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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want a detachable boom mic that turns an existing 3.5mm headphone into a proper headset for meetings, choose ABLET Cable Boom Microphone; if you need a replacement inline cable with mic and volume wheel for an Astro-style gaming headset, choose Tobysome A50.
• ABLET Cable Boom Microphone — biggest strength: a real flexible boom arm (SteelFlex) that positions the unidirectional mic near your mouth, plus rotary volume control and a mute switch on the cable. That is the combination most people actually want for calls and meetings.
• ABLET Cable Boom Microphone — biggest trade-off: it is built around a specific headphone fit (HyperX Cloud Flight / 3.5mm jack headphones), so if your headset is not that style, you are shopping the wrong part.
• Tobysome A50 — biggest strength: it is a full inline control pod on a cable — volume wheel, inline mic, mute button and a call pickup/hangup button — and it is aimed at the Astro A10/A20/A30/A40/A40TR/A50 family.
• Tobysome A50 — biggest trade-off: the mic lives in the cable, not on a boom arm. That is fine for chat and quick calls, but it is further from your mouth than a boom mic.
• Pick ABLET Cable Boom Microphone if you already own a compatible headphone and want to upgrade it into a headset with a mic you can aim.
• Pick Tobysome A50 if you own an Astro headset and your original cable is lost, worn out or you want inline call controls.
The ABLET Cable Boom Microphone is, at its core, a cable with a detachable boom mic attached. The 3.5mm male-to-male design means it slots between your headphone and whatever you are plugging into, and the mic itself is unidirectional, which is the right choice for voice — it is designed to pick up what is in front of it rather than the whole room. The SteelFlex arm is the part I care about most, because it lets you bend the mic into position instead of accepting wherever the cable happens to sit.
For meetings, that matters more than people expect. A mic that sits near your mouth and stays there gives you consistent level and less room noise than a mic dangling at chest height. The inline rotary volume control and mute switch mean you can adjust and silence yourself without reaching for your laptop — genuinely useful in a call when someone starts talking over you. It is also pitched at gaming, Skype/VOIP, podcasting and taking calls on the go, so the use cases overlap heavily with work-from-home life.
Who should skip it? Anyone whose headset is not a 3.5mm jack headphone, or specifically not the HyperX Cloud Flight style it is built to fit. Also, if your source device has separate mic and headphone jacks, note that ABLET includes a dual 3.5mm Y-adapter, so that case is covered — but you should confirm your gear first. If you want open ear headphones for meetings instead of a wired boom setup, this is not that product.
The Tobysome A50 is a replacement cable first and a communication tool second. It is designed for the Astro A10/A20/A30/A40/A40TR/A50 headset family, connecting to an Xbox One controller, a MixAmp, or a PC/Mac with a combined mic/headphone 3.5mm jack. If your original Astro cable has died, this is the kind of part that gets your headset back in service without replacing the whole thing.
The interesting bit is the inline control pod. You get a volume wheel, an inline mic, a mute button and a call pickup/hangup button — so you can answer a call, adjust level and mute yourself from the cable. The inline mic has two switch positions: one routes audio to the headset's own microphone, the other activates the inline mic built into the cable. That is a genuinely thoughtful detail, because it means you can use the headset mic when you want quality and switch to the inline mic when you want convenience. One thing to remember: to control your device with the cable, the switch needs to be in the B position.
Tobysome also describes gold-plated connectors and a super core wire for clean, low-loss stereo transmission, and the cable runs about 6.6 feet, which is a comfortable length for a desk or a couch. It works with smartphones and several Amazon Fire tablet models too, which broadens it beyond pure gaming.
Who should skip it? Anyone who does not own a compatible Astro headset, and anyone who specifically wants a boom mic they can position at their mouth. The inline mic is convenient, not precise. If your priority is the best volume limiting bluetooth earbuds for meetings — a completely different category — neither of these is your answer, since both are wired 3.5mm parts.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for existing Astro owners → Tobysome A50. It is purpose-built for the A10/A20/A30/A40/A40TR/A50 line and revives a headset with a dead cable.
• Best for quick call controls → Tobysome A50. Volume wheel, mute button and a call pickup/hangup button on the cable cover the basics without touching your screen.
• Best for mute-and-adjust on the fly with a boom mic → ABLET Cable Boom Microphone. Rotary volume and a mute switch sit right on the cable, close to hand.
• Best for gaming consoles → both, in different ways. ABLET targets PS4/PS5 and Xbox controllers plus PC, laptop and phones; Tobysome targets Xbox One controllers, MixAmp and PC/Mac.
• Best for cable length → Tobysome A50 at roughly 6.6 feet, versus ABLET's 200cm (about 6.5 feet) — effectively even, so do not choose on length.
• Best for a swappable mic setup → ABLET Cable Boom Microphone. The boom mic is detachable, so you can run it as a plain audio cable when you do not need voice.
• Best for tablets and phones → both list support, but Tobysome names specific Amazon Fire tablet generations, so check your model if that is your use case.
If I were buying for meetings, I would take the ABLET Cable Boom Microphone. In my opinion, a boom mic you can aim at your mouth with a mute switch and volume dial on the cable is simply the better tool for talking all day, and the flexible SteelFlex arm is the reason. I would only pick the Tobysome A50 if I already owned a compatible Astro headset and needed to replace a broken cable — in that case it is the right part, and the inline call controls are a nice bonus. So: ABLET for making calls sound good, Tobysome for fixing an Astro headset.
FAQ
Yes, it is listed as compatible with the Astro A10/A20/A30/A40/A40TR/A50 family, and it connects to an Xbox One controller, a MixAmp, or a PC/Mac with a combined mic/headphone 3.5mm jack. Just remember to set the inline switch to position B if you want to control your device from the cable.
No. It is built to fit HyperX Cloud Flight and 3.5mm jack headphones, and it plugs into devices with 3.5mm audio output like PS4/PS5, Xbox controllers, PC, laptop and phones. If your device has separate mic and headphone jacks, use the included dual 3.5mm Y-adapter.
I do not quote prices here, since they change. Both are replacement-cable products in the same broad category, so the deciding factor should be fit and mic design, not cost — check the current price on Amazon for each before you commit.
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