Many of the kids headphones we’ve tested cost $50 or more, and the popular noise-cancelling Onanoff Buddyphones Cosmos cost twice that. The wired Onanoff Buddyphones School+ sits at the other end of the spectrum as one of the least expensive kids’ headphones we’ve tested at $29.95. It isn’t fancy, but it features an 85dB volume limiter to protect young ears, a boom mic for participating in remote learning, and sweat-wicking fabric on the earpads. Its audio is fairly thin, but hard-limited volume and a clear microphone make it a good choice for kids.
Design
Available in white, with green, blue, pink, or yellow earpads, the Buddyphones School+ can be customized with stickers that come in the box, including a set of blank ones your child can draw on. The supra-aural (on-ear) design of the BuddyPhones School+ is lightweight and feels comfortable during long listening sessions, partially thanks to the sweat-wicking fabric on the earpads. The headband is sufficiently padded, as well—some adults might be able to extend the headband to its limits and wear the BuddyPhones School+ in a pinch, but it’s still designed for kids. Internally, 30mm Neodymium drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz, hard-limited to 85dB.
The headphones are advertised as “strong, durable and made to last,” but this seems to apply mainly to the headband, which can twist around very easily. There’s no IP rating for water-resistance, and the manual warns not to expose the headphones to extreme temperatures or water. Two cables are included with the BuddyPhones School+: a standard audio cable with no remote or mic, and a cable that connects the boom mic to the headphones. The boom mic cable has a single-button remote control that had no issues controlling the Music app on the iMac—a single tap controls playback and answers or ends calls, a double tap skips forward a track, and a triple tap skips backward a track. The boom mic cable also has a jack that another pair of headphones can plug into for sharing audio.
In addition to the cables, the BuddyPhones School+ ships with a canvas drawstring bag large enough for the headphones to fold down into.
Performance
Plenty of kids’ headphones have switches, making it possible for your child to disable the volume limiter and turn it up to dangerous levels. The BuddyPhones School+’s 85db volume limiter is always on, so you can rest assured the sound won’t get too loud. Connected to a 2019 iMac, with both the computer volume and the Music app volume maxed out, the headphones’ output was definitely limited to safe levels.
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Our regular testing suite probably doesn’t much resemble your child’s playlist, but it tells us plenty about the Buddyphones School+’s sound signature. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the Buddyphones School+ delivers a modest bass response. The focus is more on clarity in the mids and highs, but there is at least some semblance of low frequency depth, with no distortion.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Buddyphones School+’s general sound signature. While bass-forward headphones often make them sound thunderous, the drums on this track sound thin. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, but the Buddyphones School+ still offers clarity in the mids and highs. The previous track had powerful deep bass, and the drivers delivered a decent sense of it—this track’s bass depth is far more subtle, and is lost in the Buddyphones School+’s drivers.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid and high frequency presence, allowing the loop to retain it’s crisp, punchy attack. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are more implied than delivered, while the vocals are clear and clean. Again, maybe this isn’t on your child’s playlist, but the clarity in the vocals means your child’s audio lessons, music, and video content should come across clearly, as well.
The boom mic offers excellent intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app the iMac, the recording was crystal clear, as we’d expect from a beam-forming mic, especially a wired one.
Conclusion
If you don’t want to spend much on headphones for your kid, the Buddyphones School+ gets the basics right. The volume is limited and can’t be messed with, and the boom mic delivers excellent clarity. The audio performance isn’t much to get excited about, but it at least delivers distortion-free audio. For a still-inexpensive wireless alternative, we’ve enjoyed the JLab JBuddies Pro Wireless, though its microphone doesn’t sound as good. Our favorite kids headphones remain the $75 Puro Sound Labs JuniorJams and the $50 LilGadgets Untangled Pro, but you’ll be paying more for their improved sound quality.
