Puro Sound Labs PuroPro Review

Puro Sound Labs PuroPro are top of line volume-limiting headphones with active noise cancellation and impeccable comfort. But they have a few caveats.

The PuroPro headsets are so far the best headphones with built-in volume-limiting technology. While that’s usually a feature for kids headphones, you hardly characterize them as such.

These are big over-ear headphones that offer excellent comfort and don’t skimp on battery life (almost 40 hours of playtime).

Active noise cancellation comes in two modes and works pretty well. And while the build quality isn’t impressive, you get a hard-shell carrying case for superb drop protection.

On the other hand, headphones lack a companion app and an ambient sound mode. They even charge via the old micro-USB, which is something only cheap headphones use.

So, should you pick these Puro headphones or opt for something cheaper? Find all the answers in the review below.

• Good, smooth sound
• Super comfortable over-ear cups
• Volume limited to 85 dB or 95dB
• Active noise cancellation with 2 modes
• Long battery life (38h+)
• Construction quality
• Expensive
• Kind of bulky for kids headphones

Editor
rating 4

By HeadphonesAddict

User
ratings 0

User Ratings: 0

Category

• Sound
• Comfort & Fit
• Durability
• Battery
• Features
• Noise Cancelling
• Noise Isolation
• Bluetooth
• Value

Our rating

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  4.0
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  5.0
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  4.5
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  3.5
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  3.5
• 
  4.5
• 
  3.5

User rating

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Puro Sound Labs: PuroPro Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Volume Limiting Headphones, Wireless Over…

Puro Sound Labs: PuroPro Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Volume Limiting Headphones, Wireless Over…

$149.00

in stock

1 used from $116.56

as of April 18, 2024 6:28 pm

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Puro Sound Labs: PuroPro Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Volume Limiting Headphones, Wireless Over…

Puro Sound Labs: PuroPro Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Volume Limiting Headphones, Wireless Over…

$149.00

in stock

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PUROPRO VOLUME LIMITING WIRELESS NOISE CANCELING HEADPHONES SEALED

PUROPRO VOLUME LIMITING WIRELESS NOISE CANCELING HEADPHONES SEALED

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Sound

4.0 Great

Puro Sound Labs PuroPro output a silky smooth and easy-to-listen-to sound that you can enjoy for hours. However, that smoothness hides fine details.

Check the Puro Sound Labs PuroPro Sound Comparison

Learn how to understand sound comparisons.

Since PuroPro headphones should protect your hearing, it’s only logical to tune them to prevent sibilance and harshness. And Puro definitely delivered.

Headphones sound laid-back across the full range, making them extremely easy to listen to.

But how’s the overall performance?

Bass

The bass is slightly above the other frequencies but not to the point of sounding bloated. It offers good extension and decent punch while adding warmness to the overall sound.

It’s decently controlled as well, although instruments like bass guitars would benefit from a slightly tighter performance.

All in all, while you can jam with these headphones, they aren’t going to recreate your last night at the disco.

Based on the measurement, there’s a bass increase when enabling ANC. However, the boost is hardly noticeable when comparing it side by side.

Puro Sound Labs PuroPro Frequency Response

Midrange

Quite natural and thick, thanks to the added warmness. Vocals and instruments feel full, albeit slightly lacking texture and detail due to rolled-off treble. More on that later.

Regarding ANC, like the bass, it also alters the midrange slightly. In general, having ANC turned off results in a more balanced performance with more transparent vocals.

Treble

Higher frequencies carry a decent amount of detail and air but are relatively quiet in the mix. That’s also why vocals and instruments don’t sound as lively.

On the other hand, cymbals have a good texture and don’t sound splashy. Smooth jazz and similar genres sound really good on these.

Overall, you shouldn’t miss anything when listening in a quiet room. However, if you plan to use them outside, you’ll have difficulty hearing high frequencies.

The soundstage is about average for over-ear headphones. You get a good sense of space since it’s equally deep and wide.

In contrast, the imaging isn’t the most accurate. There’s a blind spot between the center image and the left and right channel.

In the end, here’s what you need to know:

Puro Sound Labs PuroPro offer excellent sound quality with a very smooth sound signature.

The headphones should please anyone but the most hardcore audiophiles. And are perfectly suitable for kids who want to look “grown-up” or adults with sensitive ears. They’re meant for easy listening and relaxing after a stressful day.

Volume Limiter Performance: Slightly Louder Than Advertised

Volume limiters are there to protect us from dangerously blasting music. The moment when your favorite song comes up, and you feel the urge to crank the volume up.

By using a volume limit, headphones protect your hearing from harming your ears in the long run.

Here’s how Puro Sound Labs PuroPro performed:

White Noise Test (Bluetooth)

85dB Limit

95dB Limit

Based on my measurements, both 85dB and 95dB modes are around 5dB louder than they should be. Usually, the tolerance is +-3dB, and the PuroPro are above that.

It’s worth mentioning that 3dB equals double the loudness. However, the latter isn’t as noticeable in the real world.

White Noise Test (Wired mode)

Headphones topped at 90.9dB, similar to the 85dB mode when using Bluetooth.

Furthermore, it doesn’t matter which cable you use, which leads me to believe that a physical capacitor, that lowers the maximum volume, is built into the headphones.

Music Test (Bluetooth)

It’s worth mentioning that for the majority of the song, the loudness stayed within advertised limits. However, occasionally, it spiked above the target.

Music Test (Wired)

At 85.1dB, this is the closest result to the target loudness. So if you want to keep yourself at safe listening volume levels, use a wired connection.

Remember that 85dB is still plenty loud.

What does this mean?

According to our tests, Puro Sound Labs PuroPro’s volume frequently spikes above the advertised limit in Bluetooth and wired modes.

Therefore it isn’t perfectly safe for kids in all situations. But will generally stay under the dangerous loudness with some supervision.

Comfort & Fit

4.0 Great

The PuroPro Bluetooth headphones are incredibly comfortable and fairly lightweight for their size. On the other hand, stability is only average due to a gentle clamping force.

Like with all premium headphones, the PuroPro also come with generous padding. Earpads are huge and encapsulate your entire ear.

The pads are dressed in soft pleather and filled with memory foam. They feel like a pillow on your head, without any clamping pressure. You can easily wear these for long listening sessions.

On the other hand, it’s worth noting that leather isn’t very breathable, so your ears might start sweating, especially during warmer months.

The headband uses the same kind of pleather and foam to ease the pressure on top of your head. All in all, a very comfortable experience.

Moreover, headphones provide a pretty stable fit. During regular use, they manage to securely stay on your head without moving too much.

However, they aren’t the most stable during fast movements (useless for working out).

Durability

3.5 Almost Great

Mostly plastic construction doesn’t give a very convincing impression, but at least you get a hard-shell carrying case for extra protection.

The overall design with matte black plastic and the lack of distinguishable Puro logo on the cups makes for very plain-looking headphones.

However, that is not all…

The build quality is also mediocre, especially for a headphone of this caliber.

While you see plastic on other premium headphones as well, it’s usually of better quality or the least feel better in hand.

The one on the PuroPro feels generic and thin. Earcups also produce a hollow sound when knocked on.

The aluminum piece inside the headband adds the most to the build quality, while also making the headphones a bit more flexible.

Headphones have a plastic foldable mechanism as well. It seems like Puro truly wanted to keep the weight down by implementing many plastic parts.

Fortunately, you can safely transport them around with the included carrying case. It’s hard-shell, so it can easily protect headphones from drops or prevent them from getting squished inside the backpack.

Also, the headphones come in a beautiful wooden box instead of cardboard that’s suitable for long-term storage.

In the carrying case, there’s a separate compartment for storing a charging cable and a 3.5mm cable if you end up with an empty battery.

No IP rating, though, so you might want to stay away from using them outdoors in the rain or during workouts.

Battery

5.0 Perfect

Our test: The battery life of around 39 hours on a single charge is impressive. That’s much more than what Puro advertises. The only thing that sucks is the micro-USB charging port.

Puro Sound Labs PuroPro battery comparison

Many wireless headphones can’t surpass a 25-hour mark. Thankfully, PuroPro offer a beefy battery, lasting much more than advertised.

In the battery test, they lasted for 38 hours and 48 minutes on 50% volume. Advertised numbers suggest 32 hours without ANC, almost 7 hours more.

Those are awe-inspiring results. You can easily use them for a couple of days straight without reaching for a charger.

Strangely there’s no official mention of the fast-charging support. However, it shouldn’t take more than 2.5 hours to fully charge the headphones.

Unfortunately, headphones still use a micro-USB port for charging. Puro Sound Labs PuroPro are from 2020, so there’s no excuse for not using USB-C.

At least the cable is included, so you don’t have to buy a new one.

Features

4.5 Almost Perfect

For this type of headphones, you get a good selection of features, from 2 volume limiter modes, 2 ANC modes, reliable physical controls, and an AUX port for wired mode. Sadly, no companion app.

While the PuroPro share many similarities with headphones for toddlers (with their volume limiting feature), they’re also meant for grown-ups.

While kids don’t care much about features, adults like to get their money’s worth. In the case of PuroPro, you get a fair number of useful features.

2 active noise cancelling modes: offer good overall performance and should make your daily commute more bearable.

Volume limiters (85dB and 95dB): are there to protect you from noise-induced hearing loss. It’s normal to crank up the volume when our favorite song arrives. Limiters prevent you from going too far.

Furthermore, headphones use reliable physical buttons with clicky feedback. Under the right earcup, there’s an AUX port (which is usually on the left side), next to a LED light.

One downside is the lack of a dedicated app with an equalizer and possible firmware updates that would further improve the headphones’ performance.

Microphone Quality Test

Wireless headphones are performing great when there’s no ambient noise around you. But there’s a catch:

Hear the Puro Sound Labs PuroPro microphone test

While the PuroPro only use 1 microphone (from a total of 5, the other four microphones are for active noise cancellation) for making calls, they can pick up your voice nice and clear.

However, stepping into a noisier environment changes the whole picture. Call quality fluctuates between passable to barely understandable depending on the loudness of the surrounding sound.

Noise Cancelling

3.5 Almost Great

Headphones have a robust active noise cancellation, almost entirely eliminating the low-end of the spectrum. However, they still pass through some of the high-end.

Hear the Puro Sound Labs PuroPro Active Noise Cancelling Test

PuroPro hybrid ANC headphones come with 2 noise cancelling modes called ANC 1 and ANC 2.

The ANC 1 (so-called “deep noise reduction”) is the strongest and most effectively reduces ambient noise. It does a good job blocking lower and mid frequencies but struggles with higher ones.

There’s also a slight audible hiss in the background, but it’s far from distracting.

Bigger headphones are usually better than earbuds. But in comparison, the Sony WF-1000XM4 do a slightly better job. Then again, they also cost more.

The ANC 2 (“general noise reduction”) mode isn’t as powerful and lets in more of the surrounding sounds. This mode might be helpful if you just want to block the loudest sounds yet remain aware of your surroundings.

Besides that, headphones don’t offer an ambient sound mode to boost the surrounding environment.

Noise Isolation

3.5 Almost Great

They let in a surprising amount of noise for such huge ear muffins. The passive noise isolation isn’t bad, but it could be better.

Puro Pro headphones are quite big and offer oval earpads that fully enclose your ears. However, they still don’t excel in passive noise isolation.

Don’t get me wrong, you can hear a noticeable reduction in background noise, but I expected better.

The reason probably lies in the overall construction with relatively thin plastic ear cups that sound hollow when knocked on.

That is also the reason why PuroPro suffer from above-average sound leakage.

That shouldn’t be a problem if you use them at home. However, on public transport, people close to you will easily memorize your playlist.

Bluetooth

4.5 Almost Perfect

With the help of Bluetooth 5.0, you get a stable connection and above-average coverage. While headphones only support SBC and AAC, there’s no visible audio lag when watching movies.

On top of the excellent battery, the PuroPro also excel in Bluetooth connection performance.

First of all, you get a reliable connection without random stutters. That’s great since some headphones begin cutting off, even with a smartphone in your pocket.

Next, the headphones manage to endure around 55 feet in range while passing at least 2 brick walls. After that, the audio begins stuttering but never completely stops playing.

How to pair PuroPro headphones?

• When headphones are off, simply hold the power button until the headphones turn on and the woman’s voice announces pairing mode.

What Bluetooth Codecs Do They Use?

Headphones use SBC and AAC Bluetooth codes.

For the price, it would be nice to see a more comprehensive selection from the likes of aptX or even LDAC (since Puro is claiming these have a studio-grade audio quality).

However, although basic, the selection of Bluetooth codec isn’t holding their performance back.

Is There an Audio Lag?

None whatsoever. Even when looking straight into someone’s mouth, you don’t see any visible delay. That makes them a great option for movie nights when you don’t want to bother others with loud sounds.

Headphones don’t have a dedicated gaming mode, so mobile games have a slight delay. However, it isn’t too distracting.

Should You Get Puro Sound Labs PuroPro?

3.5 Almost Great

As a whole, the PuroPro are reasonably well-featured headphones with an intent to protect your hearing. While they’re slightly louder than advertised, they never get deafening loud.

Their sound signature is suitable for casual listening and relaxing, while their long battery life ensures multiple days of continuous use.

On top of that, they’re insanely comfortable, offer great ANC performance, and come with a robust carrying case.

The biggest minuses are the overall build quality (for the price) and an outdated micro-USB charging port. For the price, having a companion app would also be nice.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for premium wireless headphones with a volume limiter, the PuroPro are your best bet.

Puro Sound Labs: PuroPro Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Volume Limiting Headphones, Wireless Over…

Puro Sound Labs: PuroPro Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Volume Limiting Headphones, Wireless Over…

$149.00

in stock

1 used from $116.56

as of April 18, 2024 6:28 pm

Buy now

Amazon.com

Puro Sound Labs: PuroPro Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Volume Limiting Headphones, Wireless Over…

Puro Sound Labs: PuroPro Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Volume Limiting Headphones, Wireless Over…

$149.00

in stock

Buy now

Walmart.com

PUROPRO VOLUME LIMITING WIRELESS NOISE CANCELING HEADPHONES SEALED

PUROPRO VOLUME LIMITING WIRELESS NOISE CANCELING HEADPHONES SEALED

out of stock

Buy now

eBay

How do Puro Sound Labs PuroPro compare to the competition?

Puro Sound Labs PuroPro Alternatives

BuddyPhones Cosmos+

Much cheaper yet still great pair of headphones with good sound quality that prioritize bass for extra enjoyment.

They’re more colorful and better suited for kids and can offer 3 loudness modes and a Study Mode, which boosts the vocal clarity.

Headphones offer ANC, as well, and have a surprisingly more rigid build quality than the PuroPro.

BuddyPhones Cosmos+ review

Puro Sound Labs BT2200

Cheaper on-ear alternative from Puro Sound Labs that offer a higher build quality.

They only have 85dB mode and work incredibly accurately. However, if you use them with a third-party wire, they can go up to 110dB.

Since they’re on-ear, they aren’t nearly as comfy as the PuroPro.

Puro Sound Labs BT2200 review

What’s in the Box?

• Puro Sound Labs PuroPro Bluetooth headphones
• Micro-USB charging cable
• A 3.5mm audio cable
• Carrying case
• User manual

Specifications

Peter Susic

From a childhood fascination with sound, Peter’s passion has evolved into a relentless pursuit of the finest headphones. He’s an audio expert with over 5 years of experience in testing both audiophile and consumer-grade headphones. Quote: “After many years, I can confidently tell which headphones are good and which are terrible.” Find his honest opinion in his reviews.