quality of the cable is evident right out of the box, and the boom mic feels robust.

Features

The inline volume control and mute function are intuitive and convenient, giving you quick control over your audio and mic during calls.

You also get a splitter cable (for computers with separate microphone and audio interfaces):

Sound and Microphone Quality

Both audio and mic performance are outstanding. The microphone captures clear, detailed audio, making it ideal for calls or in-game chat. My only issue was the lower microphone volume on iOS devices, which lacks configuration options.

Pairings

So Meze list the following headphones that work well with the Boom mic:

• 99 Classics
• 99 NEO
• 109 PRO
• LIRIC 2nd Generation, LIRIC 1st Generation

But any headphone with dual mono 3.5mm inputs should work - so of my collection, I successfully tried various Hifiman including the Edition XS, Sundara, Sundara Closed, HE400SE. I also tried the FiiO FT5, FT3 and as you will see the FT1 (which is the headphone I mainly used with the Boom mic as I wanted a closed back) and the Sivga Luan. I also tried the Aune AR5000 and the new SR7000 both worked well.

But my Sennheiser, Audeze, Sony, AKG’s headphones did not have the right connections. And some of the more esoteric headphones that I am currently evaluating like the Crosszone CZ-8A and the JM Audio XTC 1.5 also had very specific cable requirements and did not work.

So, I would definitely check out which headphones you are planning on using with the Boom mic before buying the good news is this dual mono 3.5mm connection is becoming much more standard on modern headphones.

So here are photos of the boom mic on 2 of the headphones mentioned above:

I mainly used the Meze Boom mic with the FiiO FT1 as I needed a closed back to be able to focus on work when I was not on a call but the ability to immediately switch over to call without swapping devices was very satisfying and in general I think helped me be more productive.

Smartphone usage

So the one “problem” I had with my usage of the Boommic was if I wanted to use it on calls with my iPhone, while technically it worked, there was no way of setting the mic gain on IOS, so extra hardware would be required for a satisfying experience, basically my colleagues on the call could not hear my properly on iOS. So it was not as seamless as a bluetooth device (like an Airpod Pro) if you need to use multiple devices during your day and always being able to answer a call immediately.

Measurements

I did some brief measurements when using the Boommic with the FT1 - specifically I wanted to see if the distortion profile was different, basically if that volume control and mute switch affect the audio going through the cable and thankful I got exactly the same distortion when using the boom mic cable or a plain 3.5mm dual mono cable:

With Boom Mic	With “normal” cable:

Its hard to spot but there was about a 0.5dB lower SPL with the boom mic rather than the basic cable but no change in frequency response or distortion so it is an excellent cable.

Alternatives

In a work setup (and also at home playing games) it can be hard to use your best headphones and be able to either pop on calls or continuous keep in contact while getting the audio clarity you are used too.

You could switch to AirPods or rely on the built-in laptop mics for meetings or get a “Gaming” headset like the Audeze Maxwell, but I do think being able to use you favourite headphone (Meze or other brands) is a game changer for those who switch continuously between focused work (where good music and isolation is key) and various meetings (where a good microphone is key).

When comparing the Meze Boom Mic Cable (paired with FiiO FT1) against a $300 wireless headset like the Audeze Maxwell, the difference lies in wired versus wireless convenience. The Meze/FiiO combo delivers superior sound and low-latency performance, ideal for extended PC or console use.

However, the Maxwell excels in mobile device compatibility and offers wireless freedom, like walking around while on a call. Both setups provide excellent mic quality, but the choice depends on your setup—if you own high-end headphones and prefer a wired connection, the Meze cable is the better choice.

Rating

I have given the Meze Boom Mic Cable a very pragmatic 4 stars. It’s excellent for PC/Mac users with high quality audio output and microphone input quality, but the lack of robust mobile support slightly detracts from an otherwise stellar experience. As I pointed out earlier, this is not really a solution that Meze can solve but compared to Bluetooth devices like the Maxwell or even Airpods you are slightly limited in some scenarios.

Conclusion

If you already own a quality pair of headphones (especially closed backs) and want to maximize their potential for work or gaming, the Meze Boom Mic Cable is an excellent investment.

Especially for audiophiles who prioritize sound quality and low latency in their setups.