Actually, if you are on the lookout for a real bass boss, well, the OG just got super affordable. No, they are not the latest, but they are still good enough to be in contention for the title of Bass Greatest. All right, we will make it simple: Skullcandy’s Crusher Wireless are up for grabs at a massive discount. They were launched at Rs 12,999 in late 2016 and are now going for as little as Rs 6,999. So what makes them so compelling, even almost four years after their launch? Read on.
Literally headbanging bass
As we said, Skullcandy and bass go hand in hand and when these two are combined with the Crusher label, things get real bass-y. The Crusher line of headphones from Skullcandy are completely bass-oriented headphones that promise to take your rumbling musical experience to a whole new level. Head-shaking bass is not the only mode on the Crusher Wireless. The headphones come with adjustable sensory bass which means you can turn the bass up or down according to your mood – there is a dedicated slider on the headphones and a very large one.
So, if you are in the mood for something soft and light you can turn the bass all the way down and if you want to push your bass limits then you can turn it all the way up – it is well-designed and moves very smoothly. Even with the bass turned down all the way, the Crusher produces lows that are slightly more accented than usual but it does not get overwhelming. Mind you, turn that slider up and you literally feel the headphones rumble. It is unlike anything you are likely to have heard, and can at its higher levels, drown out other frequencies, but then bassheads would not complain. The phone is powered by 40mm drivers, which are pretty much what you get in most high-end headphones.
Bass-ic sound with solid build and basic looks…
Skullcandy’s audio equipment is often thought to be flashy and bold when it comes to design. The brand’s design language is often as strong as its audio output but that is not the case with the Skullcandy Crusher Wireless. The headphones are available in four color options; grey/tan, black/coral, deep red, and moss/olive, and all of the four colors are extremely tasteful, and the look is rather clean. No crazy glitter or wacky designs here.
Although the Crusher Wireless are predominantly made of plastic (they have a steel band inside the headband), they do not feel cheap. The earcups are large, cushioned well, and come with a leather-like covering. They are very comfortable to wear, and even though the headphones themselves are slightly on the heavy side at 275 grams, wearing them was not really tiring. There is no ANC on the Crusher Wireless as there is a dedicated headphone called Skullcandy Crusher ANC for that (which is available at a discount as well but is priced almost twice as much even then) but the excellent padding offers really good noise isolation. There is no accompanying app, but then the real thing to control here in our opinion, is the bass, which is handled by that large slider, and most devices do have their own inbuilt equalizers.
…and God bless those massive buttons
One of the best parts about the Crusher Wireless (THAT bass apart) is that they have massive control buttons which means they are super easy to access. What’s more, they are shaped in such a manner that you can guess what they stand for – the volume increase button is in the shape of a large plus sign (+), the volume decrease in the form of a large minus (-) and in between them is a spherical multi-function button. You can skip a track ahead by long-pressing that large volume increase button or go a track back with a similar press of the volume down button. The multi-function button gets the headphones into pairing mode, and can also act as a pause and resume button, as well as a call accept or reject button. Thanks to those large buttons, the functions work really smoothly. No, there is no room for virtual assistants here, though. Call quality is decent enough and better than most TWS of the same price.
The colors, the build quality of the Crusher Wireless help them blend-in perfectly in day-to-day life without being too extra in terms of looks. You could easily use them in any formal environment and they will fit right in. Speaking of fit, they fold right into a more compact form factor and come with a handy enough bag.
Minus wires, plus great battery life
We are currently living in a very wire-hostile world where anything wired is simply old school. They might have been released a few years ago, but Skullcandy clearly was keeping up with times which is why the Skullcandy Crusher Wireless (as the name suggests) are wire-free. All you need is a Bluetooth supporting device and you can connect your Crusher Wireless easily with a press of the multifunction button on the device. And if in case you miss the wired experience, you can always plug-in a 3.5mm audio jack cable (there is one in the box, as well as a micro USB to USB one) and go about your musical day. Incidentally, Bluetooth connectivity is rock solid even though the range is not as good as some of the new headphones (the Bluetooth version is not given on the specs, but we suspect it is 4.2, given the date of release).
Or make that “musical days.” With wires out of the picture, we have all had to deal with our headphones dying on us often but that is one problem you will not face with Skullcandy Crusher Wireless. The headphones promise a battery life of 40 hours on a single charge, and comfortably reach that point, provided you do not go crazy using that bass slider. And while the charging happens through a micro-USB port, the Crusher Wireless come with rapid charge which means you can get up to 3-hours worth of listening time with 10 minutes of charging. That is pretty impressive even in 2021!
A Crush-worthy deal
We have saved the best for the last – the price. As we said earlier, the Skullcandy Crusher Wireless were originally launched with a price tag of Rs. 12,999. While that may have been a slightly high price for a pair of headphones whose main claim to fame was crazy bass, their discounted price of Rs 6,999 suddenly puts them in a different zone. Yes, those looking for bass-heavy headphones can opt for offerings from the likes of JBL and some Indian brands at a slightly lower price, but there is nothing quite like the bass that the Crusher Wireless offers. Skullcandy itself has released two successors to the Crusher, the Crusher ANC and the Crusher Wireless Evo, but those are well north of Rs 10,000. And by all accounts, in terms of sheer bass and audio quality, the Crusher Wireless are still a formidable proposition.
You might not get modern bells and whistles like touch controls, virtual assistants, and a USB Type-C port but hey, you get phenomenal bass. Bass that you can control and keep within limits or just go crazy on. There’s nothing remotely close to it at that price point. At Rs. 6,999, the Crusher Wireless are the choice for anyone looking for a bass-heavy wireless headphone experience on a budget.
