Plantronics BackBeat PRO Review

Plantronics has long belonged to the elite when it comes to headsets for office use, but more recently, they´ve produced some really good wireless sports headphones. Now they've given us large over-ear headphones. We were a little skeptical at first, but oh how wrong we were!

Before we go into how it sounds, we need to mention some of the many interesting technical details that make the Backbeat Pro something more than just your average headphones. We really enjoyed being able to connect two Bluetooth devices simultaneously.

The controls are among the best we've tested. In the middle of the left cup is a large button where you can pause/start the music and around the cup is a ring where you change the song, super easy. On the right side sits a similar button that answers calls, not to mention the volume control, which we loved. Why? Well, for the really nice feeling; the resistance when you turn it reminded us of a really expensive amp - anyone who is a bit interested in hi-fi know what we mean. Wonderful! Now, does the sound match all of this..?

And then we have the bass ... and lots of it! Don´t get us wrong, it does not sound as if you crank the bass to 11 and turn on the loudness on your amp at home. There are a lot of bass resources, but the bass does not overpower anything else and it is in full control at all times.

We played a lot of different types of music, some of which requires good, deep bass response, and it was hard not to smile a bit when we cranked the volume to max. This is really a musical headphone full of joy, and you´ll probably find yourself listening a bit louder than usual - just because you can!

Noise Cancellation, Battery Life and Comfort

Of course, there is built-in noise reduction. It works great and you can easily push a button on the cup to let through any sound so that you can talk to others while you have the headphones on you.

But driving with the noise cancellation activated and listening to music is not very fun. The sound is amplified too much in the upper registers and felt pretty overly 'trebly' (which is not uncommon with noise cancelling headphones) but when playing music you hardly need to use noise cancellation in most cases.

The fit is good, the headphones are lightweight and the quality of the material is really good - it does not get sweaty around the ears even after 3-4 hours of constant listening.

A common weakness with wireless headphones is the battery life. When combined with active noise reduction it usually requires a lot of power. But not here. Plantronics built-in battery is one of the best we've tested. Even with noise cancellation set at the highest level, the battery life is phenomenal.