We’ve been thinking about getting a pair of wireless headphones for our daughter. But I am worried about her ears. She’s not yet 5, so her very tiny ears are susceptible to loud noise. The Puro Kids BT-2200 headphones from Sound Labs could be the solution.
We really want to set up a ‘listening post’ area for the kids to chill in and listen to radio stories on Spotify. No video, no cartoons, no music videos on Youtube. Just great stories told in the aural tradition.
Our kids are also getting of the age where they get a little restless on roadtrips that last more than a couple of hours. We’ve been thinking about the iPad and wireless headphone setup, so they can watch movies in the car (and so we can still crank out our 80’s classics roadtrip playlist!).
What I’m liking
Out of the box these headphones look and feel great. The shiny purple powder coated frames were a big hit with our daughter (they come in other colours too). And the soft leather foam padding in white looks great too.
The headphones feel really sturdy, yet they’re super-light. It looks like you could drop these (from kid height!) a fair few times and there would be little damage done. There aren’t any ‘fiddly’ bits that kids can twist or snap. And even the earpiece swivel feels ridged and unlikely to break easily.
The foam padding is also super-soft. Neither of our kids really enjoy things over their ears, and both were happy to leave these on for 20 minutes without a fuss. This was really surprising.
Charging the Puro Kids headphones is a breeze with the included USB cable. And the Bluetooth pairing and connection was very straightforward. All child’s play really.
And the sound?
The Puro BT-2200 provides astonishingly good sound.
I actually had fairly low expectations for these headphones. They’re advertised as ‘studio grade’ headphones, and that’s not far from the truth.
We tested them with a few grown-up tracks, Fly My Pretties’ Mud and Stardust, and Shapershifter’s Electric Dream. The high end is crisp and heady. And the bass deep and delicious. Cymbals and keyboards sound sharp, and instruments are individual and clear. The vocals feel somehow enriched, almost 3D sounding.
Hold on. Aren’t I listening to music through a pair of kids headphones here?
Well, Sound Labs do a Puro ‘Adults’ version. And it doesn’t appear that they’ve downgraded any of the audio for the kids version.
I thought the volume limiting function might interfere with the sound a little. But it doesn’t. And it definitely works to keep the sound bearable. These headphones are limited to 85 dB, which is a really comfortable listening volume; loud but not deafening.
Anything to improve?
The foam padding is supposed to reduce outside noise by up to 82%. The reason for this is that you don’t need to turn the volume up so much if there’s little background noise interference. So this is a really important feature.
I’m not so sure about this. The headphones definitely muffle background noise considerably. But I could easily hear someone talking from the other side of the room still.
I’d also like to see a feature where I could further restrict the dB limit. I think even 85 dB for a long time could be damaging to young ears.
We also found that the bluetooth dropped out a little bit if you move around too much. I’m not sure if the headphones weren’t fully charged, or our Spotify stream was a bit dodgy or what. I certainly don’t think this is a big issue though (unless your kids use them while jumping on the tramp!).
Conclusion
These are an on-ear headphone, but the foam padding provides a full enclosure. There’s virtually no sound leakage at all, even at higher volumes. This noise-cancelling feature is a great benefit for parents with kids watching movies in the back of the car!
The noise limiting feature gives real piece of mind for your kid’s tender ears. The headphones feel sturdy, and the sound is really good. Well done Puro, this is a great product!
Puro Kids BT-2200 Headphones – Manufactured by Sound Labs – RRP $154.99
