Plantronics BackBeat Pro+
Not a purist sound but a powerful performance from Plantronics’ Bluetooth noise-cancellers.
We regularly highlight the reasons for choosing headphones from established hi-fi companies, but here’s one that harnesses to great effect the core expertise of a comms specialist. Plantronics has more than 50 years in the headset business (making the NASA headset into which Neil Armstrong said “one giant leap for mankind” is not a bad reference), yet remains better known for speech transmission than music reproduction.
The company’s new BackBeat range may change that — these BackBeat Pro+ headphones are impressive for their technology but also deliver excellent sound, though they’re far from flat in response, delivering a hot kick in the bass (as the brave inclusion of ‘Beat’ in their name might suggest).
These are aptX-compatible Bluetooth headphones which also incorporate active noise-cancelling, plus they have Plantronics’ usual high-quality comms tech — microphones for call-taking and Siri access. There’s good range too — massive (a claimed 100 metres) if you use them with the supplied USB dongle in your computer, or if your smart device shares the BackBeat’s Class 1 v4.0 Bluetooth spec. We’re less sure about the energy-saving ‘smart sensors’ which cunningly pause your music and the NC whenever you remove the headphones — these help deliver an unusually long battery life, but the sensors activate even if you momentarily lift one headshell and at many other times (randomly three or four times a song when we used them while undertaking daily activities). To our relief, a long two-button hold can curtail their smartness, a little voice announcing “smart sensors off”. (Plantronics’ announcer is less intrusively chatty than some, though she still whispered over our music to announce we were at “maximum volume”, which we had guessed from the music not getting louder.) Their significant size (at 340g the heaviest in this group) aside, the ergonomics are effective — a slide switch for power on the right cup, one for noise-cancellation on the left. Press the right headshell to receive calls, press a little button to ‘hear through’ the headphones (the external microphone is piped through). Press the left headshell to play/ pause. Twist it for next/last track or rewind/FF. Twist the right headshell for volume. There’s a lot going on, but it’s all impressively intuitive.
As for their sound, there are multiple sonic signatures depending on whether you have noise-cancelling on or off, whether you use wireless Bluetooth or the provided cable (this has Apple-compatible inline controls), and if cabled whether you use them actively or passively. We kicked off fully loaded, powered up with Bluetooth and noise-cancelling, and the BackBeats delivered a thrillingly powerful sound — wide, deep and full, high on energy and low on distortion for an effortless presentation even at high levels. We found the fit a little tight for long-term listening, especially on a hot Sydney day, and we noted some impact-related ‘hiccup’ under heavy footfall or bus judder.
And while the sound is impressively enjoyable, the bass is very pushed, far above our hi-fi preference for flat response or mild emphasis. It’s especially so with noisecancelling off, marginally tighter but still strong with NC on. The mids are more natural with NC off, sharpening to push female vocals and slightly ‘can’ male ones with NC engaged. On the whole we stuck with the cancellation, of great value filtering out engine rumble in the air and road noise during the daily commute to admit more detail and clarity for the music.
Using the cable or receiving from the included USB dongle changed little sonically as long as we had the headphones powered on, while passively via the cable they delivered perhaps their most natural performance of all, though still with that imposingly high bass. The USB dongle transmitted clearly up to about 20 metres indoors, though it fixed the sample rate at 48kHz, an ugly recode for files at the more common 44.1kHz.
To compare with an obvious reference near the price, Bose’s QC25s (which are cabled) deliver far more crispness, zing and insight, but the Plantronics create a much weightier and more three-dimensional soundstage. They don’t sparkle up top, yet their sound is accurate and well balanced above that enlarged bass, and it’s a high-energy delivery that is both musical and involving. So if you like the bass, you’re in the right place.