Belkin SoundForm Surround headphone review
Summary: Belkin's SoundForm Surround offer a fair value proposition for casual listening to music, podcasts, or working from home.
3
Fair value
The Belkin SoundForm Surround headphones present a great entry point as a headset for your daily commute, work in the office, or occasional gaming. At $69.95 I felt they presented relatively good value for the price point. They feel much more premium than similarly priced headphones, and they are hundreds of dollars cheaper than premium brands that perform similarly.
Unboxing the Belkin SoundForm Surrounds is without fanfare. There were no soft composite packing materials or embossed carry satchels – just cords and a pair of headphones that worked straight out of the box, which is a refreshing change. Pairing the headphones was so simple that my sister-in-law managed it without a fuss or my intervention, which I cannot overstate as a benefit. There’s no app required, no need to update software, no need to link it to an account. I was sceptical Belkin would make it that easy, but I couldn’t deny it when I watched Abbie switch between ‘her laptop’ and work video calls to listening to Taylor Swift.
I feel ‘less is more’ summarises the Belkin SoundForm Surrounds quite well, including their physical design. Only a few buttons on each cup – the necessary volume and power buttons, and the mute button. They fold together nicely and smoothly, and the mechanism feels more expensive than it should be for the price point – I wasn’t scared to chuck them in a backpack, or when my toddler decided he wanted them either. Including the 3.5mm and USB-C cables in the box is a great touch, especially for our household with variable phone ages and brands and the slow extinction of the headphone jack.
For the time I used them I had no concerns about comfort – the cup pads are soft and the headphones resize easily. Abbie and I have vastly different head shapes and hair volume, yet neither of us had any complaints about fit – Abbie managed to make it through several of Taylor’s albums in one-sitting without any discomfort from extended wearing. Battery would appear to conform with Belkin’s advertised 60 hours – no one else in the family charges their electronics, a point of frustration for me, but I have to admit I’ve yet to see Abbie charge the headphones even after a fortnight of intermittent use and she’s still using them as I write this.
Abbie’s feedback was that Taylor sounded wonderful. My own listening experience comes with caveats. I spend a reasonable amount of time listening with either open-ear headphones (i.e. when I go for a run or walk the dog with the baby in a carrier) or to inner-ear noise cancelling earbuds. When I compare the Belkin SoundForm Surrounds, they offer decent music sound quality for the price point, particularly when I consider what I paid for the noise cancelling earbuds back in the day. And it was certainly an improvement to listen to podcasts using the SoundForm Surrounds rather than open-ear when I was on the road. Maybe it was the advertised ‘passive noise cancellation’ using what Belkin is calling “environmental noise cancellation”… or just the fact there are good pads on the ear cups for a good seal – either way I was able to listen to Pop Culture Parenting without missing a single word.
However this is also why I can’t recommend the Belkin SoundForm Surrounds without hesitation. They don’t offer active noise cancellation – if that’s what you’re looking for, these aren’t the right choice for you especially when Belkin themselves offer a great pair of headphones for $20 with decent noise cancellation. They don’t have any feature for ‘hear through’ or similar; and they are self-evidently over-ear headphones – so for anyone looking for a product that is subtle, like an earbud or open-ear option with premium features, these aren’t for you either. It takes little-to-no effort to quickly search the catalogues of local electronics retailers and notice that Belkin SoundForm Surrounds is very competitively priced and offers great quality for their cost. Unfortunately they seem to be surrounded by alternatives.
Final Thoughts?
Overall I was impressed by how well they worked straight out of the box, and they would make a great fit for a family of casual listeners, or for those working-from-home with some gaming on the side.