Plantronics BackBeat Pro Review
Every gamer can use a good pair of headphones. With over half of all Americans gaming on their mobile devices, the headphone is more important than ever. The speakers on our smartphones and tablets just don’t cut it. More often then not, we’re gaming in places where we can’t turn on the audio. Plantronics helps bridge this gap with the BeatBack Pro headphone.
BeatBack Pro has great audio quality thanks to its 40mm dynamic drivers. The bass is rich and natural. It’s not as deep as my Beats and that’s a good thing. Additional feature includes active noise cancellation that helps block or muffle a lot of outside noise that can be manually toggled on and off with a switch and aptX low latency codec. We can’t see gaming without it. When noice cancellation is turned on, there is no audible hiss but there is minimal lose of low frequency sounds.
Virtual Reality glasses may have taken off this year but none addressed the issue with audio. The VR headset manufacturers either don’t include them or provide the most basic headphone. The Plantronics BeatBack Pro has been our goto headphone when using our HTV Vive and GearVR headsets allowing us to be fully immersed in virtual reality with both visual and audio. There was no noticeable lag nor delay when gaming or watching media.
The build quality is good. It’s comfortable to wear but not for extended use. The ear cuffs are circular and didn't fully contour to some of our big ear colleagues. The headphone doesn’t fold but the ear cuffs turn 90 degrees allowing us to slide it into our backpack.
The battery life far exceeds their competitors. We haven’t ran into a situation where it ran out of battery after using it for a full day. It is advertised to have a 24 hour battery life. If the battery were to run out, it can still work in wired mode.
Another neat feature is the ability to connect to two bluetooth devices at the same time. I could be gaming on my tablet and still be notified of calls coming in to my smartphone. The BeatBack Pro only remembers the last two paired devices.
The controls such as volume, answer calls, play music are situated on the left and right and can be easily access and operated even without looking. The noise cancelling headphone, audio cable, micro USB charge cable can all fit nicely in the included travel sleeve.
If you’re looking for a noise cancelling headphone that offers the most bang for your buck, the Plantronics BeatBack Pro would not disappoint. Current priced under $180, this would make a great holiday give for gamers and audio enthusiasts.
