If you’re not a fan of earbuds and prefer headphones that go over your ears for noise cancellation, Belkin has a pair aimed at keeping prices down.
“The democratisation of technology” is one of our favourite phrases lately because of what it means for consumers: value. Lots of value.
What it actually means is the ability to bring more expensive technology to lower price points, something that’s happening in greater amounts lately across a variety of product categories. You can find democratisation in phones via the mid-range, TVs as Mini-LED becomes normalised across price points, and plenty in computers, too.
It’s the same with headphones, and that might actually be one of the more obvious areas where democratisation makes sense. These days, headphones and earphones come at a variety of price points, with solid sound and cord-free approaches more or less the norm across everything.
We’ve said over the past few years that active noise cancellation would start to make its way to more headphones, and in recent years, it definitely has. While premium players such as Apple and Bose and Sennheiser and Sony continue to deliver, the arrival of new players like Soundcore and Nothing’s CMF brand have helped get active noise cancellation technology to lower price points.
And that’s an area Belkin wants in on.
The peripheral maker has dabbled in wireless earphones before, complete with a pair feature active noise cancellation, but its latest pair not only focuses on the head, but does it with wallets in mind.
The SoundForm Isolate is Belkin’s first pair of over-ear headphones to feature active noise cancellation, supporting 40 hours of battery life with ANC switched on, with 20 more hours for 60 total when ANC is off.
The headphones also come with an “isolation” mode complete with a white noise-like “ocean” sound when you just want to seal yourself in a bubble without your phone’s media, similar to what Jabra’s Sound+ app offered. However, the main focus will likely be from what your phone, tablet, or computer offers, like most other headphones.
Priced at $90 in Australia, the SoundForm Isolate are quite inexpensive as far as noise cancellation goes, though there’s another option Belkin has made in the SoundForm Surround.
At $70, the Surround are more or less the ANC-less version of the same, sporting the over-ear design and 60 hours of battery life, but no active noise cancellation. In its place is “Environmental Noise Cancellation”, a buzzword that basically means you’re sealed from the outside not with microphones and algorithms, but the headphone cups, which are less effective, but can save money.
In terms of how either pair will likely sound, previous Belkin earphones have shown a little balance, but an also somewhat flat sound, pigeonholing the SoundForm range in the “you get what you pay for” part of the market. That’s not to say they’ll likely be bad, just not necessarily as impressive as you can find from rivals.
Price really seems to be the focus here, with the $70 to $90 range the message frugal buyers are likely to see first.
The Belkin SoundForm Isolate and Surround are heading to stores across the country now.
