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Over the last few years Skullcandy has really been making some major improvements with their Crusher lineup of headphones. Last year they released the Crusher ANC’s which added active noise cancelation and an ambient mode to these headphones and this year they’ve released the Crusher Evo’s which I feel has better build quality than the more premium Crusher ANC’s but at a more affordable price. But if you’re thinking about getting either of these headphones lets see which ones right for you.
Now when it comes to price the Crusher Evo’s have a retail price of $200 where as the Crusher ANC’s have a retail price of $320. Now like I’ve mentioned with past Skullcandy Crusher headphones… I wouldn’t recommend that you pick these headphones up as your daily drivers, cause these are better suited as a pair of secondary headphones that you would use when you just wanna have fun. So with that being said, personally I do think the crusher Evo’s are easier to justify getting over the Crusher ANC’s cause of their lower price. But regardless if you want to pick either of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first off lets address the carrying cases here. The Crusher Evo’s come included with a carrying pouch. Now this carrying pouch feels very premium cause the outside is super thick and rugged and the inside is lined with fake fur and there are even pockets for your cables. But if you do plan on traveling with your headphones then the Crusher ANC’s have you covered cause they come included with a very hard hardshell caring case. So you’re not going to have to worry about these headphones if you cram them into your back pack like how you would with the Crusher Evo’s cause of their carrying pouch.
But when it comes to the headphones themselves… personally I really prefer the build quality of the Evo’s over the ANC’s. Now both of these headphones have zero cracking or squeaking whenever you handle them which is always great. But what makes the Evo’s standout here is that the Evo’s have multiple touch surfaces which I am a sucker for. The majority of this body is covered in soft touch, when you extend this headband there’s a more satisfying click to it than the headband on the ANC’s, the top of the headband has a hit of alcantara and on the under side there’s padded silicon. Where as the body of the ANC’s is just your standard smooth plastic. Now there’s nothing wrong about having an all plastic body but the Evo’s just feel more premium when they’re in your hands. But something that is identical on these headphones is their leatherette. The leatherette on both of these headphones 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.
But when it comes to fit… the Crusher ANC’s do fit over all better than the Crusher Evo’s. Now both of these are big head approved cause they don’t have a lot of clamping force where they feel like they’re squeezing your head. But both of these headphones do have a firm fit to them similar to the Surface Headphones 2. Now when it comes to weight both of these headphones weigh in at 310 grams putting them a little bit on the heftier side cause most headphones in these categories weigh in between 270 to 290 grams. So you really never forget that you’re wearing either of these headphones and both of these headphones are fairly noticeable when youre walking around with them on.
But what really separates these headphones comfort wise is their padding. The padding underneath the headband on the Evo’s is noticeably stiffer than the padding on the ANC’s. So the padding on the Evo’s does like to create a hotspot on the top of your head at the one hour mark. I can muscle through it, but at the hour and a half mark is when I either start shifting this headband back and fourth or ill just take these headphones off and take a 5 minute break. Where as with the ANC’s since this padding is noticeably softer this headband doesn’t really create a hot spot but I still wish there was a little more padding.
And when it comes to the ear pads themselves… the ear pads on the ANC’s are a little more spacious than the ear pads on the Evo’s. Now the Crusher ANC’s still feel a little cramped and they might not fit people who have larger ears or ears that stick out a lot… but they technically a little more spacious than the ear pads on the Evo’s. Now I can make the Evo’s work, but in general the ear pads on the both of these headphones are a little cramped. But over all the Crusher ANC’s are technically a little more comfortable than the Crusher Evo’s cause of the softer padding underneath their headband and slightly more roomie ear pads. But nonetheless both of these headphones are only really good for an hour long listening session.
Now when it comes to tech specs, both of these headphones charge via a USB C port. And both of these headphones have decent rapid charging. If you plugging in the Crusher ANC’s in for 10 minutes from a dead battery they’ll get you 3 hours of playback time and the Crusher Evo will get you 4 hours from that same ten minute charge.
But when it comes to battery life, these headphones are very different and it really depends on how high you have bass slider on these headphones set. The Crusher ANC’s have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with their Active noise cancellation turned on. But fi you use them with their ANC turned off you can stretch out their battery life. And the Evo’s have an advertised battery life of 40 hours. But again if you have the bass on the headphones raised up you’re going to get less battery life and if you have less bass you’re going to get more battery life. So the battery life on these headphones really depends on how you use them.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity both of these headphones are using bluetooth 5.0… but more importantly even though Skullcandy claims that the Crusher ANC’s can be connected to 2 devices at the same time I have never been able to get them to do it. So for me these headphones can only be connected to one device at a time as well as the Crusher Evo. So if you’re a power user you’re not going to be able to hot swap from one device to another.
But more importantly when it comes to watching movies or videos on your phone both of these headphones have zero latency across the board whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device. And when it comes to audio codecs the Evo have support for AAC where as the Crusher ANC’s have APTX support. But if you want to you can always just use a wired connection with either of these headphones cause they both still have easy to reach 3.5 millimeter audio cables.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones. Now first off these headphones sound identical to one another and they are both putting out the same amount of bone rattling bass. Now both of these headphones have 40 millimeter drivers handling the majority of the sound just like with any other pair of headphones out there but what makes these headphones special is that they both have a separate pair of drivers that handles all of the extra had rattling bass essentially acting as vibrating motors. So the sound and bass on these headphones are essentially two different entities. And the bass on these headphones is going to rattle your head way more than any other pair of headphones on the market. These headphones will make you see double and your teeth are going to chatter. The bass on both of these headphones is insane and its a lot of fun.
Now when it comes to sound quality both of these headphones sound decent but due to all of their head rattling bass you’re not really going to notice or care about the instrument separation or soundstage on these headphones just cause their bass is so over whelming and distracting. So really these headphones are all about vocals and bass. Like I said in the Evo’s full review these headphones are the antithesis for any audiophile. But thats perfectly okay cause these headphones are all about pure dumb fun.
But personally I do prefer to listening to music with the Crusher Evo for one key reason. With the Evo’s you’ve got a few preset EQ settings to choose from. Now the music EQ on these headphones has your standard Skullcandy bass heavy EQ that you’ll also find on the ANC’s… but I actually prefer to use the Evo’s while in their Movie EQ cause the movie EQ on these headphones ups the mids and highs a little bit making it easier to hear vocals over all of that bass. Where as with the ANC’s you don’t have these other EQ settings to choose from. Now the Crusher ANC’s sound fine, but Skullcandy come on you can add this through a software update.
But something that both of these headphones do have is the personalized audio where if you go through a hearing test then you’ll get a customize EQ. Now personally I don’t like when headphones have this, just give me a fully customizable EQ that I can adjust. But over all when it comes to sound, both of these headphones preform the same and they’re both putting out the same amount of head rattling bass. But personally I do prefer to listen to music with the Evo’s when they’re set to their Movie EQ.
Now like I said I’ve said with past Skullcandy crusher headphones and like I said with the Crusher Evo’s these headphones are better suited as a pair of secondary headphones. They aren’t the most comfortable headphones out there and they aren’t the best sounding, but thanks to all of their bass these headphones are pure dumb fun. However the Crusher ANC’s do have active noise cancellation and an ambient mode making them more versatile than the Crusher Evo’s. Now even though I think its cools the Crusher ANC’s have active noise cancelation its not the best especially since these headphones have a premium price tag and the ANC on these headphones performs like the ANC on a pair of mid tier ANC headphones. But so that you can see fo yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
So like you may have just seen, the Sony 1000XM4’s block out way more noise than crusher ANC’s its not even close. But also the ANC on the Crusher ANC’s isn’t the greatest cause first off this microphone array picks up a lot of wind noise when walking out doors… but more importantly, the ANC on these headphones does have a constant hissing the background which can be distracting when watching movies with these headphones.
And even though I think its great that these headphones have an ambient mode which is super useful for either when you’re commuting or watching movies at home… again the ambient mode on these headphones does have a constant hissing in the background which can be distracting and this ambient mode also picks up a lot of wind noise when walking out doors.
But with all that being said, personally I do prefer and recommend the Skullcandy Crusher Evo over the Skullcandy Crusher ANC’s. Even though I think its cool and all that the Crusher ANC’s have active noise cancellation and an ambient mode making them more versatile… unfortunately the ANC and ambient mode on these headphones isn’t the best cause of the amount of wind noise their microphone array picks up and constant hissing in the background. So if Active noise cancellation and an ambient mode is very important to you than you are better off going with another pair of headphones. But if you’re interested in having a tremendous amount of fun then I say go with the Skullcandy Evo. The Evo’s are putting out the same amount of head rattling bass as the Crusher ANC’s but they have better build quality at a more affordable price. Now like ive already mentioned a few times I recommend that you pick these headphones up as a pair of secondary headphones for when you just wanna jam out and enjoy all of that head rattling bass. But I wouldn’t recommend that you pick these headphones up as your primary headphones cause they aren’t the most comfortable for long use sessions and they aren’t the best for commuting cause of their lack of Active Noise cancellation and an ambient mode. But like I said, if you’re just looking for dumb fun then the Skullcandy Crusher Evo are the way to go.