Skullcandy Aviator appreciation

[eortizr]

Quote:

What the hell happened here? Are we suddenly being fooled by the relative comparison to their other cans? The aviators, while admittedly better-sounding than most skullcandy cans, still sound like a wet fart. And frankly they look it, too. But I guess there's no objective measure for pretty so I'll let that one slide.
 
 
(And yes, I have tried them; my opinion is not based on the brand alone. For the stated price I was mighty disappointed.)

 
From what BestBuy has, the Aviators are the best option

, I just tried some $300.00 souls and the Aviators are beat the c@#$ out of those

 

[GL1TCH3D]

I tried them at bestbuy and wasn't particularly wooed by their sound, though, I'm a guy who spends 4-8 hours a day using my T5ps and headphones in the sub-200 range definitely don't match up. Also, the way they're displayed is the headphones play whatever the demo player plays, I can't connect the headphones to my own source to try. I thought they felt a bit cheap, similar to the rest of the SC line. I didn't like the padding or the pad shape though I guess it's not the worst you can get.
For 150 I wouldn't buy them. I've never had a good experience with SC. I've spent a good $200 on SC products and not a single one still worked after 3-4 months of normal use, and I actually take care of my stuff.

 

[eortizr]

Quote:

I tried them at bestbuy and wasn't particularly wooed by their sound, though, I'm a guy who spends 4-8 hours a day using my T5ps and headphones in the sub-200 range definitely don't match up. Also, the way they're displayed is the headphones play whatever the demo player plays, I can't connect the headphones to my own source to try. I thought they felt a bit cheap, similar to the rest of the SC line. I didn't like the padding or the pad shape though I guess it's not the worst you can get.
For 150 I wouldn't buy them. I've never had a good experience with SC. I've spent a good $200 on SC products and not a single one still worked after 3-4 months of normal use, and I actually take care of my stuff.

if you judge them by how they sound on the SC display you will be definitely disappointed (I was), but then I found another display where they were all by them self and I was able to plug my phone and play some FLACs, then I had to have them.  After 2 days of break in they sound really good.  I only paid $110.00 so is no that bad, still I got rid of them because of the poor isolation, but for quiet places they are really good.

 

[roma101]

Quote:

 
Can you point me to the thread or link where the isolation mod is?
 
Thanks

Hey here's that link, sorry I didn't see this till now!

 

[anoxy]

My dad just bought these so I figured I'd give them a shot. Holy crap they actually sound really good. Currently listening to Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" 

 

[williamsoft1]

The aviators are quite possibly the best headphones I have owned, however the one flaw is that the fabric protecting the cable keeps splitting. I have already had to have them replaced by Skullcandy, and the replacements seem to be going the same way as the old ones. Shame the cable isn't replaceable.

 

[anoxy]

What else have you owned?

 

[wnmnkh]

Now after more than two months of owning these phones, I can say:
 
 
 
It's amazing midrange alone makes these phones far more worth than the price it's asked for. Bass and treble are all there, tho bass can be 'dull' after while.
 
And unlike many other classic-head-fi-approved phones like M50 and similar ones, Aviators are really comfortable for long-time wearing thanks to less clamping force and better earpads as well.
 
For durability, I can't say much but judging from how they are constructed, they seem to be quite strong enough for modest abuses (also you can replace cables very easily, which is good plus and surprising feature for such phones in price range and focus targets).
 
They are not going to dethrone any good ones above 200-250 range, but for price of 150, they are quite good deal.

 

[NujaBlessed]

Quote:

Now after more than two months of owning these phones, I can say:
 
 
 
It's amazing midrange alone makes these phones far more worth than the price it's asked for. Bass and treble are all there, tho bass can be 'dull' after while.
 
And unlike many other classic-head-fi-approved phones like M50 and similar ones, Aviators are really comfortable for long-time wearing thanks to less clamping force and better earpads as well.
 
For durability, I can't say much but judging from how they are constructed, they seem to be quite strong enough for modest abuses (also you can replace cables very easily, which is good plus and surprising feature for such phones in price range and focus targets).
 
They are not going to dethrone any good ones above 200-250 range, but for price of 150, they are quite good deal.

i listened to them, would pay <50$, feels like really ****ty plastic construction that would get broken if i dropped them onto my bed. sound didn't leave an impression on me, i only remember some graininess throughout the spectrum and a cramped soundstage with no imaging at all.

 

[swiebeba]

So I just won these headphones (video game trivia finally paying off), and I'm having a hard time deciding if I got a bum unit or these phones actually sound this way. Mind you, I haven't burned them in, and this is an initial impression after 3 hours of listening to various electronica, alternative, and the Inception soundtrack (just for fun) from my iPhone. 
 
Going back to the idea of sounding like a wet fart, I can't really say that I completely disagree. The highs are almost non existent, and the lows seem sloppy and uninspired. The mids are certainly pushed center stage very aggressively, but its separation is so poor that it feels chaotic and unintelligible. 
 
I'm currently running these unamped and hooked up to my iPhone 4s, so while they may benefit from and amp, I just cant see myself using these in a fashion that doesn't take advantage of their iPhone connectivity. I think these cans would fill a nice gap in my lineup for quick office listening in between patients, but the sound just seems...off. 
 
So head-fi, whats the deal? Bad unit or just bum skullcandy sound?

 

[r22yu]

Sweibeba I have to completely agree with you about the mids.
 
I tried these out at "Headphone City" at Certified Radio. They were the worst sounding headphones out of the 25ish over the ear cans they had on display. The midrange was so mushed together that I have to agree, that "sounds like a wet fart" comment does match. I don't remember what the highs sound like either thought I could have just been too disgusted at the mashup of sound in the mids to notice anything else about them. I had to leave when the salesman came over and tried to sell me on them as a stylish and amazing sounding set.
 
I honestly thought Beats by Dre, and the Soul by Ludacris sounded leagues better than these. Not sure if they require a lot of burn in, or if they get blown out easily... but I always though Beats were bad and overpriced until I tried a pair of these.
 
... and yes they were that bad that in 5 years of browsing head-fi, my first post was to express my extreme disgust at these headphones.
 
(my daily phones depending on where I am are Sennheiser HD 555 / Shure SRH-750DJ / Sony XBA3 / Monster Turbine Pro Copper, so I think I know what a decent pair of phones should sound like).

 

[zandm7]

Firstly, if anybody's hating on these based on the display at Best Buy, please don't even bother. Half of the headphones on display at BB are broken from misuse, and even the ones that work sound like **** because the demo player they're hooked up to is ****.
 
I've owned these headphones for a year or so now. Love them to death, my only complaint is a general lack of isolation. And I've tried lots of good cans before, plus I'm a musician so I'd like to say I know what I'm talking about. I think that they are FAR from sounding like a "wet fart", to say in the least.
 
r22yu: If you think SOUL and Beats sound better than these then either you were listening to a defective pair or you have no taste. Sorry.
 
swiebeba: I would say you need to burn them in more. I was initially VERY unimpressed with my Aviators when I first got them.
 
NujaBlessed: The construction is fine. Obviously these are not going to break if you drop them on your bed...I've dropped them onto concrete and they were fine. And if you're claiming they've got cramped soundstage, then I suspect you've never actually given these cans a decent listen.

 

[r22yu]

Quote:

Firstly, if anybody's hating on these based on the display at Best Buy, please don't even bother. Half of the headphones on display at BB are broken from misuse, and even the ones that work sound like **** because the demo player they're hooked up to is ****.
 
I've owned these headphones for a year or so now. Love them to death, my only complaint is a general lack of isolation. And I've tried lots of good cans before, plus I'm a musician so I'd like to say I know what I'm talking about. I think that they are FAR from sounding like a "wet fart", to say in the least.
 
r22yu: If you think SOUL and Beats sound better than these then either you were listening to a defective pair or you have no taste. Sorry.
 
swiebeba: I would say you need to burn them in more. I was initially VERY unimpressed with my Aviators when I first got them.
 
NujaBlessed: The construction is fine. Obviously these are not going to break if you drop them on your bed...I've dropped them onto concrete and they were fine. And if you're claiming they've got cramped soundstage, then I suspect you've never actually given these cans a decent listen.

Maybe you're just a poor musician. Sorry.
 
Seriously though, comments like that are uncalled for. I was not saying the beats and soul were good, or that I would even buy those, just saying these were even worse than some headphones I would never buy.

 

[roma101]

Firstly, if anybody's hating on these based on the display at Best Buy, please don't even bother. Half of the headphones on display at BB are broken from misuse, and even the ones that work sound like **** because the demo player they're hooked up to is ****.

I've owned these headphones for a year or so now. Love them to death, my only complaint is a general lack of isolation. And I've tried lots of good cans before, plus I'm a musician so I'd like to say I know what I'm talking about. I think that they are FAR from sounding like a "wet fart", to say in the least.

r22yu: If you think SOUL and Beats sound better than these then either you were listening to a defective pair or you have no taste. Sorry.

swiebeba: I would say you need to burn them in more. I was initially VERY unimpressed with my Aviators when I first got them.

NujaBlessed: The construction is fine. Obviously these are not going to break if you drop them on your bed...I've dropped them onto concrete and they were fine. And if you're claiming they've got cramped soundstage, then I suspect you've never actually given these cans a decent listen.

Agreed with your sentiments, coming from another musician who is always looking for natural sound in a can. These scale BIGTIME with an amp as well. I only wish they had better isolation and BQ. Otherwise they were very impressive when I owned them.

 

[vertical]

A side note...
 
My local Best Buy has 2 headphone demo stations that are in completely separate sections of the store.
 
There's the larger display that's front and center after walking in. There you'll find the Beats, Skullcandy, Bose, etc.
 
In their home theater store-within-a-store that goes by the Magnolia brand, there's another headphone display with phones from B&W, Denon, Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, and others.
 
If your local BB has a Magnolia, be sure to wander over...