Top positive review
10 people found this helpful
Interesting response from Plantronics customer service
By Mr Joel Mason on Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2019
My goal was to find a set of headphones that had great sound but did not cost $250.00 or more. The noise cancellation feature was of secondary importance to me because I use the headphones in the house 99% of the time. I fly occasionally but not enough to require the best noise cancellation in the world. After reading too many reviews I decided to try the Tribit X Free model, mainly because of the positive reviews. I found out quickly that when I tried to pair the headphones the purple light would simply stay on but the headphones would not pair or connect, so I sent them back and asked for a replacement. Unfortunately, the second set did the same thing so I gave up and sent them back for a refund. I originally was deciding between the Tribit's and the Mpow's, so I then got a set of Mpow H10's. Although it paired and connected properly it simply didn't sound that great with weak bass and scratchy trebles. Another big issue for me was that whenever I used the noise cancellation feature there was a very noticeable hissing sound. Back I went to researching for a headphone with excellent sound quality. I looked at the reviews for the Plantronics Backbeat Pro 2's and found them to be quite mixed. However, the negative reviews related to poor sound cancellation, and to a comfortable fit. The noise cancellation didn't matter to me so I was only a little concerned about the comfort. Based on the many positive reviews about the sound quality I decided to try them anyhow. I mainly use headphones to listen to Spotify music on my laptop, but when I first used them I found that after playing several songs, the music tracks started skipping badly and the music was inaudible. I contacted Plantronics about the problem and received an interesting response as follows: Thank you for contacting Plantronics Customer Care. We have received your message and would like to inform you that Our Bluetooth headsets are only designed for smartphones/tablets. They are not specifically optimized to be used directly with a PC or Mac. Pairing your Bluetooth headset with your PC or Mac may sometimes work for audio streaming, but we cannot guarantee the audio quality or how well the headset functions will work. Wow, that was an interesting response because it was not mentioned in the product description or in any of the reviews on Amazon and other sites. I contacted Plantronics again and they indicated that they have a dongle that is designed to solve that problem. The dongle costs $100.00. I contacted them once again, and without going into detail, they agreed to send me a dongle free of charge. I have mixed feeling about this whole thing, but at least Plantronics went out of their way to fix the problem. Now, as far as the headphones themselves, I only have positive things to say about them. Yes, the noise cancellation is not great, but I find them to very comfortable and can easily wear them for four hours or more with no discomfort. The battery life is phenomenal, as mentioned by other reviewers. The most impressive feature is the sound quality. There is absolutely no comparison to either the Tribit's or the Mpow's. The audiophiles who are reading this will undoubtedly point out that there is no comparison between the Plantronics and a set of headphones that cost $250.00 or more. That's fair, but I don't really care because I am totally satisfied with the sound of the Plantronics. The bass is extremely good, it's not muddy, and it doesn't drown out the mid range and treble sounds. In fact, even though it's somewhat of a cliche, I can honestly say that I hear sounds that I've not heard before. For example, in the past I've never been able to hear the brush sounds on a cymbal or drum whereas I can now. At times, some of the sounds I hear actually startle me because I don't expect them to be so clear. A good example of that is hand clapping in some music. As a side note, I didn't have any problem with track skipping when I used the headphones with my phone, but I'm still a little confused about the headphones not being designed to use with a laptop. Regardless, I am so satisfied with the sound quality of these headphones that I would buy them again.
Top critical review
2 people found this helpful
Lightweight and functional-- with several major issues.
By J Rintoul on Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2022
I am a heavy headphone user, with these being used daily, almost entirely throughout the work day. I understand this puts me into the heavier usage category and I've been using these headphones for almost a year. I was very excited for the first month or so when I got them, but quickly discovered several pitfalls. While they're good in several aspects, there are some important caveats that will prevent me from buying a second pair. Pros: * The battery life a year out with daily use is still solid. * Active noise cancelling is effective, and the best part about these headphones. * They're lightweight, and can be worn all day without neck strain. * Sound quality is good enough to pick up softer noises and acoustics when noise cancelling is on. Cons: * The biggest one for me is that the ear cups are extremely shallow. These headphones rub up against the inside of my ear, and scrape against it causing almost a bed-sore. I was able to pad it more with moleskin, but it made the entire experience very uncomfortable. * Mic quality is extremely poor, which is extremely disappointing considering Plantronics normal quality. It sounds exactly like your 10 year old webcam microphone. * Ear coverings began to split after about 7-8 months. * Volume control is not very granular with large jumps between settings. I found myself still needing to adjust the volume on my PC or phone instead with the headphones set to the lowest volume possible. * The software voice that informs you that the headphones are connected or noise cancelling is on/off is very loud on all settings. * The headphones have a built in setting that stops audio when it thinks you took the headphones off to save battery power. However the sensor has false positives constantly. If you take one ear off, or move your head or lie down then it triggers this setting. It is possible to turn it off, but it's an unintuitive cycle of holding buttons and pressing other buttons for 6-7 seconds. * The 'Hands Free Audio' setting is terrible, which continues to play audio and routing your own microphone through the feed so you can hear around you. However, this halves the quality of the audio, and the microphone is easily overpowered by noisy sounds like keyboards and mouse clicks far more than people talking. Other times, it completely halts the headphone audio, and just offers the poor microphone sounds. ---- All in all, they're good for noise cancelling, and are lightweight enough to be warn for long hours. However, don't expect a long lasting life cycle out of these headphones, especially if they become your daily drivers. I don't feel the price point is worth it, and am disappointed that I got less than a years life out of these before they began to deteriorate quickly.
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