When I decided to give them a try I had no real expectations, I did not know this brand, and I didn't like the look.
I thought they would have sounded mediocre.
I was very wrong!
They are one of the very best sounding BT Headphones which I have tried. And I have tried almost 30, over the last months, as you can see in my thread "Huge Comparison of [almost] all the Best Bluetooth Headphones".
The Backbeat Pro are not my Favourite, but on some things they beat my Favourite. Which is normal, because there is no such a thing as ONE perfect Headphone for all people and all kind of music.
And the BBP are overall a real AMAZING pair of Headphones. At least using them with an Aptx enabled device (I could not test them without).
Their overall sound is at same time powerful enough for rock and other energetic music, clear and balanced for classical and jazz, soft and pleasant for chill out and soft pop.
More specifically:
BASS
Although those who want a totally balanced flat sound may feel that there is out of the box (= without applying any EQ) a little boost in the bass, I personally felt it well present without being too much, and of quite good quality, with enough punch and some gentle rumble, clean, controlled and detailed.
Some other BT Headphones offer more quantity but very few do it with this quality (apart for the Philips Fidelio M2BT, the Logitech UE9000, the Audio Technica ATH-WS99BT, and the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H8. All of them being able to produce more bass than the BBP, with same or even superior quality).
Without EQ you can use them for almost any kind of music. For Techno and similar you definitely are gonna need some EQ.
And they actually respond quite good and bring out some serious bass.
They show anyway their limits at one point, and you are not going to see them bumping while listening to Dubstep, like the ATH-WS99BT can do.
MIDS
They go gentle on Mids, but have enough to build a bridge along the sound, so that the listening experience is overall pleasant and harmonious.
I have liked their signature, with this soft mids, and they definitely do not sound cold or V-Shaped to me, but I personally would have liked them a bit warmer here, with a bit more presence.
For example the House of Marley Liberate XLBT or of the Samsung Level Over, or also the Bose Soundlink On Ear, have more warmth and presence in the mids. But the BBP beat them in all other frequencies. As said, there is no perfect headphone.
Even the ATH-WS99BT, which for my tastes outperform on sound any other BT Headphones (among those I have tried, of course) will surely not please some people, who may find them too bassy or too warm. And they lack most of the special functions of the BBP.
HIGHS
For my tastes, excellent. Clear, detailed, abundant. I really liked how they perform on the highs. So much that I was surprised to read that some people find the highs to be a bit too much or even sometimes a bit harsh. I personally did not feel any harshness, and I may understand that those who cannot use an EQ and are very sensitive to high frequencies may prefer headphones with a more flat sound signature, but I believe that most people today have smartphones with music players equipped with an EQ, and it is really easy to decrease a bit the highs if you find them too much, while the result is not always good when you have headphones which lack highs and you try to boost them up.
My opinion.
DETAIL
Very good, you just notice the difference with most other BT Headphones. Here is all more defined, precise, and well separated.
SOUNDSTAGE
Very very good. Airy, fresh, spacious enough to make you feel that the sound does not come from "right near the ear". This is actually one of the features where the BBP really excel. To be honest I still did not find ANY other BT Headphone with a better Soundstage. Not even my favourite, the ATH-WS99BT, which do have a nice soundstage, lot of detail and well separated instrument, but not this spacious, wide, airy sound.
Now, I have read that the "coming soon" Definitive Tech Symphony 1" have a wonderful Soundstage, like being in the middle of a Concert Hall. I will surely try them when they are out, and I will update this review with my opinion on how they compare.
FUNCTIONS
- Multipoint: can connect to two devices simultaneously. For example, your Phone and your Tablet/PC. So you can receive a call while watching a movie. The audio on the other device will be paused during the call, and resumed after the call ends, all automatically.
Be honest, this is just COOL, and extremely practical for daily travellers and business men or people working in a office, or when you are at home and want to listen to music on your computer without worrying that you may not hear your phone ringing.
- ANC: active noise cancelling. For quantity of noise filtered they are not on the level of the Samsung Level Over, but they are better than others (like the very mediocre Phiaton Chord MS530, and the even worse Beats Studio Wireless). For quality of the filter, they felt good to me, there was no audible hiss or any very noticeable alteration of the sound signature (which I cannot say of the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H8, 500 Euro of headphone with an average ANC which produces a noticeable hiss and decreases the response on bass and low mids, and even causes a bump at every step you take).
A good thing is that it can be deactivated if you do not need it.
- Open Mic: with the click of one button the noises around you are increased while the music is decreased. So you can hear what people tell you, without having to wear the headphones out. You can even change the gain of the Mic with the Volume control. It works very well and on a out of topic note I had fun using it just to have a sort of bionic ears and be able to hear more and more far.
- Voice Prompts: a gentle female voice tells you the state of the battery, which device is connected, etc
- Head Sensor: pauses the music automatically when you wear the Headphones off or when you quickly make them around your neck. And when you wear them again, the music resumes. This is really cool.
- Low Latency Aptx. Yes, LOW LATENCY. Many Headphones now have the normal Aptx, but almost none has got Low Latency Aptx. If you do not know it, Aptx is a Codec which does not degrade the quality of music like the traditional SBC codec does. Of course it is needed that also your source (phone, PC) supports Aptx. And in this case if your source support Low Latency Aptx you have ZERO delay between audio and video, something which gamers and movie eaters will appreciate a lot. And there are indeed some adapters around which offer Low Latency Aptx, like the Avantree Saturn Pro or Avantree Priva.
- AAC: it is another good Audio Codec, which will mostly interest Apple users, because the iOS devices at the moment only support AAC, not Aptx.
- NFC: to pair with a device by just putting them close
- Class 1 bluetooth: so, before Low latency Aptx, now also Class 1. This is avant-garde. There is as far as I know no other BT headphone on the market which is equipped with Class 1. Class 1 can reach 100ft of distance! Now, you must be aware, you need that also your source is class 1. And in this case I am afraid that there is not yet any source with Class 1. Still, it is really a sign of leading attitude from Plantronics. And, btw, on my tests even when connected with a Class 2 source the BBP had a really good wireless range. I had zero blind spots at home even going in other rooms and having walls between me and the source. Something I cannot said of many other BT Headphones. For example, the 500 euro Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H8 have probably the very worse range of ALL what I have tested. And my ex favourite ones, the Fidelio M2BT, had also a rather average to poor range. While on the other hand my new favourite, the ATH-WS99BT have a wonderful range, more or less comparable with the BBP.
CONTROLS
I liked them, the volume is a ring on the right speaker. To change track is a ring on the left speaker. To pause music you tap on the left speaker, etc. I kind of felt that they were very practical and effective, and in my thread I had similar feedbacks from other users.
COMFORT
This is a tricky point, because people have different heads and ears. I loved them, they did not felt heavy to me (like for example the UE9000 which after a while were too much), and my ears could fit perfectly in the pads.
But other people did complain about the pads being too small for their ears.
I can tell you this: if your ears are not longer than 5.5cm (the inner diameter of the earpads), than you should have no problem
EXTRA
- A very nice, nylon, semi rigid carrying bag on the style of the Sony MDR-1RBT.
You should NOT underestimate the importance of a semi rigid carrying bag! A rigid case means more protection but also more space taken, and a lost of time to take it out of the backpack, open it, etc.
A soft bag means a very low protection, and also a lost of time because trying to slip the headphones back in the bag while the bag is inside of the backpack is like trying to play Billiard with a cooked spaghetti.
While a semi rigid bag is the perfect solution, it does not take much space, it offer a good protection, and you can easily slip your headphone out and again in the bag while the bag is in the middle of a stuffed backpack. You do not need to take the bag out.
This makes a difference which you may not understand now but WILL understand in the daily use.
- an audio cable with Mic to answer calls and buttons to control the music. It comes also in a special version for Apple devices.
BATTERY LIFE
If 24 Hours are not enough for you, you should sleep more
Seriously, 24 Hours! I mean... Yes a very few other can last longer, but the most do not last the half of this.
So, I think there is no other Headphone at the moment, which offers all what the Backbeat Pro offer.
But if there is, please tell me in the comments, I will be pleased to try them out.
Of course, if you love very fat sounding headphones or very warm sounding ones, you may not like its sound signature (and for that there is Amazon, where you can return things).
But I am confident otherwise the chances that you will love this Headphone are very high.
And if you have an EQ in your music player, than even more, because you can "retune" the sound signature to your tastes.
Feel free to comment or visit my thread if you have questions!