When iClever first approached me about their kids centric headphones, my first question is … do they come in pink and has cat ears? After all I know what would earn me some brownie points with my daughter. Luckily for me they have a variety of them to choose from in the iClever Kids Bluetooth Headphones BTH21 range.
Becoming a father was a seismic change in my perception of the little bubble that was my world. Even now being a father to four little human beings (and not so little ones), the challenge is to provide safety and boundaries in an age and development appropriate.
My little one has just started big girls school and on the cusp of turning six. One thing I am always mindful of is protecting her hearing. I mean, she gets pretty loud herself and hurts our hearing, but to protect her little ears when she’s listening to music for pleasure or dance is important.
First Impressions
It is always a good sign when your child’s face light up in surprise, we chose a pink headset with purple highlights, light up cat ears and love hearts on the ear cups.
The iClever Kids Bluetooth Headphones (BTH21) comes in a variety of designs. They are limited to 74/85 dBA with a 60 hours playtime.
The headset has Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C charging and an aux port for the times when you need to jack it in analogue style to keep the music going.
It is worth noting that the unit feels solid, with no obvious flex or weak joints. It is designed for a kid’s life, and it has already been dropped a few times without suffering any casualties.
The band is expandable, with a generous helping of padding on the ears and the top of the band. It got the royal approval from Princess Arraiya for comfort and style.
In Use
Bluetooth pairing was a simple affair. It works off the bat and we never once had any problems making the connection work. The connection was quick and seamless, even with an entry level phone.
What is interesting and useful is the audio message saying “waiting for connection” if something has done wrong. My daughter is old enough to understand what it is saying and come looking for me. Probably to charge her phone up so her music doesn’t stop.
Controls are simple, with a power button, volume up and down as a separate one to control the LED cat ears.
There are three modes to the LEDs and it cycles to off.
Arraiya really rates the comfort level of the headset. The adjustable band is far more than what she needs, and she has not once complained about it being too tight.
As for sound quality, well these aren’t $1000 headsets for audiophiles. At 6 years old my daughter is not going to care about sound stage, or bass levels. From my experience the sound is solid, there are no issues with the general sound quality or reproduction. There was no crackles or static in the sound either.
To my aging ears, the sound is softer and quieter than what I am used to needing, but that is the whole point! The volume is limited for little ears.
Battery life is more than adequate. They are rated for 60 hours but for me, it is going a few days at a time, with or without the LEDs on. I will eventually find where Arraiya has stashed them and I will plug them in overnight to charge up and the cycle repeats.
There is no app, no settings required or equalisers, the headsets just work out of the box and firmware updates would be the last thing I would expect.
Conclusions
The iClever Kids Headphones with cat ears comes in a large number of designs and features – Bluetooth or wired. On Amazon the offerings look more pink and pastel but going into the models will show some “boys colours”. Prices range from low AUD$30s to about $50.
I really have nothing to complain about, these headsets are cheap and cheerful, and the large variety of design means your child will find something that will appeal to their aesthetics.
The exact model that we reviewed has a RRP of AUD$39.99, and she will not part with it for love or chocolate or icypoles.
DRN and Arraiya in particular would like to thank iClever for sending these for review.
