Skull Candy Skullcrushers Consumer Headphones

Well after many months of debating I finally decided it was time to purchase an Ipod. So I went out and bought myself a 30 GB Ipod video. Upon my first use of it it was very evident that I was going to have to purchase a new set of headphones for it as the factory ear buds just didn't cut it.

Just to give a little background on myself...I consider myself a very picky intermediate level audiophile. Most of my time and money was spent setting up the best sound system in my car and house that I could. So now I was looking for something to impress me in the portable audio field.

After doing some research I thought I would give the Skullcandy Skullcrushers a try. The reason I chose these are because every other pair of headphones I have owned have lacked in the lower frequencies. I wasn't looking for anything to replace my current home headphones the Sony MDR-V600's. Just something to use on the go and at work.
I got the Skullcrushers home and unpacked them. The first thing I noticed was that they advertised that they came with a AA battery in the package. Well mine didn't. Not a big deal but in the grand scheme of things it weighed in on my final verdict. After getting them out of the packaging I had a tough time adjusting the headband. The hinges on the headband just seemed very stiff. I was scared to coerce them anymore because of the fact that they didnt seem to be made of a very strong plastic.

After finally getting the headphones into a comfortable position on my head. I was now ready to put them through their trials. For this test I was just going to plug them into my laptop and go through my music library to get a feel for these headphones. I made the mistake of not checking the position of the on/off switch on the bass amplifier, as it was in the on position. When I went to plug it into my computer a huge pop came through the headphones.

Once the music started I noticed that I wasnt hearing any bass frequencies at all. I checked the bass amplifier and it was on with the volume up, and it was a fresh AA battery. At this point I started to play with the on/off switch. After turning in back and forth 3 or 4 times it finally kicked in.

To me it didn't sound very good at all. I ran it through as much varied music as I could. They really seemed to feel at home when playing regular rock music, but as I am a heavy rap/hip hop fan I found these headphones severely lacking. These headphones really dont play anything below 80hz. Which isn't really the "Sub" frequencies, it's more like the "Midbass" frequencies. All bass frequencies really resembled a muddy kick drum and was very hard to get dialed in properly due to its very limited lower frequncy response. Coming for a guy who has 2 15" subwoofers in my car, the bass output of these skullcrushers just didn't seem natural. To me it seamed like Skulcandy was aiming more towards actually making you feel the bass as opposed to hearing it. There is not doubt that these headphones make you feel the bass, but only when cranked to the point that the vibration actually made me queazy. And the downside to having an external bass amplifier is that if the battery dies or you just get literally sick of hearing the bass, if you disable the amplifier, the overall flaws of the sound quality of these headphones become very evident.

So in conclusion...the search for a nice set of mobile headphones is still on. As these are being returned to the place of purchase for a refund.