Premium True Wireless in-ears with very good sound and efficient… Be the first to pre-order new product, hear about deals, and catch our exclusive fan offers, competitions and much more. Get sneak previews of special offers & upcoming events delivered to your inbox. The Boeing Store is the official source for authentic aviation merchandise & gifts, space & aircraft collectibles, plane models, men’s & women’s apparel, travel gear, and STEM toys. Part of the comfort comes from how light they are, but also because they sit loosely on the top of my head.
The Skullcandy Hesh ANC are fine noise canceling headphones for their price. You get effective active noise canceling, decent battery life, fairly muted aesthetics, and a comfortable build. Although microphone quality could be better, that’s par for the course in this price bracket. The sound profile will mainly appeal to bass heads and those willing to mess with a third-party EQ app, but it’s a small price to pay for an otherwise complete package. In ANC mode, a slight background noise is perceptible, but otherwise, the noise-cancelling really doesn’t do a bad job, as outside noises are reduced over a relatively large range.
Having powerful bass and treble with low mids is often referred to as a v-shaped tuning, and is common on cheaper headphones. Hefty bass is a staple in the Skullcandy audio family, with exier sets like the Crusher Evo offering multiple levels of bass. Unfortunately in this case it makes for an underwhelming audio experience, one that could be fixed if the headphones had a customisable EQ. Distortion falls under good limits at a normal listening volume, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. However, there’s quite a bit of distortion present at max volume.
They’re engineered with just the right amount of added features to make your life a little easier. The 40mm drivers deliver bright and energetic audio for the most part. At times vocals did get drowned out though, and you couldn’t always hear every instrument coming through, like in Pencil Full of Lead by Paolo Nutini, which was a little muddied in places. Our friends at Skullcandy sent me the latest from this lineup with the Hesh ANC wireless headphones.
Only in the high-frequency range does the effectiveness diminish somewhat so that a discreet whisper of a boiling kettle remains detectable. Pounding rain and the rumble of thunderstorms, on the other hand, are barely audible, while construction and street noise, as well as background voices, are clearly attenuated. The sound also seems slimmer as the bass content is reduced, and this lowers the playback volume somewhat. This sound change is not noticeable in Ambient Mode, which is impressive except for the background noise.
I did find that it wasn’t that different to have the noise-cancelling switched off entirely but still it’s a nice feature to have included, especially in an office environment. This skullcandy hesh anc review is aimed at those who don’t want to spend hundreds on a pair of the best noise-cancelling headphones – these are cheap and surprisingly good. Up to a certain register, the treble balances out well with the bass, but as the high-notes get higher the audio begins to reverb and squeal. Portishead’s “Humming” is a cacophony of treble which was tiresome to listen to through the Hesh ANC. I know that candy can hurt your teeth but I wasn’t expecting it from Skullcandy headphones.
The integrated mic does a decent job of capturing your voice, although it sounds a bit thin and dark. It also struggles to separate speech from moderately loud environments, so it’s better suited for taking calls in a quiet space like a room. That said, they have an active noise cancelling feature that can help reduce some ambient noise around you. The primary place the Skullcandy Hesh line falls short of the exclamations is that superior sound. Yes, the Hesh ANC features the same 40mm drivers and 20 Hz-20 kHz frequency range as its older Crusher cousin.
The middle button lets you play or pause music as well as answer or end calls. If you press this button twice, you can activate voice assistant. There’s also a circle button, which turns the ANC on and off.
However, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem being understood by whoever’s on the other end of the line. Although they have an ANC feature, it can amplify some bass-range noise like the rumble of a bus engine around you. It does a better job of reducing ambient chatter and the hum of an AC unit. The skullcandy wireless are satisfactory for sports and fitness. They have a stable and decently comfortable fit while their wireless design makes it harder for something to snag them off your head.