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| Plantronics BackBest Sense |
[USER EXPERIENCE] I am hardly into audio like an audiophile, that said, I have seen the wonders of today's audio equipment gave all consumers better music on-the-go. So I am happy that recently, a kind vendor from work loaned me a on-ear wireless headphone, Plantronics BackBeat Sense.
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| Head Cushion: Extreme comfort! |
Plantronics Extreme Comfort
Plantronics is best known for monaural headsets of the wireless and business/call center. Not many I asked heard of the brand, though we have been using their headsets in the office for a long time. The audio quality of those were impressive, so I wanted to try their consumer headphone too.
When I put on Plantronics BackBest Sense, I was pleasantly surprised by its comfort. I have a relatively big head; I could not fit in any of the helmets in the driving school and need to buy a size L helmet outside.
It's lightweight and have 10 levels of marks to extend the size of the headband. This mobile friendly on-ear Bluetooth headphone comes with memory foam earpads with the left/right indicators on it. Chic design and importantly I feel no stress from prolong period of usage. I had it on usually on my bus ride home, an hour long journey.
The Sense comes with a contemporary canvas case for storage, a 3.5mm audio cable (for wired connection), a USB cable for charging.
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| Plantronics logo on top |
Features and Connectivity
Plantronics BackBeat Sense comes with some fun features. It has a sensor that would pause your music when you have them off and intelligently resumes playback from the same position when you put it back on. It's an amazingly convenient that I am puzzled why this haven't been more commonly deployed.
It also has a red button on the left that would pause the music and allow you to listen to your surrounding in at amplified level via the dual microphone. It's kinda fun and convenient to talk to someone with the headset on. Also people around you may think you are listening to music when in fact you are listening to their conversation, loud and clear!
As well you can pick up calls on the connected mobile phone, again without removing the headphones.
Other buttons includes a call answer/end button on the outside of the right earpad and a pause/play button along with track back/advance buttons on the outside of the left earpad. Volume is adjustable using a ring control on the left earpad.
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| On-Ear Cushion with Left/Right indicators |
The Sense works on Bluetooth v4.0. It is capable of simultaneously connecting two Bluetooth source devices and switching between them. I have great experience by first switching bluetooth on my mobile phone then subsequently the Sense. Upon connection, the headset will notify via a robot voice that the headset has been connected to "Phone 1" and/or "Phone 2", the names for the Bluetooth source.
The Sense claims extended wireless range up to 100m instead of the standard 33 feet/10m with a common Bluetooth device although I experienced interference from to time to time on the road causing the audio to be intermittent.
Battery life is rated at 18 hours of music playback, for a daily 2 hours of usage, it last much more than a week before the next charge.
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| Highly recommended! |
Sound Quality
Plantronics BackBeat Sense does not come with noise cancellation, a rather popular feature in the market, yet that's how I like it to be because I prefer to be more aware of my surroundings while on the road especially in public transport.
For someone who is in a regular company of audiophile, among them my father, cousin and friends, I like a balance of comfort and sound quality for a headphone that I would use for my daily commute.
The Sense is exactly that. It is a well-balanced headphone with decent bass and rather good clarity. For the time I have it with me, I played LalaLand OST nearly daily. It was a spectacle of audio performance given that it doesn't support noise cancellation.
I like the crisp piano notes, soundstage that reminds me of the movie and clarity of all the musical instruments playing at the same time, my top favourite is Credits track (track number 40). Someone in the Crowd, track 4, by Emma Stone, Callie Hernandez, Sonoya Mizuno & Jessica Rothe is also incredibly decent experience.
If I have to be picky, I would say that I have to play at near highest volume as the Sense is seemingly rather soft even when compared the original earphones from my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. As well, at a recommended retail price of S$279, the Sense is pricey.
Besides these, I would highly recommend the Plantronics BackBeat Sense to anyone, except audiophiles, looking for a great sounding and comfortable wireless Bluetooth headphone. However, please note that Plantronics is releasing an updated version of the Sense, you might get this at a better price later or you might simply like the updated version better!
