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I dont know what happened with the Skullcandy Venue, personally I feel that for $180 ANC headphones they under deliver cause their build quality isn’t the best, their ANC isn’t good, and their bass bottoms out way too much. But when it comes to the new Skullcandy Crusher 360’s… thats a whole other story. These things are sensory overload, and I love it. They’re definitely not for everybody, and I would have done a few things differently… but over all these are just a lot of fun.
When the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s were first announced I was shocked when I heard they were going to retail for $300. Thats twice as much as what the original Skullcandy crusher’s are currently retailing for. But I think the Crusher 360’s aren’t going to be replacing the OG crusher’s cause they’re on a whole other level. And I think the $300 price tag is justified. So if you want to pick either of these headphones up I’ll have links in the description below, and if you use the links its really helps out the channel. I suggest you check them out cause you never know when these headphones might go on sale so you’ll might get lucky. And also check out the merch shelf down below.
The Skullcandy crusher 360’s come included with a hard shell carrying case thats on par with what you would get with the Bose QC35 or the beats studio 3… and its definitely an upgrade from the carrying pouch that comes included with the OG crushers. The crusher 360’s also come included with a very good quality 3.5 millimeter audio cable with an inline controller. Now I’ll go into detail about the inline controller later in the video, but I really do like to see this higher quality audio cable here, cause most other $300 plus headphones really skimp out on this these days… The Crusher 360’s also come included with a good quality micro USB cable for charging. But given that it's late 2018 and these are premium headphones, with out a doubt they should have come included with a USB-C port instead.
But when it comes to the design and build quality of these headphones, I can see why they’re $300. The headband and ear cups have a soft touch feel to them very similar to the Sony 1000XM3, they have exposed metal on the frame of these headphones, and the leather on the ear cups and headband feels much more premium than anything you would fine on Skullcandy’s other headphones. But this means the crusher 360’s are pretty heavy cause they weigh in at 322 grams, where as most other headphones weigh in somewhere between 230 and 290 grams. But even though the Crusher 360’s are pretty heavy, they’re still very comfortable to wear for extended periods of times. I’ve had no problem wearing these headphones for 3 plus hours with no wearing fatigue or over heated ear cups. They don’t have anywhere as much clamping force as the OG crusher’s but they’re not as loose the Sonys or Bose. For me the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s fit like a glove and they are big head approved, which is something I cant say about the OG crushers. One of my biggest issues with the OG crusher’s is that since their ear cups don’t pivot too much they end up putting a lot of pressure on the anterior portion of your ear. And it looks like Skullcandy really took this into consideration cause the Crusher 360’s pivot a lot more and they do so much easier.
But even though the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s fit me very well, their ear cups might be a little cramped for people with larger ears or ears that stick out a lot. Even though the ear cups on the crushers are significantly larger than the ear cups found on the OG crushers and Venues my medium sized ears just barely manage to fit. But over all, I’m a really big fan of how the crusher 360’s fit and look. They have a timeless low profile design that doesn’t scream I have bass head headphones on like a certain other pair of bass head headphones and personally I didn’t expect to like the limited edition color way so much.
Regarding tech specs the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s is also no slouch. They have an advertised battery life of 29 hours, but keep in mind your battery life will vary depending on how high you have your bass turned up. For me, I keep my bass at 60% and I’ve been getting about 22 hours of playback time out of these headphones. Not bad. And they also have pretty decent fast charging, if you plug them in for 10 minutes from a dead battery they’re going to get you 3 hours of playback time. Which is actually a little better than the Bose QC35’s. But not as good as the Skullcandy Venue
But when it comes to their bluetooth connection theres good and bad. These headphones are rocking bluetooth 4.1 and the good news is that they have a very stable connection and theres actually very little latency so these are good for watching youtube videos on your phone. But you can only be connected to one device at a time which does suck. And I do find it a little weird cause the new Venues can be connected to 2 devices at a time.
Now when it comes to sound quality… keep in mind these headphones are meant for people who absolutely love bass. And the bass on these headphones over delivers in the best way possible. Listening to music with these headphones is just pure fun, the bass on these headphones just add this extra element where you can literally feel your music or feel like your front row at a concert. Like I mentioned earlier I keep the bass on these headphones at 60%, I feel its the right amount where you can feel your music, but still hear your music. Even though the bass is its own entity, if the bass is too high it does over power the rest of the song. But even though these are bass head headphones, these are still good sounding headphones period. With the bass effect turned off they have a neutral sound signature with a good amount of bass and treble. They’re clarity and sound stage is also very good but I do think instrument separation could be better. But with the bass effect turned on, the quality of instrument separation doesn’t matter. The only thing I wish I could do with the Crusher 360’s is bring out the mids a little so you can hear them better when the bass really gets going. Now over all the sound quality of the Crusher 360’s is obviously better than the sound quality on the OG crushers. The Bass on the OG crusher’s doesn’t sound like bass compared to the 360’s, its just sounds like someones flicking metal springs next to your ear. It doesn’t sound good and it just makes the bass feature on the OG crushers look like a gimmick. Where as the bass on the Crusher 360 is clean, it sounds good, and the max bass on the OG crusher feels like when the bass on the Crusher 360’s is set to 40%. But I cant help but notice the Crusher 360’s don’t get as loud as the OG Crushers. Which in the long run is good cause it saves your hearing but when wearing these out in public I cant help but want the Crusher 360’s to be 1 or two steps louder.
Now when it comes to actually adjusting the Bass effect on the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s theres actually a touch pad on the left ear cup which is an upgrade from the slider found on the OG crusher. And it's very accurate. But I personally feel this is nothing but a gimmick. Since theres really only 6 bass levels (including Off) I feel the touch pad is uanessacry. I think Skullcandy should have just used a 2 button rocker to adjust your bass level if it meant reducing the price of Crusher 360’s to maybe $250 instead. But since we’re stuck with the touch pad, I would have liked it if the headphone gave you some haptic feedback as you raised or lowered the bass effect, and maybe give you a double rumble when you’ve set the bass effect to 100%. Cause right now, since you don’t feel anything as you adjust the bass on these headphones you either have to wait for the bass to come in when ever your music is playing or just take the headphones off and look at the gauge.
Now on the right ear cup thats where you’ll find your media controls. And I like this button layout, they’re easy to find, easy to tell apart and they have good tactile feed back. The only thing I don’t like about them is that you have to press and hold the plus or minus button to skip or go back a track. And I know I’ve been very vocal about this cause I hate when headphones do this cause, it take much longer to skip a track compared to double or triple pressing the center button like on other headphones. But oddly enough, you cant active your voice assistant with these headphones… double pressing or pressing and holding the center button doesn’t do anything. If you want to argue with Siri you’re going to have to activate it first from your phone.
Concerning the audio cable I mentioned earlier, I like it cause theres a play pause button on the back that if you double press or triple press its going to skip through your music. Which is the right way to do it. Theres also a volume rocker that going to adjust the volume locally on the headphones, but not on your phone. So just keep that in mind the first time you plug them in. And when they're plugged in you can still adjust your bass affect using the touchpad. But I do have to point out that the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s do sound a little better when used with a wired connection versus a wireless connection. Which is important to take note of cause newer premium headphones these days like the Sony 1000XM3 can give you lossless audio even with a wireless connection.
Now even though I really do like the new Skullcandy Crusher 360’s I don’t like how they’re missing key features from the new Skullcandy Venue given that they were announced a long side one another and its clear the Crusher 360’s are Skullcandy’s flagship product now. I really wish the Crusher 360’s had tile integration like the Venues, cause I feel you’d want to be able to find your $300 headphones if you miss placed them or if someone at school stole them from you. I also wish the Crusher 360’s had a monitoring mode like the new venues do
But I think that in order to get that feature working properly you’d need one or two more microphones built into the Crusher 360.
Cause right now the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s only have one microphone built in them and it sounds pretty meh. But this audio clip is being recorded by the microphone on the Skullcandy Crusher 360, so you can be the judge of that.
But over all, like I said at the beginning of this video… I love the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s, they’re just a lot of fun. Sure they’re missing some features I would like to have from the Skullcandy Venue, and I think they should have had a USB C port… but I cant help but crack a smile everytime I wear these headphones. Its not even fair to compare the Crusher 360’s to the OG Crushers cause the Crusher 360’s are in a whole other league. They’re built better, they fit better, they look better, and they sound better. I don’t know what happened with the Venue’s, but Skullcandy knocked it out the park with the Crusher 360’s. But I know that $300 for a pair of bass head headphones is pretty steep, cause for around the some money you can pick up the Bose QC35 or Sony 1000XM3. And sure these headphones in the long run could be more useful cause of their ANC, they fit better, and they have more technology packed inside them. But I like to look at these headphones like cars…. The Sonys and Bose are like your Mercedes S550 or BMW 7 series, they’re meant to get you to where you’re going in comfort and style. Where as the Skullcandy Crusher 360 is your Porsche 911 or Audi R8. Sure they cost about the same as the luxury sedans, but these are all about driving dynamics and just having fun. And thats what I feel the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s are all about, just having fun.