Plantronics BackBeat GO 2 Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Earbuds - Retail Packaging - White

Overall I have given the BBTGO2 4.5 stars due to it being a fantastic product with a few annoyances. The battery life is fairly good given the form factor and will last me a solid 5.5 hours of listening time between charges. It is easy to determine the battery levels, whether the sound-over voice reports the battery levels, or whether I look at my iPhone with a nice little battery-indicator at the top corner of the screen (nice integration, Apple!). I generally use this at the office where it can get quite loud and at the gym; both of which allow me to immerse into the music itself without any interference. The length of the cable is good enough to sit behind your neck, or in front tucked into your shirt, etc. but they do produce vibration sounds if they are hit/tapped against.

The phone functionality, which I don't use that often, produces great sound - but the other person will constantly ask you to repeat yourself unless the microphone is in front of your mouth.

The earpiece, whilst great with fitting into the ear canal (mostly thanks to its various sizes that are included in the box); I do find the stabiliser to be a bit 'iffy' in the sense that I tend to move around enough for it to be twist and allow the earpiece to be move and then fall out of my ear, and I'm therefore, constantly adjusting it. However the understanding is that they have really given something that attempts to cater for all, and that's fine by me!

And the most important is the quality of music; it sounds great for Dance/Trance/Electro/Dubstep without blowing your eardrums a part - but you need to get a tight seal to really hear the mids, highs and bass.
 
I obtained these at a special price brand new for (circa) $45 AUD, so the cons don't seem too bad for that price, however I believe they normally retail for around the $70-80 AUD mark.

First of all I want everyone to understand that I'm a AKG 701 user and I pair with my pico dac (underpowered) on my pc for years so I'm picky with sound quality and unused to listening to a lot of bass.  Now that's out of the way, here's my review.  These plantronics headset surprised me with sound quality.  The clean and clear sound from these headset made me worry each time whether I have my earbuds on.  I had to take them off each time to check whether my speakers is on or my headset is when I'm playing music.  Its that clean, clear, and has really nice detail to background sound.  It has very nice highs especially vocals are clear might be a bit sharp for some unused to it, mids seem pretty well balanced jack of all trades, lows has just enough bass not too much and not too little but for me it felt slightly strong to my eardrums probably because I'm not used to them.  Soundstage on this headset is wide but closed compared to K701 and this headset seems pretty well driven in terms of power for it's size.  Controls are easy to understand and use.  If your a lover of live and loud pop music then these headset is pretty much a must have.  
 
However every good thing always comes with it's cons.  Some parts of the music I hear sometimes feels a little generic or maybe it's just me.  I've also noticed the earbuds on these really hurts my ears due to it's size and had to replace them with some sony earbuds.  Battery on these headset gives two hours and fourty-five minutes of juice fully charged approximately whether you blast them with max sound or not doesn't matter.  It will warn you after two hours, again after when your about to run out of juice from what I remember.  This is the main reason why I knocked off a star for my review since battery is extremely important when your wearing a headset and having to worry about it is not good if you forgot to charge them each day.  Bluetooth range of this headset is only around five to six meters for me like all the other bluetooth headsets I tried and around 3-4 meters through a wall.  I also suggest others to look into Sony's SBH-80.  I tried its older version Sony's SBH-70 which has a good four hours of battery with sound quality a little lower than plantronics but having more juice on your headset is a serious plus.

[size=small]It's a fine earphones, and a great Bluetooth one for that matter. For the period of time since i bought it, I always wear it around my neck like a necklace, and it hasn't broke since... nowadays i use it as backup earphones whenever I think using my IM 50 a hassle, when It's raining, or just forgot to bring it... and Plantronic can make up for it in sound too, to explain it: A jack of all trades, but master of none, fine for any genre of music, but that's it. This will be a great headset for exercising and it durable to boot, what do you need more?[/size]

To quickly set the scene, I've never really spent much on iem's of any nature until recently, and still probably only have one high-end pair to speak of (Sennheiser ie8's), but part of my recent quest for in-ears has been split between commuting and exercising. And it is this second area that brought me to trying out the Plantronics Backbeat Go 2's.
 
These in-ears are part of my long hunt for the perfect pair of iem's to accompany me only my daily morning ride (roughly 18 miles). And because I ride when listening to music, I am always cursing wind noise and lack of bass response that many a pair of iem's create when out and about.
 
So, introductions over, let me share with you the highs and lows that I have discovered over the past few months with these wire-free puppies.
 
Good facts:
Build Quality - is excellent. Everything is well made and feels sturdy. Three months of active usage in pockets, charging case and out 'n' about haven't had any impact on their wear and tear - they still look new.
 
Comfort - The Backbeat 2's are light on the ears and generally pretty comfy insofar as you tend to forget you're wearing them when out and about (I do imagine wearing a long time would be more noticeable than a wired pair due to their additional weight, but equally there's no chord to drag on them). Head movement of almost any amount, however vigorous does not dislodge them - thanks to each bud having a small transparent lug on them the fit is very secure without being noticeable.
 
Sound - They are surprisingly good to my ears. There's a decent amount of bass without being overbearing (certainly more than I've seen in many iem's), and both mids and highs can all be heard clearly, offering a slight bright edge (to my ears at least). They are by no means audiophile quality, so you will detect a degree of roll off, but not excessively so.
 
Charging case - Although this is an optional accessory (adding about £20/$20 to the price), not only is the case well made and a good protective unit, it incorporates a built-in battery and mini-usb lead to recharge your phones on-the-go, dispensing enough juice for an addition 2.5 charges - theoretically equating to about 15 hours of listening pleasure. Similarly, when needs must, because of the built-in cable, it'll actually add charge to pretty much anything else that draws power from a mini-use port.
 
Controls - They ship with a 3 button controller which isn't the standard iPhone variant - so you have to use the + and - buttons to move the tracks forward and back (no double/triple pressing on the middle button). Volume controls are easy to use, and will go way above what most people will want. the controller is well made and doesn't misbehave or fail to respond.
 
Making calls - as it comes with a controller and mic, I should mention that calls sound good and the mic is no better or worse than most that ship with wired alternatives. wind is the natural enemy, but indoors my calls are always clear to the caller.
 
Pairing - like most modern accessories, pairing is simple. I have an iPhone 5s and an iPad - both work well with it and switch when needed. It can pair up to 8 devices in all, but I've never had more than two in order to prove this.
 
 
Bad facts:
Size - Although a minor issue, because the battery and BT elements are built into the buds themselves, they do protrude a little, making them less discreet than other in-ears.
 
Wind Noise - More of a challenge however is that this larger 'bud' means that when moving about, wind noise is almost impossible to avoid, marring the general quality of audio being transmitted within. It's not a deal breaker, but if you're used to anything remotely like Etymotic er4's or HF3/5's then your day just got a bit worse.
 
Battery Life - Described by Plantronics as lasting beyond 4.5 hours, my own experience would put this closer to 3-3.5  hours. Again, if your on a long journey, you better pack a spare pair of wired buds too. And as handy as the charger case is, you can't listen to the headset whilst it's being charged.
 
Conclusion:
I've owned a few BT headsets in the past and these are by far the best ones so far.  Overall sound is enjoyable, and the bass is never wholly lost - even in windy environments. They won't trump wired sets like the aforementioned Ety's, but what do you expect for £67! They are a little on the big side, and although the charger case is a great idea, the built-in battery life is not as good as other makes out there, but fortunately enough for a 30 mile bike ride.
 
Would I recommend them? Yes. At £67 with charging case, they represent great value for money and have definitely convinced me that bluetooth headsets can now offer more than just a cordless benefit, packing decent sound - even without Apt-X.
 
Final note: I've just ordered the Sony SBH-80's, so will update this review once I've had a chance to compare them against the Backbeat 2's in a mini BT IEM shoot-out.

I took a leap of faith with this purchase. There were only 9 reviews on Amazon, but the avg was 4.5. I don't usually expect a lot of credence in most Amazon reviews, but people are critical of bluetooth headsets in general. I am, too.
 
My initial testing, though by no means extensive, indicate that this BT stereo headset is a capable little item. I had a range of over 20' several times, which means I don't need to carry my iP5 around my office. Callers say it sounds, "good," "normal," "like a real phone" (whatever that means). And the tunes on my iP5 sound as good as entry-level earphones. I haven't tested it outside or in my car, yet. I don't expect any surprises in the car, and phone positioning in the wind is a big determinant to outdoor sound quality. I don't plan to call anyone in a wind tunnel...
 
If things change, I'll revise this. If you question the "value" at $80, price some others...