[asterisk-biz] Polycom IP 650 available now - quantities limited!

[Kevin P. Fleming]

Andrew Kohlsmith wrote:
> The IP650 ulaw sounds better than the 601 ulaw?  Damn, I already consider the 
> 501/601's audio high quality, the speakerphone in particular.

Yes, as surprising as that is. We have two of them (early models for
testing) and when I replaced my 601 with the 650, connected to an
Asterisk 1.2 server that most definitely does not have G.722 support, I
still noticed a rather significant improvement in audio quality.

Unfortunately, what that really means is that every phone you've ever
owned before _could_ have sounded better, but didn't because
manufacturer used cheaper parts :-) When you think about it, though, it
does make some sense... if the frequency range of a G.711 call is just
under 4KHz, then the manufacturer will choose mics and speakers that can
just _barely_ handle that frequency. Since a G.722 call has a range of
8KHz, they have to use better parts, and if the cheaper parts couldn't
really handle 4KHz as well as they should have, the 8KHz parts will, so
suddenly sounds that were always there can now be heard.