First of all I'd like to thank Brainwavz and Pandora for giving me a chance to check out the Kidwavz KV-100 Bluetooth headphones.
The KV-100 is available from Amazon and Brainwavs audio:
http://www.amazon.com/KV-100-Childrens-Bluetooth-Headphones-Brainwavz/dp/B014CLDU4U
http://www.brainwavzaudio.com/products/kidwavz-kv-100-blue
Disclaimer:
I’m not in any way affiliated with Brainwavz and I do not gain any financial benefits from this review.
About me:
I’m a 43 year old music and sound lover that changed my focus from speakers to headphones and IEM’s about five years ago. At that time I realized that it wasn’t realistic for me to have all the different setups that I wanted and still house a family of four children and a wife so my interest turned first to full sized headphones and later also IEM’s.
My preferences are towards full sized open headphones and I believe that also says something about what kind of sound signature I prefer (large soundstage in all directions, balanced and organic sound).
My music preferences are pretty much all over the place (only excluding classical music, jazz and really heavy metal). My all-time favorite band is Depeche Mode although I also listen to a lot of grunge/indie, singer/songwriter/acoustical stuff as well as the typical top 40 music.
I do not use EQ, ever.
I’m a sucker for value for money on most things in life, Head-Fi related stuff is no exception.
Built and accessories:
The Kidwavz KV-100 is a Bluetooth on-ear headphone with a maximum volume limit to prevent children and youngsters to listen to music at dangerously loud volumes.
It’s available in three different flavors: black, blue and pink. Having twin girls in the age on ten I’ve got the pink ones
The accessory pack is not exactly packed with goodies, but then again that normally not the case with full sized headphones, especially not in this price range. It contains a USB charging cable and a 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable and that’s it.
Built is all plastic but they still feel pretty sturdy and I’ve got no reason to believe that they won’t hold up, especially given my very good experiences with other Brainwavz products in this area.
In spite of being Bluetooth headphones the KV-100’s got a cable for use in case they run out of battery, or if you just want to use them with a cable instead. Please note that the volume limitation will not work if connected through the cable though (more about this later).
Battery time is stated to be 6 hours and charging time is 3 hours and I find that to be fairly correct. The charging port is located on the lower part of the right ear cup.
The accessories pack is pretty basic and includes the following:
1 AUX input cable
1 USB charging cable
I would really have liked for Brainwavz to include a soft pouch to keep them in when not in use.
The housings are all plastic but its high quality plastic and they seem very solid and well built.
Connecting the KV-100 to you phone is very straight forward and you basically just turn them on and open up the Bluetooth settings on your phone to make the connection and you’re ready to go.
The remote control also works fully with my Xperia Z3 phone (something that’s not always the case) and the mic seem to be of good quality. There’s a small light next to the 3.5mm jack on the right ear cup that shows whether the headset is turned on or not and it tells you by voice if you put them on your ears before turning them on, very nice.
I’ve paired them with the already mentioned Z3Compact, a Nexus 7 tablet, a HTC M7 and an Ipod Touch 5 gen. and they’ve all worked fine with the KV-100’s.
When the KV-100 is connected to the source through Bluetooth there’s an 85dB volume limit activated to prevent smaller children and young people to damage their hearing by listening at too loud volume. This is a very nice feature that I’ve seen a couple of times before in wired headphones especially directed toward kids but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it I a Bluetooth headphone. Unfortunately using the 3.5mm cable to connect the KV-100 to a source disables this feature, I really wish that it’d been working I this mode also.
The Bluetooth connection is quite stable and the rated operating distance of 10 meters is pretty accurate when using them inside but outside it’s at least a couple of meters less. Still I’ve had very few drop outs while wearing my phone in my pocket while connected to the KV-100’s outside.
Please note that Brainwavz recently extended their warranty to last for 24 months (earlier it was 12 months) for all their products. Pretty impressive to me, let’s hope that other manufactures learn from this and offer the same in the future.
Fit and ergonomics:
The KV-100 is an on-ear design. Although I’m not big fan of on-ear design (the tend to hurt my ears pretty fast) they’re certainly not more uncomfortable than many other on ear models I’ve tried.
Size adjustment is very simple by just pulling the housing along the slider that connect the cups the headband.
The headband is padded and doesn’t cause any discomfort even though my head is probably bigger that what’s to be expected on the intended users.
All buttons are placed on the side of the right ear cup and they're easy to understand and use for an adult but my ten years old girls are not very comfortable using them but prefer to use their Ipod's for making adjustments.
My general impression is that the KV-100 is a well thought through product that works as intended as long as you use a Bluetooth connection (once again a cable connection disables the 85dB volume limit).
The Specs:
Bluetooth Profiles: HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP
Bluetooth Operating Distance: 10 meters / 33 feet
Frequency range: 2.4 ~ 2.48 GHz
Distortion: ≤1%
Microphone Sensitivity: -40dB
Working Time: Music Play Time up to 6 hours, Talk Time up to 10 hours
Charging Time: Approx. 3hours
Sound:
I've let them play for over 50 hours and I've used them at the office, when walking outside and at home and I've not found any weaknesses to the way they're constructed. I've been using them almost exclusively with my Sony Xperia Z3compact phone while my ten years old twin daughters has been using them with their Ipod touch’s (5.gen).
To be honest these are not exactly high fidelity in sound and I don’t think they need to be either given their target audience and intended use. Because of this I will not use too much time talking about the sound in detail but rather give a shorter general description of how they sound.
The overall sound signature of the KV-100 is pretty well balanced with a pretty weak subbass.
As already mentioned the subbass lacks depth and impact. Although the lack of bass impact makes listening to the KV-100 a bit unengaging I can imagine that it’s also a part of it being designed to protect the hearing of the younger audience.
The midrange feels well in balance with the rest of the frequencies and vocals are nice and crisp.
The treble rolls of pretty fast and comes across as very non-intrusive.
Soundstage in all directions is about average for an on-ear headphone.
Details and separation is nothing special and the overall sound does feel a bit congested, hollowed and closed in the same way it often does in cheaper closed headphones.
Summary:
The Kidwavz KD-100 is a well built, decent sounding option for younger persons that offer a lot of nice features at a very reasonable price. Although I personally am not too impressed by it sound it’s still decent for the price and what’s more important my ten years old twins, that’s much more in the target group than this old reviewer, absolutely loves them so all I can say is:
WELL DONE BRAINWAVZ!
The KV-100 is available from Amazon and Brainwavs audio:
http://www.amazon.com/KV-100-Childrens-Bluetooth-Headphones-Brainwavz/dp/B014CLDU4U
http://www.brainwavzaudio.com/products/kidwavz-kv-100-blue
Disclaimer:
I’m not in any way affiliated with Brainwavz and I do not gain any financial benefits from this review.
About me:
I’m a 43 year old music and sound lover that changed my focus from speakers to headphones and IEM’s about five years ago. At that time I realized that it wasn’t realistic for me to have all the different setups that I wanted and still house a family of four children and a wife so my interest turned first to full sized headphones and later also IEM’s.
My preferences are towards full sized open headphones and I believe that also says something about what kind of sound signature I prefer (large soundstage in all directions, balanced and organic sound).
My music preferences are pretty much all over the place (only excluding classical music, jazz and really heavy metal). My all-time favorite band is Depeche Mode although I also listen to a lot of grunge/indie, singer/songwriter/acoustical stuff as well as the typical top 40 music.
I do not use EQ, ever.
I’m a sucker for value for money on most things in life, Head-Fi related stuff is no exception.
Built and accessories:
The Kidwavz KV-100 is a Bluetooth on-ear headphone with a maximum volume limit to prevent children and youngsters to listen to music at dangerously loud volumes.
It’s available in three different flavors: black, blue and pink. Having twin girls in the age on ten I’ve got the pink ones
The accessory pack is not exactly packed with goodies, but then again that normally not the case with full sized headphones, especially not in this price range. It contains a USB charging cable and a 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable and that’s it.
Built is all plastic but they still feel pretty sturdy and I’ve got no reason to believe that they won’t hold up, especially given my very good experiences with other Brainwavz products in this area.
In spite of being Bluetooth headphones the KV-100’s got a cable for use in case they run out of battery, or if you just want to use them with a cable instead. Please note that the volume limitation will not work if connected through the cable though (more about this later).
Battery time is stated to be 6 hours and charging time is 3 hours and I find that to be fairly correct. The charging port is located on the lower part of the right ear cup.
The accessories pack is pretty basic and includes the following:
1 AUX input cable
1 USB charging cable
I would really have liked for Brainwavz to include a soft pouch to keep them in when not in use.
The housings are all plastic but its high quality plastic and they seem very solid and well built.
Connecting the KV-100 to you phone is very straight forward and you basically just turn them on and open up the Bluetooth settings on your phone to make the connection and you’re ready to go.
The remote control also works fully with my Xperia Z3 phone (something that’s not always the case) and the mic seem to be of good quality. There’s a small light next to the 3.5mm jack on the right ear cup that shows whether the headset is turned on or not and it tells you by voice if you put them on your ears before turning them on, very nice.
I’ve paired them with the already mentioned Z3Compact, a Nexus 7 tablet, a HTC M7 and an Ipod Touch 5 gen. and they’ve all worked fine with the KV-100’s.
When the KV-100 is connected to the source through Bluetooth there’s an 85dB volume limit activated to prevent smaller children and young people to damage their hearing by listening at too loud volume. This is a very nice feature that I’ve seen a couple of times before in wired headphones especially directed toward kids but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it I a Bluetooth headphone. Unfortunately using the 3.5mm cable to connect the KV-100 to a source disables this feature, I really wish that it’d been working I this mode also.
The Bluetooth connection is quite stable and the rated operating distance of 10 meters is pretty accurate when using them inside but outside it’s at least a couple of meters less. Still I’ve had very few drop outs while wearing my phone in my pocket while connected to the KV-100’s outside.
Please note that Brainwavz recently extended their warranty to last for 24 months (earlier it was 12 months) for all their products. Pretty impressive to me, let’s hope that other manufactures learn from this and offer the same in the future.
Fit and ergonomics:
The KV-100 is an on-ear design. Although I’m not big fan of on-ear design (the tend to hurt my ears pretty fast) they’re certainly not more uncomfortable than many other on ear models I’ve tried.
Size adjustment is very simple by just pulling the housing along the slider that connect the cups the headband.
The headband is padded and doesn’t cause any discomfort even though my head is probably bigger that what’s to be expected on the intended users.
All buttons are placed on the side of the right ear cup and they're easy to understand and use for an adult but my ten years old girls are not very comfortable using them but prefer to use their Ipod's for making adjustments.
My general impression is that the KV-100 is a well thought through product that works as intended as long as you use a Bluetooth connection (once again a cable connection disables the 85dB volume limit).
The Specs:
Bluetooth Profiles: HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP
Bluetooth Operating Distance: 10 meters / 33 feet
Frequency range: 2.4 ~ 2.48 GHz
Distortion: ≤1%
Microphone Sensitivity: -40dB
Working Time: Music Play Time up to 6 hours, Talk Time up to 10 hours
Charging Time: Approx. 3hours
Sound:
I've let them play for over 50 hours and I've used them at the office, when walking outside and at home and I've not found any weaknesses to the way they're constructed. I've been using them almost exclusively with my Sony Xperia Z3compact phone while my ten years old twin daughters has been using them with their Ipod touch’s (5.gen).
To be honest these are not exactly high fidelity in sound and I don’t think they need to be either given their target audience and intended use. Because of this I will not use too much time talking about the sound in detail but rather give a shorter general description of how they sound.
The overall sound signature of the KV-100 is pretty well balanced with a pretty weak subbass.
As already mentioned the subbass lacks depth and impact. Although the lack of bass impact makes listening to the KV-100 a bit unengaging I can imagine that it’s also a part of it being designed to protect the hearing of the younger audience.
The midrange feels well in balance with the rest of the frequencies and vocals are nice and crisp.
The treble rolls of pretty fast and comes across as very non-intrusive.
Soundstage in all directions is about average for an on-ear headphone.
Details and separation is nothing special and the overall sound does feel a bit congested, hollowed and closed in the same way it often does in cheaper closed headphones.
Summary:
The Kidwavz KD-100 is a well built, decent sounding option for younger persons that offer a lot of nice features at a very reasonable price. Although I personally am not too impressed by it sound it’s still decent for the price and what’s more important my ten years old twins, that’s much more in the target group than this old reviewer, absolutely loves them so all I can say is:
WELL DONE BRAINWAVZ!