Review: Plantronics Backbeat Pro wireless noise cancelling headphones

There are so many speakers and headphones available these days it really is a case of being spoilt for choice.  The good news – there’s not a lot of crap on the market, it’s actually quite impressive to put on many of those on the market. Bumping their way up the top of the list with some of the biggest names in audio is Plantronics and their new BackBeat PRO headphones are a delight for your ears.

I wish you could meet Peter Petrides – he’s the National Retail Sales Manager in Australia for Plantronics and that man is passionate about the brand and the products they release – not only because it’s his job, you really get a great vibe from him about these products.  It’s what makes me want to try them all.

“Aussies love their music and want to be able to enjoy it on-the-go without any distractions,” reckons Peter – and that’s a no-brainer. “We created the BackBeat PRO so that users can immerse themselves into their music and block out the noise whether they are travelling, working, or simply relaxing. With up to 24 hours of continuous wireless use and active noise-cancellation, the BackBeat PRO can be used not only for music but also movies and calls.”

What’s funny about these headphones is I didn’t even realise the had active noise cancelling until I had a good look at them and thought “what’s that ANC button do” – the sound from them in passive mode alone is excellent.

They are a full over ear headphone, quite big and bulky – but that’s because they are packed with cool tech.

The sound I’m getting right now as I type this is full, rich and deep.  It doesn’t feel like an annoyingly heavy bass, but at the same time I feel like I’m getting the beat of the music as the band I’m listening to intended (Metallica right now as it happens).

Leaving the sound aside, the features on these babies are what make them almost top choice for me right now.  Let me run you through those which I’ve found thus far:

Auto pause: I honestly don’t know how this works, and I don’t care, it just does.  When you take the headphones off – your music will pause.  I’ve tried tricking them, putting them on my neck, I just can’t get it to fail.  If they aren’t on my ears – they are paused.  Bloody sensational.

Open Mic: In an office? Enjoying your tunes?  Someone standing next to you asking you a question?  No problem.  On the bottom of the right ear you’ll find a button.  Press that, your music drops into the background and you can hear the conversation going on around you.  Brilliant.

Dial Controls: A lot of headphones have one or two buttons.  A pause/play button and a pickup/hangup button.  To skip tracks you often double tap the pause button.  On the BackBeat PROs you have a dial on each ear – a twist of the left dial moves tracks forward or back.  A twist on the right ear and volume is up or down.

Active noise cancelling is available at the flick of a switch on the left ear and the power is on the right.

Most importantly, 24 hours of battery life – and if that runs out on you by surprise – you can still use a 3.5mm cable as a backup.

Finally, range.  The Bluetooth range on these things is ridiculous.  Plantronics say you’ll get up to 100m away with some Bluetooth devices, for me, I was able to walk comfortably around my entire house – my iPhone sitting in its dock in the office downstairs in one corner of the house.

They’ll be available soon for $349, and while that’s a big price to pay – trust me, you’re getting solid value for money with these.

[schema type=”review” rev_name=”Plantronics BackBeat PRO headphones” rev_body=”Feature packed, excellent sound, great wireless range and battery life – top-notch headphones” author=”Trevor Long” pubdate=”2014-09-25″ user_review=”5″ min_review=”0″ max_review=”5″ ]