Design & Construction

The Skullcandy Crusher ANC is Skullcandy's first ever Crusher headphones that incorporate noise-cancelling. With so many audio companies stepping up their game these days, can the Crusher ANC maintain a solid foothold or blend in as a common headphone next to its competitors. Let's dive straight in! Just like before, Skullcandy is targeting consumers of today's modern world. The Crusher ANC have a very neutral look, matte black or deep red all around and a metallic headband extension. The left earcup has the (From Back-Front): Power button, LED indicator and the bass slider. Pressing the Power button reveals the remaining battery life from the LEDs and holding it down powers it on or off. Pressing the button twice will turn off or on the ANC. Putting your hands on the side of the earcup will turn on ambient sound mode which lowers the music volume and pumps in your surrounding noise so that you can talk to someone quickly or hear an announcement. Controlling the rest of the playback functions are on the right earcup itself. Single press the Volume + increase volume and single press Volume - to decrease volume. Holding down the Volume + for next track and hold down the Volume - to skip to the previous track. Single press the middle button to play/pause the music or answer/end a call, a double press will activate Google Assistant or Siri. Pairing via Bluetooth is simple and quick although no NFC is available. It is also worth noting that the headphones only requires 10 minutes of charging for 3 hours of playback. Both sides of the headband bear the Skullcandy logo. The headphones have thick cushions which are meant for providing a comfortable experience. The headband is very plush and will not cause discomfort to those who wear spectacles. On the headband, there is also cushioned headrest which provides a decent amount of comfort. The exterior of the headphones gives off this matte understated colour scheme but it resists fingerprints smudges very well. On the top, the headband holding the structure is made of metal and the earcups pivot left and right and folds flat for easy storage. The earcups do a decent job of encasing your ears, hence there is no wearing fatigue even after long listening sessions. Skullcandy also integrated Tile into the headphones so that you can locate the headphones in case you left them behind or someone steals it. This feature requires the Tile App, available for download via the App & Play Store. The app can make the headphones make a beep for you to locate the headphones and also track down the GPS location of the headphones with the help of other Tile users who may pass by. However, the usefulness of the tracking can vary differently based on the location where there are lesser Tile users. 

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Sound Quality

The 40mm headphone drivers are super bass-boosted; expect an equivalent of a subwoofer blasting bass right in your ears. The headphone drivers do provide a very immersive experience. Based on my experience, the noise-cancelling is weak, I could hear my surroundings even when it is on. Comparing it to competitors from the same price point, the Crusher ANC is lacking severely in its noise-cancelling. However, there is one thing that Skullcandy does better than any other competitor, which is the haptic bass feedback. Using the bass slider to toggle my bass levels; when I disable it totally, it was flat in the bass department. Pushing it up slowly and testing with my most bass-heavy EDM tracks, the bass gradually becomes stronger. When I set the bass slider to the max, the headphone was vibrating crazily on my head. It was like sitting in a car with 2 massive subwoofers in the trunk. The highs and mids were practically non-existent. As a bass lover, I like to use it at the half-way mark to strike a good balance of clear mids, highs and bass boost. This time, Skullcandy built an app, simply named Skullcandy. In the app, you can go through a series of sound tests to test whether you can hear low volumes of sound in which the app will tune a personalised sound profile for your ears. In my experience, the test was pretty accurate in picking up the frequencies I could not hear and fine-tuned it. Comparing the sound before and after tuning, I actually preferred the personalised sound profile since the one before was a flat frequency throughout. Call quality was decent as the caller could hear me on the other end but noted the background noise the headphone mics picked up. Bassheads, look no further if you want to feel head-rattling vibrations in your music.

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Connectivity & Portability

The headphone operates both passively and wirelessly. The mic and controls on the earcups are still work in wired mode. The battery life peaks at 24 hours. The headphones fold flat into a more compact profile and come with a USB-C cable for charging, a 3.5mm cable for wired use and a premium hardshell carrying case to protect the headphone from drops and scratches.

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PROS​

• Long Battery Life

• Easy Controls For Music Play & Calls

• Ambient Sound

• Quick Charging

• Adjustable Sensory Bass

• Personalised Sound

• Decent Noise-Cancellation

• Folds Flat into a Smaller Profile

• Carrying Case

• Tile Tracking Integration

• Two Colour Choice

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CONS​

• Weak Noise-Cancelling

• Lack of In-App Equaliser

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The Bottom Line

The Skullcandy Crusher ANC is a great buy if you are a serious bass head. Housing a 24-hour battery life, sensory bass response, ambient sound mode and easy to use controls, it makes the Skullcandy stand out from the rest of the competitors. However, Skullcandy didn't get the important deciding factors like noise-cancelling right which makes them just another alternative on the saturated noise-cancelling headphone market.