Customer Reviews

Altec Lansing UHP206 Backbeat Series In Ear Headphone with Ulitmate Ears technology

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

Length:: 2:05 Mins

About 7 months of ownership and usage gone by, and these get a short. The right ear has almost completely shorted out (extremely quiet) while the left ear is not even half the volume maxed out. Very disappointed, since these were pretty pricey when I got them. Oh well. Please note, the video was made shortly after I got them. This description is the most recent update to this review.

Got these to replace the Shures I own because the cloth weave wire covering on the Altecs won't crack in the cold like standard plastic wire housing. Beyond the physical, the sound's great for $30, too. Pretty decent range and clarity. Other reviewers have complained about lack of bass, but I just turn my iPod EQ to 'Electronic' or 'Rock' and it kicks out a pretty good thump.

I'd get another pair. As good if not better than my bose in-earbuds for a third of the price. Cloth wiring a plus.

Just got the Altec 206's about a month ago. Great sound and they do block out background noise fairly well, E.G. sitting in an airplane.

The ear buds I got with my Ipod would not stay in during any workout.
These stay in my ears while jogging on a treadmill. I would definitely buy these again.

Excuse the typing.Ive been a longtime altec fan,up until 2 years ago i owned altec 17 voice ofthe theatre speakers and loved them.When my sennheisers 400 blew i did some looking and found the altec 206 and for the price thought i would give them a try.Altec was always know for their live forward sound,which i love.The earphones were not quite a sforward as i remembered altec sound but yet they are really great.bass is full an lively,the midrange the first min i wore them was muddy but than all of a sudde showed up and was quite good.the highs we the sleight dissapointment o me but im sure for most will be really good.The kicker for me was omething I wasnot expecting a soundstage,i own grado 125 headphones and they sound great but i nevr experienced a sound stage with headphone before.i really like these so far nd would suggest that anybody looking for earphones give these a whack.

I am very cautious these days about headphones because most of the pairs I've previously owned have all shorted within a few weeks. These I bought primarily because the cable is made with a rope-like material. Hopefully this prevents the shorting problem.

The sound is nice. Great bass, a little too high pitched, but that was corrected with changing the equalizer setting on my ipod. I can hear a lot of musical detail other headphones seems to ignore, especially music with orchestrations.

They fit snugly. Three different sizes of silicone tips are included. I wish there was a carrying case included.
Do I recommend them? So far yes, in a couple weeks I'll post on its progress.

lasted about 2 weeks...not worth my time.I wish i had spent more money trying to get something better than these headphones. Ive spent 5 dollars on different headphones that were better.

These sound great, as long as you have a good seal on them. If you use the wrong fittings they will easily slip out. I fashioned fittings that work perfectly after i lost mine using ear plugs. Also, a rubbing sound is made when the cord brushes against something.

Okay so themodel that I have is the Back Beat Plus Mobile UHS206 which is identical to this except for one letter in the model number lol but these look exactly alike.

Anyway I saw these on newegg for 9.99$ and ordered them because I read that they are durable and I didn't want to use my klipsch s4i's and klipsch image x10i's at work and when working out so I got these, I used them for a week or 2 on and off and was very impressed, the bass was kind of overwhelming but I would turn on treble booster on my ipod and it fixed it.

I then purchased a pair of monster i-beats (yes very very dumb purchase) and I got used to those and used them for hip-hop because the bass was pretty powerful but I would only use them for hip-hop, well anyway I didn't think they were worth 100$ so I exchanged them at best buy for Klipsch image one headphones which I am liking a lot so far and decided to go back to these altec lansing backbeat plus mobile and I decided that I wanted to see if a burn in would work even though I am not sure whether a burn in is a placebo effect or not but all I can tell you is that they now sound incredible!! They sound even better then the 100$ i-beats by dr dre which honestly weren't that bad, these IEM's that I paid 10$ for I enjoy listening to more then those i-beats. I have Klipsch x10i's which are absolutely amazing yet I like to use these and enjoy them which is crazy!

These headphones have very deep bass, the mids are clear unlike the i-beats which were very muddy and the highs on these backbeats are pretty crisp. I am not an audiophile at all but all I can say is that I enjoy using these more then my Sennheiser cx300's and those are 30$ buds. These are for sure worth 20$

They are also comfortable and not too difficult to get a decent seal, nothing like my Klipsch image x10i's but those are 300-350$ headphones and shouldn't even be compared, I have slept with these headphones lying the side of my face on my pillow and they were very comfortable. If you don't like these headphones out of the box give them a chance to burn them in or "brain" them in as some people say because your ears need to get used to the way they sound.

The build quality is better then any IEM's I have ever had by far. I feel like I could try to rip these and would fail.

I say go for it! Sound quality 8/10, comfort 8/10 build quality 10/10 Value if under 20$ 10/10 if under 40$ 8/10 Noise isolation 6/10