Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 review: Let’s get ready to rumble

The Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 are the latest of the brand’s over-ear headphones to include its proprietary “sensory bass technology”. Each earcup houses vibration motors that activate in time with the music’s bass notes to create a more visceral audio experience by adding physical sensations to auditory ones.

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While this has gimmick written all over it, the Crusher ANC 2 have plenty more up their sleeve. As their name suggests, the headphones offer active noise cancellation, and the Skull iQ app opens the door to a wealth of audio customisation. While there are a few issues that keep the headphones from completely crushing it, there’s enough to like about the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 for them to be worth your time.

Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 review: What do you get for the money?

The Crusher ANC 2 operate over Bluetooth 5.2, with multipoint allowing you to connect the headphones to two devices simultaneously. Codec support is a little light considering that the headphones retail for £200, with only SBC and AAC on offer.

As with many of Skullcandy’s recent headphones, the Crusher ANC 2 are only available in one colourway – a rather basic-looking matte black. The plastic looks sleek enough, but I noticed that it was particularly susceptible to fingerprints and scratches during testing. The ear cushions are PU leather and very plush, and there’s further padding on the headband which adds to the comfort. Better still, the headband padding is coated in a soft fabric, which prevents it snagging on your hair.

The cups can fold up into the headband, which is useful if you need to stick them in a coat pocket or bag. The headphones weigh 334g, which isn’t especially light, but they don’t feel too heavy on your head and can be easily transported in the hard-shell carry case Skullcandy includes as part of the package. Folding the headphones in the correct way to fit them in the mould can be a bit fiddly, but once they’re in, the case looks good and feels sturdy.

The cups themselves are overloaded with buttons and switches, all of which are different shapes and sizes. It can take a while to get used to which button does what, but once you’re familiar with the layout, the buttons feel tactile and are much more accurate than touch sensors. The right earcup is home to the media control buttons, with the play/pause button flankered by the volume controls and the ANC toggle switch, which you can flick to cycle between ANC, transparency and off.

On the left earcup, there’s the orange power button – the only splash of colour on the headphones – the USB-C and 3.5mm ports, and the sensory bass control wheel. This replaces the slider that graced the previous Skullcandy Crusher ANC and the brand’s Crusher EVO line. While the wheel lacks the tangible confirmation of your current sensory bass strength that the slider offered, it still looks neat and works well enough. You’re also much less likely to accidentally knock the wheel while adjusting the headphones.

While you have all the basic controls at your fingertips, you can further tweak the functions they perform in the Skull iQ companion app. You can also adjust the sensory bass intensity – the slider acts the same as the wheel, but it also lets you see your current intensity – tweak the EQ and set up a personalised sound profile. This is courtesy of Personal Sound by Mimi, and requires you to take a short hearing test, which is then used to optimise audio for your hearing.

Other useful features include Spotify Tap, a link to the GPS tracking app Find With Tile, and even voice controls. With the latter, you can perform actions including playing/pausing, skipping tracks, changing volume, swapping out ANC modes and even adjusting the Crusher level, just by saying “Hey, Skullcandy”. The voice commands were extremely effective, always catching my speech on the first attempt and following through on the command within two seconds.

Both the active noise cancellation and the “Stay Aware” transparency modes have a strength slider that you can play with to find the right level for you. This is useful for preserving battery life, but it’s unlikely that you’ll need to bother setting either option below maximum, because the Crusher ANC 2 offer terrific battery life. Skullcandy’s stated battery life of over 50 hours is presumably with ANC disabled, but even with it on, I easily got more than a week out of them before they needed charging.

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Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 review: What did we like about them?

In honour of both the brand and the impending spooky season, I booted up a collection of skull-themed tunes to put the Crusher ANC 2 through their paces. The headphones output audio via a pair of 40mm drivers, and even before I engaged the sensory bass function, it became clear that Skullcandy’s reputation for deeply resonant bass is alive and well with the Crusher ANC 2.

Home Free’s haunting pirate shanty Skull and Bones is underwritten by a thumping war drum and led by vocals so guttural that they often drift into throat singing waters. The Crusher ANC 2 expertly facilitated the vocals in sinking to the depths of Davy Jones, with terrific clarity maintained right down to the most rumbling baritone. This is a good starting point, and the Crusher build on that impressive bass response. Without the vibrations, my skull may not have been rattled, but my timbers were most definitely shivered.

As it turns out, “skull-rattling” may be a bit of an understatement. Mick Gordon’s SkullHacker, from the Doom (2016) soundtrack, is bursting at the seams with heavy bass at the best of times, but cranking the Crusher up to maximum power near enough scrambled my brain. It certainly adds to the intensity of the track – as intense as a demon-slaying anthem ought to be – but you end up losing the finer details amid all the vibrations. At 50% strength, I was better able to discern individual guitar and synth notes, whereas 100% saw them getting lost in the frenzy.

Jonathon Coulton’s Skullcrusher Mountain might sound like it’s par for the metal course, but this track is much more country than rock ’n’ roll, and demonstrated that the Crusher ANC 2 perform well when paired with something gentler. The acoustic guitar and Coulton’s vocals were both great showcases for the Crusher ANC 2’s treble capacity, and while there was a noticeable ceiling on the higher notes, what was there was airy enough to ensure that things never felt cramped.

The Personal Sound by Mimi feature claims two things when you go to make your profile: more sound will become audible, and the overall sound clarity will be improved. This certainly reflects my experience; after a brief hearing test in which I held down a button when I was able to make out different pitches amid a background of white noise, my personalised profile filled out the midsection of the presentation, bringing greater width to the soundstage and pulling subtler notes closer to the foreground.

Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 review: What could be improved?

Weirdly, considering Skullcandy says it has sought to include “absolutely every feature” on the Crusher ANC 2, there’s no support for wear detection. This would be easy to overlook on a budget pair of headphones, but it’s a harder pill to swallow when the Crusher ANC 2 cost £200. Having audio pause automatically when you remove the headphones and resume again when you put them back on is an extremely handy feature, and definitely something I’d like to see included in a hypothetical Crusher ANC 3.

I wasn’t blown away by the Crusher ANC 2’s active noise cancellation, either. It’s better than it was on the original Crusher ANC, but the improvement isn’t a massive one. Walking along a busy road, the Crusher ANC 2 cut out a respectable level of the background droning, but those tricky higher pitches still managed to worm their way through. Again, this would be completely forgivable on a cheaper pair of cans, but at this price I’d like to see better from the Crusher ANC 2.

Equally, the Stay Aware mode isn’t up to much. On the highest intensity, you can hear a decent amount of ambient sound filtered through, but it’s thin and very compressed. At a pinch you’ll be able to hear someone yelling at you or a car horn, but don’t expect to hold meaningful conversations.

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Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 review: Should you buy them?

If your interest in the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 leans more towards the ANC side than the Crusher, there are better options available for the money. The Edifier WH950NB are our current favourite mid-rangers, and only cost £180, but for the best noise-cancellation at this price, you’ll want to look at the Bose QuietComfort 45. The QC 45 offer excellent ANC, supreme comfort and, best of all, they’re currently discounted to just £209.

Both of those options lack the terrific battery life offered by the Crusher ANC 2, however, and the Crusher ANC 2 have the unusual and effective sensory bass function going for them, too. Furthermore, they’re very comfortable and offer extensive audio personalisation courtesy of the Skull iQ app. If all of that sounds more appealing than getting the strongest noise cancellation possible for your money, the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 are for you – pick up a pair and get ready to rumble.