Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Home AudioProduct Reviews

Blaupunkt 111 and 112 Model Headphones

Product Details
Manufacturer: Blaupunkt
Distributor: Autosound
Website: link
Typical Selling prices:
Kids 111 Boys: £11.95
Pure 111 talk: £35.95
Sport 111 talk: £53.95
Comfort 112 Wireless: £124.95
What They Are
Four different sets of headphones from the new range by Blaupunkt. They are all well packaged and look very smart with little details that prove that making car audio fascia plates and knobs and headphones with switches and small housings for tiny but potent transducers have PLENTY in common with each other. EDIT: Embarrassing to admit but further research reveals that headphones were what Blaupunkt made first… back in the 1930’s!] We had the inexpensive ‘˜Kids 111 Boys’ three-size cushion earbuds in a nice blue starry pattern. I gather these also come in pink for girls. Then we had a set of the ‘˜Pure 111 talk’ earphones, that incorporate a microphone and their ‘˜Sport 111 talk’ bigger brothers, with braided-fabric reinforced cables and ear-contour mounting clips. Lastly, a very well-appointed set of cordless headphones, the ‘˜Comfort 112 Wireless’. They use RF as in wireless, rather than Infra-Red. They have a wireless transmitter and a stout carry case for the headphones and accessories.
Full Specifications
Blaupunkt Comfort 112 Wireless
– Dynamic headphone, open design
– Carrier Frequency: 2.4GHz
– Frequency range: 20Hz to 21kHz
– Temperature working range: Zero to 60 degrees Celsius
– Sound Pressure level: 101dB +/-3dB
– Impedance 32 Ohms
– Transducer diameter: 40mm
– Battery: 2 x AAA 1.5V for approx 20 hours use (supplied)
– Weight: 50 Grams
– Reception distance: 30M from CW-112 ultra small digital transmitter
– C/W USB Cable, 3.5mm in-line socket to two RCA adapter, 3.5mm jack to jack lead, ¼ inch (6.3mm) stereo jack adapter, 2x AAA batteries, transmitter and strong carrying case

CW-112 Transmitter
– Internal, non-replaceable 3.7V 400mA battery for approx six hours use
– USB charging/audio input
– 3.5mm microjack socket analogue audio input
– Lo/Hi range switch
– Red LED charging indicator
Blaupunkt Sport 111 talk
4 speaker premium In-Ear headphone with microphone for hands-free telephone calls
– In-Ear closed with microphone for phone calls
– 4 speakers (2+2) for crystal clear sound & super bass
– 3D rotatable speaker to wear comfortably
– Speaker holder & adjustable ear band
– Frequency response: 20Hz 22kHz
– Sound pressure level : 111dB
– Accessories: leather pouch, microphone connector
– Speaker size: 14.2mm and 8.00mm
– Impedance: 16 Ohms
– Cord length: 1.2m
– 3.5mm stereo jack connector
– Microphone type: condenser
– Microphone frequency response: 100Hz -10kHz

Blaupunkt Pure 111 Talk
Light weight premium In-Ear headphone with microphone for handsfree telephone calls
– In-Ear closed with microphone for phone calls
– Optimised structure for human ear fitting
– 3.5mm stereo jack connector
– Frequency response: 20Hz 22kHz
– Sound pressure level : 100dB
– Accessories: 3 different sizes of ear cushions
– Speaker size: 10mm
– Impedance: 20 Ohms
– Cord length: 1.2m
– Weight: 7g (w/o cable)
– Microphone type: condenser
– Microphone frequency response: 100Hz-10kHz

Blaupunkt Kids 111 Boys
Real In-Ear closed design
– Volume limiter with max. 85dB sensivity
– Frequency response: 20Hz 20kHz
– 3.5mm stereo jack connector
– ‘Star’ Design
– Accessories: 3 different sizes of ear cushions
– Speaker size: 10mm
– Impedance: 16 Ohms
– Cord length 1.3m

Editor Review : Blaupunkt 111 and 112 Model Headphones
How Are They Made?
Kids 111 Boys: £11.95
Just a little bit upstream of the wire quality you get with free airline headphones but with a higher quality capsule bearing a star design. There’s a pink one for girls. You get three sizes of small ear cushion and as well as my hearing these through the fatter cushions, we are going to send this set to a lass with little ears who will check out the small size cushions for us! I did find the different-length cords for each capsule to be a cool feature, allowing easy use on one side of your head to descend to the player’s socket without loops of slack wire.
Pure 111 talk: £35.95
A handsomely made set of earphones for phone/smartphone use with shiny chrome/gunmetal look plug sheath and nicely finished metallic ear capsules. The three sets of differentially coloured cushions offer a wide choice of fit and the cable quality is excellent, with a strong soft rubbery non-grippy wire used. Lovely little Blaupunkt logo branding on the microphone/switch part.
Sport 111 talk: £53.95
Seriously rugged and good-looking, these are made to take some hectacity on their lives. The cables are fabric covered, like that of a steam iron but far cuter and neater. The cable finishes in a lovely bend-relieved gunmetallic jack plug that then fits into the socket of the extra switched microphone-equipped extension. This features a strong pen-clip to attach to your clothing if out exercising. The capsules are a large design and hold two tiny transducers and are not intended to fit in your ear, so much as on them, held in place by a short curved arm and a swivel-fitting, that is in turn fitted to a soft-covered bendy wire arm to fit it exactly to your ear’s (pinna’s) outsides. It looks as if you could leap about like a nutter without dislodging them once fitted and even sweat freely in all directions, without getting sweat in your ears. Plus they will not isolate you from the world as they do not insert into your ear canal. A very specific design that had to be marked differently, not ‘˜Isolation/Noise Cancellation’ as they are an open design but ‘˜Ergonomics’, or body-fitting quality.
Comfort 112 Wireless: £124.95
A really tasty set of kit, which reeks quality as you handle, open and use it. The case is hard as against crushable, so can really protect a set of headphones, even bouncing around in the boot, if it gets loose. The case also holds the transmitter and accessories in a fixed net bag inside. This is opposite the flocked, shaped liner that holds the headphones and transmitter safely when in transit. The bag has the USB cable, the 3.5mm stereo jack to jack cord, the 3.5mm stereo socket to two RCA plugs adapter cord for use with HiFi outputs (called ‘˜cinch connectors’ by Blaupunkt in the manual) a really well made microjack to quarter inch jack (6.3mm I gather) adapter and the first two batteries for the headphones. The headphones have super shiny soft plastic end covers that have a clear seal of plastic on them until you use them first time, all pretty-like. They have a switch to power on and off and another marked ‘˜pair’ which is for the transmitter and headphones’ tuners to ‘˜find’ each other if needs be. The transmitter has an on/off switch and a LO/HI button. This is used for longer range use which shortens battery life. I tried them powered from the PC’s USB and then once charged, the internal battery. When powering up or charging, the top of the transmitter’s Blaupunkt logo lights up in blue, which is nice.
How Well Does It Work?
Kids 111 Boys: £11.95 A smooth and polite sound, limited to 85dB so as to avoid pumping young ears too hard. I admit that at the price, I was expecting the same audio quality as a set of airline headphones but I was delighted to be plain wrong. They are linear and even without any overblown bass or tops. For my tastes, I found them a little restrained, but I really am not the aimed-at customer for these. A real bargain with a good brand on for a cheap easy-to-replace headphone.
Pure 111 talk: £35.95 Remarkable sound quality at the price and the microphone is clean and uncoloured. There is a degree of microphonics on the cable, so handling noise can intrude on your call, if your head is bobbing about, say while cycling. (Do of course take care while using headphones on the move) If you don’t rub the cable or mic housing while speaking, this won’t be an issue. A little brittle if driven very hard, these still make a lot of music for the cash asked.
Sport 111 talk: £53.95 A richer sound from dual capsules, these are swivel-held up to your ear canal on a clever armature and clip with the capsule on a ball-and-socket system that takes a minute or two to fit. The build is fabulous, with smart finishes and fabric armoured cables, that can be tucked into clothing and won’t slither about, as well as being very rugged. The switch on the lovely clear microphone operates my Blackberry and the Apple iPod fourth gen Touch I tried it with, as did the switch on the Pure 111 talk. The bass is definitely richer and fatter on these than the Pure 111 talk and lots louder and fatter than the kids’ model.
Comfort 112 Wireless: £124.95 ‘˜Smooth and unfatiguing’ is what it says in my notes, which is a compliment to headphones, especially ones you might be using on a long journey and six hours is a while at once. The triple A’s will let you listen for 20 hours, which is really cool and I reckon AAAs are used rather than AAs for weight reasons, since these score really highly on the light weight scale. Easy on the head, too, with soft comfy cushions and low sideways compression. Just enough to really seal you off from the world. So be warned, these will turn the real world into a pop video if you are walking in public and you will hear feck-all from the outside. Great for car journeys and you can use the transmitter while it is charging on USB. So if you have in car USB power (and they cost a fiver) then you can go forever for the cost of a pack of Pound Shop alkalines.
The output has a really rich deep bass extension and no stridency, but instead smooth and detailed, great for movies with quiet bits. The 2.4GHz transmission system absolutely slaps Infra Red into a cocked hat for quality when wireless, but these are nearly £100 more than the recently tried NextBase IR headphones. One feature these lack perhaps (but maybe not, as they are a dedicated product) was a simple analogue plug hole to plug them in without using the cordless technology, for say, single user single screen play. The NextBases went from hissy to super when hardwired but these Comfort Wireless 112 headphones have a really excellent output just as is. The wireless is superb.
And you can plug into the PC upstairs and go dance naked in the garden up to hundred feet away if you like, in the moonlightsorry too much detail? Well, they do have a really long range, not just line of sight like a torch.
SCORES
Kids 111 Boys: £11.95
Overall 8.2
Sound Quality 7
Build Quality 8
Comfort (not P. Handling) 9
Isolation/Noise Cancellation 7
Value For Money 10
Pure 111 talk: £35.95
Overall 8.6
Sound Quality 8
Build Quality 9
Comfort (not P. Handling) 8
Isolation/Noise Cancellation 9
Value For Money 9
Sport 111 talk: £53.95
Overall 9.0
Sound Quality 8
Build Quality 9
Comfort (not P. Handling) 10
Ergonomics 10
Value For Money 9

Comfort 112 Wireless: £124.95
Overall 9.6
Sound Quality 9
Build Quality 10
Comfort (not P. Handling) 10
Isolation/Noise Cancellation 10
Value For Money 9

In A Nutshell
The Kids’ 111 headphones are a sweet neutral sound and despite being made cheap enough to lose, sound great for the cost and even have some cool design. The 85dB limit will reassure parents.
The Pure 111 talk are a massive step up from the stuff you get with your phone. You add quality for music, you get ruggedness of design and you get some smartness in the thing itself. Solid performance, both as pure music headphones and for calls with greater clarity than you’ll have heard from your phone before.
The Sport 11 talk are perfect for action people. Cyclists in particular will like the meaty sound, with open-ear allowance of the rest of the world to be part of what you can hear. Very good ergonomic-fit ear-clips and the ruggedness means these are ideal for what they are named afterexcept swimming and water sports.
The Comfort 112 Wireless are a sumptuous package. They work brilliantly and sound delicious as well as being well accessorised. The transmitter is effective and charges fast. These are the better end of cordless cans, in fact they score so highly and work so well, they are Talk Audio State Of the Art winners.
The Blaupunkt headphone range includes many more models, both earphones and headphones, with some cool corded full-size sets as well all on the site here: link