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My son loves his music, podcasts, and YouTube shows. This means he is someone who needs an earphone at most times, especially when others around him have something else to do. This is why the opportunity to check out the Belkin Soundform Mini — a wireless on-ear headphone meant for kids — interested me. Getting good headphones is critical also because with kids they don’t last long, especially the truly wireless ones which are easy to lose when you are not the one spending on them.
The Belkin Soundform Mini has a very simple on-ear headphone design. The plastic body feels like it will survive the rigours of catering to a 12-year-old’s needs. Plus, the plastic body will also resist all the spills and dips this will have to suffer.
The Belkin Soundform Mini has a very simple on-ear headphone design. (Image: Nandagopal Rajan/Indian Express)
There is a power button on the side flanked by volume buttons. There is a 3.5mm port too in case you want to go wired — the cable in the box comes with a remote inbuilt. There is also a micro-USB port to charge the headphone in case you decide to go wireless with the Bluetooth connection. There are in-built microphones in case this needs to be used for online classes and the like.
The design is not really one that will make kids stand up and take notice. Belkin seems to understand this and has added a sticker pack in the box. This was the first thing my son wanted to do when I asked him to use the headphone — so, mission accomplished. This also means the headphone can be sold to people who don’t want it to be too colourful.
The Belkin Soundform Mini offers a good fit for kids. However, my son found it a bit too tight for his liking. So it might take some time to loosen and become more comfortable to wear for kids. It fit me fine, though.
However, he was quite happy with the sound quality. Interestingly, he chose to use it mostly wired to consume videos and songs from the laptop.
Belkin includes a sticker pack in the box. (Image: Nandagopal Rajan/Indian Express)
For me, the audio was good, but not as loud as I am used to. This is actually by design as Belkin has made these headphones with kid-safe sound. Given that most kids these days overdo their gadget time it might actually be a good idea to keep it low so as to reduce long-term impact on the ears.
Listening to Makeba by Jain, the kind of number my son will put on loop, I got the feeling that these headphones had a decent audio range. But nothing is extra here, be it the lows or highs. Again this could be the child-safe sound at play, but it would be tough to interest regular listeners at these output levels.
The battery life lasts for about 30 hours on a full charge, which is good given that this is not a very large headphone.
If you are looking for a decent headphone your child can use for play as well as studies, then the Belkin Soundform Mini is a good option, especially since this does not cost too much. Giving a child anything that is expensive does not make much sense. At Rs 3,999, the Belkin Soundform Mini makes for a good birthday gift for anyone under the age of 15. After that, they might demand more.
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