Review: Plantronics BackBeat Pro

The next time you fly, look around the airplane cabin. You'll likely be able to count a sizable number of passengers wearing a pricey pair of Bose over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones. Once considered an elite status symbol and found only in first class, Bose's $300 QuietComfort headphones have become a must-have accessory for today's frequent fliers.

But while Bose's newest version, the QuietComfort 25, achieves enviable levels of noise cancelation, the headphones lack Bluetooth support and still need to be tethered with a cable to your headphone jack. This doesn't matter for many of those airplane passengers on flights where Bluetooth use is still forbidden, but what about all the other situations where you'd like to use the headphones? Like on a train or a bus, or at your desk? Wouldn't it be swell if we could get a cable-free, Bose-like headphone without trading away the noise canceling, the comfortable fit, or the quality audio?

The product that fills this hole best, that I've seen, is Plantronics' BackBeat Pro. The Bluetooth 4.0 headphone can wirelessly stream music without the encumbrance of a cable, and it can connect wirelessly to two Bluetooth devices, so you can stream from your phone or watch a movie on your computer without having to re-pair. There's a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that provides up to 24 hours of wireless playback between charges (Bose's noise-cancelation is powered by a AAA battery). And the BackBeat Pro is priced at $250—that's $50 less than the $300 QuietComforts.

Plantronics' active noise-canceling system, which uses a pair of microphones on the outside of the headphones to pick up exterior noises, is excellent. I tested these headphones alongside the latest ones from Bose, and the noise cancelation capabilities are on par. There's also a feature called "OpenMic"—touch a button on the right cup and the sound from the mics is channeled into the headphones, letting you hear your surroundings.

The sound quality for music is also excellent. Peggy Lee's "Fever," recorded in 1958 on two-track analog tape, had a crystalline purity and a live-in-the-studio-like clarity, something I didn't expect from a 60-plus-year-old recording. Deep bass was equally clean and bright with Lady Gaga's percussion-heavy "Born This Way."

As I listened to music from my tablet, I was able to take calls as they came in to my phone. The music paused when I picked up, and returned when the call ended. The BackBeat Pro also has an NFC chip for initial Bluetooth pairing, so connecting to a Google Nexus 7 tablet was accomplished instantly by just holding the headphones close to the Nexus. Spoken confirmation via a soft female voice for pairing and other functions, like battery notifications, eliminated operational hassles. Status alerts are available in 14 different languages, including both U.S. English and U.K. English.

Plantronics has transferred much of the design and engineering from its primary line of Bluetooth headsets for mobile phones to the BackBeat Pro. For example, I particularly liked that integrated sensors recognized when I removed the headphones, pausing the music until I placed them over my ears again. And if you're like me, you're constantly looking to see which is the left and right speaker when you're putting headphones on. Plantronics smartly printed L and R directly on the pads in large type. It might be an unnecessary aesthetic touch, but it's an appreciated one.

On each ear cup you will find scroll wheels to control volume, track selection, and sound muting. Finding the left side's ANC switch while wearing the headphones was, however, tricky. Since the power switch is in the same location on the right side, I was often confused about which switch was which—power or ANC? Flick it and see.

Plantronics claims that the BackBeat Pro gets you 24 hours of wireless use between charges. I gave the headphones what I would consider regular use, listening to music and making calls in multiple sessions of between one and three hours each. After 12 hours, I still had 50 percent battery life remaining, according to the spoken notification and the five LED battery indicator lights on the right cup. Once fully depleted, recharging the battery takes a maximum of three hours.

They work without battery power, too. You lose Bluetooth and the active noise canceling, but the BackBeat Pro will still work with its included 3.5mm inline cable. You can still listen to music and make calls. And of course, you can run active noise canceling while the headphones are tethered too, which is useful for airplanes.

So while Bose will still likely rule the NC world for a while—being the marketshare leader in a niche category is a powerful position—the Plantronics are a great alternate option. And given the added wireless features, rechargeable battery, and cheaper price tag, I'd argue they're the better option.