Skullcandy Crusher ANC Headphones: All About That Bass

Now when you think of $300 or more headphones, you think of many companies like Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, Bowers & Wilkens & more. More than likely Skullcandy isn’t one of those companies you think of. But with their latest Crusher ANC headphones, they’re looking to change all of that. You got active noise-canceling, Sensory Bass, a Tile tracker inside, 24-hour battery life and more.

Skullcandy’s tagline for these cans is Deeper Dimensions of Sound. They live up to them and then some. Let’s break down why these cans are, like a lot of tech out now, much more than its spec sheet and more about the overall experience.

The overall look of the Crusher ANCs kind of blends in a bit w/ the average side of things despite its plastic w/ a matte finish. You see the sides and might think it doubles as a touch panel of sorts but nope, all buttons here underneath the cups. Now there’s nothing wrong w/ that at all but just a note for you design snobs out there. However, there is a lot here that works well and serves a purpose. You got all of the media controls on the right cup & the Power/ANC button + Sensory Bass slider on the left cup.

Mild-mannered design but comfy for all-day use.

Pretty much all of the buttons are multi-functional. So the media controls are a 3-button setup w/ the main button in the middle for play/pause, answer calls, & access virtual assistant. The top button boosts the volume w/ a tap & skip songs w/ a double-tap. The bottom button lowers the volume w/ a tap & goes to the previous song w/ a double-tap. On the left cup, there is only one button that doubles as the Power & ANC button. Long press to power on/off and double-check tap to turn ANC on/off. And the Sensory Bass slider is kind of self-explanatory as we’ll dive more into that shortly.

Now, these guys aren’t lightest cans but far from the heaviest either weighing in at 0.68lbs. You definitely feel them on the head when wearing them. Don’t get me wrong, even w/ all of that going on, they’re still comfortable to wear for long periods of time. With glasses on and wearing until either they die or my shift is over, I didn’t come across any real fatigue of sorts w/ these on. Did we mention that these guys have a Tile tracker built into them to make it easier for you to keep up with? Yeah well, it does and works great. It makes you wonder why no one else did this yet.

Skullcandy is rocking the current industry standard of 40mm drivers handling the sound duties on these Crushers. And the results are pretty damn good as I was impressed. We tested them listening to Maxwell, Nipsey Hustle, and various Alexander O’Neal songs like Sunshine, If You Were Here Tonight, and various duets w/ him and Cherrelle. They offer a great overall sound output w/ good clarity, great vocals, and the right amount of thump in the bass department. And this is all w/o using the Sensory Bass slider which we’ll dive into in a moment. There’s also an option within the companion app that offers a Personal Sound feature that creates a custom sound profile for you. It works fine but would have preferred an EQ in addition to or some presets at least.

Now onto the adjustable Sensory Bass feature, it’s actually something I think bass lovers will use. This gives you a different experience as it beefs up the bass in whatever songs you’re listening to as well as adds a bit of a rumble effect to it as well. Skullcandy added additional bass drivers inside of this to pull this off. I never used it past 30% for me but most songs were around the 20% area. It’s definitely a welcome addition, not sure if anyone will use it around 50% or higher. So if you categorize this as a gimmick or not, this something you will use and actually enjoy – unless you just despise more bass in your headphone-listening experience.

Now onto the Crusher’s ANC abilities. Spoiler alert, it’s not the strong part on these headphones. It does work but some outside noise like background noise on the train can peak through a bit more than I would like. Now don’t get me wrong, it does work but not as strong or good as other ANC headphones. It’s just at this price point, you would want or expect them to be better in this department.

Within the several weeks we’ve had these, the latest cans from Skullcandy offers a pretty good battery life. They suggest a 24-hour battery life on a single charge and they easily live up to it. I can get up to 2 and a half days of usage before having to look for a charger. It charges via USB-C and offers Rapid Charge as well. This allows you to get up to 3 hours of juice in a 10-minute charge and takes around 2 and a half hours to charge completely. So this is in an in-between spot as not as bad as other but not in the 30 hours or more club so its in a sweet spot. You’re still getting better battery life on these than on the more expensive Bose NCH 700 headphones.

These Skullcandy cans are fun and offer great sound.

I ain’t gonna lie to you all. I was really impressed by the latest cans from Skullcandy. These new Crusher ANC are a fun pair of cans and have a lot going on for them. You got good battery life, support for Google Assistant/Alexa, built-in Tile for tracking, a great bass experience, and surprisingly good sound quality. The Active Noise Canceling isn’t one of the big reasons to buy this but they have more to offer than just that. The adjustable sensory bass feature sounds gimmicky on paper but actually does add to the experience of these cans.

All of this is great but the pricing is my only gripe w/ these Crusher cans. They’re retail for $320 as I think its a bit much compared to the competition. Not ridiculously expensive but just a tad overpriced. I think a sweet spot for these would be the $250-$275 range for retail pricing. But I’m no analyst or anything like that, just an enthusiast of sorts. Outside of that, I think these are great headphones to dive into in case you’re looking for something different.