So the new skullcandy crusher ANC 2’s have a longer lasting battery life and a built in voice assistant. But more importantly, these headphones have a lot of bass to them… like too much bass. But then there are also the Sony WH-XB910N’s which also have a lot of bass… but not as much as the Skullcandy… but more importantly, these can actually be used as a pair of daily driver headphones. Where as I feel the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2’s are better suited as a pair of secondary headphones. Nonetheless, today we’re going to compare the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2’s to the Sony WH-XB910N and we’re going to see which ones are right for you.

Regading pricing, the Sony WH-XB910N’s have a retail $250… but now they like to go on sale for $180 and on major shopping holidays they can be found for less. Where as the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2’s have a retail price of $230 but I would wait for them to go on sale before picking them up. Nonetheless if you want to pick either of these two headphones up they’ll be linked down below, or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.

Now first lets talk about these included cases. Now both of these headphones come included with a decently sized hardshell case so they are going to keep your headphones well protected even if you stuff them into a cramped backpack and more importantly, since these cases are decently sized… traveling with these cases isn’t a hassle like with the Sony WH-1000XM5’s case or Sennheiser Momentum 4’s case. But these cases are al little larger than your Sony XM4’s case or Boses cases. But nonetheless, there are zero complaints here regarding the cases on both of these headphones.

But with the cases out of the way lets talk about the headphones themselves. Regarding fit, these headphones are very different from one another an this can actually be a deciding factor for some people. Now both of these headphones are big head approved, however the Sony’s do have less clamping force than the Skullcandy, giving you a looser fit. But also, theres the headband on these headphones… the padding on the headband on the Sony is noticeably softer than the padding on the headband found on the Skullcandy… so the headband on the Sony doesn’t create a hotspot on the top of your like with the Skullcandy. But then there are the ear pads on both of these headphones. Now the earpads on both of these headphones are very spacious and they should have no problem accommodating most ear types. Now I prefer the ear pads on the sony case cause their padding is softer… where as the ear pads on the skullcandy are stiffer… but with the skullcandy, since these earpads have less surface area coming in contact with your skin… these earpads stay cooler for longer. Where as Sony’s can heat up noticeably faster. But perhaps the biggest difference between these two headphones is their weight. The Skullcandy crusher ANC 2’s weigh in at 332 grams… which is up there cause for comparison the Momentum 4’s weigh in at 295 grams, the beats studio pro weigh in at 260 grams, the Bose QC Ultra and Sony 1000XM4’s weigh in at 255 grams, the Sony XB910N’s weigh in at 252 grams, the Sony 1000XM5’s weigh in at 250 grams and then there are the Bose QC’s which weigh in at 235 grams… So the Skullcandy crusher ANC 2’s are very noticeable when they are on your head and you really notice them shifting around when you’re walking around with them on. Whereas with the XB910N’s since these are so much lighter, they’re easy to forget that you’re wearing. So plainly said, the Sony’s are a lot more comfortable than the Skullcandys cause they’re a lot lighter and they have softer padding. And they also have a slightly looser fit as well.

But with all of that out of the way lets talk about tech specs. Now when it comes to battery life, the Crusher ANC 2’s easily win here. These have an advertised battery life of 50 hours with their ANC turned on, and with their ANC turned off they can go for as long as 60 hours. And this is both above average and very impressive.

Where as with the Sony’s these have an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their ANC turned on… which is still really good and with their ANC turned off they can go for as long as 38 hours… which again is really good, but this inst anywhere near the Skullcandy crusher ANC 2’s.

And when it comes to charging these headphones, they both charge via a USB C port as they should. Now you cant use these USB C ports as a wired connection like you can with some other headphones out there… but both of these headphones do have an audio jack and they come included with an audio cable. So you can still use them with a wired connection if you want.

Now when it comes to conencivty, both of these headphones can be connected to any two bluetooth devices which is good if you’re a power user cause you can easily hot swap from one device to another regardless of eco system.

And when it comes to overall performance, both of these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching a movie or videos regardless if you’re using an iPhone or an android device, but when it comes to audio codecs, the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2’s have support for SBC and AAC where as the Sony’s have support for SBC and AAC but they also have support for LDAC which is Sony’s own in house right res audio codec, just keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of LDAC you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC and if you do decide to use LDAC then that is going to take an additional toll on the battery life.

But with all of that out of the way lets talk about sound. Now both of these headphones are targeted towards bass headphones cause both of these headphones have a lot of bass to them. But simply put, the Crusher’s have a lot more bass than the Sony’s its not even close. With the crusher its like have a rumble back strapped to your head and these are going to rattle your head so much your teeth will litterly chatter. So with these headphones you are really going to be able to feel you music and if you watch a movie with these headphones they are going to add an extra level of immersiveness cause they’re like having a subwoofer strapped to your head. But more importantly, the bass on these headphones sound good, its tight and its well controlled. But the thing about all of this bass, it can get old after while. Now you can use these headphones with their bass turned off, but with their bass turned off, these headphones don’t have the best instrument separation and they but an emphasis on the vocals. So this is why I feel that these are better suited as a pair of secondary headphones. Their bass is a lot of fun… but it can get old and if you try to use these headphones with their bass turned off, they dont sound all that good.

But then there are the Sony XB910N’s, now these headphones also have a lot of bass and you’re also going to be able to feel your music, but these just dont have anywhere near as much teeth chattering bass as the Skullcandy. The bass on the Sony is fun but its not overkill like with the Skullcandy. But more importantly, with the Sony’s if you dont want to use their bass, you dont have to. You can use them like a normal pair of headphones. Now the XB910N’s still sound a little narrow and their instrument separation isn’t amazing… but it is better than the skullcandy’s. So whether you like a neutral sound signature or a vocals focused sound signature… these will be able to satisfy you much better than the Skullcandy. So overall, the Skullcandy’s are great if you want an unesscary amount of bass in your music cause they will make your teeth chatter. But all of that bass can get old after awhile. Where as with the Sony’s these might not have as much bass, but they still have a lot of bass, and if you want to use them with their bass feature turned off, they still sound decent.

Now when it comes to the media controls on these headphones, the Sony’s are using a touch pad. And these touch pads are easy enough to use and they’re very accurate. But I know some people dont like touch pads on their headphones. So the Skullcandys are using phsycall buttons. Now these buttons are easy to find and they’re easy enough to tell apart… but I would have liked if they had a better click to them.

But something the Crusher ANC 2’s also have is a dedicated voice assistant, Skull IQ, and with skull iq you can control your bass, active noise cancellation, and ambient mode and music with just your bass. But the think with Skull IQ is that you have to have the Skull IQ running in the background… and I honestly dont think that many people will be using skull IQ cause saying “Hey Skullcandy” does feel a little awkward.

But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these headphones. Now the active noise cancelation on the Crusher ANC 2’s is a bit of a disappointment for a pair of headphones in 2023… where as the ANC on the Sony XB910N’s is acceptable cause these are 2 years old now… but so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.

ANC Test

So like you may have just seen, the Sony XB910N’s block out a little more noise than the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2’s… now both of these headphones block out an okay amount of noise for a pair of mid tier ANC headphones. But obviously they dont block out nearly as much noise a pair of premium ANC headphones like the Bose QC Ultra. But back to the XB910N and Skullcandy… honestly I am not impressed by the ANC on the Crusher ANC 2’s cause they are being beat by the XB910N’s which are two years old now. So I was expecting better ANC on the Crusher’s. But nonetheless, the ANC on these headphones is going to be useful on lets say your bus ride commute or if you’re in a slightly chatty office. But these wouldn’t be my top pick for flying.

But also, both of these headphones have an ambient mode and you can adjust how much noise these headphones let in, but the ambient mode on the Sony sounds a lot more natural than the ambient mode skullcandy… but also the Sony’s have quick attention where if you fully over their touch pad they will lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can talk to someone without having to remove your headphones.

And when you let go the headphones will go back to normal again. And personally I love when my headphones have this feature cause its very useful especially if you’re traveling with your headphones. And this is something that the Skullcandy just dont have.

Mic Skullcandy quite

But finally heres the microphone test. Now overall, both of these headphones have decent enough sounding microphones on them to take phone calls with while in a quite room.

Mic Sony Quite room

Now I think the Skullcandy sound a little better than the Sony’s while in a quite room.

Mic Sony Road Noise

But the sony do a slightly better job of dealing with noise pollution. Cause these are reducing some of this road noise and you can still understand what im saying. Cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch over to the Sony XB910N’s its is slightly reduced.

Mic Skullcnady Road Noise

Where as with the Skullcnady Crusher ANC 2’s these are reducing this road noise, but its harder to understand me.

Mic Skull Chatter

And when it comes to blocking out chatter, its even harder to understand me.

Mic Sony

Now the Sony XB910N’s also aren’t blocking out all that much chatter, but it is a little easier to understand me. So overall both of these headphones have decent enough sounding microphones on them to take phone calls with while in a quite room, but the Sony’s do a slightly better job of dealing with noise pollution.

But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between the Skucandy Crusher ANC 2 and Sony XB910N’s… these two headphones are meant for bass heads cause they both have an above average amount of bass to them… but the bass on the Skullcnady Crusher ANC 2’s is on a whole other level… they have so much bass they will make your teeth chatter. And if you use the Crushers then you’re going to think the Sony’s are nothing. But the Sony’s are the more responsible choice here cause not only do they have a lot of bass, they’re also a decent pair of daily drivers. Cause if you get tired of all of that bass, if you use the Sony’s without their bass they still sound pretty good. they’re also a lot more comfortable to wear, and they have a better sounding ambient mode. Where as with the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2’s, these are better suited as a pair of secondary headphones.