Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
 Great Sound Quality for the Price, but Don't Pay Too Much for Them April 21, 2010
Justin McBride (Detroit, MI USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Prelude
I admit it; I'm something of a bass-head. I love a pair of headphones, earbuds or in ear monitors that can produce deep, powerful, rich and well-textured bass tones and when I come across something that's reasonably priced and produces the kind of bass that I'm looking for, I have to give it a try. The item in question this time is a pair of Altec Lansing Backbeat Plus in ear monitors. These are advertised as featuring "extra bass power" and "balanced mids and highs", which is fairly standard marketing jargon for such a product. I scouted these out on eBay (it's amazing the headphone deals one can find) and managed to snag a pair for just $2.99 plus $6.99 for shipping.
The retail price for the Backbeat Plus IEMs fluctuates wildly at retail and I've seen pairs going for as little as $15 in other eBay listings all the way up to $60 from a couple Amazon sellers so considering the fact that I had to pay a little less than $10, I figured these would be a pretty good deal. I also figured that, if I ended up hating them, then I wasn't out a great deal of money. So, do the Backbeat Plus IEMs manage to impress with their sound quality or will these end up being another bargain bin disappointment? Read on to find out.
Technical Specifications
Driver: 10mm dynamic driver
Frequency Response: 30 Hz - 18.5 kHz
Impedance: 16 Ohms
Sensitivity: 106 dB/mW
Cable Length: 1.2m/4ft.
Packaging and Accessories
The Backbeat Plus IEMs come packaged in a nice thin red and black box which does a good job of showing off the IEMs themselves. The included accessories are disappointing, as there are only three pairs of single flange silicone tips and that's it. No carrying case or anything else. Considering the price I paid for them, the lack of accessories is acceptable but the higher up you go on the pricing scale, it gets that much more difficult to accept.
Design and Build Quality
These IEMs, like their big brothers the Backbeat Pro balanced armature IEMs I reviewed before, are made of a hard plastic with a soft touch exterior texture that feels very durable and feature large left and right markings on the rear of the housings. Short but flexible strain reliefs extend down from the housings and the cable terminates into a 3.5mm straight plug that features an integrated pseudo strain relief. The cable itself is a thick cloth-knit design which is similar in texture to the cable of the V-Moda Vibes. The primary difference here is that the cable on the Backbeat Plus is a great deal thicker and as a result feels more durable. The unfortunate tradeoff is that these carry a massive amount of microphonic noise. Nothing I've ever used produces as much cable noise when rubbing against my clothing as these IEMs and that makes them very annoying to use when on the move.
Overall, aside from the terrible microphonics, these feel like they could stand up to daily use and/abuse for a fairly long time. I have heard some reports of the cable fraying where it terminates into the plug but as long as these are handled with care, that shouldn't be a problem.
Comfort and Fit
These are somewhat finicky IEMs in my experience and didn't sound right until they were inserted into my ears just right. The stock single flange ear-tips didn't blow me away either and I had more fit issues with them than I'd like so I swapped them with a pair of medium V-Moda silicone tips and haven't had as many problems since then. Once a proper fit was attained, they isolate fairly well and are very comfortable to my ears. Using them while typing this very review, I hardly noticed that they were in my ears.
Sound Quality
Burn in: As per my usual, these were given no less than 20 hours of burn in time prior to review.
Like the Kanen KM92s and MEElectronics SX-31s before them, these are very bassy IEMs and their sound signature is defined by the low end. Bass notes coming through these things are deep, big and powerful but don't pack the type of punch that I was expecting. Despite the lack of punchiness or urgency the low end is very pronounced and in your face and is fairly well detailed and extends pretty low before rolling off but I can easily hear the bass rumbling at about 30Hz. There is a bit of a midbass hump but it's not so big that it's distracting. The low end is tight enough that it doesn't have much of an impact on the mids.
Mids are vibrant and engaging to listen to, not forward or recessed but with the slightest bit of a veil over the sound. The mids have a sense of fullness about them and are the slightest bit warm on certain tracks. Vocals are natural and clean sounding and songs are decently clear all around. Highs are nice and bright and sparkle and roll off gradually the higher up you go on the frequency scale. The linearity of the highs and mids stands out to my ears and even with the low end emphasis, there's a nice balance between these two frequency ranges.
Overall, the sound signature is full-bodied but lacking in terms of clarity and the type of high resolution you get from high-end IEMs. The soundstage is of average size with decent imaging and instrument separation. These seem to live up to Altec Lansing's claims of "balanced mids and highs" somewhat but only when referring to those frequency ranges by themselves. However, when the lows are factored in, these IEMs are anything but balanced. Whether or not that's a bad thing is entirely up to your tastes in music and what you desire to hear from your headphones.
Value and Conclusion
Deciding whether or not these are a good value is a bit difficult with their inconsistent pricing. If you can get them for $15 - $20 or less as in my case, these are a great value, providing very good sound quality for the price. If you go any higher than that, the answer is less obvious. Altec Lansing's own Backbeat Pros can be found for about $25 and are sonically superior, especially with proper equalizing.
At the end of the day, I enjoy these IEMs and would recommend them to folks who enjoy big bass in addition to decently balanced mids and highs. They aren't going to satisfy people who appreciate neutral sounding IEMs or audiophiles looking for the next big thing but for the average user, these are a very good sounding pair of earphones that should definitely be in consideration by budget conscious consumers.
Not perfect... but a good deal March 19, 2010
scoobygang (Philadelphia, PA United States)
I like these earphones a lot despite a couple of negatives. Other reviews mention the cord noise and, of course, I was actively listening for it when I first got the earphones. It does exist at times but not really any more noise than you would get with other products; the type of noise does differ due to the covering on the wire though, perhaps making it more noticeable to some. The quality of the earbuds themselves doesn't seem that great, with the plastic cases looking rather cheap. Even the plastic ear inserts seem thin and cheap, but...they stay in much better than other sets I have. They are really light and I think that contributes to the lasting fit as well. The cord is interesting and doesn't tangle easily. There is also a lariat type arrangement that you can drag up the two separate cables and hold them together to lessen tangles. The sound is acceptable given the low cost of the earbuds. While that isn't a glowing review, they are light and stay in with good but not awe inspiring sound. I find I use them a lot and don't worry much about them since they were quite cheap.
Sounds great, doesn't fix in my ears right. March 6, 2010
Corkey Hinkle (Warner Robins, GA USA)
I bought these for only $10, regular price at Best Buy was 45.99. When i placed them in my ears, they did not fix right making the sound bad. I had to flip the earphones upside down in order to get them to stay and for me to hear the rich bass. After that i was satisfied with them.
 Altec, stick to computer speakers. February 25, 2010
Nathan
I purchased these earbuds last night and have already returned them.
The biggest and most immediate problem I had was the stiff and extremely uncomfortable tips. The medium sized had a less than decent sound and felt more than awkward in my ears. When I switched to the smallest size, what little low end that was there was now gone, leaving only the feeling of thumbs in my ears. More of the same came when I switched to the largest tips.
I decided to go back to the mid sized and see If I could just adjust to the feel, assuming that I might just not be used to them at this point. In that time I never got used to them but instead realized how much I didn't like the sound quality. Across the spectrum of sound, everything was just "okay." The highs and mids didn't jump out or make anything clearer and the lows were hardly noticeable. I'm not even a big fan of bass, but these headphone were definitely lacking. The overall sound was slightly muddy and flat.
On top of all of this, like so many have already posted, the cloth chord was pretty annoying. When I was looking into these online and reading all the comments on the chord noise I thought it was kind of silly and more than likely not that big of a deal. While it wasn't as big of an issue as some made it out to be, I definitely noticed it. This might be because I was paying deliberate attention to every subtle noise and trying to decide if it were an issue or not, but either way, chord friction was a factor.
There are a number of really good earbuds in the same price range that I would recommend over these. I actually exchanged the Altecs for the Klipsch Image S2, which are insanely comfortable and sound exceedingly better that the Backbeats. I'm not sold 100% on them, though. They pump out some really solid sound when plugged into my macbook, but the low end response drops dramatically when running them through my iPhone, which is what I primarily use for all my music playing needs throughout the day.
The whole reason I started this increasingly difficult search for the perfect set of moderately priced earbuds is because I lost my pair of Sony MDREX55LP/B. I loved them and definitely under appreciated everything about them. Very similar comfort level as the Klipsch S2s but far superior bass response, even through my iPhone. I'll probably end up taking the Klipsch back and getting the same pair of Sony's, but researching and trying out is always fun for a bit.
Good luck, keep your receipts, and if it's not love at first listen don't be afraid to return them.
Cable noise is ridiculously loud February 23, 2010
JoseD (SGV, CA)
+side: comfortable, never really tangle and they sound good
-side: cable noise is far to loud if you are walking or doing any kind of activity you may have to turn volume up just to overpower the noise that the cable friction causes
As much as I like them I have been forced to leave them at my desk where I move the least and I can enjoy the headphones and not feel like I wasted money.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 24
|
