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So after checking out the new Skullcandy Hesh ANC and the Skullcandy Crusher Evo… I am really excited about the future of Skullcandy. Both the Hesh ANC and Crusher Evo have improved build quality… and the Hesh ANC have very impreissve active noise cancelation and ambient mode for a pair of entry level headphones. So today we’re going to break down Skullcandy’s current headphone line up.
Now when it comes to price the Hesh ANC which were released in Q4 of 2020 retail for $130… the Skullcandy Venue which were released in Q4 of 2018 retail for $180… the Skullcandy Crusher Evo which were also released in Q4 of 2020 retail for $200… and finally there’s the Skullcandy Crusher ANC which were released in Q4 of 2019 which retail for $320. Now long story short… I really like and recommend both the Hesh ANC and Crusher Evo’s where as I would avoid picking up both the Venue and Crusher ANC. So if you want to pick either of these two headphones up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first off lets talk about the included carrying cases here. Now both of Skullcandy’s newer headphones like the Hesh ANC and Crusher Evo come included with carrying pouches. Where as the older headphones here like the Venue and Crusher ANC come included with hardshell carrying cases. Now given that I would categorize the Crusher ANC as a pair of premium headphones… I would expect a hardshell case here. Where as with the Venue’s not so much cause I would categorize these as a pair of entry level headphones. But regardless something that I think Skullcandy is doing with their newer headphones is cutting costs on their cases and relocating that budget into improving the build quality of their headphones which is perfectly fine with me.
Cause when it comes to build quality this is one of my favorite things about both the Hesh ANC and Crusher Evo. For a pair of entry level headphones, the Hesh ANC feel very premium. Their ear cups have a soft touch feel to them… they have glossy arms… their headband has a slightly slate finish to it and the leatherette on these headphones feels pretty good as well for entry level headphones. And the build quality of the Crusher Evo’s is great as well. Now the majority of this body is covered in soft touch… the top portion of this headband has a hit of alcantara and underneath this headband there’s padded silicon. And then there’s the leatherette on these headphones which just feels great… its soft and supple and there’s even a slight grain to it. Plainly side, the leatherette on these headphones does put some of the larger companies out there to shame. Now the more premium Crusher ANC’s also have the same great feeling leatherette… but personally I do prefer the build of the Crusher Evo’s over the Crusher ANC’s. The Crusher ANC’s have a mostly smooth plastic body… now there’s nothing wrong about a plastic body… but the Evo’s soft touch, alcantara, and silicon body just feels more premium. But finally there are the Venue’s which have soft touch ear cups, a textured plastic headband and good feeling leatherette… but personally I just don’t like the build quality of these these headphones cause they just feel flimsy by comparison and these headphones like to crack and squeak a lot when you handle or flex them. But with all that being said, Skullcandy’s newer headphones do have noticeably improved build quality over their older headphones. Which is great!
However when it comes to fit… I can’t give any of these headphones a gold star. Now all of these headphones are big head approved but they all do have a firmer fit to them. Now clamping force aside both of these Crusher’s are on the heavier side weighing in at 310 grams. And like ive said in the past your typical pair of ANC headphones weigh in at around 270 grams. So you are going to notice both of these headphones when you have them on even when you're just sitting still… and you’re really going to notice them when you're walking around with them on. Where since the Hesh ANC weigh in at 225 grams and the Venue’s weigh in at 240 grams… youre not going to notice them as much when you’re wearing them which is good. But a problem that all of these headphones have in common is their padding. All of these headphones have rather cramped ear pads. Now the ear pads on the Hesh ANC are a little roomier than the ear pads on the Venue. The ear pads on the Evo’s are a little roomier than the ones on the Hesh, and the ear pads on the Crusher ANC are a little roomier than the ear pads on the Evo’s. Now even though I can make these ear pads work with my average sized ears… unfortunately if you have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot then non of these Skullcandy headphones might not fit you all that well. But finally I do want to address one problem thats unique to the Evo’s. Even though I really like these headphones cause they’re a lot of fun. Unfortunately since the padding underneath this headband is rather stiff… for me these headphones do create a hot spot on the top of my head after an hour or an hour and a half of wearing them… so I do have to take them off and take a break. So for that reason technically I would have to say the Crusher ANC are more comfortable than the Evo’s cause their padding is softer. But over all… all of these headphones fit okay but they all do have a firmer fit to them and cramped ear pads.
But now lets talk about tech specs… the Hesh ANC, Crusher Evo and Crusher ANC all charge via a USB C port as they should. But since the Venue’s came out all the way back in 2018 which were simpler times… they charge via a micro USB port. Now when it comes to battery life… both the Venue and Crusher ANC have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on but you can always stretch out their batteries by using them with their ANC turned off.
Where as the Crusher Evo’s have an advertised battery life of 40 hours and they don’t have active noise cancelation. However their real world battery life is really dependent on how high you have their bass slider turned up and that also goes for the Crusher ANC. Nonetheless all of these headphones have decent battery lives.
But when it comes to connectivity… strangely enough the Venue’s are the only headphones here that can be connected to 2 devices at them same time so that you can easily hot swap from one device to another which could be a big deal to power users out there. Where as all of these other headphones can only be connected to one device at time. Now Skullcandy claims that the Crusher ANC can be connected to 2 devices at the same time… but ive never been able to get it to work.
But more importantly, when it comes to watch movies or videos on your phone all of these headphones have zero latency across the board which is always great. But if you want to you can always just use a wired connection with any of these headphones cause they all have an easy to reach 3.5 millimeter audio jack. Now I know this sound simple but I do want to point it out cause some companies are starting to remove the audio jack on their headphones… and now that the AirPods Max don’t have an audio jack… im worried that trend might start to accelerate.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones. Now all of these headphones have a bass heavy sound signature… but the Crushers are on a whole other level which we’ll get into in a minute. Now when it comes to sound on both the Hesh ANC and Venue… both of these sound very different when they have their ANC turned off versus when they have their ANC turned on. With their ANC turned on they’re both going to get narrowed up a lot and their bass isn’t going to hit as hard or resonate as deep. So with either of these headphones if you want to get the best sound out of them you gotta use them with their ANC turned off. Now from a performance standpoint the Hesh ANC sound much better than the venue’s specifically cause the Hesh ANC do a much better job of controlling their bass. With the venue’s their bass can bottom out and start sputtering quite frequently if you’re listening to music with too much bass. Where as thats not a problem with the Hesh ANC. The only critique I have about the sound on the Hesh ANC is that I do feel their highs are a little too turned up so they can get a little ear piercing in certain situations. But other than that the Hesh ANC are a fun pair of headphones to listen to. They have a bass heavy sound signature and they’re going to physically rattle your head a decent amount without bottoming out and their vocals are still pronounced so they don’t get drowned out.
But then there are the Crusher ANC’s and Crusher Evo who’s bass are on a whole other level.
Now both of these headphones have your standard 40 millimeter drivers that handle the majority of your music. But when makes these headphones special is that they both have a secondary pair of drivers that essentially act like sub woofers. So the bass on these headphones will make you see double and they’re going to make your teeth chatter. Listening to music with these headphones is just a lot of pure dumb fun. Now from a performance stand point these headphones sound the same and they are both putting out the same amount of head rattling bass. Now the instrument separation and sound stages on these headphones are decent but quite honestly these headphones are all about bass.
But personally I do prefer to listen to music with the Crusher Evo’s over the Crusher ANC’s specifically cause I prefer how the Evo’s sound when they’re set to their Movie EQ. While in their movie EQ the Evo’s will raise their mids and highs a little bit making it easier to hear your vocals over all of their heading rattling bass. Where as with the ANC’s you're stuck with their stock EQ. Now both crusher’s have this personalized EQ option… but personally I just wish that I could manually adjust my own EQ. So right now the Evo’s are the only one thats give you a few EQ modes to choose from where as the ANC’s are either stock or personalized audio. But with all that being said… the important thing here is that both of these headphones have the same amount of head rattling bass but I do prefer the Evo’s over the ANC’s when they’re set to their Movie EQ.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones. Now the Evo’s are the only headphones here that don’t have active noise cancelation… Where as all of these other do. Now from a performance standpoint like I mentioned earlier the ANC on both the Venue and Hesh ANC really changes how they sound. They get narrowed up a lot and their bass won’t hit as hard. And believe it or not… the Crusher ANC’s which are the most premium headphones here actually block out the least amount of noise here. But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen… the Crusher ANC’s block out the lest amount of noise here. Where as the Hesh ANC block out noticeably more noise and the Venue’s block out a little more noise. However… I do feel the Hesh ANC have the better performing Active noise cancelation cause the Hesh have significantly less cabin pressure than the Venue’s. Now you still feel a little something something with the Hesh ANC but they still have less cabin pressure than the Venue’s. And also with the Venue’s their ANC does have a noticeable hiss to it which could be distracting when watching movies or videos with these headphones. Where as the Hesh ANC don’t have any such hissing. So over all I do think the Hesh ANC are the winners here when it comes to ANC. They block out more noise than the Crusher ANC’s but with less cabin pressure and less hissing than the venues.
And the Hesh ANC’s are also the winners here when it comes to their Ambient mode. The ambient mode on the Hesh ANC sounds very natural with zero hissing in the back ground… and their microphone array does a great job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors. Where as the ambient mode on the Crusher ANC’s isn’t all that great cause they pick up a lot of wind noise when walking out doors which is distracting if you’re commuting with them and they also have a lot of hissing back ground which is distracting for when you watching movies with them. And then there are the Venue’s which don’t have an ambient mode… they have a monitoring mode where if you press this button they’ll lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can quickly talk to someone without having to take your headphones off like this.
But if you try to raise the volume it won’t go up. So you can’t have your ambient mode turned on and play music like you can with these other two headphones. Which could be a big deal for commuters. So with all the being said, the Hesh ANC have both the best performing Active noise cancelation and ambient mode here.
Now before we jump into the mic test I do want to quickly point out that all of these headphones have tile support. Now personally I am indifferent about tile support and I would prefer if these headphones had better app support where I can manually adjust their EQ to my liking… but tile support is there if you want it.
But with all the being said… personally I really like one half of Skullcandy’s line up and the other half not so much. Personally I really wouldn’t recommend either the Crusher ANC or Venue’s right now. The Active noise cancelation and ambient mode on the Crusher ANC isn’t the greatest… and with the venue’s their active noise cancelation has a lot of cabin pressure and they lack a full on ambient mode. But also their bass does like to sputter a lot and their build quality isn’t the best. But Skullcandy’s newer headphones on the other hand are a whole other story. The Hesh ANC are a great pair of entry level headphones cause their active noise cancelation is quite impressive and they have a really good sounding ambient mode. They have really good build quality for entry level headphones and they also have a fun bass heavy EQ. And then there are the Crusher Evo’s… now I wouldn’t recommend these as a pair of daily driver’s cause of their lack of active noise cancelation and an ambient mode… but the crusher evo’s are a great pair of secondary headphones cause their head rattling bass is just a lot of fun. And it also don’t hurt that the Crusher Evo’s feel way more premium in your hands than the current Crusher ANC’s.