Skull Candy Earbuds

So right now I'm at work, desperately trying to work on payroll, as my boss and others carry on loudly about some drama regarding blue print changes. I asked my boss if i could borrow his headphones I had seen him using a week ago. So I grab them and plug em in.

I must, say I am amazed and impressed. I've always strayed away from earbuds due to all my experiences with them being "ARGH THE TINNY SCREECHING! KILL THEM WITH FIRE!" I always go for the big "ear muff" looking headphones due to their much better bass response. However, I can't believe what I am hearing right now. Full, non artificial sounding bass. There's no eq on the music right now and it sounds fantastic. There is a certain amount of hi end missing, but I don't know if I would want that many hi's right inside my ear.

I'm listening to psytrance right now (u-recken, great artist). The bass drum is pounding nicely but not drowning out the music (it's very nicely produced).

Anyway: If you are looking for some decent quality earbuds these things are awesome. I could see myself working on a track in some random place, an airport, etc where big headphones look awkward, and are an inconvenience to stuff in my already over stuffed carry on bag. All that really needs to be focused on is trying to keep oneself from upping the hi's too much when making a track (granted you can always mix later).

Obviously they aren't "go to" headphones for production, nor is it really good to produce music on headphones for too long anyway (though some of us ignore that, myself included).

Just thought I'd share a fun discovery. I'm certainly picking up some later today.

If anyone has other recommendations for higher quality ear buds like this, do share. I think these are around 30 bucks and they really are fantastic.

Sony MDR-EX500

JH Audio JH16 Pro

I was nicely pleased by my pair of Sennheiser CX 300-II ( http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/private_headphones_classic-line_cxseries_502737 ) . I use them as my 'walking to-and-from work' ear buds and they've got an excellent bass response and really clear sound for the price. Plus they block out a hell of a lot of external noise meaning you don't have to crank up the volume to actually hear the things saving your poor little ears ...

my opinion on earbuds is that for their primary use (usually with a portable media player) you don't need to go spending like £300 on some Shure in-ear monitors. just a decent set of earbuds will do.

that's my (probably) wrong opinion

  On 5/3/2011 at 7:05 PM, oscillik said:

my opinion on earbuds is that for their primary use (usually with a portable media player) you don't need to go spending like £300 on some Shure in-ear monitors. just a decent set of earbuds will do.

 

that's my (probably) wrong opinion

Aye agreed, for home use get yourself the best phones you can afford but for just going around town just get anything that sounds reasonable and is reasonably cheap when for it [inevitably] gets damaged.

  On 5/3/2011 at 7:13 PM, mcbpete said:

  On 5/3/2011 at 7:05 PM, oscillik said:

my opinion on earbuds is that for their primary use (usually with a portable media player) you don't need to go spending like £300 on some Shure in-ear monitors. just a decent set of earbuds will do.

 

that's my (probably) wrong opinion

Aye agreed, for home use get yourself the best phones you can afford but for just going around town just get anything that sounds reasonable and is reasonably cheap when for it [inevitably] gets damaged.

exactly...people are always dropping / losing / breaking their earbuds. i think it's smarter to get the right balance between disposability, cost, and sound quality. of course it all depends on how well you treat and look after your own property

The thing is (despite what it sounds like from what I wrote above ) I really do look after my stuff, but it's inevitable that when you use them every day in a busy city they'll get snagged on something, knocked on a wall, get pulled and generally fatigued over time. So even though I do look after them and keep them safely in my bag, after a while they will wear out... (I'm already on my third pair in about 4 years)

I though skullcandy headphones were for girls and wannabe dubstep DJ's?

  On 5/3/2011 at 7:58 PM, futureimage said:

Little and large.

my setup.

  On 5/3/2011 at 8:18 PM, soundwave said:

I though skullcandy headphones were for girls and wannabe dubstep DJ's?

I'd always understood it was a shit brand? Not sure where I got that opinion.

I use some sennheisers, probably the same ones discussed above, and I put them through the tumble dryer the first day I bought them and they still work. So that's a useful quality.

It IS a shit brand. It just made some earbuds that are ok for the price.

Skullcandy earbuds that aren't obnoxiously branded, that you get on sale, and that you don't give a fuck about losing because they're only skullcandy earbuds are the best type of earbud.

I just lost my earbuds (again) the other day, so I picked up a set of skullcandy buds on ebay for $6. Hopefully they will be better than the shit earbuds I lost. I have some nice sennheiser headphones for home listening, but I use cheap earbuds when I'm on the run. I lose/destroy about 3 sets a year, so anything over $10 is out of the question. I've been avoiding skullcandy becasue their marketing made them seem like they were targeted at pregnant teenagers. Thanks for the heads up.

yeah i go through headphones like there's no tomorrow.

what is a low budget yet reliable 1' or 2' 3.5mm extension? my phones just died and i got a pair secondhand but the cable is too short

Skull candies are shit. They will break if they fall onto a pillow. True story.

  On 5/6/2011 at 2:42 AM, MrSparkle666 said:

I just lost my earbuds (again) the other day, so I picked up a set of skullcandy buds on ebay for $6. Hopefully they will be better than the shit earbuds I lost. I have some nice sennheiser headphones for home listening, but I use cheap earbuds when I'm on the run. I lose/destroy about 3 sets a year, so anything over $10 is out of the question. I've been avoiding skullcandy becasue their marketing made them seem like they were targeted at pregnant teenagers. Thanks for the heads up.

If you would use your sennheisers on the run it would be much harder to lose or destroy them.

  On 5/6/2011 at 4:39 AM, Synthacat 9 said:

what is a low budget yet reliable 1' or 2' 3.5mm extension? my phones just died and i got a pair secondhand but the cable is too short

I imagine Radio Shack (they're still going in america right?) will probably have those sort of things for well cheap.

apple ipod earbuds do the trick.

but when im serious in listening to my music i use my over the ear sennheiser HD 201's

they're still going in america but it seems they're re-focusing their stores on cell phones- I went in one about 5-6 mo. ago and tried to buy a usb cable and it was $27 if I remember correctly. I was furious but ponied up like a sucker ):

  On 5/6/2011 at 12:33 PM, mcbpete said:

  On 5/6/2011 at 4:39 AM, Synthacat 9 said:

what is a low budget yet reliable 1' or 2' 3.5mm extension? my phones just died and i got a pair secondhand but the cable is too short

I imagine Radio Shack (they're still going in america right?) will probably have those sort of things for well cheap.

i miss Tandy :(

  On 5/6/2011 at 8:45 PM, Synthacat 9 said:

they're still going in america but it seems they're re-focusing their stores on cell phones- I went in one about 5-6 mo. ago and tried to buy a usb cable and it was $27 if I remember correctly. I was furious but ponied up like a sucker ):

you guys need Maplin

  On 5/6/2011 at 11:49 AM, Adam Beker said:

If you would use your sennheisers on the run it would be much harder to lose or destroy them.

You don't know me very well.

  On 5/6/2011 at 12:39 PM, chris moss acid said:

apple ipod earbuds do the trick.

Oh, hell no! I put apple earbuds on par with the earbuds they hand out on airplane's or the sets you can buy for $1 at Wal-mart. They are some of the worst sounding headphones in existence. ANYTHING is better than apple earbuds. I honestly don't understand how someone can pay $300 for an apple music device and then not spend an extra couple of bucks a some better headphones. Every time I see someone using those white earbuds, I cringe. They are a crime against music.

In other news, my skullcandy buds came today, so I've had the chance to check them out. These are the ones I ordered. My thoughts:

The bass response is indeed very impressive for a $6 headphone. If you like boomy bass in your earbuds, then skullcandy delivers. That seems to be their main selling point. Other than that, they are basically on par with other earbuds priced around $15 that I've tried (which is their normal price if I hadn't gotten the deal on ebay). The fidelity isn't anything to write home about, but perfectly listenable. They seem a little "hyped" at certain frequencies, which some people will hate, but I actually think this helps with cheaper headphones. It just means you don't have to use those crappy eq presets that most mp3 players have to make them sound decent. I've heard people complain about skullcandy buds breaking too easily, as tontonz mentioned, but reviews on amazon tended to indicate similar durability issues with most earbuds in the same price range (a problem which I'm very familiar with). The plastic housing on the skullcandies does seem a bit more cheap flimsy than other earbuds I've used, so this may become an issue. I'm not a fan of their typcal skull graphics and aesthetics, but I was happy to find the rasta colored ones on ebay, which I like.

The only other thing I didn't like was the fact that the frequency response changes drastically if their rubber inserts become unsealed from your ear cavity. This was only a real problem for me when I was trying to eat with them on, but it might be an issue for some people with odd shaped ear canals or something. I assume that all headphones that are inserted into your ear canal have the same issue. It's just physics.

All in all, as long as they don't break right away, I'm very satisfied with my purchase. For $6 on ebay, this is probably the best I could ask for in a headphone. Note that skullcandy makes several different models of earbuds, so the ones I reviewed may be totally different than the ones the OP tried.

I got some for about the same price. They sound better than iPod ear buds. It's nice not to hear people at the gym anymore too, but yeah they do seem to dislodge from my ear when working out. Not a big problem though - I just stick them back in.