Clear quality sound. There could be a mic drop after that statement. When you’re looking for a clear
conference speakerphone, the EPOS Bluetooth Expand 40T is the solution for you.
Collaborative Solution
As someone who works from home and doesn’t deal with conference rooms or group conversations, it doesn’t seem that I would have the need for a speakerphone. The problem is that I am one of few people in my company who is not in the office. Therefore, my ability to collaborate with the rest of the team while they are in a conference room has been greatly limited by the poor-quality devices used during our sessions. I have been diligently waiting for a solution that allows other call attendees to clearly hear each speaker in the room. So, I have taken on the mission of finding the right speakerphone to put in our conference rooms. I found that solution in the EPOS Expand 40T.
Unlike most of the units I have tested, this one has the cable built in and wraps around beneath the device. This ensures the cable won’t be lost or mixed with other cords on the table. It connects instantly and easily pairs with my cell phone. It works right out of the box and takes zero troubleshooting. Included with the 40T is a USB-C direct connect dongle. It works perfectly in our conference room and allows for immediate connection to a laptop. The dongle, once plugged in, installs the necessary driver and announces the speaker as connected within 15 seconds. Thankfully, the dongle also stores nicely beneath the unit itself.
This speaker comes equipped with Built-in Microsoft Teams technology allowing it to be recognized by the software. Again, in our testing we did not encounter any problems. Overall, our Teams test went great and allowed us to initiate calls and utilize the speaker without additional setup. Our test conference room is about 18’ x 10’ with an 8’ table that seats 10. There is always that “softspoken” user who sits in a chair away from the table. However, any user sitting as a part of the group and deploying a natural conversational volume was picked up by the unidirectional microphone and understood on the other end. Exactly what we need.
Crystal Clear and Mobile
The sound is very clear, and the output volume lacks nothing. There is also a quick mute button which works well while having a side conversation in the room. The EPOS Expand 40T is an ECHO Cancelling device which means that some of the sounds in the room further away do not bounce or echo like some similar devices. This is due to the “three beamforming microphones isolate voices from room reverb and ambient noise”.
With the device off, you can click to determine the battery life of the unit. There are 4 indicator lights, the last of which means you have less than 10% left and need to charge. Overall, we found during initial testing that the battery life is great. We did not have a need to charge the device in more than ten hours of use. Using the plug in when available would prevent this from likely ever being an issue. I found the wireless approach better so I could place the speaker towards the center of the group, which was further from the controlling computer than the cable would reach.
A few other clever features in the ability to activate Cortana on the device and using a Bluetooth shared mode for multiple users to control the microphone from their device. We did not use the NFC connect, but that is an additional feature available.
Bottom Line
The sleek design of this device provides a nice portal solution that delivers a clear sound while standing up to the challenges presented by vacuous rooms or ambient noises associated with a room full of people. The device comes with a nice soft-sided zipper case which protects the device while traveling. I have tested a decent group of devices similar to the Expand 40T by EPOS, and I would highly recommend this device over others; it will be a part of my Team meetings going forward.