Skullcandy Crusher Review
Pros: Very powerful bass
Cons: Uncomfortable for larger heads, mediocre noise isolation, average clarity
Bottom line: Great if you have a small to medium head and love bass over all else, but otherwise not worth the money
Editors' Rating:
Manufcturer Reported Battery Life (hours): 40
Weight (ounces): 10.125
Manufacturer: Skullcandy
Our Verdict
The Skullcandy Crusher is perfect for a very specific subset of people: those that want the most powerful bass possible, even if it means other aspects of the sound suffers, and that have medium to small heads. If you don't fit into every part of that definition, there are much better options available. For example, we think most people's' money would be better spent on something like the Bose SoundLink Wireless II or the TaoTronics TT-BH22US.
RELATED REVIEW: The Best Wireless Headphones of 2018
Our Analysis and Test Results
Review by:
Max Mutter and Steven Tata
Max Mutter and Steven Tata
Last Updated:
Sunday
January 7, 2018
Sunday
January 7, 2018
Share:
The Skullcandy Crusher has a lot of character with its over the top bass driver and imposing skull logo, but unfortunately it doesn't back that character up with much performance. If all you want is character then these headphones are great, but if you want good sound quality, you can find a much better bang for your buck elsewhere.
The Skullcandy Crusher ended up pretty low on the totem pole when we added up all of our testing scores, as you can see in the table above. To learn more about all those different tests and how the Skullcandy Crusher did in each, read on below.
The Skullcandy Crusher earned a score of 5 out of 10. In our sound quality testing. 5 out of 10 is an average score, so it's not bad. However, none of the headphones we tested sounded particularly bad, so this is also the lowest score we awarded to any pair of headphones in our sound quality testing. The Skullcandy Crusher produces an average clarity. Most music sounds good and crisp, but complicated melodies and very high or very low notes can sound a bit muddled. Think of the $10 earbud you bought at Best Buy on a whim, and that's the level of clarity we're talking about here.
However, the Skullcandy Crusher isn't focused on clarity, it's focused on bass. It has exceptionally powerful bass, maybe even too powerful. If you turn the bass all the way up the headphones literally shake on your head. If that's the kind of experience you're looking for, then these are the headphones for you. However, both the Bose SoundLink Wireless II and the TaoTronics TT-BH22US provide much better overall sound, and cost about the same and much less than the Skullcandy Crusher, respectively, but they won't physically shake your head.
The Skullcandy Crusher suffers a bit here, scoring only a 4 out of 10. These headphones do not offer active noise cancellation, which handicaps them in terms of providing good noise isolation. However, they are able to muffle most sounds to an ignorable lever, but you will hear most everything going on around you, at least to some extent, when wearing these headphones.
The Bose SoundLink Wireless II also has no active noise isolation. However, it has deeper ear cups and does a slightly better job at blocking out the surrounding world. The TaoTronics TT-BH22US is the most inexpensive way to get active noise cancellation and offer a huge step up from the Skullcandy Crusher in terms of noise isolation.
The Skullcandy Crusher received a fairly average score of 6 out of 10 in this metric, but it's score doesn't tell the whole story. If you have a medium to small head with correspondingly medium to small ears, you'll likely find these headphones to be quite comfy. However, the minute we put them on people with larger heads we got comments like, "Dang are my ears itchy," and, "These things really are skull crushers!" If you have a larger head the Bose SoundLink Wireless II is infinitely more comfortable. The TaoTronics TT-BH22US do a bit better in the large head comfort category as well, but still aren't as comfortable as the SoundLink Wireless II.
The Skullcandy Crusher was again around average in this metric, earning a score of 6 out of 10. It has standard play/pause and volume up/down buttons. To skip tracks forward and back it you must hold down the volume buttons for 3 seconds. This felt more cumbersome than pressing buttons multiple times, a strategy that the Bose SoundLink Wireless II uses. The TaoTronics TT-BH22US uses the hold down the volume button strategy in order to skip tracks as well, but you don't have to hold the button down nearly as long. Thus both of these headphones earned better scores in this metric than the Skullcandy Crusher.
The Skullcandy Crusher earned a score of 7 out of 10 in this metric. These headphones fold down relatively small and weigh 10.1 ounces, whjich is just around the average. However, they come with only a drawstring pouch as a carrying case. Both the Bose SoundLink Wireless II and the TaoTronics TT-BH22US provide semi-hard and proper carrying cases for travelling rather than just a pouch.
Here again, unless you just love the Skullcandy Crusher's over the top bass, it is a poor value. The list price of $200 is close to what the Bose SoundLink Wireless II sells for, and is more than double the cost of the TaoTronics TT-BH22US, both of which are far superior headphones.
The Skullcandy Crusher offers very powerful bass, but not too much else. If you're bass obsessed you may love these headphones, otherwise there are much better options available.
Performance Comparison
The Skullcandy Crusher ended up pretty low on the totem pole when we added up all of our testing scores, as you can see in the table above. To learn more about all those different tests and how the Skullcandy Crusher did in each, read on below.
Sound Quality
The Skullcandy Crusher earned a score of 5 out of 10. In our sound quality testing. 5 out of 10 is an average score, so it's not bad. However, none of the headphones we tested sounded particularly bad, so this is also the lowest score we awarded to any pair of headphones in our sound quality testing. The Skullcandy Crusher produces an average clarity. Most music sounds good and crisp, but complicated melodies and very high or very low notes can sound a bit muddled. Think of the $10 earbud you bought at Best Buy on a whim, and that's the level of clarity we're talking about here.
However, the Skullcandy Crusher isn't focused on clarity, it's focused on bass. It has exceptionally powerful bass, maybe even too powerful. If you turn the bass all the way up the headphones literally shake on your head. If that's the kind of experience you're looking for, then these are the headphones for you. However, both the Bose SoundLink Wireless II and the TaoTronics TT-BH22US provide much better overall sound, and cost about the same and much less than the Skullcandy Crusher, respectively, but they won't physically shake your head.
If you really like bass, the Skullcandy Crusher sounds pretty good.
Noise Isolation
The Skullcandy Crusher suffers a bit here, scoring only a 4 out of 10. These headphones do not offer active noise cancellation, which handicaps them in terms of providing good noise isolation. However, they are able to muffle most sounds to an ignorable lever, but you will hear most everything going on around you, at least to some extent, when wearing these headphones.
The Bose SoundLink Wireless II also has no active noise isolation. However, it has deeper ear cups and does a slightly better job at blocking out the surrounding world. The TaoTronics TT-BH22US is the most inexpensive way to get active noise cancellation and offer a huge step up from the Skullcandy Crusher in terms of noise isolation.
Comfort
The Skullcandy Crusher received a fairly average score of 6 out of 10 in this metric, but it's score doesn't tell the whole story. If you have a medium to small head with correspondingly medium to small ears, you'll likely find these headphones to be quite comfy. However, the minute we put them on people with larger heads we got comments like, "Dang are my ears itchy," and, "These things really are skull crushers!" If you have a larger head the Bose SoundLink Wireless II is infinitely more comfortable. The TaoTronics TT-BH22US do a bit better in the large head comfort category as well, but still aren't as comfortable as the SoundLink Wireless II.
User Friendliness
The Skullcandy Crusher was again around average in this metric, earning a score of 6 out of 10. It has standard play/pause and volume up/down buttons. To skip tracks forward and back it you must hold down the volume buttons for 3 seconds. This felt more cumbersome than pressing buttons multiple times, a strategy that the Bose SoundLink Wireless II uses. The TaoTronics TT-BH22US uses the hold down the volume button strategy in order to skip tracks as well, but you don't have to hold the button down nearly as long. Thus both of these headphones earned better scores in this metric than the Skullcandy Crusher.
We were slightly annoyed at having to hold down buttons to skip tracks, but otherwise the Skullcandy Crusher's controls are easy to use.
Portability
The Skullcandy Crusher earned a score of 7 out of 10 in this metric. These headphones fold down relatively small and weigh 10.1 ounces, whjich is just around the average. However, they come with only a drawstring pouch as a carrying case. Both the Bose SoundLink Wireless II and the TaoTronics TT-BH22US provide semi-hard and proper carrying cases for travelling rather than just a pouch.
The Skullcandy Crusher's drawstring pouch.
Value
Here again, unless you just love the Skullcandy Crusher's over the top bass, it is a poor value. The list price of $200 is close to what the Bose SoundLink Wireless II sells for, and is more than double the cost of the TaoTronics TT-BH22US, both of which are far superior headphones.
Conclusion
The Skullcandy Crusher offers very powerful bass, but not too much else. If you're bass obsessed you may love these headphones, otherwise there are much better options available.
—
Max Mutter and Steven Tata
You Might Also Like