[Dongle]

Here's my supplemental review to the main reviewer:

The "bass slider" has 8 dots on it for visual reference. For me, the sweet spot is dot 5 or 6.

Despite housing a AA battery in one of the ear cups, it's surprisingly lightweight. However, if your hair is long (mine is) the headband tends to pull out hairs. The part that allows the earcups to swivel is the culprit.


The headphones I've compared these against are the Grado SR80 and Sol Republic Tracks. Both those headphones handle mids and highs better and have wider soundstages. I can't say that the 40mm drivers are terrible, but they're flat. However, the Sensation 55 drivers are AMAZING. They really nailed it.

Although you can feel some vibration in the headband and ear cups, it's very minor. I could wear these for hours without it giving me a headache or giving my skin a tingling sensation. What the vibration does do is translate into that low, deep rumble that you feel in movie theaters. When the bass slider is too high or two low, it's as if the "sub" is out of sync with the speakers. But if you can hit it just right (for me it's setting 5-6) then it tunes well and sounds like a home theater. I pulled up a Man of Steel trailer on YouTube and no headphone has ever hit those deep low's that a real home theater sub can hit.

What strange is that, in every other headphone, to get the bass to hit this hard you have to jack up the volume in a way that likely damages your ears. These headphones give you heavy bass at low volume. It tricks you into thinking you're listing to music far louder than you actually are. You pull off the headphones expecting some fatigue, but there is none. That's a brand new listening sensation.

I wish the 40mm drivers, not the "subs" (Sensation 55 drivers) weren't so flat. If Skullcandy releases a Pro or HD version of these with cleaned up mids/highs and makes the design less angular as to not pull out my hair, they will have made my favorite headphone. I hope every manufacturer starts incorporating dedicated "subs" into their headphones. It's sort of crazy that it took a company like Skullcandy to figure this out (no offense, but they don't have the reputation of Sennheiser or Shure).

As it stands, I will be returning these. I want to like them so much and make them my one go-to headphone, but the rest of the sound rage outside of the bass is just too lacking for me and I'm not so well off that $100 is trivial. 

 

[dawin09]

Quote:

Yes. Absolutely. I like rap, EDM, you name it. Lil' John and wiz khalifa tracks sound CRAZY on these headphones. That's exactly what they're designed for.

Thanks for the quick responses guys. However im not precisely Lil John o Wiz Khalifa fan, my favorites: 2pac, Eminem, Notorious, Nate Dogg, Dre, etc.
Dongle do you still think that im gonna love this headphones?, ill wait you opinion before buy them .

 

[Dongle]

If you can afford to have this as your 2nd pair for specifically rap/hip-hop, EDM, movies and video games, then yes. Get it. Its like having a desktop/bookshelf stereo system and then adding an active sub for the first time.

However, if you need one headphone to do it all, you'll be a bit disappointed. I'm new to the lingo so I'll try not to over-do it, but I'd say that the soundstage is claustrophobic. The mids are subdued by the "subwoofers", and the highs lack detail. It's not bad or tedious to listen to. It's just not rich like other $100+ headphones are. It sounds like a pair off off the shelf $30-$40 Sony or Panasonic whatever phones with a kickass powered subwoofer feature attached. If these headphones ever get drivers even as good as the Sol Republic V8 sound engines, they'll become my workhorse headphones.

 

[dawin09]

Thanks for your help, ill buy the skullcandy crusher and the skullcandy gaming SLYR, i like this page so much cause the people and reviews help me a lot 

 

[gamerich]

They're nice for massaging your ears with.

 

[Dongle]

Let me know what you think. I'm always weary of giving advice because I've always hated when someone advised me the wrong way, so I don't want to be that guy. 

But with these headphones, they pull a "trick" that is completely objective. I wouldn't trust myself to give a subjective impression of regular single-driver headphones because I haven't sampled a wide enough selection to really know the terminology first hand. But these headphones have an extra "woofer" in them that produces a completely new effect.

Years back I had a set of vibrating headphones made specifically for playing FPS shooters like Quake. It used two AAA batters that sat in a rectangular box right on the stereo cable. It was sloppy and really was like slapping a vibrating Playstation controller to your headband. These are totally different. They're "tuned" to feel like the tactile bass you get on theater speakers.

Do me a favor: Watch the Man of Steel trailer #3 as the first thing you do with these. You'll instantly see what I mean

 

[Heitek]

Quote:

Let me know what you think. I'm always weary of giving advice because I've always hated when someone advised me the wrong way, so I don't want to be that guy. 

But with these headphones, they pull a "trick" that is completely objective. I wouldn't trust myself to give a subjective impression of regular single-driver headphones because I haven't sampled a wide enough selection to really know the terminology first hand. But these headphones have an extra "woofer" in them that produces a completely new effect.

Years back I had a set of vibrating headphones made specifically for playing FPS shooters like Quake. It used two AAA batters that sat in a rectangular box right on the stereo cable. It was sloppy and really was like slapping a vibrating Playstation controller to your headband. These are totally different. They're "tuned" to feel like the tactile bass you get on theater speakers.

Do me a favor: Watch the Man of Steel trailer #3 as the first thing you do with these. You'll instantly see what I mean

 
So, do they still have the high-fidelity sound detail that they advertise, plus all that bass?

 

[Dongle]

No, I think an audiophile would puke in the sink over how undetailed the sound is. I enjoy the sound of my Sol Republic Tracks way more, but the rumble bass is fantastic for movies, tv, games, and dubstep.

 

[kyuuketsuki]

No, I think an audiophile would puke in the sink over how undetailed the sound is. I enjoy the sound of my Sol Republic Tracks way more, but the rumble bass is fantastic for movies, tv, games, and dubstep.

Yeah these are really not detailed at all. I wouldn't use these for critical listening. Movies, games, edm. That's about it. But honestly I prefer my m100s for those things (and a few others) and with a bit of eq so much more.

 

[Heitek]

Quote:

No, I think an audiophile would puke in the sink over how undetailed the sound is. I enjoy the sound of my Sol Republic Tracks way more, but the rumble bass is fantastic for movies, tv, games, and dubstep.

 
I'd say Dubstep needs a good detailed sound to sound good. Just a personal opinion.

 

[Dongle]

I recently got a Fiio E6 for $12 (it was part of a package deal on some IEMs I bought). I didn't think it would make such a difference! It makes all my headphones sound so much better (EQ 2, the blue LED specifically). I'm thinking the 3.5mm jack on my laptop has been horribly underpowered (it goes without saying that my iPod nano is).

So I tried it with the Crushers and here's my findings:

-For most any song I don't need to take the setting past 3-4 (out of 8). It's seriously excessive after 8.
-It feels like I'm listening to a THX movie in Stereo with a giant 20" down-firing subwoofer in the room.
-There is still a lack of detail and the soundstage feels as 2D as possible, but I could live with this if it was my only pair of headphones IF I had the E6 charged at all times.


 

 

[kc0444]

I think we should give these headphones a fighting chance.  I tested a pair that was on display and they sounded fine. I think that its due to them being a pair that everyone listens to so they have a considerable amount of burn in that might make the mids and highs more pronounced. Might just be me though. Compared to my sennheiser hd 429's which sounded good out of the box (I don't think I was the first owner as they were missing the quarter inch adapter). They're almost on part with them but of course with stronger bass. 

 

[kyuuketsuki]

Quote:

I think we should give these headphones a fighting chance.  I tested a pair that was on display and they sounded fine. I think that its due to them being a pair that everyone listens to so they have a considerable amount of burn in that might make the mids and highs more pronounced. Might just be me though. Compared to my sennheiser hd 429's which sounded good out of the box (I don't think I was the first owner as they were missing the quarter inch adapter). They're almost on part with them but of course with stronger bass. 

 
I totally did. I just said the midrange and treble were largely unimpressive, but not necessarily bad. They don't have the clarity or detail of other headphones in the price range, and they don't have the strength or forwardness either. Which makes them not sound bad, but rather unexciting. There is nothing really noteworthy about the mids and highs other than "They don't sound bad, but don't sound quite 'good' either." These are bass head headphones, and for what they are, they are quite good and extremely fun. If I was in the market for something like that I'd probably buy a pair. Unfortunately though, they really aren't my kind of headphone. However that doesn't mean that I wouldn't recommend them if I felt it was what someone was looking for in a headphone. 

 

[Dongle]

Now that I know more about sound and have more gear, let me add to the Crusher's impression.

The battery powered "sensation 55" drivers are essentially sub-bass dedicated woofers. This is an interesting approach; why not just use a really large 55mm driver to do everything? If driving it is a problem, build in a lithium battery to amplify the incoming signal...

The Crushers give the sort of tactile response you get from natural sounding large speakers. But your brain knows something is off because the sound coming from the 40mm drivers is flat, whereas tactile sub-bass is a result of a large quantity of air being moved and necessarily bouncing around the environment (and your body). This makes the presentation seem both fake and convincing simultaneously.

My current setup is an ATH-M50 + Digizoid and the sub-bass is nearly equal to Crushers. If I put my fingertips on the earcups, I can feel vibration like that of the Crushers. But the larger soundstage, crisp highs, and forward nature of the M50s sound superior. The Digizoid adds to the lively character of the M50. Then again, my setup costs $50 more than Crushers, and I bargain hunted. When/if you can pick up Crushers for $50, that'll be the sweet spot.

To me, they're headphones that pull a very specific trick and would be a great gift for a non-audiophiles / gamers. If they ever come out with a pro version that features a better sound signature, they could become the reigning basshead champs

 

[kyuuketsuki]

Quote:

Now that I know more about sound and have more gear, let me add to the Crusher's impression.

The battery powered "sensation 55" drivers are essentially sub-bass dedicated woofers. This is an interesting approach; why not just use a really large 55mm driver to do everything? If driving it is a problem, build in a lithium battery to amplify the incoming signal...

The Crushers give the sort of tactile response you get from natural sounding large speakers. But your brain knows something is off because the sound coming from the 40mm drivers is flat, whereas tactile sub-bass is a result of a large quantity of air being moved and necessarily bouncing around the environment (and your body). This makes the presentation seem both fake and convincing simultaneously.

My current setup is an ATH-M50 + Digizoid and the sub-bass is nearly equal to Crushers. If I put my fingertips on the earcups, I can feel vibration like that of the Crushers. But the larger soundstage, crisp highs, and forward nature of the M50s sound superior. The Digizoid adds to the lively character of the M50. Then again, my setup costs $50 more than Crushers, and I bargain hunted. When/if you can pick up Crushers for $50, that'll be the sweet spot.

To me, they're headphones that pull a very specific trick and would be a great gift for a non-audiophiles / gamers. If they ever come out with a pro version that features a better sound signature, they could become the reigning basshead champs

 
I still agree with feelings completely. As I said before these are the successor to the Skullcrushers. So I think they added the Sensation55s for just the reason of giving the rumbling bass. This is more of a gimmicky can, but one that will interest nonaudiophile bassheads that are looking for the sensation of being in a club.
 
The sound is lacking in that price range though and there are other bassy cans in that price range that do better. If you bargain hunt I'm sure you can get the ultimate basshead set-up for anyone's needs for under 150. But the general consumer wouldn't necessarily do that, nor would they want to carry around a bass enhancing amp, no matter how small it is (ZO2)
 
Also, adding in an internal amp seems like a good idea, but the problem is that would just increase the signal. Yes the same effect would be achieved but at much higher volume, I suspect Skullcandy thought of that, and decided against it due to it being dangerous to the consumers. They wanted a specific effect and they got that effect that works even at reasonable volume.