Review of children's bluetooth earbuds BuddyPhones

Onanoff BuddyPhones Explore+ are affordable headphones for kids with essential features like a volume limiter and durable design for a carefree listening experience.

Younger children usually don’t demand extra features like grownups do. They’re happy even with the most basic things.

Frankly there’s no need to spend hundreds of dollars for a pair of kids’ headphones. In other words, headphones like BuddyPhones Explore+ should fulfill most of their needs.

That doesn’t mean Buddyphones kids headphones don’t offer any features. They sport a physical volume limiter (up to 85dB) and come with a detachable cable and a splitter to pair up to 4 headphones with one audio source.

Even the build quality, despite feeling “plasticky” and cheap, offers good flexibility.

Furthermore, headphones meet many standards regarding kids’ health and environmental protection (RoHS, REACH, and PROP65).

However, should you opt for wired headphones in 2023? Are they comfortable enough? What other features do they provide? Find the answers in the review below.

Sound

Star Rating 2.5 Average

BuddyPhones Explore+ produce a warm sound signature with a somewhat muted midrange and a sharp roll-off in the treble.

The sound quality is about what you can expect. While headphones’ technical performance is nothing to run home about, they’re fine for casual listening and offer good vocal clarity.

Bass

You get a reasonable level of bass. It’s nicely punchy and warm.

The sub-bass extension is decent, and you can still feel a fair amount of rumble when playing songs like “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong.

Headphones are nice for most genres popular among kids, from pop to acoustic music.

Midrange

While the overall midrange sounds veiled and muted, vocals stay pretty clear and understandable.

That’s great for voice calls when you want to fully understand the teacher’s voice on the other side of the line.

Treble

It does have more energy than the midrange but stays away from becoming harsh or sibilant.

It also depends on the audio source. Playing via smartphone offers a smoother response than via headphone amplifier.

In conclusion, BuddyPhones Explore are a good enough pick for the majority of genres that kids like to listen to.

Volume Limiter Performance

Like all the best headphones for toddlers, the Explore+ are also volume-limiting headphones. The limit’s purpose is to protect young children from hearing damage. Learn more about safe volume for headphones.

The BuddyPhones Explore+ limiter is set to 85dB and can’t be lowered or turned off.

The loudness depends on the power of source. I used a laptop and a headphone amplifier to see if there was a difference in max loudness. The volume was set to 100%.

Here’s what I learned.

Laptop

Recreating a real-life scenario of hooking headphones up to a laptop, I tested if BuddyPhones Explore+ truly limit their maximum volume at 85dB.

Based on measurements, the highest peak is “only” 2dB louder than the advertised 85dB. That means that in normal listening situations, headphones will manage to keep the loudness at safe volumes.

Note that a 3dB increase in practice means double the loudness. However, in real-world listening, it doesn’t sound as drastic.

Headphone Amplifier

In contrast, headphones sound louder when using a headphone amp (AudioQuest Dragonfly Red).

At 1kHz max volume, the laptop pushed headphones to 81,6dB (left), whereas the amp pushed them to 90,7dB (right)

Based on the test, a dedicated headphone amp is able to push BuddyPhones Explore+ around 9dB over target. The difference is pretty audible.

However, this happens only when boosting headphones to their limits by hooking them to a powerful source. Unless you have an amp at home or a quality sound card in a PC, you shouldn’t worry too much.

Comfort & Fit

Star Rating 3.0 Good

The BuddyPhones Explore+ add additional padding to the headband and redesign the earpads. However, that still doesn’t solve the comfort issues of the on-ear design.

Since BuddyPhones Explore+ are made for kids, they’re slightly smaller in size than traditional headphones. While they can fit on an adult’s head, adults will experience stronger clamping force.

Consequently, as an adult, I don’t find them comfortable. New protein leather earpads are pretty shallow and stiff. Combined with a strong clamp force, my ears start hurting immediately.

On the other hand, the clamping force is softer on a smaller head, providing better overall comfort.

Also, these headphones are designed for exploration, so the clamping force is needed to keep them on your kid’s head. And they do that with flying colors.

No matter how hard you shake your head, headphones don’t fall off. They can endure running and jumping with ease.

In conclusion, while comfort isn’t BuddyPhones Explore+’s strongest suit, the overall stability most definitely is.

Durability

Star Rating 3.0 Good

Headphones are quite flexible and provide a detachable cable. However, their plastic frame still doesn’t scream durability, and having no IP rating is a serious gamble.

For under $30, you get pretty much what you expect. Headphones are made of primarily cheap-feeling plastic.

That is occasionally interrupted by pleather ear pads and a comfortable headband. The latter is covered in protein leather on the bottom and fabric on the top.

Nevertheless, the plastic frame, especially the earcups, seem to have nice thick walls. That means they shouldn’t crack that easily when dropped on the floor. Drivers are also well protected.

Moving to accessories, the audio cable is flat, tangle-free, and detachable as well. That’s great since the wire is usually the first to break in headphones.

It’s worth noting that some users have trouble with the cable’s longevity. That isn’t too surprising. However, buying a new cable is cheaper than buying new headphones.

A small disadvantage is the lack of water resistance.

There’s only so much you can expect considering the price. But smaller kids aren’t the most careful users, so extra protection is always welcome.

Accessories also include a carrying bag. It’s a basic pouch that mainly protects against scratches but not drops.

Features

Star Rating 4.0 Great

BuddyPhones Evolve+ include a volume limiter, audio splitter, inline controls, and built-in mic. A good selection for budget headphones.

The included detachable cable brings many additional features. The most important is the inline remote and microphone. It provides playback controls and the ability to talk during video calls and online lessons.

Furthermore, the cable has an audio sharing splitter. With it, you can connect other wired headphones to the same device so that multiple kids can listen to the same music or watch videos.

If all of your kids’ friends have BuddyPhones headphones, you can daisy-chain a total of four other headphones.

Another great feature is the folding design, which saves a little bit of space in your kid’s backpack.

Most kids love cute animals. And to make headphones a bit more personalized, they also come with 4 different included stickers that attach to the earcups.

Of course, for the price, active noise cancellation is off the table. If you want that, your best bet are the BuddyPhones Cosmos+.

Noise Isolation

Star Rating 2.5 Average

The passive noise isolation is decent but not spotless. Of course, that can be a good thing since it ensures better awareness.

On-ear headphones are known to provide subpar ambient noise isolation, and BuddyPhones Explore+ aren’t changing that.

While they block some of the lower frequencies, the higher ones appear even louder. As if headphones boost them.

On the other hand, you would want your kid to be extra aware of his surroundings, so bad isolation isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

You can never be too sure when walking near a busy road, or you want your kid to hear you calling, even when listening to music.