PLANTRONICS BACKBEAT PRO 5100
Following in the usual design language of Plantronics, the BackBeat Pro 5100 has a rather utilitarian design, with a rather plain looking carrying case to match. There’s only one colour option (black), and one of the smallest cases in the group, so it almost seems as though the entire package is trying to blend in rather than stand out, which we actually love.
The earbuds however, only offer 6.5 hours of listening time per charge, with the case bringing the total up to 19. This falls on the low end of the competition considering the average today is about 30 hours. Oddly, Plantronics is still using micro-USB for the case instead of USB-C.
The BackBeat Pro 5100 boasts four noise-cancelling mics with WindSmart technology to knock out ambient noise. However, the system is only meant to improve call quality, but surprisingly not implemented universally for music listening.
The earbuds do have some smarts in them though. Proximity sensors detect when they’re out of your ear, pausing playback until you put them back in. There’s also basic haptic control so you can, for example, trace a circle clockwise on the left earbud to change the volume. Single and double taps also activate different commands, and there’s a whole list of functions you can assign using the companion app, so you can for example, get your earbuds to tell you the time.
In terms of audio, the BackBeat Pro 5100’s sound signature did well on faster moving tracks. Perhaps unsurprisingly for Plantronics, there’s good naturalness to vocals, reflecting their experience in call centre products.
Santana’s Smoke on the Water showed that the earbuds needed more punch in the highs though. The performance seemed to be slightly veiled overall, a result of overly flat mids and highs. The main riff for this piece features a cutting electric guitar backed by booming drums, but with the BackBeat Pro 5100 neither aspect really moved us.
Rebecca Pidgeon’s Spanish Harlem has a decent amount of body to the bass cello, but you don’t quite get the bass extension with these earbuds. It fares better on the higher notes though, as we thought the piano and string instruments were rendered quite nicely.