Last month PLT had one of its biggest announcements in years not revealing just one but five BackBeat headphones. Each one is catered to a certain headphone wearing audience and you don’t realize how many there are till you run thru this audio providing roster of headphones. For this review I will be going over the BackBeat Go 410. They are a pair of “neck phones” or around the neck wireless earbuds whichever name you want to call them. I been using them the past month or so and I found them to be astoundingly better than expected.
Style
As stated earlier the PLT BackBeat GO 410 are a pair of wireless earbuds that go around the neck with a earbud tangling from each side via a flat audio cable. They come in Graphite or Bone in which the Bone colorway is the one I was provided by Plantronics. Placing these around the neck the GO 410 are light and almost unnoticeable as they weigh just over an ounce. The base that goes on the neck is thin and there is two thicker parts on each side to keep it balanced on the neck. On the right side you are presented with buttons to power on, off and change volume. Also is a compartment to charge the GO 410 thanks to micro USB port.
Ear Tips are interchangeable but I been able to use the ones that came attached right out the box. They fit right into my ear without any issue or discomfort even for long periods of use which is spectacular. When won the wires tend to look like hoops or rings. Surprisingly I haven’t snagged them on anything which is a good thing.
Features / Sound
Plantronics managed to pack some punch in these earbuds. They have 10mm drivers and also provide Active Noise Cancelling. If you decide to roll with ANC you will get an estimated 8 hrs or without it 12 hrs. I tend to roll with ANC on at all times so I never expected to see 12 hrs of usage. To conserve battery life you are able to “clip” the earbuds to each other thanks to magnetic sensors. I have found battery life to be adequate with the PLT GO 410 but not what I’m customized to reaching on PLT devices.
On the audio side these headphones give off an awesome sound presence. Vocals are crisp while PLT has put just enough bass in these earbuds. Better than what I expected and I would sometimes get on PLT for needing more bass. But these hit on all marks. ANC has managed to keep all noise out thanks to them sitting nicely within the ear canal.
There is a BackBeat app that allows you access to some options like more or less bass or how strong you want the ANC. I use it more so to tell me how much battery life is left on the GO 410.
These are utilizing Bluetooth 5.0 which is supposed to help with that battery and also make a seamless connection to your smartphone. I don’t recall much distort or disconnect I think one time the whole time using them.
Verdict
I personally was never a fan of around the neck earbuds because they always felt clunky and the sound wasn’t the best to me. PLT has changed my mind a bit giving me a wearable that felt almost invisible. Using these during some of the hotter days of September was a godsend when I didn’t want to wear over or on-ears.
Battery life wasn’t bad but I felt or wished they could of been a bit longer as I felt myself running to the charger more than usual. For $129.99 Plantronics gives you a comfortable wearing experience mixed with a stellar enclosed audio experience you wouldn’t even imagine getting these out of these headphones.
