Plantronics BackBeat 903+ Wireless Headphones with Mic - Compatible with iPhone, iPad, Android, and Other Smart Devices

This is my third time purchasing BackBeat 903 headphones. My first purchase was about 3 years ago and the second a year ago.The right head piece on the last pair was in the process of falling off. I'm always surprised at the improvements that never seem to be mentioned in the product description. In fact, I didn't even know if there would be any differences this time around. But there were. There were 3 significant improvements: cord length & flexibility, sound quality and mic quality (with mic quality actually being the most important of the three).THE CORD - LENGTH & FLEXIBILITY: Last year's model had the improvement of having a slightly more flexible cord between the two headphones. The cord on the first pair was very stiff - like coat-hangar stiff. The cord on the second pair, while comfortably more flexible, was still moderately stiff and still just a tad bit too long. Both early pairs made it very difficult to use while leaning back in an airplane seat or laying in bed. The longer, stiffer cords would push the headphones away from your ears the minute they touched the back of the seat, or the bed.I was so excited when I pulled this pair out of the box and first put it on! It was much more snug and comfortable. The cord is just ever so slightly shorter, about a third of an inch shorter, I would say. And, it's much less stiff than either of the previous two!With the softer cord and the slight decrease in length it is now very comfortable to listen or talk on the phone while lying in bed or leaning your head against a high back of a chair! I'm very happy about that.Before I purchased them this time I thought I would look around at other headphones thinking somebody must have come out with a perfect version by now. But as I read the reviews and saw the various problems that have long plagued Bluetooth headphones, I realized these were probably still the best. People complained about short battery life on other headphones, volume that was too low, or people couldn't hear them well when talking on the phone. But I've found in previous BackBeats none of these were a problem - with the exception of the microphone and people having trouble hearing me on phone calls when there was any background noise. (I'll say more on that in a minute).THE BUTTONS: The 903+ version has two new buttons on the back of the left earpiece. The previous versions only had the on/off button there. These two buttons have markings indicating, respectively, Volume + / Forward, and Volume - / Reverse. This tricked me at first into believing that these buttons controlled Play and Stop as well. But happily the play/stop button is still on the side of the right earpiece like it has always been where it's much easier to press.The Forward/Reverse buttons don't work with my podcast player or the standard Android media players or the iPhone players. But they have never worked - so I don't know why they bother to keep putting them there. But I've gotten used to not having that capability so it doesn't bother me. It's just as well, in fact preferable, that the Forward and Reverse don't work. Because if they did, it would be very cumbersome to press these buttons and get what you wanted - either Volume or Forward and Reverse.I had really gotten used to the volume button being on the bottom of the right earpiece. It was a little knob thing that stuck down that you could easily rock back and forth with your thumb. These new volume buttons will be fine too as soon as I get used to them. But if there was anything I would prefer to be different, it would be this.SOUND QUALITY: This was a great surprise. The sound quality on the previous two was excellent and I never had a complaint about it. So I wasn't expecting any change there, but very pleasantly surprised when I put on some music and was blown away by how awesome it sounded! It was much better than before. The bass was really there and the volume was too. Very crisp, clean sound. I totally forgot I was wearing a little dinky bluetooth headset and felt like I was wearing one of those big clunky pairs of old-style stereo headphones with their great sound!CALL QUALITY: is greatly improved!! And what I mean by call quality - is how well the person on the other end of the line can hear me. There is nothing more annoying than to buy a new headset with a low-quality mic and have everyone you call tell you they can't hear you. Well, with these new BackBeats, that is very unlikely to happen! People on the other end say they can hear me better than before. They say my voice sounds crisper and louder (i.e. less muffled). And indeed in a voice mail comparison by calling voice mail on another line and speaking through the BackBeat headset and then calling again and speaking directly through the built-in phone mic - and leaving a voicemail message with each, the headset sounded much better than using the phone's built-in mic (Samsung Galaxy 3S). The volume with the headset was louder and easier to hear when I left a message through the headset.Also, and this was the best test yet. I have a friend who constantly complained of background noise on my last two BackBeat headsets. She was much more sensitive than most people. So I called her shortly after receiving these and re-created the situations that used to annoy her. I didn't tell her I was doing it because in the past she would instantly complain the minute one of these noises came up. So I wanted to see if she would complain now. If so, then I would know there was no change. Two things that consistently annoyed her in the past were running water from a faucet, and the sound of the fan above the stove. So I tested these out on her and she didn't say a word. Finally, I did ask if she could hear them and she said yes, but they just weren't loud enough to bother her anymore. Once I told her I had a new headset she was very pleased with how much better they dealt with external noise.But in probably the best test yet - because she wasn't expecting it (and neither was I)... but while we were on the phone a bunch of sirens went by, very close. In the past even one siren 2-3 blocks away away would have caused her to become greatly annoyed and start screaming at me, "WHAT'S ALL THAT NOISE!" So I waited for her to respond and tell me the sirens were killing her - and to my amazement - she said NOTHING! So finally I asked her if she could hear the sirens. And she said "NO, WHAT SIRENS!!!?" I couldn't believe it. I thought she was being sarcastic. They were so loud it hindered me in hearing her. So I asked again and she said "No, I really didn't hear anything." THAT WAS AMAZING!The Bluetooth distance is exactly the same as on my previous BackBeat headsets. It's 20-30 feet. Of course it's always best to keep your device close to you but you can easily get 20 feet away without any problem. At 30 feet, I still get good reception unless I put my hand near the set to adjust the volume or control the player.Battery life is the same as it was on the previous versions. Which is great news because it was always excellent. And the charge time is very quick. I've never actually timed it but it seems like it never charges for more than about an hour. And I got a full day + of usage off of one charge.LITTLE ENHANCEMENTS: They've added a female voice to announce that you have an incoming call. This is a totally useless feature - like you didn't know you had an incoming call when the phone starts ringing! But I've found it to be a pleasant unnecessary feature. It's strangely soothing! It kind of takes the edge off when the phone rings. You can also use the female voice to tell you how much listen time you have left on the headset before needing to recharge the battery (just quick-click the on/off button once). This will actually be useful when going to bed and deciding whether or not to bother plugging it in. The maximum listen time is 7 hours (which should last you well more than a day... unless you're just constantly listening to things or on the phone). With the old headsets I habitually plugged them into the charger every night before bed. But now if it says there are 5 hours of listen time left, I don't think I'll bother to charge it until the next night.The bottom line is, I would highly recommend these. Almost every feature is perfect and far better than what other headset companies are making today. It seems every other Bluetooth headset has some serious drawbacks. You get great sound but the battery only lasts for 2 hours. Or the battery lasts 3 weeks but nobody can hear you when you talk. Or you can't hear them. These new BackBeats really have no drawbacks on the major features.COMFORT AND FIT: Perfect and very snug. The old ones had to constantly be readjusted as they would easily slip out of your ear.AUDIO QUALITY: Excellent, great bass, phone calls sound great tooMIC QUALITY: Far beyond anything else on the market. They finally have noise cancellation that actually works!BATTERY LIFE: PerfectTIME TO RECHARGE BATTERY: Very shortATTRACTIVENESS: Yes, because they go mostly unseenThe only possible complaint is a very minor one, mostly focusing on the positioning of the buttons. But that's something we all get used to very quickly on any new device.

Usually, I have negative reviews of products as they seldom meet expectations. This one however is an unbelievable unit! The sound is pure live rich stereo which I didn't think was possible with Bluetooth. Not so. The Altec-Lansing speakers in them produce rich full sound, and perhaps partly because I don't believe in MP3s, but rather in the WAV format. So songs take up more space on the memory card, who cares!The audio level can be controlled through the phone and/or the headset. I couldn't hear distortion at any level! Won't be using my MP3 player any more!The battery lasts a good long time, several hours in fact. I have never had to recharge it even after using it for audio and calls for 5-8hrs. The charging-port cover is a little chintzy, I guess by necessity, and may eventually break off, but that should not affect its performance nor charging ability.Pairing is easy and painless. If you walk away from your phone you can hear audibly, "connection lost". When you get back within range, it tells you you are connected again. Music is interrupted when a call comes in and it tells you either who is calling or the number. Once in a while the music is interrupted for a split second when you move around or when you shield the phone with your body when wearing your phone on your hip and bending over but just a split second. You can pause with a tap on button on the right side, or start or re-start the music with another tap. Incredible product!The bad is that it has no boom mike so, while you can hear incoming calls clearly, the other side frequently cannot hear you or understand what you're saying and that's not not not good!Suggested improvements: boom mike(s) and "previous" and "next" buttons for music! When you have odd things coming out of your ears, it really doesn't matter if you have a 2.5" mic sticking out a little closer to your mouth. Performance is what counts!I bought this 903+ at Amazon.com for a pittance. So much technology for such a low price, wow!My doctor uses Plantronics mikes for Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition software and highly recommended it to me years ago. I was sold then, and will never switch.I bought a Jawbone Icon for my employee because it was on sale (not refurbished)! Worse headset ever. Broke down two months later, as did the replacement and the manufacturer wants me to UPS the defective unit back to them and will not pay return shipping (about 20 bucks). Ill fitting and poor quality!I gave mine to my son in Montreal when he came for a visit; he loves it. So I bought me another one. Since I like the newest of everything, I had recently been considering a BackBeat Go from Plantronics. The reviews are ni froid-ni chaud, so why fix what ain't broken. I'm keeping this headset!!!