In Summary
They deliver perhaps the best, booming, and still high-quality bass you can get on headphones below Rs 30,000. And now they have got a massive price cut. If you are a basshead that values ANC, the Skullcandy Crusher ANC might be the cans you have been dreaming of! The audiophile and purist crowd might mutter about how too much bass drowns out other sounds, but if you love those booming, throbbing beats, this is a no-brainer. For more such stunning deals, follow our Bazaar Bargain hub.
The discount seems to be available only on the official Skullcandy India website, for other e-retail portals are featuring the headphones at a slightly higher price (generally north of Rs 15,000).
Rather expensive at launch…
Now, at their launch price of Rs 27,999 in late 2019, the Crusher ANC had struck as being definitely on the higher side. This was because although they did deliver booming bass and decent ANC, they were getting into the range of the likes of the Jabra Elite 85h, the Bose 700, and the Sony WH 1000 XM3 (the XM4 had not been released then, but we would consider them to be candidates as well), that did not deliver the same sort of thumping bass but generally came with way better sound clarity, design, and other features.
…crazy affordable now (for bassheads)
Cut that launch price by half to Rs 13,999 and the Skullcandy Crusher ANC suddenly get into a zone of their own. They are the only really high-quality bass over the ear headphones with ANC in that price zone. Yes, there are a number of other bass-heavy headphones with ANC at lower prices, but none of them can match the Crushers either in terms of bass or ANC. And that is because the Crusher ANC are part of Skullcandy’s famous Crusher range that is dedicated to delivering hefty bass without distorting the overall sound…well, not by too much anyway. The headphones even come with 40mm drivers and a special bass slider for what it calls sensory bass. If you move the slider up, you actually end up with the sensation of the very comfy earpads actually vibrating gently on your ears. The slider makes the Crusher range basshead paradise because they can really pump up the bass when they wish and revert to a more normal (albeit still slight bass-accented) listening experience otherwise. If you are the type who likes to fiddle with settings, you also get the option to tune the headphones using a special app.
Decent headphones otherwise too (Dat bass, tho!)
In addition to the dollops of bass, the Crushers ANC also come equipped with some very good hardware. The ANC on them is not in the class of the Sony, Jabra, or Bose class but is comfortably on par or better than most of the other headphones in the sub-Rs 15,000 category – we feel their ANC was better than the Sennheiser HD 458 BT, for instance. Battery life tops off at a decent 24 hours, which again would have seemed low for a higher price point but is right at home at its discounted one and also has support for rapid charging vis a USB type C port, and yes you can switch to a wired connection when the battery runs out. The headphones themselves are sturdily enough designed and comfortable enough to wear for long hearing sessions. They come with support for Bluetooth 5.0 and also have the Tile feature which lets you trace them from your phone in case you misplace them. The audiophile and purist crowd might mutter about how too much bass drowns out other sounds, but if you love those booming, throbbing beats that simply add so much life to dance floors and even explosion-ridden films and TV shows, then we really think these are a no-brainer at their current price. Incidentally, if you can manage without ANC and some of the newer touches, go for the older Skullcandy Crusher Wireless for Rs 6,999 at the same site! Get the Skullcandy Crusher ANC at Rs 13,999 from here Note: This offer was available at the time this article was being written. It might have since been removed.
