Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC Review: A Huge Boost From Bose

“It’s what’s on the inside that counts” is something that people say. Sometimes it’s true, like in friendships or when adopting weird little pets with tongues that won’t stay in their mouths, but sometimes it’s not so true, like when you’re swiping Tinder, for example, or in the case of eating hot dogs—you absolutely do not want to know what’s in there, trust me. But what about where audio is concerned? How much does the inside count when what’s inside is Bose, for example? If you ask Skullcandy, the answer is clearly “a lot,” and after listening to its recently released $279.99 Crusher 1080 ANC wireless headphones, I agree. Crusher 1080 ANC The Crusher 1080 ANC benefit from Bose sound and ANC, but aren't the best-looking or feeling wireless headphones in this price range. Decent sound Better-than-expected ANC Personalized EQ makes a big difference Very bulky Not the most comfortable Bass dial is sometimes annoying Not great for calling Battery life is less than advertised Literally so much Bose In a lot of ways, the biggest thing about the new Skullcandy wireless headphones is actually… Bose. The Crusher 1080 ANC have several Bose features that are the first to be included in a non-Bose pair of wireless cans. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Among the firsts being pioneered by Skullcandy is Bose’s QuietControl ANC, which is Bose’s adaptive active noise-cancellation (ANC) technology, as well as Bose’s TrueSpatial technology, which is meant to mimic the experience of listening to speakers in front of you. Lastly, the Crusher 1080 ANC are the first pair of non-Bose wireless headphones to use its WaveForm audio engine, which helps to balance acoustics and dynamics and keep voices and music clear, even at high volumes or with a lot of background noise. The interesting part about all those firsts isn’t just that they’re unprecedented; it’s that Skullcandy is letting Bose do a lot of the heavy lifting, and while the results aren’t quite one-to-one with any modern Bose pair of wireless headphones, they’re a surprisingly solid entry at a pretty good price. The first thing that surprised me was the sound. To be honest, Skullcandy doesn’t exactly have the best reputation when it comes to quality—they’re often thought of as bargain bin wireless headphones—but the Crusher 1080 ANC hold it down. While the tuning is characteristically bass-heavy and a little flat out of the box, Skullcandy includes options to up the game in its app. One that you should absolutely take advantage of, and the first is customized EQ. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo With a fairly brief hearing test that involves indicating when you hear certain frequencies in each ear, you can tune the Crusher 1080 ANC to your specific hearing. After doing that, I found the sound profile was a lot richer, creating separation between tracks. Go-to testing songs like “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” by Steely Dan sounded a lot more nuanced and clear—guitar tracks, in particular, felt less muddy. Likewise, more electronic tunes like Daft Punk’s “Da Funk” sounded significantly less drowned out with personalized EQ on. I was able to hear a lot more separation, and everything had just a bit more room to breathe, especially gritty lead synths. The included bag that the Crusher 1080 ANC come with. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo If you want, you can adjust the level of personalized EQ, too, choosing between “softer,” “default,” and “richer.” Personally, I found myself choosing “richer” for everything, but I guess if you feel more comfortable with default tuning and need just a little boost, the other options are nice to have. The sound enhancement options don’t end there. As I mentioned, the Crusher 1080 ANC also have Bose’s TrueSpatial technology, which is software designed to widen the soundstage even further and provide more immersion. Surprisingly, you can activate Bose’s TrueSpatial audio in the app while retaining your personalized EQ, which I was not mad about, and while the TrueSpatial audio isn’t crucial in the way that personalized EQ is, it does definitely add another layer. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo I listened to the aforementioned songs from Steely Dan and Daft Punk with TrueSpatial toggled on and off and could see why you might want Bose’s tech for a bigger sound. I do think that using it sacrifices some clarity for texture and a sense of space, but whether that’s a trade you want to make is up to you. Plus, if you’re really yearning for a more 3D kind of listening, you can toggle between “still” and “motion” TrueSpatial modes. The former creates the illusion that there’s a fixed speaker in front of you, so when you tilt your ear to the front, audio plays primarily to that ear, while “motion” adds space, but is fixed in space. It’s hard to say scientifically what Bose’s WaveForm audio engine is adding to the experience, but based on the quality of the audio—especially when EQ is done right—I’d say it’s doing exactly what it’s intended to do. But wait, there’s more—more Bose, that is If you saw Bose’s involvement with ANC and were hoping for Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones levels of noise cancellation, let me stop you there. Bose’s own flagship cans are still better in the ANC department (duh), but the good news is that the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC are pretty solid, too. I tested these wireless headphones in a few high-volume scenarios, including on the busy sidewalk in New York and in a busy coffee shop with dozens of people (and music playing), and they did a good job of blocking out most of the noise. At about 50% volume, I was insulated from the majority of my surroundings, though I could still hear crowd noise (chatting and dishes clanking) if the song was on the sparser, quieter side. While Bose’s QuietControl is adaptive, I didn’t notice a ton of fluctuation between environments, which is probably a good thing since you shouldn’t be clocking massive shifts in ANC if the feature is working right. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo The Crusher 1080 ANC also have an aware mode, a transparency feature so you can hear your surroundings. Using the six-mic array, the Crusher 1080 ANC can amplify your surroundings a bit so you don’t have to remove them to hear people talk. Unlike a lot of cheaper wireless headphones, the transparency isn’t super tinny or cheap-sounding. It’s not AirPods Max 2 levels of execution, but it’s more than I was expecting from Skullcandy. Similar to transparency, the Crusher 1080 ANC also have a feature called Sidetone, which amplifies your voice for when you’re on a call or chatting while playing a game, and the results are slightly less satisfying. I used Sidetone on a call that lasted a few minutes, and while I could hear my voice a little bit more, it was hardly enough to mitigate the noise-blocking effects of the Crusher 1080 ANC’s earcups even when the slider for Sidetone was at its highest. Worse than Sidetone being a non-factor was that the Crusher 1080 ANC aren’t great for calling; like other wireless headphones, they don’t do a good job of cancelling out environmental noise, which only makes them effective for quiet locations. The person I called reported that call quality is okay, but due to the distracting background noise, they rated the experience a 6/10. Things that are clearly not built by Bose If there’s one thing that clearly doesn’t have Bose’s fingerprint on it, it’s hardware. In the context of Skullcandy, the Crusher 1080 ANC are unoffensive for the most part, but they’re rather bulky-looking, with big earcups that make my head look tiny. That bulky look also bears out in the weight, too. The Crusher 1080 ANC are 374g compared to the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), which weigh 264g. That’s a major weight difference, and without the same ergonomic design as more expensive competitors, the Crusher 1080 ANC end up feeling somewhat uncomfortable at times. I noticed they can feel a bit tight, as well. While I had the wireless headphones adjusted to fit around my ears, they squeeze my head slightly, which causes discomfort over longer periods of listening. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Another hardware choice that I’m not a huge fan of: the Crusher Wheel, an adjustable dial on the left earcup, for pumping up the bass. This isn’t the first pair of Skullcandy headphones with the Crusher Wheel, but it’s my first experience interacting with it, and I can’t say I was grateful to have it around. For one, adding more bass tends to ruin the mix, drowning it in too much low end. That mix-ruining bass could be easily avoided by just not using it, right? Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy. Oftentimes, the dial would get adjusted when I wasn’t wearing the headphones, probably from getting jostled in my bag or something. I had to remember to check it every time I put them on, lest my perfectly fine EQ get distorted. Obviously, if big bass is your thing, you’ll have a different opinion of the Crusher Wheel, but for me, it was kind of annoying. © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo I have no gripes at all with the other buttons, at least. In fact, I kind of like them. There’s a joystick on the right side for track skipping and play/pause, as well as a power/Bluetooth button and a toggle button on the left side for switching noise modes. This button can also be customized to trigger different sound profiles. I like the tactility of these—no notes here. Battery life is average but may be significantly under what’s promised. Skullcandy advertises 50 hours with ANC activated. In my testing, the Crusher 1080 ANC dropped from 100% to 97% after one hour of listening at 50% volume with ANC on. That would equate to about 33 hours, which is decent in context—the Nothing Headphone 1 get 35 hours with ANC on—but 17 hours short of the 50 hours advertised. Solid wireless headphones, but not the best value The Crusher 1080 ANC are solid wireless headphones. The sound is better than you might expect, and it’s amplified greatly by personalized EQ and Bose’s TrueSpatial feature. Additionally, the ANC, while not quite as good as ultra-expensive headphones like Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) or Apple’s AirPods Max 2, is still good. Lowlights are the hardware itself. These wireless headphones are heavy and clunky, and they’re diminished a bit by unnecessary features like the bass-exploding Crusher Wheel, which is sometimes actively annoying. My main problem with the Crusher 1080 ANC isn’t any of that stuff necessarily, though; it’s the fact that, for $20 more, you can buy the Nothing Headphone 1, which look cooler, fit better, have comparable ANC and sound, and make better use of physical controls. In that context, the Crusher 1080 ANC don’t look as appealing, though if they come down in price (which Skullcandy headphones are prone to do), the equation could change.