Belkin SoundForm Isolate/Surround review: Low price, high performance

Belkin may have 40 years of experience making mobile and computing accessories, but it’s still a relative newcomer in the audio space. It launched its first pair of headphones back in 2019.

Since then, it has released a few models, including the SoundForm Immerse we reviewed back in 2023.

It’s still a growing category for the brand, though. The SoundForm Isolate is the first over-ear headphones from Belkin with Active Noise Cancellation, while the SoundForm Surround offers the same audio quality without the ANC functionality.

But the biggest draw to these headphones is the price. The SoundForm Immerse has an RRP of just $89.95, while the Surround costs $69.95. That price point makes them extremely attractive, regardless of everything else.

Fortunately, these headphones also sound pretty good. The audio won’t blow you away, but for the price, you’ll definitely feel like you got your money’s worth.

What do the new SoundForm headphones offer?

Let’s start by talking about the similar features across the two models.

Audio across the SoundForm Surround and the SoundForm Isolate is powered by 40 mm drivers, with both models supporting Bluetooth 5.4 for multipoint audio.

You get 60 hours of playback with both models (so long as ANC is switched off on the Isolate. With ANC on, you’ll get 40 hours), and both models offer a foldable, adjustable design for over-ear listening. Both the left and right ear cups fold in, making them much more compact, though they don’t pivot so you can rest the cushions on your collar when wrapped around your neck.

The left ear cup of both models houses a USB-C port for fast charging, while the right has a 3.5 mm headphone jack for wired listening. The button layout is identical on both models, with the mute button on the left ear cup doubling as ANC control on the SoundForm Isolate.

Both products are made with recycled plastic and come in plastic-free packaging (like many Belkin products), and come with a two-year warranty.

The key differences between the two pairs of headphones is the noise cancellation in the SoundForm Isolate. That means it offers more microphones – 5 versus the 1 in the SoundForm Surround – to identify external sounds to silence them out.

Belkin says it can deliver an advanced 25 dB of noise reduction.

The Isolate also offers a relaxation mode, which plays the sound of waves crashing to help tune out your surroundings. I’ll go into this a bit later.

What do the new SoundForm headphones do well?

If you temper what you think a $90 pair of headphones can offer, then the Belkin SoundForm Isolate will exceed your expectations.

The build quality here is much better than you might expect from headphones at this price. They are unquestionably plastic, but they don’t feel cheap.

The cushions weren’t quite large enough to wraparound my whole ears, they kind of sat on the outside of my ears, pressing in, but they were soft and comfortable for extended listening.

The audio quality is solid, too. It’s not going to give you a mind-blowing audio experience, but I found that everything was pretty well-balanced. It’s maybe a little light on the bass end, but not at the expense of music. I listened to a lot of Counting Crows and Pearl Jam while reviewing the Isolate and the Surround, and both artists sounded great.

The ANC on the Isolate, meanwhile, does a decent job of blocking out external noise as well. Pass through is a bit uneven though – I could hear more clearly through the left ear cup than the right one.

But overall, the audio performance was solid for headphones well under $100.

What could the SoundForm headphones improve?

First off, I wish the ear cups rotated to make them more comfortable while wearing around the neck. Despite folding and extending, when pulled down and wrapped around my neck, the ear cups put a bit too much pressure on my throat to be comfortable to wear like this.

The SoundForm Isolate features a meditation mode that plays the sound of waves crashing as a way to help inspire focus and drown out external sounds.

I actually love the idea behind this feature. Mindfulness – especially in 2025 – is so important for mental health, and offering relaxing sounds in the headphones themselves is a good idea.

But the execution feels underwhelming. There’s a clear, audible cut when the track loops, which wrenches you out of any momentary mindfulness you might experience. The loop itself is only a minute or so, too, and while this isn’t something you will be actively listening to, it’s almost too short to the point of being distracting.

I also wanted more variety. Sometimes waves crashing is great, but other times I wanted the subtle sounds of a rainforest or a gentle stream with birdsong.

The other “issue” I had been with the SoundForm Surround, which doesn’t actually offer surround sound audio. It’s a subtle thing, and not really a feature you should expect at the price point, but I felt the name’s implication could be considered misleading.

Verdict

If you want a pair of over-ear headphones, then Belkin’s latest SoundForm models offer a surprisingly robust performance for headphones that cost under $90.

I think one of the biggest opportunities here is using the SoundForm Isolate to help kids with additional needs manage their sensory input better; either by using ANC to block out the outside world, or even using the mindfulness sounds to help keep them calm.

At $89.95 for ANC, or $69.95 without it, I think the Isolate is a much better option for most people – the extra $20 adds ANC, and it’s worth it. But either way, you get a reasonably comfortable pair of headphones at a budget price that are pretty comfortable, sound good and offer multi-pairing.

Behind the scenes

SoundForm Isolate vs SoundForm Surround

Tips and Tricks

• To turn on the mindfulness feature on the SoundForm Isolate, you need to press the two protruding extensions on the volume buttons together. You can start it when other music is playing, but you can’t turn it off by pressing the play/pause button – you need to press the volume buttons together to turn it off as well.
• To pair with multiple devices, you have to press and hold the two volume buttons together as well. But you have to press and hold them down for longer to go into pairing mode. You’ll get an audio cue that it’s in pairing mode.
• The ANC control on the Isolate will cycle through three modes: ANC on, ANC off and hear thru mode.
• The Play/Pause button doubles as power control with a long press, but it can also activate Siri with a longish press. It takes a bit to get it right.

Additional thoughts

• Honestly, these are better than they should be for this price. I don’t think they are the “best” headphones for any given function or purpose, but they do everything well enough that when you judge performance against the price, you come away impressed.
• There’s really no justification for the SoundForm Surround, though. Given they are mostly the same headphones, the extra $20 giving you ANC is well worth it every day of the week.