Key Takeaways
- Despite the kid-friendly size being a bit too small for most adults, the PuroQuiet Plus wireless headphones offer great noise cancelation and comfort.
- Setting up is easy, the battery life is spectacular (even with ANC turned on), and the overall audio quality is quite nice.
- There is some noticeable audio lag when performing memory-intensive tasks like video editing, but no lag was present when simply listening to music or watching videos.
Puro Sound Labs’ PuroQuiet Plus are a good pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones with decent active noise cancelation and a nigh-unstoppable battery. They’re also very much intended for smaller heads.
Puro Sound Labs PuroQuiet Plus
$105 $139 Save
$34
The PuroQuiet Plus headphones provide great noise cancellation in a wireless form. The price is high, but it’s worth the investment.
- Super easy to set up and use
- Comfortable padding on the cups and headband
- ANC functionality
- Announces general battery levels when turned on
- Absurdly impressive battery life
- Physical buttons and switches don?t feel particularly premium
- Noticeable audio lag during memory-intensive actions (like video editing)
Price and Availability
You should be able to find a pair of PuroQuiet Plus headphones at most online retailers that carry similar audio products—such as Amazon, Walmart, and, of course, the official Puro Sound Labs shop.
The regular MSRP is $139, which is outside the high end of How-To Geek’s list of the best budget headphones.
Extremely Made for Kids
As a physical pair of headphones, the PuroQuiet Plus are pretty nice for the price point. The ear cups and the headband are well padded with a nice, soft foam that’s both comfortable and doesn’t get too warm—even with extended use.
While primarily intended for wireless use, a 3.5mm cord is also included. It’s probably not going to be a major selling point for any potential customers, but if the intended user prefers a corded connection for listening (or speaking), it’s also not a bad option to have.
The weight is pretty decent, too, feeling significantly lighter than the Audeze Maxwell (one of How-To Geek’s best gaming headsets) and other comparable models. This makes a lot of sense because PuroQuiet Plus headphones are specifically designed for children.
That being said, they’re not unusable for adults. They do still fit—albeit snugly and a little awkwardly—on a relatively average adult head with no noticeable loss in effectiveness. And adults with smaller noggins might actually find them to be a better and more comfortable fit over the average pair of “made for adults” headphones.
Eyeglasses complicate the comfort a bit, though—at least for a grown adult. It’s not a bad combination in short bursts, but extended use can lead to discomfort as the smaller headband consistently pushes the temple tips inward with a steady pressure. So if you want to use them, put the headphones on first and then your glasses (with the temples set above the ear cups rather than inside them).
Intentionally smaller physical size aside, the build quality of the PuroQuiet Plus feels pretty nice—with one notable exception. While the overall frame and padding of the headset feels nice and sturdy (or soft), the buttons and switches feel oddly… not.
All the manual function controls (on switch, Bluetooth pairing button, ANC switch, volume buttons) appear to be made of metal. However, they jiggle around inside the housing slightly in a way that might seem less than premium. It’s a strange distinction to make, sure, but it’s also noticeable.
Sound on (And Off)
When it comes to sound quality, the PuroQuiet Plus are good headphones. Maybe not as exquisite as a pair of $500 Dyson OnTrac headphones, but still preferable to most of the built-in speakers you’ll find on the kinds of devices you’re likely to pair them with.
Microphone quality is similarly passable. It is nowhere near the quality of a studio mic like the JBL Quantum Stream Studio, but it is significantly better than many earbud microphones. That said, since the mic is built into the headset, the audio (at least in recordings) does sound a little bit distant, and it has a tendency to pick up unwanted background noises.
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is what’s most likely to have people considering the PuroQuiet Plus, though. According to Puro Sound Labs, the headset can reduce background noise by up to 22 dB.
It’s difficult to say for certain how true that is from typical headphone use (and without dB-measuring instruments), but in practice, it’s immediately apparent when that ANC switch is flipped. Background sounds like appliances humming, fans, overhead planes, and so on just sort of stop.
The ANC doesn’t completely mute the outside world, though. Voices, cat meows, and other less “environmental” sounds do still make their way through—which might be a good thing. They’ll cancel out a lot of droning background distractions and other obnoxious noise, but won’t block out so much sound as to be a potential safety concern.
No App, No Need
While there’s no official app for use with the PuroQuiet Plus, there really doesn’t need to be one. The headphones are very straightforward in their design and functionality, so an app could overcomplicate things for the target audience (which, again, is supposed to be kids).
However, there are some vaguely software-related aspects to the headset that are still worth talking about. Such as really simple device connections that require pressing and holding the Bluetooth button until the headphones tell you they’re pairing.
There’s volume limiting at 85 dB, full stop—chosen as the maximum level for safe listening—that cannot be exceeded, which is a good way to protect kids’ (anyone’s, really) hearing. The PuroQuiet Plus will also let you know when you hit that limit with the headphones emitting a beep if you attempt to increase the volume any further once you hit that level.
Something more unexpected is how the headphones announce the battery level whenever they’re turned on. Sandwiched between “Power on” and “Pairing” voice clips is another one that states “Battery level high” (or low, etc).
No need to consult an app or dig through Bluetooth menus on a connected device—just turn on the headphones and let them tell you how much juice is left. Honestly, this is the kind of feature that should be more common with wireless headsets as it takes a lot of guesswork and surprises out of managing battery life.
Something less positive that did stand out a bit with testing is a very slight (but noticeable) audio delay under very specific circumstances. When listening to music, watching videos, or playing games, it’s either nonexistent or so subtle as to be imperceptible. When performing more memory-intensive tasks such as video editing, however, there’s definitely a slight (less than a second) delay between what’s on-screen and what’s in-ear. Again, this problem was only spotted when video editing, but it’s still a problem.
Long Live the Battery, Seriously
One of the bigger surprises with the PuroQuiet Plus has been the battery life. Out of the box, the headphones weren’t at full charge (naturally), but it did take about an hour or so to get them to 100%.
After that, though? It’s like the battery refuses to dwindle. Several days of sporadic use (listening to music, streaming videos, playing Nintendo Switch games, etc) in bursts anywhere from a few minutes to several hours at a stretch doesn’t seem to have made a dent. Even when switching the ANC on and off in various situations for varying amounts of time.
Not only has the audible battery power announcement refused to dip below “battery level high” in all that time, the more precise power levels you see when checking the Bluetooth menu on a paired device still shows 100%. This isn’t to say that the PuroQuiet Plus will run indefinitely, but so far they’ve displayed an exceptionally impressive amount of longevity.
A Tough-to-Pin-Down Competition
Comparing the PuroQuiet Plus to high-end headphones made for adults is somewhat unfair. In broad strokes, you can probably expect somewhat lower (though not bad) sound and mic quality, less comfort (or possibly more if your head is smaller than the average adult), and a significantly longer-lasting battery.
What we really need to do is look at other models that are meant for kids. Such as what’s on How-To Geek’s best noise-canceling headphones for kids list. Conveniently enough, the PuroQuiet Plus headphones are already on there.
They sit on the higher end of the price range—even at the $105 sale price—and “Best Overall” ended up going to the $30 Altec Lansing Wireless Headphones. However, the PuroQuiet Plus did grab the “Best Wireless” category thanks to their style, ANC quality, included 3.5mm cord, and of course, the impressive battery life.
Should You Buy the PuroQuiet Plus?
Just how “worth it” the PuroQuiet Plus might be to you really depends on what you’re looking for in a pair of wireless ANC headphones. However, you almost certainly should look elsewhere if the intended user has an average adult-sized dome.
They’re not a bad option for kids or adults with smaller heads. Criticisms about the wiggliness of the buttons and switches aside, this is a nice, solid pair of headphones with good ANC and bafflingly great battery life. The $130 (or even $105) price tag does put them on the slightly more expensive side of the “wireless headphones for kids” fence, though.
Puro Sound Labs PuroQuiet Plus
$105 $139 Save
$34
The PuroQuiet Plus headphones provide great noise cancellation in a wireless form. The price is high, but it’s worth the investment.
