Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 Review

Our Verdict

Despite a few operation bugs, the Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 provides dynamic sound and pocket-size noise cancellation at a bang-up price.

For

Loud, warm sound
Dependable noise cancellation
Lightweight, sturdy design
Companion app with useful features
Strong battery life

Against

Buggy performance
No move or touch on controls
Lacks premium appearance of competitive models

Tom'south Guide Verdict

Despite a few functioning bugs, the Plantronics BackBeat Get 810 provides dynamic audio and minor dissonance cancellation at a great cost.

Pros

+
Loud, warm sound
+
Undecayed dissonance cancellation
+
Lightweight, sturdy pattern
+
Companion app with useful features
+
Strong battery life

Cons

-
Buggy performance
-
No move or touch controls
-
Lacks premium appearance of competitive models

The BackBeat Go 810 stands out equally a budget successor to the company'southward popular BackBeat Pro 2 SE. It's a few years sometime now but compared to its contemporaries, similar the Bose QuietComfort35 2 and Sony WH-1000XM3 is price has absolutely plummeted to the point that this might just be the best-priced gear up of noise-cancelling headphones on the market.

Nowadays it's still worth paying for a acme-quality pair, like the newer Bose 700 and Sony WH-1000XM4, but this effort shouldn't be ignored. Go along reading our original Plantronics BackBeat Become 810 review to discover out why.

Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 review: Price and availability

Once nearly $200, the Plantronics BackBeat Get 810 now costs a mere $59. Yous can option upwardly a pair in either black or white, from retailers including Amazon and Walmart.

Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 review: Design

Plantronics settled on a clean, minimalist design that looks like to but less premium than Bose's and Sony's designs. Fashion aside, the BackBeat Go 810 brings together comfy and robust materials to form a well-congenital frame.

Most of its construction is made from plastic, metallic and silicone. The ear pads feature a faux leather that has a soft-touch feel when they're pressed confronting your ears. On top is a flexible, plastic headband padded with cloth – a unique add-on that works just as well as stuffed padding. The near hitting parts are the bronze-colored extenders, which are sturdy and give the headset some pop. All physical buttons have their own signature experience, making information technology like shooting fish in a barrel to identify them.

While the ear cups hinge to the side for convenient placement effectually the neck, they don't fold inwards, making these cans less portable than the QC35 Two and WH-1000XM3. The plastic casing is also vulnerable to blemishes such every bit dirt and scratches, so y'all'll want to exist conscientious when y'all're leaving these around.

Arranged with the headphones are an auxiliary cable, micro-USB cable, mesh travel pouch and Quick Start teaching card. What might depict your attending virtually are the three colors they come in: Blackness Graphite, Bone White and Navy Blue. The latter is the most attractive option and replicates the sleek presence of the QC35 2.

Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 review: Condolement and tit

At vii ounces, the BackBeat Get 810 is lighter than the QC35 II (eight.2 ounces) and WH-1000XM3 (nine ounces). The headset is slim and cozy, and comes with memory foam padding to suit all-day comfort.

The ear pads felt gentle on my ears and the headband gave enough support to keep them stable without calculation any extra pressure to my skull. The oval shape of each cup was spacious, housed my ears safely and prevented chafing. As well, the extenders are lengthy enough to support larger heads, though you'll want to set the proper notch level to avoid slippage. I sported the headphones for five to 6 hours daily in relative comfort.

Plantronics BackBeat Get 810 review: Controls and setup

The control scheme is as standard as they come up, with all functionality assigned to concrete buttons. There is no touch panel, nor the visitor'southward smart sensor technology to autopause music when you're taking off the headset, withal. Why Plantronics' signature feature wasn't included remains a mystery, specially since Microsoft and Sony are integrating similar functionality into their headsets.

On the left ear cup, you'll discover the control panel with 3 buttons: forward, skip and multifunctional button, which manages calls and playback. On the side are volume rockers, which besides cycle through the racket-cancellation modes when held down together for 2 seconds. At the bottom, you'll see an sound jack and charging port. The right ear loving cup has a Bluetooth/ability button, LED light and EQ push button that switches betwixt listening modes, plus mutes the mic during calls. All buttons accept an accurate tactile response — peculiarly the raised ones on the side.

Sadly, the headset suffers from control problems; oft it paused my music on its ain — without my touch on the MF button.

Pairing them to a uniform audio source is quick. You merely toggle upward the Bluetooth button to enter pairing style, which instantly brings upwards the headset on the available devices listing. Select PLTB BGO810, and you'll be connected.

Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 review: Active noise cancellation

The BackBeat Get 810 won't match the active noise-cancelling performance of Bose, Sony or even Microsoft's headphones, just the headset'south noise cancellation is decent enough to block out nearby rumblings.

In that location are ii modes for noise counterfoil: depression and loftier. The former is recommended for airtight settings like offices or when you're surrounded by lots of chatter, whereas the latter performs better in noisy environments like airplanes and trains. I spent virtually of my time testing Low Mode, which provided solitude in my house: True cat meows were silenced and nearby conversations receded into the background.

High Style was near useful when I was outside, although the mics picked upwards a lot of noise. I managed to silence the chatty couple sitting next to me on the train likewise equally wind flow from the tunnels. I was as well impressed past how well information technology blocked out higher frequencies like those from my home theater system. Silencing the jackhammer noise from a nearby construction site proved to be more than difficult, however. In addition, I noticed a crackling noise when enabling both ANC modes, but information technology was naught that pulled me away from the music.

Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 review: Sound quality

In terms of sound quality, these cans fall more in line with the BackBeat Pro 2 SE than the QC35 Two or WH-1000XM3. They're capable of producing loud, warm sound, though you'll desire to keep ANC at the loftier level for the best listening experience.

Tracks with heavy bass excelled on the BackBeat Get 810. A prime number example was Travis Scott's "Butterfly Effect," which carried a strong, low-cease presence that gave me goosebumps. The rapper'south vocals sounded clear over the booming product. Even hard stone records like the Stone Temple Pilots' "Plush" were represented well. It was great listening to Scott Weiland'due south wicked song range as his vox soared over the song's monstrous guitar riffs.The acoustic version really showcased the headphone's midrange, capturing the singer'south emotive country during the alive performance.

One complaint I did have was the frequency balance – lows accept precedence over mids and highs, therefore stripping certain records of detailing. The instrumental separation on jazz records like Ahmad Jamal's "Wave" was muddled, making it more than difficult to identify certain instruments. Vocals on The Breeders' "Cannonball" were latent, making the lyrics audio garbled. Turning off ANC merely worsened them, while also bringing down bass levels.

I was curious to see what the sound quality would be like when the headphones were connected to the aux cablevision, so I plugged the accessory into my laptop, and I was met with louder sonics. Bass and volume are kicked upward a notch — maybe a footling too high for my liking. I did encounter a bug when I used the cablevision, which crippled the headset's performance until I powered it off: A phonation prompt would constantly repeat the power, battery and ANC status after playing a second of music.

Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 review: BackBeat app

The Plantronics app has an array of special features. The most useful was the EQ setting to personalize sound. Options to broaden the soundstage aren't every bit vast every bit what you'd find on the Cortana or Sony Headphones app, but Plantronics keeps it simple with two modes: Bright and Balanced. The one-time does an impressive task of enhancing clarity and detail, while the latter is programmed to produce neutral sound, even with the bass being accentuated.

The app lets you enable ANC levels, Hard disk vocalization support for calls and the Notice MyHeadset feature to aid rail misplaced headphones. Firmware updates also open the door for bonus features.

Plantronics BackBeat Become 810 review: Digital assistant support

Using Siri or Google Assistant on the BackBeat Go 810 takes y'all on a bumpy ride. Both voice-activated AI bots are capable of executing numerous hands-free commands. That's not the problem – the difficulty lies in activating the feature through the headset. Holding down the play push for several seconds should plough on the digital assistant, but nigh times, information technology would simply play/pause my media. When I did become around to using Google Assistant, the mics registered most of my inquiries. At that place was some crackling present as well, while I waited for the program to return results.

Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 review: Bombardment life

The battery on these cans holds up well. Plantronics advertises 22 hours with ANC manner on and 28 hours in standard mode. That'southward pretty accurate, since the headphones lasted around twenty hours with noise cancellation on. Information technology yet falls short of the WH-1000XM3 (xxx hours), however, merely it remains equal to the QC35 2 (20 hours). I enjoyed several hours of daily use before I had to recharge, which took about 90 minutes. Fifty-fifty better, the headphones come fully charged correct out of the box and help preserve juice when you use the Plantronics app to reduce ANC operation on the headset.

Plantronics BackBeat Go 810 review: Call quality and connectivity

The BackBeat Go 810 served as a reliable calling headset. Conversations sounded crisp and loud on both ends. Even outside in drafty conditions, the headphones produced clear sound. You'll need to make certain ANC is turned off, or else the mics volition amplify any ambient noise around yous. I could hear some echoing on my end, along with the clatter of my keyboard when I talked and typed simultaneously. Song clarity was improved when I used the Hard disk drive Vocalization mode.

Another advantage these cans have over about of the competition is Bluetooth 5.0, which connects to multiple devices simultaneously, improves range and saves energy. I appreciated being able to switch between my laptop and smartphone, interference free. Most headphones supporting Bluetooth 4.2 unremarkably go me about 30 anxiety of wireless listening, merely the BackBeat Go 810 surpassed that by well-nigh ten feet before I experienced dropout.

Plantronics BackBeat Become 810 review: Verdict

For less than $60, the Plantronics Backbeat Go 810 presents excellent value. It offers far more in performance than most subluxury headphones, backed by solid sound quality, stiff battery life and trustworthy noise cancellation.

Even so, the headphones aren't perfect. I was disappointed that the brand'due south smart sensor technology was missing. The bland pattern doesn't compare to the palatial appearance of the QC35 Ii or WH-1000XM3, plus at that place are bugs that need to be worked out.

Overall, the BackBeat Go 810 gets much more correct than it does wrong, and with potential firmware updates in its time to come, Plantronics can polish up these bad boys for enhanced performance. And while y'all can score ameliorate noise counterfoil and audio by splurging on audio silencers from Bose or Sony, the Go 810 delivers very impressive value.

A lifestyle announcer with an analogousness for consumer products, Alex has over a decade of experience and has worked with pop publications such every bit Circuitous, Thrillist, Men'due south Health, Gear Patrol, AskMen, and Hoop Magazine. He currently focuses on audio, reviewing the most coveted headphones in the marketplace for both Tom'southward Guide and Laptop Magazine.