Plantronics BackBeat Pro review: A more affordable alternative to Beats and Bose with an office slant

Plantronics is better known for its mono wireless headsets but it's been making a push into the wireless stereo headphone arena with its BackBeat line. Most everything in that line is in-ear (such as the BackBeat Go 2 , or BackBeat Fit ), but now the company's gone big with the BackBeat Pro. It's a $250, £250 or AU$350 over-the-ear wireless active noise-canceling headphone that competes with the likes of Bose and Beats.

7.7

Plantronics BackBeat Pro

The Good

The Plantronics BackBeat Pro features both wireless Bluetooth and noise-canceling in a sturdy, comfortable design. The headphones sound decent, are packed with features, have excellent battery life and come with a nice carrying pouch.

The Bad

Design has a little too much of an office vibe to it; fairly heavy at 360 grams; bass and treble may be a little too hyped for some people.

The Bottom Line

Despite some small drawbacks, the feature-packed Plantronics BackBeat Pro is an intriguing option for those looking for a wireless headphone with active noise-cancelling.

Not everybody's going to like its look -- it does have a sort of ungainly business professional vibe to it -- but it seems well-built and is comfortable to wear, though it's not lightweight, weighing in at 340 grams or 12 ounces. By comparison, the Beats Studio Wireless weighs 260 grams.

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This isn't the most ideal mobile headphone and like most over-the-ear models, if you wear it in warmer environments, your ears will get a little steamy. But the way Plantronics sees it, the BackBeat Pro is designed to be worn first and foremost at the office (or home office), but can also be taken on the road and has some travel friendly features, including active noise-cancellation and good battery life.

Additionally, the headphones fold flat and come with a sturdy, well-designed carrying pouch, plus a headphone cable with an inline remote/microphone so you can use them as corded headphones should you want to -- or should the battery die mid-flight. That's a nice feature.

Feature-packed

The BackBeat Pro is loaded with features; it's right up there with the Parrot Zik , though it doesn't come with a companion app. The controls can easily be operated blindly, with a ring around the right earcup serving as a volume control, and a ring on the left earcup serving as a transport control (track skip forward and back).

I also liked how when you take Pro off your ears and rest it around your neck, your music pauses. The music resumes when you put the headphones back on. (It's worth mentioning that the Auto Pause feature can be disabled holding down the mute and call buttons simultaneously for 5 seconds).

There's NFC tap-to-pair technology for Android phones that support it and Advanced Bluetooth technology that extends the wireless range to up to 330 feet (100 meters) when using a smartphone or tablet that supports the technology -- that's 10 times as much as the usual 33-foot (10-meter) range of Bluetooth. If you're wondering what the flavor of Bluetooth is, it's 4.0.

Those who have a phone which supports AptX will be happy to note that the BackBeat Pro is AptX-enabled, which is supposed to allow for better sounding audio streaming over Bluetooth (it's debatable much how it actually helps, but some people swear it does).

As you'd might expect from a Plantronics product, the BackBeat Pro also works as a headset -- yes, there's a built-in microphone for taking calls -- and it works well.

Performance

Let's start with battery life, which is quite good. The headphone charges via Micro-USB and Plantronics says you can get up to 24 hours of juice with Bluetooth and noise-canceling engaged, or 60 hours if you use the headphones in wired mode with the noise-canceling on.

As for sound quality, it's quite decent, particularly for a Bluetooth headphone, but I wouldn't call it stellar. The BackBeat Pro delivers strong bass and has a little treble push that amps up the detail. It's a fairly aggressive headphone, which means it's a little short on warmth, but it's the type of sound profile that's in vogue with mainstream users these days.

I compared it to the Beats Studio Wireless, Sony MDR-10RBT , and Bose SoundLink Bluetooth On-Ear ($250), which doesn't feature noise-canceling but costs the same. Those competing models offer a bit smoother sound and the Bose is the lightest and most comfortable of the bunch, with the Sony following close behind. Comfort-wise, the Plantronics are close to the Beats, but as I said, the Beats are lighter, so there's an advantage.

Of course, sound quality is a matter of taste, and some people may very well prefer the BackBeat Pro's sound, especially if you like a headphone that's a little more hyped in the bass. Overall, I liked the headphone's sound, but there were times when I thought it had a little too much sizzle. That's less of an issue if you're listening to pristine recordings, but the treble push can accentuate the flaws in your MP3s and give your music a slight harsh edge.

I tried turning off the BackPro's noise-canceling to see whether it would have an impact on sound quality. When I flipped the NC switch on and off in the office (we now work in an "open" office), I didn't notice a significant difference in sound quality.

The noise-canceling isn't up to the level of the Bose QuietComfort 15 or Bose QuietComfort 25, but it's decent (I used the headphones on a flight from San Francisco to New York) and stronger than the Beats Studio Wireless in this respect. It's also worth mentioning that with a touch of a button you can activate an OpenMic mode that "pushes the music to the background and amplifies environmental sounds," allowing you to have a conversation with the headphones on.

Conclusion

Plantronics has done a good job making the BackBeat Pro an intriguing option if you're in the market for this type of headphone. It's relatively comfortable, sounds good for a Bluetooth model, has well-designed controls, is feature-packed and its battery life is excellent.

The only problem is that there are other wireless Bluetooth headphone options out there in the same price range or less, including the Sony MDR-10RBT and Bose SoundLink Bluetooth On-Ear. That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy the BackBeat Pro, especially if you want a Bluetooth plus noise-canceling model, but just know that the little things -- like its weight and faster sound -- may not make it a perfect fit at $250.