With video meetings taking part in our work lives firmly here to stay it's more vital than ever to be heard clearly and to sound professional.
Meetings, pitches, and conferences can hinge on how well you come across, and relying on your work laptop's inbuilt speaker won't always do the job, you need something that sounds almost as good as being there in person, and the EPOS Expand offers just that.
EPOS has been making high-end audio solutions for both business and consumers for a long time and are best known for its work with Sennheiser products, however, that's starting to change with EPOS becoming synonymous with audio excellence.
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EPOS)Following a very similar design to their previous speakers like the Expand 20 and 30 series, the EPOS Expand 40 is a sleek circular device.
It's very compact considering its power output and it measures 120mm x 120mm and is 37mm tall, making it inconspicuous to place in meetings and very easy to hold and carry. It won't weigh you down either at 314g, it's relatively easy to carry or throw in a bag while I have used lighter speakers few were built this well.
Its circular design is pleasing as well as the grey and black colour, ditching the silver look of previous models.
The four LEDs on time indicate helpful information like the volume level and battery status and if the mic on muted will be indicated by all red lights.
The black buttons on the outer ring make the Expand 40 simple to use without disrupting its clean and minimal look. They keep everything you need a moment's notice in reach including, answer calls, hang up, mute volume controls, and on the T version a dedicated Teams button.
The Expand is built to last, despite being made of aluminum and plastic it feels incredibly sturdy, it also comes with a simple black, neoprene carry pouch that offers some additional protection.
It's very easy to set up, you can connect to the speaker via BlueTooth, via NFC, using the dongle or you can be old school and use the built-in USB-C cable The cable is not detachable but wraps neatly underneath the device.
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EPOS)I've used the Expand 40 for both meetings, phone calls and just listening to music and the audio quality is excellent, offering richer sound as well as more bass than you usually see in a meeting-focused speaker and a staggering amount of clarity and detail with hardly any distortion.
It also can get pretty loud with very little loss in quality which makes the Expand 40 really stand out compared to other speakers I've used.
The microphones offer 360-degree pickup and the 3 Beam forming microphones do a brilliant job of isolating my voice and honing in on me when I speak even in a busy meeting room, I tried this with 5 people, however, not a maximum of 8 and it did a remarkable job.
I was very surprised that even at the further ends of the meeting room and I was able to be clearly heard giving me the confidence to speak even in less ideal spaces.
Making it even better for use on the go is its rechargeable battery, it offers around 18 hours of talking time which is much longer than I can stomach being in a meeting.
The trade-off of this impressive battery is it takes around 3 hours to charge, so I wished it had some fast charging capability just to make it ready to go at a moment's notice.
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EPOS)You can use the Expand with up to 3 connected devices simultaneously and it's compatible with mobile, desk phones, PC / Softphone, Mac OSX, and tablets which is allowed me to connect to my phone, laptop, and presentation screen.
You can also use the EPOS Connect software to keep the device up to date as well as tweak some settings like The device name, pairing list multiple call handling, etc.
There are three versions of the smart speaker. The Expand 40+ comes with the BTD 800 dongle allowing you to easily and quickly connect to other devices with can be handy for easily connecting to meeting room computers or machines.
While the 40T shares the same dongle but it is also certified for Microsoft Teams and features a dedicated Teams button.
EPOS Expand 40 Verdict: 5/5
This EPOS is a very portable and extremely versatile intelligent speaker that offers incredible audio quality and pick-up, as well as being intuitive and easy to use making it faster to save time and get meetings started swiftly.
Quality like this really doesn't come cheap at £245 but if you are constantly on the go and attending meetings the EPOS Expand is a worthwhile investment and one of the best speakers I've used, ensuring you'll always be heard clearly.
The Expand 40 is a perfect fit for the modern hybrid working business, I found it excel either at my desk in my home office, in a conference room, and even around the house and in slightly busier spaces in the office.
The Expand 40 is available now for £245.00 and £285 for both the + and T models from the EPOS website.