Poly Sync 20 Review: A Portable Audio Powerhouse for Working Anywhere Anytime

Poly Sync 20 Review

Black Friday deals direct from Poly here.

Looking for a speakerphone that looks as good as it will make you feel? Look to the $129 Poly Sync 20 Pink edition that will yield a $10 donation to the National Break Cancer Foundation with each purchase. The 2021 redot winner, which also comes in gray without the donation, combines USB connectivity and Bluetooth® to produce pleasant conversations with colleagues and family.

A microphone array ensures when more than one person is on the call, everyone gets heard. Clear touch points on the front of the speaker handle volume and call management. A programmable button lets you assign an action, like launching Miro brainstorm during a call. Buttons on the right edge clearly manage power and Bluetooth® connectivity. A long LED running along the front of the device visually broadcasts status.

As with most Poly products, design and function combine into a beautiful device. Sleek lines, lifted slightly above surfaces by a pedestal base, create air around the speaker for sound to travel. The list supports Poly’s bass reflex system with dual passive radiators for natural voice and deep bass. Full duplex audio means everybody talks, and everybody can hear. As I’ve experienced more than once, that doesn’t mean everybody is listening.

Imminently portable, the Poly Sync 20 also includes a port for charging a phone while also using the device. On a full charge, and not charging something else, the Sync 20 will run up to 20 hours before its needs to be topped off.

The Sync 20 supports all popular video and audio conferencing systems including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Cisco, Google Meet, and Avaya.

Worried about drinking coffee or soda near the speaker? Setting up a call in the Mojave Desert? The IP64 dust and water-resistance rating have you covered for extremist conditions.

Like all Poly products of late, basic cardboard with little ink acts as an environmentally sound box design.

The Poly Sync 20 box includes a snug-fitting carrying case and a nylon lanyard. It should be telling that it took me longer to install the wrist strap than it did to set up my first call.

Poly Sync 20 Specifications

• Connection: PC via USB-A or USB-C cable (depending on model); smartphone via Bluetooth
• Compatible with: Windows, Mac OS, iOS and iPadOS
• Bluetooth®: v5.1
• Supported Bluetooth® profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP, and BLE
• Microphones: Three microphone steerable array
• Microphone pickup range: Up to 7 ft / 2 m
• Microphone Frequency Response: 100 Hz to 6.7 kHz
• Audio: Full duplex with noise and echo reduction
• Speaker size: 40mm
• Speaker frequency response: 80 Hz to 20 kHz
• Battery: 3200 mAH Lithium-ion
• Talk time: Up to 20 hours
• Charge time: 4 hours
• Dimensions: 34 x 95 x 182 mm/1.3 x 3.7 x 7.2 in
• Weight: 360 g / 12.7 oz

Poly Sync 20: The Bottom Line

For work-from-home scenarios, the Poly Sync 20 offers more than admirable features. It isn’t for large conference rooms, but it’s great for personal meetings at a desk or at the dining table when connecting two families for a video chat, or the dining table that also acts as a conference table.

Great for the work from anywhere situations, and work from the same place every day too. Not my first choice for music, but with decent audio if you just need to hear a little Sophie Tucker in the afternoon (but a good headset is always better for music, and Poly makes one of those too). Doubling duty as a backup battery is a plus.

There are a lot of speakerphones on the market these days. Only one in this class is made by the company that put audio in NASA’s Apollo space suits.

Poly provided the Sync 20 for review. Images courtesy of Poly.

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