Review: Plantronics BackBeat 216

Plantronics recently released a new set of stereo headsets with inline mic and I've had the opportunity to review them.  As I've mentioned in the past, high quality stereo headphones with built-in Mic seems to be a rare breed, so I'm always excited to welcome new ones to the club.

The Plantronics BackBeat 216 sells for $49 a pair which makes it almost a premium headphone but not quite.  From the design of it, it sure looks and qualifies to be considered a premium headphone but the nice thing here is that its price-point is quite affordable.  The typical bells and whistles are there, 3 different ear buds sizes, inline microphone with volume control and cloth-wrapped tangle-free cord.

I was anxious to test out these headphones because one of the advertising points printed on the front of the box is "Bass Boost Headphones" and I love my headphones with good low-frequency response rate.  Upon testing, I was a little disappointed by the Bass response, or the lack of.  Upon closer inspection, I realized the frequency range for the BackBeat 216 is 20Hz to 18500Hz as oppose to some other headsets like my V-Moda Vibe II goes both lower and higher at 12Hz to 22000Hz.  The mid to higher range frequencies are as advertised which is crystal clear.  I suspected Plantronics engineers had voice-conversations in mind since building phone/bluetooth headset is the name of their game.  The headphones do offer excellent noise shield with the size-adjustable ear buds and the audio control is great with the inline remote/mic.

Overall, I'd say this set of headset is really good if you are not looking for strong Bass (some might find too much Bass response headache inducing), at $49 MSRP, this headset gives you a lot of premium design, feel without the premium price tag.