iClever Boostcare Headphones Review

The iClever Boostcare are colorful headphones designed for kids. They have small ear cups to fit young listeners' heads and cat-inspired ears on the headband for a fun look. They're available in lots of different colors, including pink, purple, and blue.

These headphones are passably comfortable. They're lightweight and the headband is pretty flexible. However, listeners with larger heads may find them a bit uncomfortable since the headband doesn't extend very far.

The iClever Boostcare have poor controls. There's a volume switch that limits the volume to either 85 dB or 94 dB as well as a multi-function button that lets users answer or end phone calls and play or pause music. While the buttons are clicky, there's no voice feedback when they're pressed. Also, wearers can't adjust the volume from the controls, which is a bit disappointing.

These headphones are acceptably portable. They're a bit smaller than most on-ears since they're designed for kids. However, they don't fold down to reduce their overall footprint, so they may not fit easily into a bag or backpack.

These headphones don't have a case or a pouch.

The iClever Boostcare have a middling build quality. They're mostly made of plastic, and the body and the ears are coated with silicone. The ear cups have a faux leather padding. However, the hinges are a potential weak point, as they don't retract very easily and don't seem very durable.

These headphones have a sub-par stability performance. They don't clamp very tightly on the head, so they move around a lot. They aren't suitable to use while exercising, and even small movements may cause them to fall off the listeners' ears.

• iClever Boostcare headphones
• User guide

The iClever Boostcare have an unbalanced sound profile. They're lacking a lot of low-bass, which means that listeners don't feel the deep thump and rumble from bass-heavy genres like hip-hop. Also, the overemphasis across the mid and treble ranges can make some vocals and lead instruments honky, harsh, or piercing. There's also some mismatch between the left and right drivers, which is unusual for wired headphones and may be specific to our test unit.

These headphones have a decent frequency response consistency. They have an inconsistent mid and treble delivery, so their audio delivery may vary depending on their fit, seal, and positioning on the listener's head.

These headphones have sub-par bass accuracy. The low and mid-bass are underemphasized, so audio lacks the deep punch and thump from bass instruments.

These headphones have poor mid accuracy. While the low-mid range is quite balanced, the overemphasis in the rest of the range makes vocals and lead instruments sound forward, boxy, and harsh.

These headphones have poor treble accuracy. The overemphasis across the range adds a harsh quality to the mix, and sibilants like cymbals may sound piercing or painful.

The iClever Boostcare have poor peaks and dips performance. The dip in the low-bass generates a loss of thump and rumble. The peak in the high bass adds a muddy quality, while the dip in the low-mid range thins out vocals and lead instruments. The peak in the mid and high-mid range makes those same instruments sound forward and boxy, while the dip in the low-treble hurts the comprehensibility of those same instruments. The peak in the mid-treble range makes sibilants piercing and painful.

These headphones have a bad imaging performance. Weighted group delay exceeds the audibility threshold, so there may not be a tight bass or transparent treble. The L/R drivers are mismatched in terms of amplitude, frequency, and phase, so objects like voices or footsteps may not be accurately placed within the stereo image. These results are only valid for our test unit, so real-world experiences may vary.

The iClever Boostcare have a disappointing passive soundstage performance. Their soundstage is open, but it can also be perceived as small and unnatural. Audio seems like it's coming from inside the listener's head rather than from speakers placed around them.

These headphones don't have any virtual soundstage features.

These headphones have a poor weighted harmonic distortion performance. There's distortion present across the range, so audio may not be cleanly or purely reproduced.

While we normally conduct this test at 90dB and 100dB, these headphones have a volume limit that prevents them from exceeding 94dB. We attempted to conduct this test at 94dB and 84dB, but there were too many ripples present at 94dB. We ultimately conducted this test at 85dB and 75dB.

These are the settings we used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when using these settings.

The iClever Boostcare have a terrible noise isolation performance. They don't block out any sounds in the bass or mid ranges, so listeners can hear bus or plane engines and background chatter. They perform a bit better with higher-frequency sounds, but listeners may still hear the hum of nearby AC units.

These headphones have an impressive leakage performance. They don't leak a lot of sound, so audio shouldn't be noticeable to nearby people in a moderately noisy environment.

While we normally conduct this test at 90dB and 100dB, these headphones have a volume limit that prevents them from exceeding 94dB. We attempted to conduct this test at 94dB and 84dB, but there were too many ripples present at 94dB. We ultimately conducted this test at 85dB and 75dB, which may have impacted our results.

These headphones have an in-line microphone.

The microphone has a middling recording quality. Speech should sound a bit thin and muffled, but people on the other end of the line should still be able to understand it.

The microphone has a mediocre noise handling performance. If the user calls from a moderately noisy environment like a busy street, people on the other end of the line may have trouble hearing them.

The iClever Boostcare are wired-only headphones that don't have a battery.

These headphones don't have a companion app.

The iClever Boostcare are wired-only.

These headphones are wired-only.

The iClever Boostcare have a fixed flat silicone 1/8" TRRS cable.

These headphones can be plugged into a PC or PS4 controller for full audio and microphone compatibility.

These headphones can be plugged into an Xbox One controller for full audio and microphone compatibility.

These headphones don't have a base or a dock.