Choosing a Speakerphone¶

The microphone-and-speaker in each room is the single hardware choice that most affects how well Kenzy hears you. The compute side is ordinary — a small Linux box for the "brain," a Raspberry Pi per room — and covered elsewhere (Getting Started, Deployment). This page is only about the audio device.

It's a living list from our own research and testing — short, honest, and incomplete. The guidance below matters more than any single product name: it lets you judge a device we've never seen, and it doesn't go out of stock.

Guidance¶

Look for:

Wired USB. This is the one people get wrong. A wired device stays awake and always listening.
Echo cancellation (often written "full duplex"). It's what lets Kenzy hear you while she is speaking — the basis of barge-in, room-to-room intercom, and stopping a ringing alarm by voice. Calibration detects it; a device without it still works but runs half-duplex (no interrupting her, no intercom, alarms deliver once).
A fixed, desktop puck. It's an appliance that lives on a shelf, not a gadget you carry to meetings.

Avoid:

Bluetooth or battery-powered speakerphones. They sleep to save power, and a room node that naps goes deaf between uses — a wake word to a dozing mic is simply never heard. This is the most common mistake, by far. (A few devices offer a genuine wired-USB mode that stays awake while plugged in; that can work, but confirm it before trusting it.)
"Noise cancellation" with no mention of echo. Different feature, not a substitute — it won't give you full duplex.
Anything sold as portable or "for meetings on the go." A different product for a different job, and almost always wireless.

Checking a specific listing:

Read the maker's own page for the word echo (or full duplex), not a reseller's keyword list.
Match the exact model string. Wired and wireless siblings routinely share a name with one word or letter different — a "Wired" beside a "Wireless," an "…U" beside a "…B." The wireless one is the one you don't want.
Plain beats fancy. An ordinary USB conference puck is the target; the big enterprise units work but are built for a room larger than a home needs.

The list¶

✅ Recommended — meets the criteria. The note says whether we run it, it's still sold, or we simply haven't tested it. Discontinued-but-sound units are here too: if you can find one, there's no reason not to buy it.
⚠️ Maybe — check first — meets most of the criteria, but one point is genuinely in question. Fine to try; confirm the open point before you rely on it.
❌ Avoid — fails a criterion (Bluetooth, which auto-sleeps, or no echo cancellation). Being discontinued never, on its own, lands a device here.

	Speakerphone	Notes
✅	Anker PowerConf S330	We run this — our main device and the safe default. Echo cancellation, working volume buttons, and Kenzy can manage its mic gain directly.
✅	EMEET OfficeCore M1A	We've run this. USB-C, no Bluetooth. Works well; sets its own mic gain automatically (calibration adapts), so the input level isn't yours to hand-tune.
✅	Kaysuda SP300U	We run this. USB-A budget puck. Works — but ours has occasionally dropped off the USB connection and needed a reconnect, worth weighing for round-the-clock use.
✅	Dell Pro Desktop Speakerphone (SP3022)	USB-A/C, no Bluetooth, names echo cancellation. Meets the criteria on the maker's spec; not tested by us.
✅	Dell Pro Wired Speakerphone (SP325)	USB-A/C, no Bluetooth, full duplex. The larger sibling of the SP3022. Not tested by us.
✅	Lenovo Go Wired Speakerphone	USB-C/A, no Bluetooth, names echo cancellation. Not tested by us.
✅	Poly Sync 10	USB-A/C, no Bluetooth, full duplex. Not tested by us.
✅	Poly Calisto 3200	USB-A or USB-C (two versions), no Bluetooth, names echo cancellation. Not tested by us.
✅	ClearOne CHAT 50	USB, no Bluetooth. The strongest echo-cancellation pedigree on this list. Not tested by us.
✅	NUROUM A05U	We run this. USB-C/A, no Bluetooth. Echo cancellation, and — unusually for a budget puck — it exposes a host mic-gain control Kenzy can manage. Calibrate it, as with any device.
✅	Anker PowerConf S360	Discontinued by Anker — but it meets the criteria, so buy it if you find one, new or used.
✅	EMEET OfficeCore M0 (wired)	Discontinued. Meets the criteria; just confirm it's the wired M0, not the Bluetooth M0 Plus — they share a listing.
✅	Jabra Speak 410	Discontinued by Jabra — but a solid wired unit (the predecessor to the Bluetooth 510). Buy it if you find one.
✅	Sennheiser SP 10	Discontinued. Wired USB with echo cancellation; old, so condition matters.
⚠️	EPOS EXPAND SP 20	USB + 3.5 mm, names echo cancellation — but it has an internal battery and may auto-sleep. Confirm it stays awake while wired before relying on it.
⚠️	Unbranded marketplace pucks	The $30–60 tier. Some claim echo cancellation, but there's no manufacturer page to confirm it and the models churn under new names. Only worth it if you'll test one yourself.
❌	Jabra Speak2 40	Bluetooth (auto-sleep).
❌	Jabra Speak 510 / 750	Bluetooth.
❌	Anker PowerConf S3	Bluetooth + battery.
❌	Poly Sync 20 / Sync 40	Bluetooth.
❌	EMEET Luna / Luna Lite / Luna Plus	Bluetooth, and a wireless dongle.
❌	EMEET OfficeCore M0 Plus (E1103)	Bluetooth. (Not the wired M0 above.)
❌	EPOS EXPAND SP 30+	Bluetooth.
❌	SVBONY SVHub Omni2P / Omni2	Bluetooth + NFC + battery — a portable device that also takes USB.
❌	Yamaha YVC-200	Bluetooth + battery.
❌	Yealink CP50	Bluetooth.
❌	MAXHUB BM20 / BM45	Bluetooth.
❌	Logitech P710e	Bluetooth/NFC mobile unit. (Also discontinued — but the Bluetooth is the reason it's here.)
❌	BY Y02	Not a speakerphone — a plain USB speaker/mic with no echo cancellation. (We use one only as a test noise source.)

When in doubt, go back to the guidance. A device that is wired USB, names echo cancellation, and stays put is almost always a safe bet, whether or not it's on this list.