[JHern]

I'm looking for a decent pair of headphones for a 4 year old girl. Here are the parameters:
-Volume limit (to protect the little ears)
-It needs to be pretty tough and not easy to tear apart.
-Over-ears preferred to in-ears, but need to snugly fit a small head.
-Decent sound isolation in cars/trains/airplanes/etc. so that she doesn't want it too loud.
 
Thanks for any and all advice!
 
JHern
 
 
PS...I did a search and found some old threads from 2010...the HPs they recommended are no longer in production.

 

[Beyakusenn]

In-ears often isolate much better than full size headphones.
 
As for volume limit, I think it is better to look for volume limitation on the source device, as most headphones are made to satisfy as many people as possible. That includes those who like loud music.
 
If you look into in-ears. there are options with removable cable. If the cable gets damaged somehow, you can get a new cable instead of replacing everything.
 
If over-ears are still preferred, I would recommend the Sennheiser Momentum over-ear(head band can be bent to better fit a small head). The old generation Momentums have no hinges and are therefore relatively kid-proof.
 
If the over-ear is too expensive (you didn't mention the budget), the old generation on-ear will probably suffice. It would be less comfortable though.

 

[GREQ]

  In-ears often isolate much better than full size headphones.

Good luck finding IEMs small enough to fit into a 4 year old's ears - this is probably an impossible task.
 
 

I'm looking for a decent pair of headphones for a 4 year old girl. Here are the parameters:

Do you have a budget? or just looking to buy something cheap and solid?
 
If it were me, I'd just buy a Philips SHP2500, set the remote volume control with some hot glue, and bind the cable up a bit shorter.
A bit bulky, but pretty solid headphone overall, especially for the price.
 
 
If you're going down the route of limiting the device volume, Superlux does some very cheap, solid studio style headphones.
HD662B isolates very well.
 
But, these are both adult size headphones that can be used by small heads too, so they will look pretty huge on a 4 yr old 

 

[SteveHiFi]

These are advertised as being suitable for ages 4 and up, have volume limiting, and they're pink! Isolation should be good too, although this is down to the girl's ears of course!
 
http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/etymotic-ety-kids-5-safe-listening-in-ear-isolating-earphones-pink.html

 

[smy1]

Good luck finding IEMs small enough to fit into a 4 year old's ears - this is probably an impossible task.


Do you have a budget? or just looking to buy something cheap and solid?

If it were me, I'd just buy a Philips SHP2500, set the remote volume control with some hot glue, and bind the cable up a bit shorter.
A bit bulky, but pretty solid headphone overall, especially for the price.


If you're going down the route of limiting the device volume, Superlux does some very cheap, solid studio style headphones.
HD662B isolates very well.

But, these are both adult size headphones that can be used by small heads too, so they will look pretty huge on a 4 yr old 

The elymotics kids.

 

[JHern]

Thanks all for suggestions, the problem with in-ear on young kids is that they just can't stop fidgeting with the cables (twirling, pulling, wrapping around arms, fingers, other body parts, etc.) while they're listening. They keep yanking them out every couple minutes, meaning that a parent must stay on stand-by to keep putting them back in properly. Still, it seems like they are the best design for sound isolation and volume limiting, and I'm will to give these 

Etymotic ETY-Kids 5 a try...seems like they're available on Amazon for a modest price.​

 

[Beyakusenn]

Maybe it helps to have the cable run on the back instead of the front.

 

[JHern]

I just received them, for my 4-year-old daughter...she is using them with the iPad as I write this, and seems to be happy. I also ordered another pair for her best friend (birthday present). I will report back here for posterity, so that anyone else searching the forum can find out how the Etymotic ETY-Kids5 worked out for us!