Audeze FILTER – A Portable Bluetooth Conference Speakerphone with AI Noise Reduction

Smartphones and laptops are great for communication when it comes to making/taking calls or conferencing over the internet via platforms like Zoom. But they typically come with subpar or just “average” features when it comes to providing crisp audio without any background distractions. Hence the reason that specialty speakerphones are still a thing. Solutions like the Audeze Filter.

Typically, headphones are a go-to when it comes to things like ambient noise reduction. But this isn’t always the answer if you have multiple people on one end of the call. It’s okay if you are calling solo, but if you have someone sitting next to you, they may have to hear what’s going on as well. Or, you might just dislike having things on your head and over your ears as this can be distracting for some.

So the Audeze Filter seeks to provide another solution for this niche by not only delivering a product with plenty of volume and crisp/clean input, but one that maintains a small profile and packs some useful features. Like ambient noise rejection/reduction, a planar magnetic speaker, and a beam-forming microphone.

This speakerphone is no bigger than your average smartphone while being a little thinner than some of the flagship (smartphone) models out there. It packs flat so you can slide it into your pocket and takes up little space on your desk (or whatever surface you place it on).

It flips open so that the controls remain flat while the speaker can be positioned to point directly at you. The controls are touch-sensitive making it easy to adjust your settings and it can be used wirelessly or wired via USB.

There is a USB-C port tucked away where the two halves flip away from each other and comes with a little rubber insert to keep dust out of it when it isn’t being used. The box contains a USB-C to USB-C cable but also has a small adapter to USB-A so that it can be used with literally any USB device that supports a speaker/mic solution such as this.

For those looking to go wireless, it supports up to Bluetooth 5.0, allowing you to use it with virtually any mobile device. Packed with support for the codecs that you gain with Bluetooth 5.0, it is ready to go wireless with clean audio in both directions.

All of your controls are available using the touch-sensitive buttons. Including volume control for the speaker (middle), a mic mute button (bottom left), a play/pause and answer call button via the Audeze “A” logo(bottom right), noise reduction mode (top right), and beam-forming mode (top left).

You can also control these settings via its app that works with Android and iOS mobile devices as well as Windows and Mac OS computers.

The beam-forming controls allow you to switch between 70, 90, and 105 degrees. So you can specify how tight you want it to focus on the space in front of it and cancel out sounds coming from everywhere else. Where one person would likely use 70 or 90 degrees, 2 to 3 people sitting in front of it would likely choose 105 degrees. If you turn it off, it will record 360 degrees (everything).

Noise reduction works independently from this. So you are able to still cancel out some of your environmental noise, even if you have beam-forming turned off (enabling 360-degree capture).

So you can dial things in depending on what any given situation calls for. Allowing you to focus on just the people who need to interact with the call and not the barking dog in the other room, children playing, vacuum cleaner running, or noisy traffic outside your space (etc).

To keep it away from scratches, it does come with a really nice soft pleather case that opens and shuts via magnets embedded in the material. It takes away the “slide it into your pocket” kind of feel but provides a great option for storing it in any kind of bag or luggage.

The company even includes a small mousepad to give it a padded surface to place it on and some clear instructions to get you going.

Performance/Conclusion

This is a fantastic speakerphone for travel or simply for those who don’t like things in or around their ears while in a conversation. It’s nice to be able to be completely untethered from your screen and to keep what you’re carrying down to a minimum. It’s just so easy to whip out and use at any time.

What’s really nice is that everyone around you can be included without it being a complete inaudible mess for anyone else in the call. You can let the whole room hear what the other end is saying without it leaking back into the microphone.

The speaker is crisp and clean and you can be heard just as well. It isn’t going to be studio-grade sound on their end coming from the mic, but what phone call will ever sound like that? For what it sounds like, it sounds good enough for everything it is working on. You can hear it for yourself in the unboxing video below.

It is designed around clear discussion so it isn’t the best for music. It has a range of 300Hz – 20kHz which is more than enough for voice while still providing a little something for music/videos for things like presentations. It also has plenty of volume, capable of up to 118dB of volume without distortion.

The unit is around half a pound and the pouch it comes with compliments it well when you consider how much it costs. Battery life is great at up to 15 hours of use and the user-friendliness of controls is great as well. Another good product from Audeze with plenty of use potential.

Video:

Additional Images:

Specifications:

Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.