Decent budget headphones for kids?

[masterofdisaster]

Looking for budget headphones (<$40) for my kids (7 and 9), and would like to start them on something with decent tuning and resolution. Most IEMs would be two bulky and unfriendly for small kids - which is a shame, because there are some great $20 options out there... I would prefer a compact over-ear design to provide some isolation and discourage excessive volume. To ensure safe volume, high impedance or volume limiter would be important features. I'm a fan of my ER3XR, and the Ety-Kids 5 ($20) seem like a good option - but again, think over-ear is the more user-friendly solution. I've seen the Sony MDR-ZX110 (<$20) discussed, but they won't help with volume control. Any others I should be considering?

 

[staticV3]

your requirements are probably impossible to meet.
<$40, decent tuning and resolution would be some Koss 60Ω (KPH30i, Porta Pro, KSC75, KPH40), but those are on-ear, open-backed, and not volume limited.

You could look for a used DT770 Pro 250Ω on eBay. Those need a lot of voltage to get loud:

 

[Dazerdoreal]

Maybe On-Ears?

Sennheiser HD 250BT

Sennheiser HD 250BT kabelloser On-Ear Kopfhörer, dynamisch, geschlossen, Bluetooth 5.0, Frequenzbereich 20 - 22000 Hz, SPL 110 dB (1 kHz/0 dBFS), Klirrfaktor (1 kHz, 100 dB SPL) < 0.3 % (1 kHz, 100 dB SPL), Audio Codec: aptX, aptX, Low Latency, AAC,...

www.thomann.de

Frequency Response looks very good for the money.

 

[markanini]

Kids turn it up to hear more bass. If the headphone is tuned so warm, that the sound gets unintelligible when turned up, they will be conditioned to keep the volume low.
If you find remaining stock of Sennheiser PX100 they are only moderately easy to drive, with a warm tuning. Otherwise, whichever is the warmest tuned of the Koss on-ears, I think the Porta Pro.

EDIT: Consider the drawbacks of a highly isolating headphone that makes the child unaware of their surroundings. This could be a bad thing if they wear them around traffic.

 

[isostasy]

You found some ety kids for only $20? I'd give them a shot at that price. I used ety kids for a few years until I got my ER2XR.

Cons would be: the newer etys are actually smaller diameter than the Kids, making them better for smaller ears; the plastic body of the Kids isn't very durable, mine had cracks start to appear which I need to fill w epoxy resin; bass is completely flat.

If you decide against the etys, I would go with a budget noise cancelling set like the JBL 760NC or 460NC, which are sometimes heavily discounted. These will be far safer than another non-NC set like the MDR-ZX110 you mention which will do a terrible job of blocking noise and lead to the volume being turned up.