For $36.99, the iClever BTH12 Bluetooth kids' headphones deliver balanced audio with punchy lows, sport stylish LED panels, and are available in a wide variety of colors. They have excellent battery life and several volume-limited modes, too. We wish they didn't include a potentially harmful 94dB listening mode and that their controls were easier to use, but the headphones still do enough to justify their price. The EarFun K2 Kids headphones remain our Editors' Choice award winners, however, because they offer a sleeker design and comparable audio quality for just $24.99.

Design: Lots of Color Options, But Poor Controls

The BTH12 headphones are available in black, blue, green, several shades of pink, and purple, and yellow. Your child should find at least one color appealing, even though the build materials look somewhat cheap. The headphones' circumaural (over-ear) earcups, which fit kids three years and older, sport a horizontal strip of LEDs that light up when the headphones are on.

Both the earpads and the underside of the headband feature generous cushioning with memory foam and faux leather covers. Internally, 40mm dynamic drivers in each earcup deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz.

The BTH12 phones support Bluetooth 5.2 and the AAC and SBC codecs. Neither Google Fast Pair nor multipoint pairing is available, though I don't expect those features at this price.

The right earcup includes a power/pairing switch, along with a cramped bank of controls for volume, playback, and the LEDs. The volume buttons also handle track navigation—I'm never a fan of combining these functions since it makes misfires all too common. More problematic is that the buttons feel plasticky and small, even for kids. I much prefer the controls of competitors like the $34.99 Skullcandy Grom Wireless; their entire outer earcup panels function as push-button controls.

A USB-C port for the included USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable resides between the power switch and dedicated controls, along with a 3.5mm input for the included audio cable. The latter enables passive, wired listening. (The headphones turn off automatically when you plug in this cable.)

I have yet to test any kids' headphones that make it truly difficult to switch between their volume-limited modes; nearly all of them employ hidden buttons or require some combination of presses that are trivial for a curious child to discover. In iClever's case, you change between the 74dB (Toddler), 85dB (Study), and 94dB (Travel) modes by pressing the plus and minus buttons simultaneously. A voice prompt tells you the current mode.

I bring up the ease of switching modes because the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says listening at 94dB for more than an hour at a time can damage a child's hearing. These headphones don't provide any visual indicator of the current mode, making it difficult for parents to ensure a safe listening experience.

iClever estimates that the BTH12 headphones can last an impressive 55 hours per charge with LEDs on or 85 hours with them off in the 85dB listening mode. The company adds that a full recharge takes 2.5 hours and that 10 minutes of charging will get you four hours of playback. For comparison, the EarFun K2 Kids headphones can run for 40 hours at most.

Like most kids' headphones, the BTH12's do not connect to a companion app. That means you can't tweak the sound with EQ or customize the controls.

LEDs: Several Basic Effects

The LEDs look cool overall, fading across a rainbow of colors by themselves rather than syncing up with the beat of playing music. Pressing the LED button on the side panel lets you cycle through various color modes, including one that strobes and another that gradually switches between solid colors. Parents will like that they can turn off the lights entirely should they become distracting.

Sound Quality: Balanced, With Decent Sub-Bass

I use the same set of tracks for evaluating all headphones (including those for youngsters) so I can accurately evaluate the capabilities of their drivers. Your child probably doesn't listen to any of these test songs, but the analysis holds for whatever music or movie soundtracks they do enjoy. I stuck with the 85dB (Study) mode, for reference, since I expect most kids will use that most often.

On tracks with intense sub-bass content like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the iClever headphones delivered full-bodied low-frequency response. At the maximum volume (for the 85dB mode), the drivers don't distort. At more moderate settings, the lows sound robust without overpowering the rest of the mix. 

The drivers have no problem reproducing the sub-bass at the 34-second mark of a Kendrick Lamar track. The various vocals have a crisp presence and never compete with the deep (slightly boosted) lows for space.

The drums on Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass, sound natural with a pleasant heft. Callahan's baritone vocals are both rich in the low-mids and crisp in the high-mids, though the acoustic strums and higher-register percussive hits could use a bit more brightness.

On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams's The Gospel According to the Other Mary, I hear a nice balance between the slightly emphasized lower-register instrumentation and higher-register brass, strings, and vocals.

The voice mic array works decently well and should suffice for basic communications and voice assistant commands. I could understand every word from a test recording on my iPhone thanks to the strong mic level, though it sounded a bit less crisp than I'm used to hearing from headphones for adults. (Their mic arrays tend to accentuate vocal frequencies.)

Verdict: Quality Sound and Runtime, With Some Flaws

The iClever BTH12 headphones offer a natural sound signature with plenty of bass depth, remarkable battery life, and moderately cool LED lighting effects at a reasonable price. We also like the variety of color options, though the build quality and on-ear controls could use improvement. Ultimately, we recommend the Editors' Choice-winning EarFun K2 Kids headphones more highly since they provide similar audio and more sophisticated looks for $12 less. Meanwhile, the Skullcandy Grom Wireless headphones have better controls, beefier bass response, and a superior sense of style. Neither, however, can match the battery life of the iClever BTH12.