As part of its event today, Microsoft announced the Audio Dock, a USB-C dock that can also double as your computer’s speakers and microphone. While the dock doesn’t have Thunderbolt 4 or even USB4, the compact device is also trying to take up little space on people’s desktops with USB-C power and a dedicated Microsoft Teams button.
Microsoft calls the Audio Dock, which works with Windows and macOS, an “all-in-one speakerphone.”It can connect and charge your PC via USB-C (3.2 Gen 2) up to 60W. That should be enough to support some ultra-light laptops, but you can find better charging options – even from a speaker dock. Logi Dock from Logitech offers 100W over USB-C.
Microsoft Audio Dock adds two more USB-C (3.1 Gen 2) ports. Both support 7.5W charging, but one also supports DisplayPort in Alternate Mode.
You can also connect the monitor to the dock via the HDMI 2.0 port, which supports resolutions up to 4K at 60Hz.
It is clear that you can get docks with more bandwidth and a choice of ports. But the Microsoft Audio Dock is for those who don’t need the most up-to-date ports, but can use a set of speakers and microphones for conference calls.
The Audio Dock speakers are branded Microsoft Omnisonic, the same brand as the speakers in Microsoft Surface devices. The docking station has a 15W woofer measuring 2.13 inches, 1.92 inches wide, 1.63 inches high, and a 5W tweeter measuring 1.02×0.46 inches.
Microsoft claims that the docking station can output up to 90 dB. For comparison, this is the same volume that the Razer Leviathan V2 X soundbar claims. Microsoft also specifies the device with a frequency response of up to 70-20,000 Hz. It’s not as deep as Logi Dock (60-20,000Hz) claims, but not too far.
Microsoft says the Audio Dock’s frequency response drops to 200-8000 Hz for conferencing. Naturally, Microsoft has certified the dock to work with its own Teams software. It also includes a dedicated button for joining Teams meetings and raising your hand when you’re there. But Microsoft also guarantees that the Audio Dock will work with Google Meet and Zoom.
So that people can hear you during those video calls, the Audio Dock has two microphones that Microsoft describes as forward-facing, noise-cancelling, and omnidirectional. There’s also a backlit mute button so you can quickly see if the sound is muted or not.
The docking station will be available on October 25 for $250. While it’s less powerful than the Logi Dock, it’s also significantly cheaper than its $400 competitor.