Meet the new Audeze FILTER conference speaker, engineered for the hybrid life and remote work. After putting it to the test, it actually provides more than you might expect. Here are three reasons to consider it for your own test call.
3 Reasons You’ll Love the Audeze FILTER Personal Conference Speaker
1. You can customize your experience.
I was surprised that for such a compact device it has features aplenty. Everything is conveniently located on what I’ll call the control pad. There is volume control as well as a muting option, and you can answer calls directly as well. The Beamforming Mode Cycle lets you scroll through narrow, medium, and wide options—and you can easily toggle the Noise Reduction Mode Cycle from off to one of three settings (low, medium, and high).
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When unfolding the device for use, you’ll find the USB port easily accessible for charging or connecting the FILTER to your computer. Connected to the Audeze Hub app, where you can customize settings, you can access what they call Speaker Boost for high volumes.
It is customizable as well, whether for aesthetics or space purposes. I like to have the speaker bent upwards toward me with the control pad flat, but there are some photos online where people use it in a tent-like fashion. Of course, depending on your space or location, laying it flat works just fine as well.
2. You can use it for more than meetings.
Without a doubt, the FILTER was designed for the work-from-home, hybrid lifestyle. I used it both connected to my phone via Bluetooth for a normal call and connected to my computer for a Zoom and Google Chat. In both cases the audio worked just fine.
The FILTER’s speaker sounded better than my iPhone speaker and was also better in quality than my computer’s speakers on video calls. Are you going to be able to record a professional podcast with this? No, the audio doesn’t match the level of a fine-tuned microphone—but in fairness, it doesn’t boast it would.
What I particularly enjoyed was using the FILTER as a Bluetooth speaker for my music while I was between calls and frantically typing at work. Here, the audio quality is head-and-shoulders above my iPhone. Although I haven’t tried it, when the weather gets warmer, I could easily see myself using this to listen to some music while I sit on my back deck and read.
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Two features that help with the sound quality are the zero-noise microphone and intelligent beamforming technologies. Audeze boasts that the AI-based microphone is trained to identify and eliminate more than 500,000 noise samples, none of which need to be preconfigured by the user. It's ready to go right out of the box.
The beamforming mics provide a range of 360-degrees down to 70-degrees of pickup, allowing you to include multiple people on a call or remove unwanted voices and sounds. I tested the technologies by moving further and further back from my desk, and the people on the other end of the calls didn’t seem to experience any drop off in audio quality.
3. It's built for travel.
The Pro AV industry, like many others, is a hybrid world. With the full-fledged return of trade shows and customer visits, many of us are spending plenty of time in hotels or taking meetings in locations that aren't equipped for conference calls. Luckily, both its size and accessories make the FILTER easy to take anywhere.
The FILTER is the size of a cell phone (almost identical in size to my iPhone 13), so if you are bouncing from huddle room to huddle room, it fits right in your pocket. The sleek leather case is lightweight, but just thick enough to help avoid damage in your bag, and the magnetic catch ensures it stay closed.
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I really like the included desktop mat that avoids scuffing your device or tabletop (and it can double as a mousepad). Plus, its USB-C charging cable includes an adaptor, so connectivity should not be an issue.
The Audeze FILTER is a solid speaker option for today’s workplace, whether it’s your home office, traditional office, or on the road—or any combination of the three. It’s portability, beamforming audio capabilities, and price tag (under $250) make this speaker worth a listen.
