The Plantronics BackBeat Fit headphones are an excellent choice for those who like to listen to excellent sounding audio, stay connected, while getting a good workout. They are an absolute blessing for active people who spend time outdoors and at the gym because they not only get great sound, but they also don't have to contend with those pesky cables.
The sound quality and battery life are also great for the price, which is S$219 set by Plantronics Singapore. They can be connected from anywhere and will stay connected. The fit can be iffy at times, and the controls may be sensitive, but these negatives are outweighed by the greater portability and the inclusion of the armband. There is at least one buyer who uses his set to listen to music, make phone conversations and watch movies on their tablets while on an airplane! It is easy to do bench presses or just lay down and watch movies. The phone mike is also great for receiving party! As for the shake/drop/stress test, the BackBeat Fit set passes with flying colors.
Lets take a look at CNET's review
Design
The rubbery plastic from which these headphones, which loop over your ear, are made is softly molded. They come in neon green and turquoise blue — the ones I used were the latter color. The headphones weigh only ¾ oz., although they may look heavy.
Power, audio, volume up and call buttons, all large and flat, are present on the outsides of both earpieces. You can set Bluetooth pairing by holding the audio button down until the bezel flashes red and blue while the headphones are off.
A reversible armband, which can also hold a smartphone (an iPhone + OtterBox or Samsung S3 with Incipio protector) but not a phablet, which would be too big, and a standard microUSB charge cable come in the package.
Comfort and operation
It was quite a task fitting the earphones over several heads. The only wearer who had no difficulty had ears not too close to the head, though I wore them for several hours with no discomfort.
The axial range for the earpieces is 40°, so they can fit a wide range of ear canals. I tried them out on several individuals — even when the wearer is bouncing on a treadmill, they don’t create a tight seal, so ambient noise can penetrate.
Sometimes, it seems the controls are too easy to use — I once hit the mute button accidentally. Tapping the volume button turns it up, but you must do so repeatedly to turn it down. I found it easier to just tap Mute and then Volume. Although you can pair the BackBeat earphones with multiple devices simultaneously, cacophany can result from playing more than one.
The carrying case can be turned inside-out. It is not difficult to reverse the case, but I wondered if it could be flipped back and forth several hundred times and still endure. It is stiff enough to protect the phones, which it accommodates easily, and it lends an assured feel.
Audio performance
The tonal quality is attractively even, which I really liked. The extremely high tones were not as well-defined as those of the Beats PowerBeats 2 and other wireless headphones, but except in classical music, where nuance is significant, this should not be noticeable. The middle and low tones, on the other hand, may not be as bright or vivid as I would have liked them to be, but they are smooth. Pop, rock and R&B in particular sound great, and jazz is calming, especially Charles Mingus and other traditional New York jazz. Songs by Nirvana tend to sound detached, but Green Day sounded great and Marvin Gaye was also fantastic. Joe Satriani begged me to provide just a little more mid range, but it was still good. Except for the aforementioned very high tones, the range appeared to be strong.
I observed that it is possible to pair the BackBeat Fit headphones with more than one device at a time. However, if you play both sources, the resulting sound will be cacophonic.
The distance that you can get from Bluetooth sources — among which were an iPhone 6, a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, a MacBook Air and a Kenwood Marine “car” stereo — exceeds 150 feet because of the Bluetooth 3.0 spec.
Call quality
The BackBeat Fit call quality is excellent — exactly what I expected from Plantronics range of headphones and headsets which are available in Singapore, who have been in the Bluetooth game right from the very start. You never lose the connection to your smartphone with these.
Conversational quality is high, although the ambient noise can be greater. The person on the other end of the line should always be able to hear you. When held, the call button becomes a decline call button. To use voice commands, hold that button down until you hear the tone. I did have to squeeze the earpieces into my ears because the absence of a tight ear seal meant the ambient noise was greater, but the conversational sound quality was still good. Indeed, the BackBeat Fit headphones are specifically designed to allow ambient noise to penetrate, so if that is not what you want, then simply do not buy them.
Battery life
Given medium-volume playback, the batteries can last up to eight hours, as I determined after putting the BackBeat Fit headphones through twelve charge cycles. When I increased the volume level to the highest that I could tolerate, the reduction in battery life was reduced from Charging is done with the microUSB cable. One user wears them for running and says they last even for the long weekend run.
Bottom line
Pros
- strong construction
- excellent sound quality
- the armband that comes with the headphones
- long battery life
Cons
- may require some adjustment to fit the ears of some listeners
- touch controls and buttons sometimes a tad too sensitive
Final Verdict
The Plantronics BackBeat Fit over-the-ear phones are a great pair of exercise headphones that deliver solid sound. When you workout with corded headphones, the cords inevitably catch on something or get tangled, which can be dangerous as it can cause you to trip and fall down. It can also be difficult to reach the in-line controls. This is where the BackBeat Fit headphones show their value — the controls are right on your ears, and the phones can connect to your phone via Bluetooth. When you go to the gym, you can also carry your phone or keys on the accompanying armband, and at the price of S$219, this product is unbeatable!