Altec Lansing UHP606 Backbeat Pro Reference Earphones (Black/Gold)

by Altec Lansing

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 3.3 x 7.2 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002DPTQ8W
• Item model number: UHP606
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 1, 2009

Product Description

Music professionals know well designed earphones shouldn’t compete with outside noises. High listening volumes not only distort sound, they’re not healthy. A superior seal to block out ambient sound is critical. Once that’s achieved, only the highest definition micro-speakers will do. BackBeat Pro earphones deliver both. Super flexible SnugFit™ neoprene ear tips, plus dual flange technology, conform to your ear for superior noise isolation. The balanced armature speakers – essentially full-range miniaturized speakers with built-in amplifiers – are professionally tuned for musician-grade sound. The result is true high-definition, ultra-low distortion audio that rivals recording studio reference speakers. Carry case and eight-piece fit kit included.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just OK, not great, especially for the price, August 27, 2009

By 

P. MSakamoto "boy clothes" (Saratoga, California USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Altec Lansing UHP606 Backbeat Pro Reference Earphones (Black/Gold) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

Summary: Satisfactory IE buds that are not a great value for the price ($99 list, about $50 street). Need to be broken in before use.

Pros:
Decent bass once they are broken in.
Cord doesn't stick to itself and tangle easily (like many others).
Nice looking, well built
Nice cushioned, zippered case.
Great set of ear cushions for custom fit
Plug has been trimmed to fit iPod, iPhone but NOT clear it will fit iPhone in a case
** It's a right angle plug with a few mm of relief for iPhone access.
Sound isolation is good - tested while a household vacuum was in use and it blocked enough of the noise to listen to music at comfortable levels - on par with others compared below.

Cons:
Needs to be broken in before use or they sound REALLY tinny
Even after breaking in, the high end is slightly muted
Back ports leak sound to those around you
Better choices exist for the price

Comparisons: My picks out of earbuds I've reviewed
#1 Woodees IESW101B Inner-ear Stereo Earphone - My favorite to date. These have a lot better high end than the BBpros. The midrange blows away the BBpro for acoustic and vocals. If you are listening to classic, jazz, electronic, pop or vocal music this is the one for you. Additionally, they are about $38 on Amazon at the time of this writing, which is significantly less than the BBpro. Finally, although the BBpro looks good, the Woodies look really great. In fact, they actually LOOK like they might be expensive. Finally, the Woodies plug is straight instead of right angle so it is guaranteed to fit an iPhone in a case.

#2 Backbeat Pro: From a listening standpoint, I like the bass. Others have commented negatively on the bass sound from these, but I suspect they didn't break them in first. If I was a big Hip-Hop fan (I'm not, even though I use some hh for checkout) these would work for me. Otherwise, they don't annoy me, they just sound a bit muted in the highs, which is unsatisfactory for classical, jazz, acoustic, etc.

#3 JBuds J2 Premium Hi-FI Noise Isolating Earbuds - Overall, a decent economy headphone. In some cases, I might pick these over the BBpro. For instance, they better balance bass and treble capability so perhaps some pop would sound better on these than the BBpro. Certainly, at less than half the price, these are a winner when value comes into play vs. the BBpro. That said, I would not take these over my Woodees.

Conclusion:
The BBpro is not a general purpose headphone. It is pretty high priced for what it is and much higher value options exist. If they were half the price I would have added a star for four total.

NOTE: Break in process
My break in process is simple. I just plug them into a source for six to eight hours and play music that has some bass in it and crank up the volume to a fairly high level (say 80% of max) and leave them that way under a pillow or something to keep the sound from being annoying (it's too loud for me to keep them on my head t his way, anyways).

NOTE: Equipment used
I bias my test to use equipment that one would actually tend to hook up to these kinds of earbuds. So, instead of my extremely nice multi-$k equipment, I use my iPod and MacBook to play a variety of music from my library. Additionally, I modify the equalizer to see if I can successfully "fix" the sound of each earphone for my ears. This is my idea of duplicating "real" listening circumstances.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sound good. But..., August 26, 2009

By 

D. Hentze (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Altec Lansing UHP606 Backbeat Pro Reference Earphones (Black/Gold) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

I own a drawer full of earphones, made by numerous different companies including Altec Lansing. The UHP606 Earphones are in my opinion up there with the best of them. I find they have excellent bass response, and excellent highs. My favorite feature is actually the included 4th neoprene noise reducing tip. The only problem I have with these headphones is that the cheaper Altec Lansing UHP326 Earphones sound almost identical. I can't see spending almost twice as much for these. They are still moderately priced (at the current discounted price) and sound good though. I can recommend them, but the UHP326 is a better buy.


Pros:
Very good audio quality
4 different ear tips
Right angle 3.5mm plug

Cons:
Cheaper UHP326 Earphones sound just as good.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great midrange sound - still like my Sennheisers though, August 31, 2009

By 

Bryan Cass "Bee Ry Boogy" (Victor, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Altec Lansing UHP606 Backbeat Pro Reference Earphones (Black/Gold) (Electronics)

(What's this?)

I have reviewed several sets of earphones, and always liked my Sennheiser CX300s over all others. The Sennheisers have a clarity, sensitivity and high-end 'presence' that I really like for the music I listen to.

But this review is about the Altec Lansings. In comparison to my favorites, these earphones seem to have more emphasis on the midrange band, around 1000-5000 Hz. Vocals and instruments in that range seem to stand out, with less emphasis on higher range stuff like cymbals and overtones on piano, drums, etc. -- sounding to me almost 'muted' a bit. In fact, in the A:B comparison with the Sennheisers, I actually felt like the Sennheisers were tinny and thin sounding after switching from the Altec Lansings. The bass end of the earphones is fine, no difference really from the Sennheisers or Radius I have reviewed. Less bass than the boomy JBud J2s. Otherwise, though, these Backbeat Pro earphones seem to be pretty accurate, so I would say that with some equalizer tweaking for your musical taste, these earphones would sound great. This testing was right out of the box with no burn-in time. After about 4 hours of burn-in, the results are pretty much the same - maybe a little better clarity in the high range; it's hard to tell.

Another plus with these earphones is the comfort. I would say that these are the most comfortable in-ear earphones I have tried. They give you several different sizes of ear tips like most others, plus add a pair of dual-flange tips for even more noise isolation. The neoprene tips fit very well in the ear canal - more comfortable the my Sennheisers.

So I would recommend these for the comfort and the apparently flat response. I'm still going to go with my Sennheisers for every day listening, but maybe for long trips or high-noise situations (airplanes, work zones, etc) these Altec Lansings will work nicely. Of course this is all subjective, so your ears and music may vary. ;-)