Backbeat 903+ Bluetooth stereo headphones review!

[madmac]

Took delivery of the Plantronics Backbeat 903+ Bluetooth headphones the other day from Amazon to replace my ailing Motorola SD-9HD headphones the other day and I thought I would share with you my thoughts on them.

First off, nobody can deny the advantages of wireless headphones when you are running, cycling or moving around in any kind of way. NO WIRES to get yanked or tangled in stuff!. These headphones cost me $55 bucks Canadian and the Motorokr's in the day cost $100 bucks +.

Let it be said that you don't always get what you pay for. Right out of the box, these headphones sound vastly better than the Motorola's which surprised me quite a bit. I was very Leary ordering these figuring that for some reason, they would sound worse, or at best....the same as the Motorola's. They sound WAY better!. Better bass, better treble, more detail across the board and believe it or not, an over abundance of bass (Altec Lansing technology). They even have a 'bass boost' feature that I do not even need to use because there is plenty of bass right out of the box.

Out of the box, these headphones look well built......that is until you fiddle with the control/ power buttons. They are very small, hard to find when the unit is on your head, and have a cheap feel to them. The Motorola's buttons were elevated 'nibs' and felt good, located well on the unit, and were easy to use when the unit was on your head.

Bluetooth signals are very finicky as a rule, especially when you are outdoors, so your phone/MP3 players have to be properly positioned on your body to insure a clean, break free signal. The antenna for the Backbeat's is located in the left earpiece so it is important to keep your Phone/mp3 on the left side of your body/bike etc. The Motorola antenna was located at the back of the headset but this one is on the side, which in all honesty should work out better since you can place your player on your left arm and you are good to go. With the Moto's, the player had to be behind you. So I'll list the pros and cons below in bullet form:

Motorola Sd-9HD Pro's :

-Better built across the board...buttons...overall build.
-decent sound
-Decent connectivity but only when music unit is located behind you.

Cons:
-Uncomfortable to wear for long periods (works on a spring concept whereby the unit 'presses' the earpieces into your ears).
-Overall sound ok but not as good as the Backbeats.

Backbeat 903+ Pro's:

-WAY better sound, detail and transparency across the board!
-Way better fit on the head (Over and around the ear). VERY comfortable to wear and plastic earpiece is shaped in a 'funnel' kinda' way which goes nice and right into your ear canal. Also fully adjustable as well.

Con's :
- Connectivity more finicky than the Moto's. VERY important for correct placement of music player unit......even indoors!!. Music Unit MUST be kept near left side earpiece ( 1 yard outdoors max, 10 feet or so indoors).

-Buttons worry me... and I fear that they may break sooner than later. Harder to control and use when wearing the unit on your head.......but not impossible.


In conclusion, being a 'sound guy', the Backbeat's win hands down for comfort and great sound. Highly recommended!.

[wkhanna]

Nice review, Dan.
You may want to re-post it in the 'Articles' section, too. :T

[madmac]

Thanks Bill!.

Another few notes!. Please be advised that I am using, via my Samsung Note II, the Google App "Play Music" which allows EQ'ing and great Bass and '3D' sound management for mobile music. Highly recommended!!.

Another thing, I was on my Bike again today with these earphones with my Phone located on the front of my bike and did not get one cut out of music signal!. This makes this headset MUCH preferred over the Moto's since the music player can now be IN FRONT of you which allows for much easier access to your unit over the Moto's, in which the player absolutely had to be behind you.

I'm getting more and more used to the button placement on this headset and I am starting to have less and less of an issue with their placement and feel. I am still concerned however of their longevity......only time will tell. The problem with these 'buttons' is that they are NOT shielded 'nibs' like on the Moto's and are suspended buttons that will be most certainly affected by water if you are out in inclement weather.

Lastly.....battery longevity is excellent.

Dudes and dudettes.......these headphones sound really good!. They are, for one thing, louder than the Moto's and have substantially better audio presentation in every regard. I cannot stress this aspect enough. I believe these 'cans' are pushing the limits of Bluetooth audio (Which is, of course...limited).

[madmac]

Another note. These headphones have a sexy voice prompt when you change tracks and/or the battery is low!!. BONUS!.

Also, another thing I failed to mention is that the call quality is very good. No problems with taking calls with this headset. Music lowers then stops when a call is coming in then resumes when the call is done. The music also lowers momentarily when there is an audio notification for a received Text or email.

[madmac]

Another interesting note!. For whatever reason, when you DO momentarily lose a signal with these Bluetooth headsets, the music invariably comes back but speeds up by a half step or so, then slowly goes back to regular speed of play!. I find that odd!!??. Anybody got a theory as to why that happens??.

[Chris D]

Ouch... that's a deal-breaker for me right there, and one of the reasons why I only use wired headphones.

[madmac]

Ouch... that's a deal-breaker for me right there, and one of the reasons why I only use wired headphones.

Hey Chris, the main thing to arrange is to NOT get drop outs. Most of the time, with my Phone properly positioned, I get no drop out's. However, if you DO get a drop out, the music does speed up somewhat, Kinda' like it's trying to 'catch up' to where it should be in the music stream.

I differ from you in that wired headsets in a physical movement situation are a deal breaker for me. The wires get caught in things, yanked out of your ears, and in many cased busted all together. This headset sounds as good as most decent wired headsets without all that aggravation. Plus, this headset 'skirts' the law here as headphones are not permitted on bikes. I can simply tell the officer with the lack of wires, that these are simply Bluetooth units to take calls only. Good enough for cars should be good enough for bikes right??!!.

[Chris D]

Sure... to each their own! I can totally understand your perspective, and why people go wireless on devices. For me, there, all it takes is one drop-out, one pixelation, one static pop, and I'm done. Same reason why I can't go wireless on video devices, and I don't stream video/movies. If I rip CD's, they have to be perfect. I'm willing to accept the inconvenience of wires on headphones, or a physical DVD, to avoid the imperfections of ultra-mobile technology.

[madmac]

Sure... to each their own! I can totally understand your perspective, and why people go wireless on devices. For me, there, all it takes is one drop-out, one pixelation, one static pop, and I'm done. Same reason why I can't go wireless on video devices, and I don't stream video/movies. If I rip CD's, they have to be perfect. I'm willing to accept the inconvenience of wires on headphones, or a physical DVD, to avoid the imperfections of ultra-mobile technology.

I can absolutely understand your perspective on this 'wireless' issue and their inherent imperfections. For me honestly, I would like to see further advancements in the Bluetooth medium. Like TV antennas, the bigger the antenna array, the better and more reliable the signal. I would like to see bigger, more powerful Bluetooth antenna arrays both on players and on the headphones to seriously improve reception performance. Or perhaps a better, more advanced Bluetooth technology itself that has better, longer reception capability.

[Chris D]

Oh, I'm with you there for sure. I grumble about the same thing with wi-fi. Reception between two antennae depends on three factors: power, antenna size, and distance between the two. So that you can reliably have more of the distance, you should increase the size and power. Problem is, the FCC starts getting grumpy when you do that.

[madmac]

Sure... to each their own! I can totally understand your perspective, and why people go wireless on devices. For me, there, all it takes is one drop-out, one pixelation, one static pop, and I'm done. Same reason why I can't go wireless on video devices, and I don't stream video/movies. If I rip CD's, they have to be perfect. I'm willing to accept the inconvenience of wires on headphones, or a physical DVD, to avoid the imperfections of ultra-mobile technology.

Also, and on another note, I agree totally with you in regards to CD's and Dvd's and 'Higher end' home audio/video stuff. It has to be perfect. No loss and certainly no loss of signal!!. I pull back a bit with mobile audio and am willing to sacrifice a bit. MP3 sound as a medium is a compromise anyway right?. I will say this though, that Google's App "Play Music" does a VERY good job at making an Mp3 compromised sound format sound quite pleasing!.

[madmac]

I've had these Bluetooth headphones for about a month now and am still impressed with their sound quality. However, I am NOT impressed with the control buttons at all. firstly, in order to move forward a track you have to press and hold the volume button (VERY inconvenient!!). The buttons are way too small and too close together. I still find myself searching for the correct button when I need to change something. However, they sound so damn good that all the above is forgiven!.

I also bought a new armband for my Samsung Note II and as expected, I get no dropouts whatsoever when I wear it on my left arm. Off the topic, there is a wonderful Android app out there called "Simple MP3". Check it out.....you WON'T be disappointed!!.

[madmac]

Update!!! The wireless range of this headset is about half of the range that I got out of the Motorola's. Once again though, all is forgiven due to the Plantronics excellent audio presentation. With this headset however, it is even MORE imperative that the positioning of the music player be close to the headset.