Getting a pair of wireless headphones is not the easiest of decisions. Why do you need headphones in the first place, when a nice pair of earphones (or in-ear headphones) would suffice? If you do decide to get a pair, do you go for on the ear or over the ear? Is wireless worth it? Is noise cancellation needed? The questions are endless.
Unless you've spent some amount of time researching audio products, you may not have come across the name Plantronics, with counterparts like Bose, Beats and more recently Audio Technica dominating the headlines among headphones. That is not to say Plantronics has not been around. The company has been around since the 1960s, and has developed the headsets used in commercial airliners, and even worked with NASA. In fact, Neil Armstrong's famous first words from the moon were transmitted through a Plantronics headset.
In recent years, the company has focussed more on commercial products, with the GameCom series of gaming headphones and the BackBeat wireless headphone line. The BackBeat Pro we have our hands on is one of their top-tier offerings, featuring Bluetooth 4.0 wireless connectivity, NFC, Active Noise Control, the works.
The headphones come in a big, sturdy case, accompanied by a gold-plated 3.5mm headphone cable and a microUSB charging cable, which is useful since any regular charger can power up the headphones. The headphones are quite sturdy, but a little on the bulky side, and have an over-the-ear design. While the weight is quite noticeable, there is plenty of padding all around to negate the effect. The black and purple colour scheme is a funky yet unobtrusive touch, adding a dash of flair to the design.
Speaking of design, this is one of the better exercises in ergonomics among wireless headphones. The sides of the earcups act as buttons, with a rotary dial around them. The right side features a call answer button and volume control, with a power switch located next to them. There is also a set of five blue LEDS that light up to display charge levels. The left side has the play/pause button and a dial to switch between tracks, as well as the noise-cancellation button. Plantronics uses a technique they call OpenMic, which uses microphones on the exterior of the headphone to let ambient noise in when noise-cancellation is off. This also means that BackBeat Pro can be used to wirelessly take calls. A microphone mute button completes the hardware overview.
The BackBeat Pro can connect to two devices simultaneously, and connection is a breeze. A tap pairs it to NFC -supported devices; while holding down the call button for two seconds can pair it with devices that don't have NFC. A startup jingle is followed by a cool, female voice that announces connection state and battery level, and the music is ready to go.
The headphones handled a wide variety of music without any stumbles, with a decent soundstage that lets listeners pick out different instruments and balanced bass levels. The sound remains pretty neutral, so fans of bass-boosting hardware may remain unimpressed. But if your playlist ranges from Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun to folk music from Yorkshire, you have a handy companion in the BackBeat Pro. The noise-cancellation does work, but some external sound does creep in. It doesn't disturb the listening experience, but don't expect to be cocooned in another dimension when in noisy environments.
The headphones are stated to offer an impressive 24 hours of music playback, and we did notice that the battery held up remarkably well. Some intelligent features, such as automatic pausing of playback when the headphones are removed from the ears, help prolong the battery life even if you forget to turn them off now and then.
With the headphone jack seemingly set to go the way of the dinosaur, and USB-C headsets still too few and too expensive, the era of ubiquitous wireless audio may be upon us soon. And with the BackBeat Pro, Plantronics have delivered a well-designed, feature-packed device that makes shelling out a sum in the range of Rs.12,000 seem quite worth it.
Pros:
Study design
Excellent battery life
Ergonomic controls
Balanced audio quality
Cons:
Rather bulky
Sound insulation could be better
