So this is the SKullcandy Terrain XL… and skullcandy did an amazing job of packing this speaker with features and a very long battery life, so this thing can keep up with you if you take it on the go with you… but sound quality wise… the Terrain XL is good enough to get the job done. Nonetheless, if you’re thinking about picking up the Skullcandy Terrain XL, lets see what its all about.
Regarding pricing, the Terrain XL has a retail price of $80 dollars… and plainly said, with this speaker you are getting what you paid for. If you’re not looking for amazing sound quality… but you just want something that sounds good enough and can go for a long time… the Terrain XL will deliver. Nonetheless if you want to pick this speaker up it’ll be linked down below.
Now first when it comes to the design of this speaker… the Terrain XL is similar in size to the JBL Charge 5… but something that really surprised me was just how light this speaker is. It weighs in at 635 grams where as the Charge 5 weighs in at 960 grams. But more importantly, I kind of really like the rectangular design of this speaker cause when you place it down, its not going anywhere. Now when it comes to durability we’ve got your typical fabric wrapped body with is going to do a really good job of standing up to bumps and scrapes, and we’ve got silicon end caps, just be mindful about not pressing these passive radiators in. This speaker also has a built in carrying strap so you can attach it to something if you’d like. And the Terrain XL is IPX7 rated meaning that a little bit of water isn’t going to hurt it.
Now regarding tech specs… the Terrain XL has an advertised battery life of 18 hours… which is fairly impressive. But that’s with this speaker playing at 50% volume. And 50% volume is a decent listening volume for at home use. But if you were to use this speaker at max volume… its going to be good for about 8 hours of playback time. Just keep in mind that this is a 20 watt speaker… so its max volume performance isn’t as impressive as more premium speakers out there.
But when it comes to charging this speaker, it charges via a USB C port as it should. Just keep in mind that this speaker does not have any fast charging, and this usb c port is only meant for charging the speaker it self. And this is actually the only port that you’ll find on this speaker cause their is no audio jack so that you can use it with a wired connection.
And when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, the Terrain XL can only be connected to one device at a time… where as with more premium speakers, they are able to be connected to 2 devices at the same time. But at least latency isn’t an issue for this speaker, so you can use it to watch videos on your phone.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. The Terrain XL has dual frontward firing woofers with dual passive radiators that shoot out the sides, a pretty standard speaker set up. And this is actually the same speaker set up that you’ll find in the terrain as well. But now we’re going to jump into the sound test, both the terrain XL and Terrain are playing at 75 Volume, with this stock EQs.
So first, we need to address max volume performance. Just as you’d expect, the larger Terrain XL gets louder than the terrain. The terrain XL is a 20 watt speaker where as the Terrain is a 12 watt speaker. And in general, I will say that the Terrain XL gets decently loud for its size and it gets loud enough to use with a few friends… but the max volume performance of this speaker is a little lacking when compared to the JBL Charge 5. But like I mentioned earlier, with the Terrain XL, you get what you pay for.
But when it comes to the sound quality of this speaker, the terrain XL is the perfect example of having a harsh v sound signature. As in, the terrain XL puts a strong emphasis on the bass, but there’s also an emphasis on the highs… but the mids are a little neglected here. So with the terrain XL, you’re not going to have the best detail in the instrumentals. With the terrain XL, you’re going to hear the vocals and the bass, and that’s pretty much it. But also, I did notice that at higher volumes… you can get a little distortion in the highs when the highs really get going… so just be prepared for that. And unfortunately, the terrain XL doesn’t have an adjustable EQ, so you’re stuck with Skullcandy’s stock EQ. So like I said, with the Terrain XL, this speaker sounds good enough to get the job done and it gets decently loud, but don’t pick up the Terrain XL and expect amazing detail out of it.
But finally lets talk about pairing this speaker up with other speakers. Now with the Terrain XL, you can pair it up to any other Terrain XL, Terrain, or Terrain Mini, and you can get them to play in sync and you can pair up to 99 speakers together. And you do this by pressing and holding the play and plus button for 1 second.
Or you can also get a terrain XL, and any other terrain speaker, and you can get them to play in left and right stereo mode… and you do this by triple pressing on the power button. And this is a big deal, because with most other speaker pair protocols out there, you have to use two of the exact same speakers. So its nice that with Skullcandy, you have options.
And in general, skullcandy’s multi link is pretty good. Its easy to use, you don’t have to open any apps, your speakers are fast to pair up and skipping isn’t an issue. Just keep in mind that multi link only works with terrain speakers. If you have a terrain XL, you can’t pair it up with a kilo or an ounce.
So with all of that being said, the Skullcandy Terrain XL is a speaker that you can take on the go with you, and its going to be able to keep up thanks to its long battery life, you can also pair it up with other terrain speakers, and skullcandy will allow you to get left and right stereo sound going, with any two terrain speakers… but when it comes to the sound quality of this speaker, its good enough to get the job done… but don’t expect the best detail or the most impressive max volume out of this speaker. With the terrain XL, you get what you pay for… but it looks like skullcandy really focused on the battery life of this speaker, over its sound.