Skullcandy Crusher Wireless Review: The Big Boss of Bass

Bass is perhaps the most talked-about feature in audio quality. Headphones, TWS, speakers… in fact, any device that emits audio is often judged by the quality and quantity of bass they offer. For those who do not know, bass refers to the frequency that is on the lower side of the scale, generally from 20 Hz to 250 Hz, and covers those sounds that have a thump, vibration, and rumble about them. Those loud explosions in films and games? That deep sound of a car engine? That thumping beat in dance numbers? All of them sound a whole lot better on bass-friendly equipment. When you feel the floor and walls vibrating in a club or a cinema hall, that’s bass being sassy and well, bassy– making it an aspect that adds another layer to your audio experience.

However, for all its popularity and importance, there are very few products that deliver good quality bass. Most of the so-called bass-centric headphones or speakers tend to stress bass so heavily that other frequencies get drowned out, and you cannot hear vocals or other instruments clearly. Some, however, get the bass accent just right, and one of the most famous of these was Skullcandy’s Crusher series. The most affordable of these, the basic Crusher Wireless model had been discontinued a few years ago, but has now been brought back in a new avatar, with the same bass bossiness. But is there room in the market for a pair of headphones that focus almost entirely on bass, and don’t come with features like a companion app or ANC, or transparency mode?

Skullcandy Crusher Wireless design and appearance: Solid, similar, clean, basic

The new Skullcandy Crusher Wireless looks very much like its predecessor, with a design that is very clean and minimalistic. The headphones are made mainly of plastic with metal plates inside the headband. The earcups come with thick padding, and there is a fair bit of padding on the headband too. On the lower part of the right earcup are very large buttons whose very shape indicates their functions – a large “+” shaped button is to increase volume, while the one with a “-” reduces volume. Between them is an “O” shaped button (called the main button) that works both as a power button as well as a main function button. On the side of the left earcup are the USB Type-C port, flanked by a 3.5 mm audio jack, next to which is perhaps the USP of the headphones – a slider for adjusting bass levels. There are Skullcandy logos on the headband over the areas where it connects to the earcups, and in a slightly industrial touch, there are actually visible wires travelling from the earcups to the headband.

At 275 grams, these are a little on the heavy side, but there is plenty of padding, and the pressure on the head is not too much (although stretching them can take some effort), so these are comfortable to wear. Although there is no carrying bag or pouch in the package, the Crusher Wireless fold inwards easily and are collapsible. So they can be bunched up and put in a bag – we have been carrying them in our crowded backpack for weeks, and they are pristine as ever. While the OG Crusher Wireless had been available in many colors, their new avatars are available only in a solid, sober black. They won’t turn heads with their appearance, but they look solidly smart.

Skullcandy Crusher Wireless UI and specs: Button-driven, no app needed

There is some good hardware in this rather plain design, although there are some puzzling exclusions. The Crusher Wireless come with 40 mm drivers with a frequency range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Most notably, they come with what Skullcandy calls “dual sensory haptic bass,” which is supposed to actually make you sense the bass by vibrating the ear cushions.

The headphones come with Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, but there is no mention of multipoint connectivity, and while there are microphones to enable you to make and receive calls, there is no ANC, which might surprise many at this price point. Battery life is ranked at a rather impressive 50 hours, and there is support for quick charging that claims to deliver three hours of listening time from about ten minutes of charging.

The controls of the Crusher Wireless are totally wireless. The ‘+’ and ‘-‘ shaped buttons do not just control an increase and decrease of volume, but also let you skip a track ahead (long-press the ‘+’ button) and go to the previous track (long-press the ‘-‘ button). The ‘O’-shaped main button does most of the other tasks – a long press switches the headphones on and off, and a quick press also enables you to take or disconnect a call. Connecting the headphones to a device is as easy as switching them on and choosing them from the Bluetooth settings on the device they have to be connected to.

Rather strangely, the Crusher Wireless are not compatible with Skullcandy’s own app. This means one cannot customise the controls or even access any equalisers or presets – shades of what we saw in the Sennheiser Accentum Open recently. Yes, this does make the Crusher Wireless very easy to use, but we would have liked some customization options.

Skullcandy Crusher Wireless performance: All about bass-ic instinct with big battery

The Crusher series has always been mainly about bass, and the new Crusher Wireless carry this legacy forward. The headphones are really all about the bass they deliver, but interestingly, they handle it much better than many other headphones do. What you get is a slightly bass-heavy, slightly thick sound right out of the box, which gives you a feel of the bass without overwhelming the other frequencies too much. Yes, mids (vocals) and treble (sharp sounds) get overshadowed, but they do not get overwhelmed. These make them very good for those who like underground music or music with heavy percussion, and also for those who like action-heavy films and games – those rumbling explosions and beats come to life on these headphones. Latency levels do exist in gaming, but they are not deal breakers. Volume levels are very good – most listeners will be comfortable at about 60-75 percent volume. While there is no ANC, the amply padded earcups keep a lot of the external sound out.

Move that bass slide, however, and the Crusher Wireless pull away from other bass-friendly headphones. As bass levels increase, the headphones literally start vibrating on top of your ears with every thump adding a rumble, and when the bass is maxed out, one feels as if there are literally a pair of speakers parked on their ears. And it is at this stage that the bass totally overwhelms other frequencies – we were too busy feeling like a pebble caught up in a rumbling storm to pay much attention to mids and trebles. Audiophiles will hate this, but we can see bassheads totally digging the ‘feel’ (literally) of these headphones. Once again, the passive noise cancellation of the Crushers Wireless is impressive – even as our heads were swimming in rumbling bass, hardly any sound leaked out. The headphones are also very comfortable to wear – we were able to wear them comfortably for 4-5 hours. Keep the bass down, and they are very good for listening to audiobooks and podcasts as well.

Battery life is another department in which the Skullcandy Crusher Wireless excel. We comfortably got close to the 50 hours of battery life that is officially claimed on a single charge. In simple terms, you need to charge them about once a week. Charging them fully takes about two to two and a half hours, which is reasonable.

It is not all perfection in the Crusher world, though. As we could not see multi-device connectivity, using them with two devices was problematic, with us having to disconnect it from one device before connecting to the other, which seems silly in this day and age. Call quality is also middling rather than good – people we were speaking to could not hear us in noisy conditions or in traffic. There is also no transparency mode at all, which limits their utility outdoors.

Skullcandy Crusher Wireless Review Verdict: Easily the best for bassheads

The Skullcandy Crusher Wireless are available at Rs 9,999 (they are listed at Rs 39,999 on the official site, for some odd reason), and we would say that they are a total no-brainer for bassheads. If you love good quality bass, it simply does not get better than this. Its closest competitor, and we would say perhaps its only real competitors are the Sony ULT Wear, which are priced at a much higher Rs 15,999 (although they are sometimes available at lower prices) and also bring very high quality ANC to the bass table, and the Sonic Lamb, which was made famous by Shark Tank and delivers similarly vibrating bass, but at a much higher price of Rs 16,999. While the ULT Wear are more versatile headphones and deliver super bass as well as ANC, our basshead side would still prefer the Crusher Wireless, simply because they not only handle bass as well as most other bass-friendly headphones, but also give us the option to regulate it. In simple terms, these are easily the best wireless headphones a basshead can get – pretty much the boss of bass.

Buy Skullcandy Crusher Wireless

Source link