Poly Sync 10 – USB speakerphone for work or home (UC review)

The Poly Sync 10 is a desktop USB speakerphone that adds better sound and voice pick-up to video conferences, audio calls, podcasts and even music. And it sounds pretty good.

The secret to better conference calls is the steerable dual-array mic that focuses on your voice and reduces extraneous background noise.

You can manage it via the Poly Lens App, but it is a simple USB device that Windows and macOS automatically recognise – no installation. All the features are available from the touch controls – Volume +/-/mute and answer a call. A status bar shows when the device is in use.

There is not a lot to test, so here it is. Spoiler – a perfect desktop addition for work from home and office use.

Australian Review: Poly Sync 10 – USB speakerphone

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. Occasionally will give a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed.

Website	Product Page
Price	Less than $200 Poly sells via computer stores and Unified Comms specialists. There is no fixed RRP, so prices are indicative only. Poly Amazon Store
Warranty	2-years
Country of Manufacture	China
About	Poly was born from Plantronics and Polycom, focusing on beautifully designed and engineered audio and video products that let you be seen and heard with incredible clarity wherever you work. Backed by the software, artificial intelligence, analytics, and insights to take you far beyond mere connectivity.
More	CyberShack Poly news and reviews

The Poly Sync Range

• Sync 10 uses USB. Dual Mics. No Bluetooth or a battery.
• Sync 20 has USB, Tri-mics, Bluetooth 5.1 and a 20hr battery (power bank capable)
• As above, Sync 20+ has a Bluetooth BT600 dongle
• Sync 40 USB-A and USB-C, Bluetooth BT600 dingle, 30hr battery
• Sync 60 – more for conference room use

First impression – Pass

It is attractive enough in a traditional way, but it looks like a piece of business equipment with charcoal speaker cloth and a beige plastic base. The 71.5cm USB-A cable needs to snake to a PC/Mac and use the USB-A port (or USB-C with the adapter). It is 32.5 x 89.2 x 182 mm. It has an IP64 rating, is quite solid and well-built.

Poly would benefit from adding some ‘WFH’ style or trendy colours – or at least make it space grey for Apple users!

Mics – Exceed

The dual array mics beam focuses on the person speaking and tends to cut extraneous noise. Poly claim 1.5m effective range (verified) – this is a personal desktop device. Callers commented on my voice clarity.

Sound – Mono but pretty good – Pass+

It can get quite loud – 84dB but has noticeable distortion, and we recommend backing off 2-3dB (80% volume), and all is fine.

Surprisingly mid-bass kicks in from a low 40Hz (claim 80Hz) and builds solidly to 100Hz, where it is flat right through to 4Khz and then a gentle decline to 20Hz. That neutral signature neither adds nor subtracts from the original music. It has a slight emphasis on 1-4kHz for clear voice.

The only issue is that Windows does not have an EQ to change the signature, so garbage-in, garbage out – the better the music quality, the better it sounds.

There is no sound stage – it is mono – and there is no directionality, but for video conferences, that is all you need.

You can learn more about sound How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is the key)

CyberShack’s view – Poly Sync 10 – USB speakerphone for work or home

Technically it is perfect all-around and would be a decent addition to your desktop. It’s a bit bland in design, but perhaps that is what business wants. There is a Microsoft Teams version as well.

We can’t fault it (not that we can fault any Poly product), so it gets our buy recommendation. Although check out the Poly Sync 20 as well – it has more functionality for not much more cost.

Pro

Reasonable cost

Com