The Pro+ looks superb wit h those different shades of grey (no pun intended) mixed toget her. The headband is fully padded
and extends on bot h sides in up to 12 increments to adjust to your head size.
The earcups don't fully rotate like the SENSE's, they just turn 90 degrees in one direction to fold flat and make the headset
easier to carry. The earcups though are a little flexible, pushing on and off the main headband by about 5 degrees as you can
see on the left earcup in the left image below.
Each earcup is completely round and very t hickly padded t o add to the comfort of wearing it. That design choice is
something to look out for when purchasing t he Pro+ because larger and longer ears won't fit in. Compared to the V-Moda
Crossfade M-100 for example, the earcup is wider but short er. This means that the Pro+ will likely be a mix of on-ear/over-
the-ear for people with longer ears.
The right side houses t he power switch, a large call button, and a big black volume ring. Unlike the SENSE, the volume but ton
rotates inst ead of using a flick-like mechanism. You rotate it slowly t o change the volume step-by-step, or you fully turn it
to cause more volume change. I love the feedback on this dial: it 's smooth but st ill won't be triggered by mist ake.
The left side is home to the ANC (Act ive Noise Canceling) switch, a big Play/Pause but ton, the NFC t ag, and the same
rotating black ring for skipping and rewinding a track. However, this one follows the flick system: one flick up act s as Fast -
Forward and one flick back is Rewind.
Both earcups have additional controls and ports on the bott om. The right one has t he OpenMic switch that lowers the
volume of the music and let s you listen to your surroundings through the 2 microphones without removing the headset. The
left one houses the MicroUSB port and t he 3.5mm plug.
There are hidden LEDs on both earcups behind the met allic grill. These act as visual cues for power, pairing, connecting, and
batt ery life.
Features, Comfort, and Usability
As I mentioned at the top of this review, this is the first pair of headphones that I can even tolerate wearing for more than a
few minut es, and dare I say I do enjoy that too. I'm not dumping my small Sennheiser in-ear earphones anytime soon, but at
least I know t hat over-t he-ear headphones can work for me, as opposed to the pressure of on-ear ones.
Sure, the earcups are round and t hus shorter than other over-t he-ear headsets, but they work fine most times. My only
complaint was when I put t he BackBeat Pro+ on while wearing earrings… Searing pain. But then again, that was my mist ake
for not remembering t hat earcups could push the dangling earrings int o my skin.
And t here's a lot more to enjoy about the BackBeat Pro+, not t he least of which is the smorgasbord of features included. I
like having a headset where I don't keep wishing for a missing opt ion. I connected the Pro+ to my iMac and my S7 Edge and I
didn't face any problem wit h the music st opping from the iMac when I got a call on my phone. Plus, since I'm using these at
work at my pharmacy, I don't have t o worry about pausing and resuming the music each t ime a customer comes in. The
smart sensor just does it for me when I slide them down my neck then put them back on.
And t he bat tery life is phenomenal to say the least . I didn't charge them when I got them and I've been list ening for about an
hour each day in about 8 days. I even forgot them on Standby over t he weekend. I still have 14 hours of battery life left.
That's ast ounding. Not to forget the versatility of using the 3.5mm cable whenever t he batt ery runs out.
NFC pairing works like a charm, and like it should really. You forget about manual pairing and just tap your phone to the left
earcup t o get the music or audio through. The USB dongle also worked flawlessly on my iMac. I only had to get int o t he Sound
preferences and pick it as an output device and I was good t o go: it was pre-paired with my headset.
This kind of versatilit y allows you t o t ake the BackBeat Pro+ with you and connect it to any comput er by just plugging in the
adapter without worrying about Bluet ooth antennas and finicky connections. My iMac for example has a st upid habit of not
automatically using a connected Bluet ooth headset as a stereo sound device, but that issue is complet ely gone with t he
dongle. No matt er how many times I unplug it and replug it, when t he dongle isn't used the iMac routes the sound through its
own speakers, but when it is the sound goes to it and thus the headset. No more messing with the Bluetoot h menu each
time to select the Pro+ for sound.
The only real downer for me when it comes to the BackBeat Pro+'s usabilit y is the size. They're huge and they don't fold t hat
well. Compared to the V-Moda Crossfade M-100 (as an example of over-the-ear headphones that fold), they're gigant ic and
st ay so even when you rotate the cups and fold them flat. The M-100, however, becomes much more compact and travel-
friendly.
Android App
Plantronics has a Hub application for its headsets that doesn't do much for stereo headphones (it 's more geared toward
mono headsets), but t hat's st ill a little helpful. You can decide to show or hide a not ificat ion on your phone each time the
Pro+ is connect ed and keep an event hist ory and log t o make it easier to find your headset .
The latter is actually the most int erest ing feature of the app. It can play a striking sound to help you find your headset and it
keeps track of connections and event s and appends locations to them so you can trace back the last time and place your
phone and headset were wit hin range.
Sound Qualit y
This is what you're here to read about , right? The sound quality makes or breaks a headset, and in the case of t he Pro+, it 's a
mixed bag.
I am not an audiophile, I also wouldn't be able to tell the difference bet ween dist orted and non-distorted lows and mids and
highs. To me, the BackBeat Pro+ sounded mind-glowingly excellent. But I decided t o pack them up and take them to a friend
of mine who specializes in audio equipment. His reaction was a lot less enthusiast ic.
According to him, the Pro+ falls flat in t erms of sound. There's distortion on higher volumes and there's lack of depth on bot h
To Next Page
Loading...
Need help?
General