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Modern Workplace and Collaboration

~ by Paul B

Modern Workplace and Collaboration

Tag Archives: Product Review

Product Review: Sennheiser TeamConnect Wireless

21 Monday May 2018

Posted by Paul B in Audio Conferencing, Conferencing, Microsoft Teams, Product Review, Sennheiser, Skype for Business

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Audio Conferencing, Conference Rooms, Microsoft Teams, Product Review, Skype for Business

In my ongoing quest for finding new and shiny things, I came across the Sennheiser TeamConnect Wireless product range.

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Overview

Sennheiser’s TeamConnect Wireless is a portable conference system providing audio by means of either USB, Bluetooth, 3.5mm jack or NFC (Near Field Communication technology). This variety of connectivity options allows BYOC (bring your own conference [just made that up]). Be it a laptop, smart device or Surface Hub, connecting is simple. This sleek design and flexibility makes for a classy solution. With up to four satellites you got the room covered.

Want a more permanent setup? The tray set is the answer. With the 2 or 4 satellite solution quietly resting in the tray, charging away, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was part of the décor, some piece of art innocently placed to balance the room.

There are 3 different options: –

  1. TeamConnect Wireless (case set): Sennheiser TeamConnect Wireless – this option is portable and comes in a neat, hard shell carry case that also doubles as a charging station.
  2. TeamConnect Wireless – Tray Set: It features one master unit and three slave satellites plus the stationary tray charger. The Tray Set is designed for smaller rooms of up to 24 participants.
  3. TeamConnect – Tray-M (M for midsized): The Tray-M Set is a smaller version of the Tray Set. It features one master unit and one satellite plus the stationary tray charger. The Tray-M Set is designed for smaller rooms of up to 12 participants.

Highlights

  • beautiful design
  • no power source needed in operation
  • Lithium Ion rechargeable battery (recharges in 10 hours)
  • hard-shell charging/transport case with an external power supply unit
  • recharge by simply plug the case into a power source
  • touch sensitive controls for mute and volume
  • professional-sounding
  • set up in less than a minute
  • dual-microphone configuration within each satellite

See it in action HERE

Specifications

Operating time up to 8h with BA 100
Standby time up to 24h
Charging time Up to 10h
Range Bluetooth approx. 10m / DECT approx. 20m
Frequency range 1880 – 1900 MHz 1920 – 1930 MHz

1893 – 1906 MHz 2400 – 2485 MHz

Frequency response (Microphone)

200 Hz – 12 kHz

Frequency response (Headphones)

200 Hz – 9 kHz

Audio quality 16 bit / 24 kHz
Microphone omni-directional

Noise-cancelling

Connectivity Bluetooth, NFC, 3.5mm, USB
Bluetooth 4.2 / HFP / HSP / A2DP
Weight approx. 4700g
RF output power max. 100 mW (EIRP)
Power Satellites: 3.7 VDC via BA 100 / or via USB to TC-W Master 5V/ max. 500mA
Voltage 12 V DC
Charging Current 1 A
Controls: All satellites Volume and mute on all satellites
Controls: Master satellites Bluetooth pairing

NFC (Near Field Communication technology) status icon

3.5mm jack plug icons

 Suggestions for improvement

Please ship with Bluetooth dongle

Would be great to have a disconnect\end call button on the units. Seems like an oversight as there is no way to end the call from them.

Why not certified for SFB\Teams?

Comment from Sennheiser:

“TeamConnect Wireless works with Skype for Business (as with other UC platforms without limitations. Microsoft changed the requirements for the S4B certification, due to the new category of “Skype Room System”. This follows the approach of a fixed, installed solution in dedicated rooms. Since this concept contradicts with the wireless, flexible concept for audio conferencing of TC-W, a certification is not possible”

In conclusion

It’s a beautifully designed product, what you would expect to see with Sennheiser. Also, it just works. Only real challenge is the price point, but again, if you took all the hours wasted on getting audio setup correctly you could easily justify spending USD 3,900.

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Product Review: Sennheiser MB 660 UC

21 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by Paul B in Product Review

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Product Review

Let me start by saying that as of this moment the Sennheiser MB 660 UC is my new favorite headset. Let me explain..

MB 660 UC

At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking that this is predominantly a music headphone. The absence of a boom microphone is what concerned me as soon as I started unpacking this beauty. I was expecting the MB 660 UC to pickup all the surrounding office sounds as it attempts to find my voice. This was not the case. Not even close!

It was actually quite the opposite. Not only was the MB 660 UC able to find my voice clearly, BUT it was able to filter out all other office sounds so effectively that callers were unable to hear me typing away on my keyboard (I tend to strike the keyboard in a less elegant fashion than most). I have a fairly loud neighbor to my desk (hello Travis) and in my daily Skype for Business calls he is often heard over my voice, despite my best efforts.

That’s no longer the case..

A good headset in my opinion needs to be comfortable, must have great music quality and needs superb conversation audio too. A decent battery life is appreciated and of course if it looks cool and doesn’t fall apart after rigorous use then I am happy.

The MB 660 UC stands above the rest with the use of an adaptive ANC (Active Noise Controller), *SpeakFocus  and  Advanced Own-Voice-Detector. Collectively these innovative technologies are the reasons why this headset is a superbly awesome device. The use of these 3 innovative technologies contribute to the removal of ambient noise while focusing attention to the speaker. Since ambient noise can vary, an adaptive ANC is particularly effective in adjusting to the ever changing ambient noise. Its a lot more technical than that, but you get the idea. Also all ANC claims are not equal, I tend to trust my ears and not the brochures.

The Plantronics Voyager UC has been my go to device in the office because of being wireless and fairly good at ANC. I have also used the Jabra EVOLVE 80 at my home office, primarily because of it being a lot better when it comes to ANC, filters out my squawking cockatiel to some extent but mostly creates a quite space for me to work in.

Don’t get me wrong, BOTH these headsets are really good. However, what has been missing (IMHO) is a device that is a hybrid of these two products. The Sennheiser MB 660 UC does that well.

What I liked:-

  • Touch Pad Controls – really cool to interface to functionality via touch pad
  • very comfortable – despite wearing it all day
  • no boom, I tend to snack at my desk and the boom can get in the way. Pushing the boom up on other headsets works but I do often forget to bring it down again
  • NFC pairing
  • Audio cable with answer button (2.5mm and 3.5mm jack plugs) and in-flight adapter
  • Battery time is great at 30 hours
  • Battery run down? No problem, switch over to cable mode
  • The 3 “braille” like dots on the left hand side of the headset – get left and right correct in the dark. You don’t want to put this puppy on back to front, cause the boom will be projecting to the back of your head 😉

* SpeakFocus and Advanced Own-Voice-Detector are unique to Sennheiser

Areas for improvement:

  • Although the touchpad is really cool, I found that at times I either accidentally disconnected a call or placed the headset on mute.
  • The mute function doesn’t place the Skype for Business call on mute, just the headset, this can be confusing
  • Love the idea of no boom, however it comes with a slight degradation in transmitting audio
  • Would like to see more obvious indication of left and right, you can get these on back to front quite easily if you not paying attention
  • The MB 660 doesn’t pair correctly 100% of the time to my PC, every now and then I have to turn it off and on again before it connects properly
  • The reception range isn’t quite as impressive as my Plantronics Voyager UC

References

https://en-nz.sennheiser.com/wireless-headset-office-phone-mb-660-uc

Get the Quick Guide

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Introducing the Plantronics Voyager Focus UC

15 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by Paul B in Product Review, Product Review

≈ 1 Comment

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Plantronics, Product Review

Voyager Focus UCPlantronics have done a great job in creating anticipation for the Voyager Focus UC. I have been waiting to get my hands on this little beauty for almost 3 months.

First impression is that its Voyager Legend UC meets Blackwire 720.

Handling the unit I niticed how it looks and feels like a quality product. No cutting corners to save a few dollars on inferior plastic etc. On closer investigation I was very pleasantly surprised by all the additional innovations that have been included.

My Favourite Features include:-

  1. Left and Right sensed based on direction of the boomSkype for Business Bluetooth headset
  2. Active Noise Cancelling (ANC)
  3. Incredible battery life, I had almost 2 full days – and I listen to music 95% of the day
  4. USB Pairing to my mobile phone, PC and tablet simultaneously without any issues.
  5. Presence updated to In a Call when I am on a mobile call (Yaya!) – not new but very useful
  6. Love the music control buttons (Track Backward\Track Forward\Play\Pause)
  7. Rotating Wheel for volume control
  8. Great sound quality
  9. Mute On\Off when you take off\put on the headset (thank you active sensors), and a notification toast (mute on reminder) to tell you that its happened
  10. Also, a screen toast that tells you that you are on mute if you forget and start talking while on mute
  11. OpenMic – When not in a call, mute (Red so you cant miss it) button becomes OpenMic on\off. You can adjust the amount of ambient noise to allow with the volume wheel
  12. Familiarity – since the buttons\controls are in exactly the same place as my Voyager Legend, operating this beauty is already second nature.
  13. Bluetooth range beyond any of the devices I have tested before
  14. The pouch has a separate compartment for charging cable and USB adapter, I have lost a few of these little adapters so am rather happy with this little inclusion.

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Comfort

Once I found the proper adjustments for my melon it was great. Managed to wear it for a full day without any discomfort. Its rather light and the ANC works fairly well for a headset that doesn’t totally encapsulate your ears.

Headsets often start to agitate me if they are too tight, partly because my radars get squashed. But wearing spectacles is also a discomfort when the headset is competing for the same real estate (over the ear).  No such contention between my spectacles and my Voyager Focus UC.

Suggestions

  1. I wish the Charge stand was also a Bluetooth receiver, I am often handicapped with only one USB socket
  2. Using the Plantronics Hub Software, I can set the Media Player Action on incoming calls. I would love see Spotify on the list
  3. Also the music control buttons don’t work with Spotify
  4. Taking the headset off while music is playing pauses the music, cool BUT (see a theme developing here?) not working with Spotify
  5. The USB receiver is very active, flashing bright blue all day long. Its a bit distracting and I would love to see an option to disable this altogether.

Overall I think this is a fantastic headset. Dare I say, its the best headset I have had the pleasure to use.

NOTE If you somehow missed it, this is a Bluetooth headset, not DECT

User Guide

-36.606806 174.788803

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