1MORE SonoFlow HQ20 Kids Wireless Headphones with Hearing Protection (Review) | Poc Network // Tech

Parents tend to neglect how important it is to make sure children maintain a healthy listening environment so that they don’t suffer from hearing loss early in life or down the line as they grow. Teaching them while they are young to practice healthy listening habits, such as the volume level that they listen to music at is important. This is where models like the 1MORE SonoFlow HQ20 come into play.

The 1MORE SonoFlow HQ20 Kids Wireless Headphones with Hearing Protection (also known as 1MORE SonoFlow HQ20 Mini Hearing Protection Study Headphones), limit the dB level of the headphones so that kids are unable to damage their hearing. Preventing them from listening to music/content at higher volumes.

The design of this model focuses on several things, including safe materials, soft cushions, and a smaller profile to fit the heads of children perfectly. which means, don’t accidentally buy this for yourself if you are an adult unless you have an abnormally small head.

Like most 1MORE products, the cushions are incredibly comfortable and plush, allowing for a comfortable listening experience, even after hours of use. Durability falls into the average range, so kids still have to treat them respectfully (no throwing them down the stairs), while not appearing to be cheap/breakable in any way.

There is also a focus on kid-friendly colors, leaning toward soft pastel colors, while also providing your typical black option in case they prefer a more typical headphone design. The color selection is perfect, in my opinion, offering a great selection for any gender. Keeping things fun and vibrant.

The controls are simple and easy to familiarise yourself with, focusing on your typical three-button approach. This includes two volume buttons with a power button in the middle. All three of these buttons are MFB (multi-functioning buttons), which also provide play/pause, next/previous, and answer/disconnect controls. The power button can also be used to trigger the digital assistant of your phone when you double-click it.

All of these controls and the USB connectivity happen on the same muff/side. There is a standard USB-C connection for charging, and a single charge will gain you up to 65 hours of listening. So this model has an excellent battery life to it, minimizing how often you have to place it back on the charger.

The limitations of volume levels likely play heavily on this battery life, as the louder the volume, the more power is required. So limiting the volume also limits power consumption.

Additionally, on that same muff/side, there is a built-in microphone with environmental noise cancellation (ENC) and a static LED that shows which dB mode the headphones are currently using.

So about the volume (dB) limitations of this model! This is where things get special and focus on kids more than anything. Not only do these limit the volume level that the user can max the headphones out to, but you have control over what that limit is.

Using the 1MORE app, you can adjust the limit between three settings, including 75 dB, 85 dB, and 95 dB. By default, it is set to 85 dB (the middle option), which means you don’t have to bother with the app at all, while still providing plenty of volume for softer content that needs a little boost. The user can still turn it down all they want, but cannot go past the limit set.

To make things even better, the limit is also affected by the amount of time the user is listening to content. Over time, it will slowly lower the volume, eventually landing at 75 dB during long listening experiences. If you have it set to max out at 95 dB, it will drop to 85 dB after 30 minutes of listening. If it is limited to or currently at 85 dB, it will eventually drop to 75 dB after 120 minutes of listening to it at 85 dB. That way kids can’t blast music/content at max volume for long periods, thus giving their little ears a rest.

Perfect for parents who want to monitor the health of their children, since some public services (ie, public education) don’t always enforce this like they used to (depending on the state). Where they used to (all) enforce annual hearing tests for various grade levels. Couple that with the fact that many modern-day parents like to use mobile devices as babysitters to keep their kids occupied, and you have a heavier need to understand how important it is to protect the ears of the young.

When it comes to sound quality, the range of these headphones falls into an average category for 1MORE. By that, I really do mean “for 1MORE” since the company’s average performance in this category is quite decent. It doesn’t fall into the category of audiophile by any means, but it still results in a rich and bassy experience that helps bring most music and video content to life.

So for headphones designed around kids, these sound great! We have listened to just about every genre of music you can think of and it all sounds quite enjoyable with these headphones.

Our Conclusion

The overall design offers a smooth, safe, comfortable, and colorful approach to headphones, making them perfect for kids. They feel great on the head. Keep in mind that they are smaller to fit the average head size of a child. Thus they are a bit tight and not fully over-ear for adults since this isn’t who they are designed for. But placing them on the head of a young child results in a perfect fit.

We spent hours listening to music with these, passing them around to collect opinions and scoring them amongst each other to develop an average conclusion. This led to a positive result overall and a lot of comments focusing on sound quality and comfort (for something designed for kids).

Battery life and dB control via the app really add to a stress-free experience for the adult. Allowing them to know what they are limited to, and also limiting how often they have to be charged. Plastics are durable enough to sustain most use by kids while keeping in mind that they should still be treated respectfully.

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