Microsoft Modern USB-C Speaker

Check out this brand new Microsoft modern accessories pack, with wireless and wired headsets, a USB speaker and a travel adapter. I plan to upload a video review for each one of these items to finally let you know if its good or whack!

So here is the brand new, Modern USB-C speaker.

Just like the rest of these modern accessories, so is this speaker very nicely packed in this hard nifty box.
On the package it say that this speaker has:
– Mute button with indicator light
– Noise reduction microphone
– voice-optimized sound
– compact design with cable management
– MS Teams certified.

It comes with this lovely, tight-fit, hard case with Microsoft logo in the center.

Oh look how it rises when you open the box. That’s a cool packaging gimmick, I like it.

So the speaker is small indeed. It has 5 buttons of different sizes.

I would prefer they make the answer-calls button large instead of the teams button, but maybe I am missing something here.

The cable is hidden underneath this rubber bottom. It is longer than I expected.

Its nice that this bottom part gets a good grip of your desk, effectively improving the sound resonance.
But on the other hand, it catches dust like crazy.

When it comes to sound, It works great for voice, but to test music performance I decided to compare it with 2 other speakers.

This is the sound we get from the default Lenovo ThinkPad X270 speakers.
Pretty lame I would say.

Now lets check how it sounds with the modern speaker.
Much better no doubt.

And now lets hear this same track with the Jabra Speake 510.
It’s definitely better than the default speaker, but not as good as the modern speaker.

I am impressed.

Let’s try them again side-by-side.

Clearly Microsoft is a better choice for music between these two. Compared to Jabra, the modern speaker sound smoother and more pleasant.

So to summarize, Microsoft has done a good job here,
The speaker is small, it has a nice case, the sound quality is good and the buttons are convenient.

But it has no battery and no Bluetooth.

Why can’t Microsoft just do a perfect product for a change, which has everything?

Why every item they make, has some sort of a compromise? And I’m not just talking of all these modern accessories, but about the surface line of products and other peripherals as well.

Almost all of Microsoft hardware products only realize between 70 and 90 percent of their potential.

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