Review
Here I am with another review. It's taken me some time to write this one.
Today I have the Skullcandy Crusher 360, which I will say is definitely an upgrade from the original Skullcandy Crusher Wireless I talked about quite a while ago.
There are some cons with this one, and I will discuss those, but let's start with the layout of the headphones.
The first thing to mention is that as far as the way they feel and the way they work, the Crusher 360 is quite similar to the original Crusher Wireless. There's the plus, minus and circular buttons on the right earcup which manage, in order, volume up, and if you hold down the plus button, skip track forward. The circular button will play media and if you hold it down, will activate your virtual assistant. The minus button lowers the volume and, if held down, will skip backward between tracks. Other than that, there's not really much to talk about on the right earcup. It's pretty simple and straight forward.
On the left side we have a button which, when held down, will power on the headphones.
There are voice prompts for power on, power off, connected etc, which sound exactly like the voice on the original Crusher. Also of interest on the left earcup is a swipe control which controls the haptic bass which is a lot more defined on the 360 than the original. Also, the mids and highs have gotten a boost so at higher levels the bass doesn't just sound overwhelming and terrible like the old Crusher. I'd still say I wouldn't use this headset to listen to classical music or anything very complex, but for metal and hip-hop, or action movies or audio drama, it's pretty perfect.
Now, a few things of note. Unlike the original Crusher Wireless, because the haptic bass is controlled with swipe gestures and because it's more powerful than the original, we lose ten hours of battery life, from approximately 40 hours per charge to 30. I don't know if this is really the biggest deal to anyone, but I thought I would mention it. Also, because the haptic bass is a swipe instead of an actual physical slider, we've lost the ability to control the bass when the battery is dead. You can still connect using the included aux cable which now has it's own volume slider, as well as a single-button media control, and power on the headset to control the bass, but if the headset is powered off you'll just hear the headset with no added bass, which is a pretty flat sound.
I had a lot of fun testing this headset. If you want to have the authentic feeling of going to a club and standing next to those woofers without having to actually go to a club, this is the headset for you. At $300 it's a little bit pricy when you think about the old Crusher Wireless being almost exactly half that, but it's definitely an upgrade.
As I said previously the mids and highs get a boost and for those who are interested in exact measurements, the haptic bass now will go as low as 20 HZ up to 100, which is an upgrade from the old Crusher's 40-75 range.
Also of note, the old Crusher Wireless came in a soft carry pouch, with a couple of small compartments to store the micro USB charging cable and aux cable, while the 360 has a hardshell carry case that's actually quite nice.
Now, how does the Crusher 360 stack up against headphones like the Nuraphone, which also has a haptic bass engine? I still say the Nuraphone wins that contest hands-down, because while the bass is slightly more powerful on the 360, the overall volume doesn't get nearly as loud and the Nuraphone can be used, I feel, for any kind of music you want to listen to. Of course the Crusher can also, but I really recommend using the Crusher for hip-hop and movies and/or audio drama.
IN short, I say if you already have the original Crusher Wireless, take the plunge, make the upgrade. It'll be worth it and you'll have a good time listening to your music on these headphones.