Plantronics has a status for making sensible, ergonomic, and handsome merchandise, and the corporate’s newest Bluetooth earphones, the BackBeat Go 410, delivers on all these fronts. At $129.99, they provide wi-fi audio and ANC (energetic noise cancellation) mixed with a bunch of considerate additional options—from a Smart Magnet that powers the earphones down when not in use to a charging cable that doubles as an audio cable for passive listening. The audio efficiency is bass-forward and fairly sculpted, whereas the ANC is healthier than common. For the value, the feature-rich BackBeat Go 410 is a winner, but when ANC is your high precedence, you could need to think about some alternate options we’ll talk about under.
Design
Available in grey (Graphite) or off-white (Bone), the BackBeat Go 410’s collarband-style design sits on the base of the neck, with cabling connecting extending every earpiece from weighted end-pieces as much as the ears. On the right-hand aspect, there’s an inline distant management and mic, and the earpiece’s inside portion is coloured purple for straightforward identification of the appropriate channel. The eartips match over an angled nozzle part that factors towards the ear canal—there’s part of the tip that enters the canal barely, and a component that rests outdoors the canal for stability, with sizes of three eartip pairs in all. The earpieces’ again panels snap collectively magnetically for simpler stowing contained in the included, padded drawstring pouch.
Internally, the earphones make use of 10mm drivers to ship a frequency vary of 20Hz to 20KHz.
The inline distant has three buttons—a central multifunction management handles playback, energy, and pairing, in addition to name administration and summoning Siri or Google Assistant, all relying on how lengthy you maintain it in for. The Plus/Minus buttons management quantity, or, when held for 2 seconds, observe ahead or backward. I am not a fan of mixing the quantity and observe skipping on the identical buttons—it’s miles too straightforward to unintentionally skip a observe while you meant to regulate the quantity.
Pressing the multifunction button and the Plus button collectively for 2 seconds prompts the ANC, and urgent the multifunction button and the Minus button collectively for 2 seconds prompts the Smart Magnet operate—when the earphones are snapped collectively, the Bluetooth connection is minimize, ANC is shut off, and the earphones instantly energy right down to preserve power. But should you select to deactivate this characteristic, then the magnets will serve solely as magnets that snap the earpieces collectively and won’t have any impact on these features.
A snap-shut cowl on the right-side finish piece of the collarband protects a micro USB port for the included micro-USB-to-USB charging cable, which is of way more beneficiant size than most charging cables for Bluetooth earphones. The USB finish of the cable converts to a 3.5mm plug for wired listening by means of the earphones.
The mic gives common intelligibility—utilizing the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, I may perceive each phrase I recorded, however there have been the everyday fuzzy artifacts related to Bluetooth inline mics.
There’s a free Backbeat app that detects your earphone mannequin and unlocks some options you would not have entry to in any other case. In the case of the BackBeat Go 410, this features a Find My Headset operate for finding misplaced earphones, two EQ listening modes (“Bright” or “Bass”), and twin ANC modes (“High” or “Low”—extra on these within the subsequent part). It’s not important to obtain the app, nevertheless it does provide you with somewhat extra to play with, and it additionally helpfully shows how a lot battery life you’ve gotten left.
Plantronics claims the BackBeat Go 410 can final about 8 hours on a cost, or 10 with out ANC, however your outcomes will range along with your quantity ranges. Utilizing the Smart Magnet characteristic is sure to avoid wasting loads of battery life, so if this can be a concern, be sure that it is enabled.
Performance
The ANC modes, High and Low, correspond respectively to quantity ranges, not frequency ranges—and these descriptions seek advice from the loud noise you take care of on an airplane versus, say, a comparatively quiet workplace with some chatter and keyboard clicks. You can swap between the modes within the app. In High mode, I discovered the ANC successfully tamped down air-con whir and fan noise, in addition to loud low-frequency rumble such as you would possibly hear on an airplane or practice. In Low mode, this rumble and the fan whir will not be negated as successfully—my guess is most individuals will discover the High mode to be very best, even in an workplace setting, although Low mode nonetheless does get rid of some noise.
Both modes, sadly, add fairly a little bit of notable high-frequency hiss. It’s not an disagreeable sound (assume tape hiss or white noise at a really low degree), nevertheless it’s a typical masking agent utilized in much less efficient noise-cancellation circuitry. If these have been extraordinarily costly earphones, this could be a knock, however for $130, the ANC is definitely fairly spectacular, even with the hiss. I additionally did not discover any main change to the audio efficiency with the ANC enabled—one thing I sadly do not all the time see when ANC and Bluetooth are mixed in the identical product.
One gripe is the 2 EQ modes; I might have most well-liked to have a 3rd (“Off”). Between “Bright” and “Bass,” you’ve gotten two fairly unnatural-sounding listening modes. The bass depth is undeniably highly effective, particularly in Bass mode. On tracks with intense sub-bass content material, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the thump is intense and at excessive volumes, there isn’t any distortion. But in Bass mode, the highs appear to vanish a bit and the audio is much less crisp. In Bright mode, the sound is brighter than obligatory and the highly effective bass depth is dialed again. A combo of those two can be very best, with rather less sculpting. As is, I think about most listeners will want the higher bass depth in Bass mode—nevertheless it is not terribly crisp.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a observe with far much less deep bass within the combine, provides us a greater sense of the BackBeat Go 410’s common sound signature. The drums are virtually thunderous in Bass mode, however much less so in Bright. Callahan’s baritone vocals get some low-mid richness and sufficient high-mid treble edge to maintain them crisp. The larger register percussive hits and acoustic strums additionally obtain sufficient high-frequency presence to shine, however that is positively nonetheless a bass-weighted sound signature.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives sufficient high-mid presence in Bass mode to retain its punchy presence, nevertheless it’s not as crisp as I sometimes hear on this observe. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with gusto—this can be a subwoofer-like response for individuals who need huge bass. Since the drivers are so succesful, it is a disgrace that there is not a user-adjustable EQ within the app to dial in your most well-liked sound signature.
Orchestral tracks, just like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound extra pure in Bright mode, although some listeners will benefit from the boosted presence given to the decrease register instrumentation in Bass mode. Neither of the modes gives a very correct image of the audio on this observe, however additionally they aren’t unnatural to a fault—that is only a very sculpted sound signature it doesn’t matter what mode you select.
Conclusion
If you’re keen on huge bass response, the BackBeat Go 410 will not be going to disappoint. If you are somebody who likes to dial in your individual EQ settings in an app, you may need to look elsewhere. Still, the BackBeat Go 410 delivers a robust listening expertise and better-than-average ANC for the value. In all, these are fairly helpful, well-designed earphones with some nifty options, together with the Smart Magnet characteristic. As for in-ear ANC, we have additionally favored the Jabra Elite 65e and the wired Libratone Q Adapt Lightning, that are each Editors’ Choice winners. But the most effective in-ear ANC stays the dearer Bose QuietControl 30. For $130, nevertheless, there’s a lot to love concerning the BackBeat Go 410—it is a stable Bluetooth ANC set for journey or the workplace.