The Crusher 360 is Skullcandy’s foray into premium headphones. Coming in with a price tag of $300, Skullcandy is laying its chips on the table to bring audiophiles a headphone that can change the way we listen to music. The audio company has patented an innovation it calls Sensory Bass, which will allow you to literally feel the bass when you’re listening to music. But is this a gimmick or is Sensory Bass the real deal?
The Crusher 360 is a well-built headphone. The headband is made from a thin piece of metal that offers it durability as well as flexibility. The earcups themselves are made from durable plastic and do swivel just a bit to give you a more comfortable fit. The earcups and headband are lined with plush memory foam and are wrapped in a tan, faux-leather type fabric. The tan color is complemented with a matte black color which makes these headphones gorgeous to look at. The earcups fold into the headband to make the headphone very compact and easy to store in the included travel case.
On the left earcup, you’ll find the power button as well as a USB port for charging the headphone and a 3.5mm auxiliary jack. On the outside of the left earcup is a touch-sensitive pad that lets you control the amount of sensory bass the headphone puts out. LED lights on the bottom of the ear cup let you know exactly which bass level you’re at. On the right earcup, you’ll get three buttons that let you control the volume, pause your music, and skip tracks. The buttons were easy to navigate as they were each represented by a plus or minus sign.
The headphone produced some remarkable sound. The low end came in with a very nice kick, while the mids and highs sounded very balanced. At high volumes, the highs did have some distortion to it, especially if you had the sensory bass turned up very high. The Crusher 360 doesn’t feature any active noise cancellation, but I did realize that even at mid volume, I wasn’t able to hear any outside noise.
Now the big feature of the Crusher 360 that make these a limited edition headphone is the Sensory Bass, and this is where I think the headphone really shines. By turning up the sensory bass, the headphones kick the drivers into high gear. Skullcandy calls it “Ultra-Realistic Audio” where you can feel it in your bones, and let me tell you, you can definitely feel it in your bones. It’s like having your own personal subwoofer in your headphone with bass pumping straight into your skull.
If you want a more moderate listening experience, you can turn the sensory bass to its lowest level. At that level, you’ll still get some impressive punch in the low end. But if you really want to feel and get into the music you’re listening to, then you’ll really want to turn up the sensory bass. Turning up the bass to halfway gave me that bass feeling of being in a car with a booming sound system. It comes to a point where it feels like you’re ears are being tickled. Now when I was watching a movie, I turned up the sensory bass to its highest level, and that’s when you really can feel what you’re watching. The feeling you get is basically the same feeling you’ll get if you’re sitting in a theater with a Dolby system or if you’re house has a home entertainment system. Rumble from the low-end like explosions and destruction really come alive. The impressive thing was that the bass didn’t overpower any of the dialogue from the movie. I was still able to hear them at the same time my ears were getting rocked. I will recommend that you don’t listen to any bass-heavy music at the highest sensory bass setting. Personally for me, at that point, the power being pumped out was just too much.
Final Reaction
For £300 the Crusher 360 is an impeccable set of headphones. On top of having a robust feel, a striking and elegant design, the sound it produces is just downright amazing. And when you start turning up the sensory bass, it starts to make your music just a bit more enjoyable. The Crusher 360 does have a pretty good battery life. A full charge will get you roughly 30 hours of listening time, and the quick charge is a nice little feature. Skullcandy has gambled on an innovative technology that looks to have really paid off, and the end result is a headphone that can make any music lover truly appreciate the music that they’re listening to.
