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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want to protect a pair of kids' on-ear headphones with a hard shell that survives being tossed in a backpack, choose Tourmate Hard Travel Case; if you need an actual pair of retro-styled wired on-ear headphones for listening, recording or costuming, choose SECFOU Retro. These two listings get compared a lot, and it is easy to see why: they both live in the on-ear headphone world, both are black-and-green-adjacent accessories in a search result, and both get typed into the same search bar by people shopping for exercise gear. But they are not the same kind of product at all. One is a storage case with nothing inside it. The other is a lightweight wired headphone. If you are putting together a kit for exercise — a hard case to protect your gear, or a cheap pair of wired cans for the gym bag — the answer depends entirely on which of those two things you actually need.
• Tourmate Hard Travel Case — biggest strength: A molded EVA hard shell with a shockproof, waterproof, tear-resistant build, a 360-degree zipper, a built-in mesh pocket and a wide carry handle. It is protection first and foremost.
• Tourmate Hard Travel Case — biggest trade-off: It is a case only. There are no headphones inside, no cable, no accessories. If you do not already own one of the compatible on-ear models, this purchase makes no sense.
• SECFOU Retro — biggest strength: A genuinely portable wired on-ear headphone with a PVC sponge build, a lightweight frame and a snug adjustable fit designed to reduce ear pressure.
• SECFOU Retro — biggest trade-off: It is a simple wired headphone with no active electronics, no battery and no noise cancelling. It is not a fast charging earbud and it never will be.
• Who the Tourmate case is for: Anyone who already owns Philips K4206, iClever HS19 or RORSOU R10 kids' on-ear headphones and wants them to survive travel, school bags and general abuse.
• Who the SECFOU Retro is for: Music listeners, recording hobbyists, photographers and costume builders who want a retro-looking, low-weight wired headphone they can carry anywhere.
The Tourmate case does one job and does it without pretending otherwise. It is a hard travel case built specifically around a short list of kids' on-ear headphones — the Philips K4206, the iClever HS19 and the RORSOU R10 — and the external dimensions are sized around that job. The shell is EVA, which is the same family of foam-core material used in a lot of protective gear cases because it holds its shape under pressure instead of collapsing like a fabric pouch. Tourmate lists it as shockproof, waterproof and tear-resistant, and those three words describe exactly the kind of damage a kids' headphone actually suffers: dropped on a sidewalk, shoved into a bag next to a water bottle, yanked around by the headband.
The details are sensible for daily use. The zipper runs a full 360 degrees, so the lid opens flat and you are not fighting the case to get the headphones in or out. There is a built-in mesh pocket for accessories — a charging cable, a small adapter, a spare pair of earbuds tips if you are carrying them alongside. The wide handle strap makes it easy to grab on the way out the door, which matters more than it sounds when the case is going into a school bag every single morning. It weighs 6.4 ounces, so it adds real protection without turning a light pair of kids' headphones into a brick.
Who should buy it: parents and students who already own one of the three compatible models and are tired of replacing headphones because the hinges cracked or the cable got crushed. It is also a reasonable pick if you want a hard shell for a similarly sized small on-ear headphone and you are willing to accept that the fit is designed around those specific models. Who should skip it: anyone who does not already own the headphones, and anyone expecting this listing to include audio gear. It does not. The listing is explicit that it is the case only, and the reference to "tools not included" is worth reading twice before you add it to a cart. If you are shopping for exercise and you need something to listen through, this is not that product — this is the thing you put your listening gear inside.
The SECFOU Retro is a completely different animal. It is a wired on-ear headphone with a black finish, a PVC sponge build and a compact footprint — roughly 15 by 11 by 4 centimeters, which is small enough to disappear into a jacket pocket or a gym bag side pouch. At 27.22 grams it is remarkably light, and that lightness is the whole design philosophy here. SECFOU describes it as a portable audio accessory with a snug, adjustable fit intended to reduce ear pressure, which is the kind of thing that matters if you wear on-ear headphones for long stretches and your ears start to ache.
On sound, the listing leans on clarity rather than bass or volume. SECFOU describes pristine vocals, detailed stereo performance and clear reproduction of vocals and instruments, aimed at music lovers, recording sessions and studio-style listening. The connectivity is listed as hybrid, and the description mentions a retro headset with a mic option. There is no battery, no charging case and no active noise cancelling anywhere in the spec sheet — so if you came here searching for fast charging earbuds for exercise or noise canceling sports earbuds for exercise, this is not going to satisfy that. It is a passive wired headphone with a vintage look.
That vintage look is genuinely part of the pitch. SECFOU positions it for photography props, costumes and retro aesthetic setups as much as for listening. If you are building a period-accurate look for a shoot, a stage costume or a display shelf, a lightweight PVC sponge on-ear headphone with a classic silhouette is a hard thing to fake with modern gear. It is sold as a single unit, it carries no warranty, and it is plainly a simple product rather than a rugged one. Who should skip it: anyone who needs wireless freedom, anyone who needs ear protection from loud environments, and anyone who wants a case rather than a headphone.
• Best for protecting existing kids' headphones → Tourmate Hard Travel Case. EVA shell, 360-degree zipper, mesh pocket, wide handle.
• Best for actually listening to music → SECFOU Retro. It is the only one of the two that produces sound.
• Best for travel and bag abuse → Tourmate Hard Travel Case. Shockproof, waterproof and tear-resistant are the exact traits a hard case is built around.
• Best for portability and low weight → SECFOU Retro. At 27.22 grams it is about a quarter of the weight of the Tourmate case at 6.4 ounces.
• Best for retro style, photos and costumes → SECFOU Retro. The vintage on-ear design and PVC sponge build are the point.
• Best for long listening sessions without ear fatigue → SECFOU Retro. The reduced ear pressure fit is designed for exactly that.
• Best for cable and accessory storage → Tourmate Hard Travel Case. The built-in mesh pocket is made for the small stuff.
• Best for exercise → Tourmate Hard Travel Case if your goal is protecting gear, SECFOU Retro if your goal is a cheap wired pair for a bag. Neither one is a fast charging earbud, and neither offers active noise cancelling, so if those are hard requirements you should look at a different category entirely.
In my opinion these two products should not really be competing for the same buyer, and the reason people compare them is that they both show up in on-ear headphone searches. If you already own Philips K4206, iClever HS19 or RORSOU R10 headphones, I would buy the Tourmate Hard Travel Case — it is the more useful purchase of the two, because it protects something you already spent money on and it is built from EVA with a full 360-degree zipper and a handle that survives daily use. If you need headphones rather than a case, I would buy the SECFOU Retro, but only with clear expectations: it is a light, wired, retro-styled on-ear headphone for music, recording and costume work, not a sports earbud. For exercise specifically, my pick is the Tourmate case if you are protecting gear, and the SECFOU Retro only if you want an inexpensive wired backup pair for the gym bag. Check the current price on Amazon before you decide, because the value calculation here is entirely about which job you actually need done.
FAQ
It is lightweight at 27.22 grams with an adjustable fit, and the wired connection means no battery to charge. But it has no active noise cancelling and no sweat or water resistance listed, so I would treat it as a casual wired headphone rather than a dedicated sports model.
No. The SECFOU Retro listing is for the headphones themselves — one item, PVC sponge build, wired, with no warranty listed. If you want a hard shell to store them in, that is a separate purchase, and the Tourmate case is sized for specific kids' on-ear models rather than for this pair.
That depends on what you already own. The Tourmate case only makes sense if you have compatible headphones to put in it. The SECFOU Retro makes sense if you need a light, wired, retro-looking headphone and you are fine with a simple build and no warranty. Check the current price on Amazon for both before deciding.
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