By

Editor Brian Turner

“A solid performer. very comfortable, well priced bluetooth headsets with excellent battery life and good sound” whichwearable 

 

Plantronics Brand Promises

• Up to 18 hours of listening and talk time on a single charge

“The battery life is great”  

• Memory foam headband and ear cups provide comfort 

“Great comfort even after three hours of playback”

• Experience premium audio 

“Good audio, not budget”

• Wideband-enabled mic lets you answer calls or access Google

“Interaction with Android is great”

• Easy access on-ear controls  

“The UI is good and you can do many activities without touching your phone”

Available on Amazon at around £89.99

I have been using the Plantronics PLT 500 headphones for more that 3 months now at work with a PC, at home with my Mac and on the go with my Android Smartphone and thoroughly enjoyed them. They are “trusted” pair of headphones. I grab them, switch them on and nine times of ten they are charged. They connect to my other devices. Sound is better than average for the price point here. These are not budget audio quality headphones.

The fit

Ok I have a large head… I said it. It is 62 cm diameter and I found that I can have them on at work whilst working and listening to music for periods of three hours. The spring of the design is firm and the ear cushions comfortable and they don’t force your ears into sweating madly while on. Where the headset fits the top of your head they have an extra cushion to provide comfort. The earpads are soft pads and are very comfortable.

Bluetooth Pairing

 I had no major issues pairing to Android, MAC OS Yosemite (Mac) and Windows 8.1 (PC). Each time it connects to a different device the on board female audio announces “Connected to ….” which is great feedback.

On board Audio Feedback

 When you switch the headphones on you get a female audio device giving you updates on what you doing from telling you that the battery is High or Low to whether or not you have been connected to a device successfully. This is a very good feature and includes the warning feedback “Volume at Maximum” when the volume is fully up.

The controls

Music Controls

 Each ear cup has controls. The left has volume up and down and they can be reached easily. They also have forward reverse and pause music on the central circular ear piece. You have to “feel” for the forward/reverse and pause raised symbols on the cups. They can be used with Amazon Music or Google Music to change or pause tracks without having to look at your Smartphone or PC. I found that the forward key >> actually was reverse for Amazon music, pause was pause and reverse was forwards. Is this something to get worried about, well no as you can’t see the buttons as they are on your head!

Google Assistant/ Siri with one button press

 When connected to a Smartphone a long press of the right hand side single button under the ear starts Google Assistant/Siri and you can ask for information whilst walking e.g. “Weather in Crowthorne tonight” and get an answer. You can also start Apps by saying “ Start Runkeeper” or “Start Strava”.

The sound

Listening to “Wolf Alice “don’t delete the kisses” on Amazon Prime music is a joy and quiet punchy.

You are not getting “superb bass” at this price point but Plantronics talk about their acoustic drivers and they certainly add a richness to the sound and make it appear 3D like. You get very clear “left/right “ stereo delineation of sound . External sound is reduced by the fact that you have foam pads on your ears. Is this “Premium audio” as Plantronics say, well it isn’t budget audio and it isn’t top dollar but you really have to stretch in headphones above £250 for that. Having said that the sound does compare favourably with headphones in excess of £150. No “active” (Meaning powered technology that reduces noise) noise cancellation is provided but this is not needed at work nor is promoted as a feature of this product.

The battery life

Ahh.. this is the good bit. I must have charged the headphones around 3 times in three months. I haven’t used them every day. I have got at least 14 -16 hours usage out of them so very close to 18 hour target specified.

The cable and Mic

 The headphones come with a cable and mic allowing the unit to be used directly to the PC or MC or Smartphone without being charged. This is a great backup when the battery does eventually does need charging and you are about to go outside.

Teenager appeal

I have to admit here that my son kept asking to use these headphones. He gets through a set of headphones every two months having stretched the heck out of his AKG’s. I refused him access. That’s it. They are for my use and evaluation. Having said that if I wanted to do a tough test on the headsets I would loan it to him for a month to see if they survived but I would have to debate if the usage was “fair and reasonable” verses “abuse” of a new product.

Going for a run and answering a call

I went for a jog with the headphones outside and believe it or not the experience was good. These aren’t dedicated running headphones like the Plantronics headphones I reviewed earlier but they can be used for a quick jog of up to 3 miles. After that I think your ears will sweat against the ear cups. The single button on the right earpiece can be pressed to start the Google Assistant. When a call came in I press the PLAY button to answer the call and had a good clear conversation with the caller as I was running.

Some minor concerns

1. >> and << are the wrong way around when using Google and Amazon Music
2. When connecting to PCs the headphones say “Connected to Phone 1” when it is actually connected to a PC. This may have been fixed in a later software version.

whichwearable Highlight : Being able to pick up the product and not having to charge it continually as it keeps it charge

whichwearable Lowlight : None really other than the minor concerns above which don’t really bother me but are minor design issues.