Conference calls have a rhythm of their own. In India, if you are working from home, you may, at times, have to bear with an incessant drilling in the distance, a hollering push cart vendor, children playing, and a whistling pressure cooker. Such intrusions diminish the quality of calls, making participants repeat themselves, raise their voices, or move to different rooms.
Portronics’ Talk Two conference speaker claims to reduce such disruptions, as this device comes with echo cancellation and noise reduction features. We review it to see if it can truly save a chaotic work call.
In the box
We received the Talk Two conference speaker and product documentation.
Design
Portronics’ Talk Two conference speaker is a disc shaped device that just fits in an outstretched palm. Its stylish, portable design is a quirky blend of old and new. The speaker is lightweight and convenient to stow in a laptop bag. A compact base around which you can twist the speaker’s USB-D cable will help keep your desk free of clutter, while the soft speaker mesh gives it a charmingly nostalgic touch.
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Finally, a shiny black touch dial in the centre has the Pause/Play control, volume settings, On/Off button, and Mute/Unmute button. We found this dial became stained and scratched very quickly despite gentle usage.
The dial’s rim has attractive multicoloured lights that flash when the device is active or the person speaking unmutes themselves. Red and blue lights remain steady when you are in meetings.
Ease of Usage
Simply plug the Talk Two conference speaker into the USB-D port of a laptop or PC, and you are ready for an enhanced conference call experience.
A very loud and irritatingly upbeat jingle plays when the speaker comes to life, which we could have done without. Manipulating the volume controls also produces a loud digital “click” noise so it’s best not to fiddle with the device when you are speaking with others. The Talk Two speaker also makes automatic adjustments to the volume based on whether you or the other speakers are loud enough. This was disruptive at times.
When the mute button on the conference speaker is activated, the computer screen still shows the user as being unmuted. So, I ended up muting and unmuting myself both on the device and the screen to err on the side of caution.
Separately, we noticed the speaker getting shut down abruptly when connected to a phone via the USB-D to USB-C adaptor. On contacting the company, we learned that the Talk Two speaker is not smartphone compatible. We were extremely disappointed by this, as conference calls often take place across devices and we wanted our conference speaker to be just as versatile.
After back-to-back meetings that lasted about two hours in total, the control dial became warm but not hot.
Listening experience
Joining a conference call with the Portronics Talk Two speaker instantly made it clear just how much a participant can miss when they rely exclusively on the PC or laptop audio. A work call with my colleagues felt like meeting them for the first time again, as the speaker helped capture the full richness of their voices while silencing the usual background sounds and electronic distortions one can expect during overlapping conversations.
Portronics’ Talk Two renders voices in their full-bodied yet natural glory, helping you stay focused during the conference call instead of getting distracted by tinny computer vocals that strain the ears, or a fight between some stray dogs thousands of kilometres away from you.
The Talk Two speaker also changes the way other meeting participants might hear your voice, as a colleague was able to identify when the external device was being used during conference calls. The speaker works best when placed directly before you, and can cause an imbalanced audio experience when kept to the side.
After work hours, the Talk Two serves as a fine music speaker for parties, gatherings, or home entertainment. While music listeners might have preferred a cleaner output, the 3 Watts speaker packs a punch with an impressive bass.
Verdict
The Talk Two conference speaker by Portronics is a boon for remote workers that injects more life and warmth into conference calls by doing away with laptop/PC-induced voice distortion. At the same time, the lack of mobile support and Bluetooth functions is disappointing when considering the product’s price point.
