Belkin SoundForm Isolate Headphones Review
Summary: Belkin SoundForm Isolate offer active noise cancelling for less than $100, and it’s hard to find a better value-for-money competitor.
4
Budget noise cancelling?!
I was pleasantly surprised by the Belkin SoundForm Isolate headphones. They performed exceptionally well when you consider the $89.99 AUD price point. The initial impression won’t blow you away or feel like a premium purchase – but the more I used them, the more satisfied and impressed I was. I can’t think of another pair of headphones with active noise cancelling (ANC) that comes close to how well the Belkin SoundForm Isolate performs for the price point. I would strongly recommend them as an entry point into the market for anyone interested in headphones with ANC.
Starting from the beginning, the packaging for the Belkin SoundForm Isolate makes it clear this is a value-for-money product rather than luxury purchase. You know that feeling when you treat yourself to an expensive tech product, like the most recent phone? You know how the box feels smooth? The product is practically caressed by a soft sleeve? And everything is embossed, and fits snug, and glides out of the box into your hand? Don’t expect that here.
However, you might come to question how easily you let yourself be influenced by all the fine trimmings later when you notice how similarly the SoundForm Isolate performs compared to much pricier competitors. And wonder how much extra you are paying $899, $699 or the more affordable $399 for the premium brand experience. Let alone the extra plastic and processing that must go into all the accoutrements that are evidently unnecessary.
The process of pairing is so simple that I wondered if I was missing something – there is no app to download, no user account and login – just an appropriately helpful YouTube clip. You charge the headphones, you turn them on, they pair to your device, and then they just work. I loved it, it was refreshing to have a product work straight out of the box without having to agree to terms and conditions that no one ever reads and set up yet another account that will deliver email you mark as spam. The ‘Isolate’ in the name does not refer to the ANC, but rather to the “isolate effect mode” – the headphones play white noise. I am unfortunately familiar with white noise – my older son relies on it to sleep every night and I have spent far too many hours listening to white, brown, and pink noise. I’m not particularly impressed by the white noise produced by the Belkin SoundForm Isolate’s white noise – it took me a while to even notice it when ANC was on. Maybe it is an improvement on nothing? I would probably just play a track on repeat instead.
There are only a few buttons on each cup. The ANC button controls noise cancelling with clear voice feedback for each setting as you change it, the volume buttons work as you would expect, the power button facilitates pairing. I can appreciate some people wanting a different button for everything – but I was grateful that when I reached for a button I didn’t have to navigate blindly and everything worked as I hoped. The cups felt soft and were adjustable to fit both myself and my wife without discomfort for several hours at a time with issues. I liked how well they folded to be fitted into a backpack, although a nifty little case or bag might have been nice – but hard to ask for given the budget price.
Belkin boasts of 60 hours battery life for the SoundForm Isolate – I’m not sure I achieved that, but I certainly got more than 50 hours of intermittent use before needing to recharge, which is pretty fantastic and I believe will cover most uses. I enjoyed the inclusion of both the 3.5mm and USB-C cables, particularly since the USB-C can function for both charging and wired listening. Whilst I’m detailing the technical details, the built-in microphone and multipoint 2-device connection is great – both my wife and I managed to use the headphones to switch between listening to podcasts and video calls with our respective future employers.
I think the ANC is wonderful – for the price point. It worked really well around the house and local shops, but not so well that I couldn’t hear the baby cry in the evening – so probably ‘just right’. Variable performance at the kerbside, but we live near a busy road so mileage might vary. My parents flew up to see the new addition to our family, so I had the opportunity to compare the Belkin SoundForm Isolate two other premium brands that they had used on the flight. Whilst I detected a difference in the ANC quality and overall feel and comfort, I did not find the difference significant in most of the environments I tested, especially the more I reflected on the price point difference ($399AUD and $699AUD respectively) – it makes it hard to believe I’m testing headphones with ANC at $89.95AUD.
Sound quality seems generally ok albeit context dependent. For everyday use around the house or the office they worked very well, and the noise cancelling was great on local trains with either music or podcasts. I did notice lower sound quality when I was working out with heavier music generally – this is probably to be expected, but it was a noticeable difference from (much) more expensive competitors. This is one area where the lack of a devoted mobile app is to the SoundForm Isolates detriment – being able to adjust the EQ on the fly to emphasize bass or vocal in a busy and loud environment can make all the difference sometimes, and that’s not even an option here.
Final Thoughts?
Overall, I’m very impressed. They don’t feel cheap despite the lack of trimmings, the ANC works really well for anything I was going to use it for and performed well-beyond my expectations given the 89.95 price point. I think I will have trouble paying more than 100 for a pair of headphones with ANC ever again given how much I enjoyed the Belkin SoundForm Isolates.
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