Audeze Filter

Audeze, now owned by Sony Corporation, has Filter. Filter is a battery-powered, Bluetooth-enabled speakerphone purpose-built for conference calls. It is the company's first non-headphone product and uses several high technologies to work synergistically to solve the typical audio problems with all speakerphones.

Filter is a battery-powered, Bluetooth-enabled speakerphone purpose-built for conference calls. It is the company's first non-headphone product and uses several high technologies to work in tandem to solve the typical audio problems with all speakerphones.

First is environmental noise interfering with the intelligibility of your voice because of the extra mic gain required to pick up distant or quiet voice(s) using an omni-directional microphone. Filter a process involving what's called Deep Neutral Network and a library of over 500,000 noise samples to detect and accurately remove noise.

DNN uses three levels of noise suppression: Low, Medium and High--selectable from the touch controls on the unit's surface (you can turn noise suppression Off). All of Filter's adjustments and settings are accessed via touch-sensitive controls. In general, I found myself using only enough noise reduction as required. With maximum noise reduction, there is some degradation to your voices quality, more similar to the sound quality of a cell phone. Considering how well it works, it is amazing.

With background noise removed, Filter then uses variable-pattern microphone technology called Beamforming. The pickup pattern of the two microphones on either side of its flat speaker is adjustable from Off (or omnidirectional) to 70-degrees (Narrow), 90 degrees (Medium), or 105 degrees (Wide).

I found that the Wide pickup pattern worked fine in most rooms, though if the room you are in is overly reverberant or it is only you talking, you may want to use a narrower pickup. Beamforming and DNN work well together; still it helps to experiment to get the best results in a particular room or office space with or without your colleagues.

When folded flat, Audeze Filter measures 76mm W X 152mm tall X 11mm thick--about the size, dimensions, weight, and "feel" of a typical smartphone. Filter's bifurcated design allows its touchscreen controller to lay flat on a desktop or table while Audeze's flat 70mm by 105mm planar magnetic speaker can be aimed at the person using it.

You may "audition" the pickup by recording and playing back a short 10 second audio clip to try different patterns. I'm using Filter over USB-C as an audio interface and sometimes just as a speakerphone connected to my iPhone via Bluetooth.

Audeze Filter is a modern version of a speakerphone I now use every day. It has been designed and built for hybrid engineers who bounce back and forth between the office and studio or the busy studio professional who travels frequently.

It sells for $250 MSRP and comes with a deluxe carrying pouch and complete instructions and free app. Audeze Filter

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