If you’re a bass head you have two great options to choose from right now.
Theres the Brand new Skullcandy Crusher ANC’s which have better performance and more features
than the Skullcandy Crusher 360’s and there’s also the Sony XB900N which are just overall
a great pair of Mid Range ANC headphones that also happen to have a lot of bass.
You can’t go wrong with either one of these, but depending on your needs one is better
than the other.
Now obviously the first thing a lot of people are going to take into consideration is their
price.
The Sony XB900N’s retail for $250 where as the Skullcandy Crusher ANC retail for $320.
That’s a $70 difference.
But these headphones have a lot of other important differences to take into consideration other
than price.
But if you want to pick either of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below and if you
want to learn more about either of these headphones please watch their full reviews cause we’re
only going to be going over the main differences here.
Now the first thing to take into consideration here is that the Sony’s come included with
a carrying pouch where as the Crusher’s comes included with a hard shell carrying
case.
Now when you’re spending more than $300 on a pair of headphones a decent hardshell
carrying case is to be expected.
So if you’re a constant commuter or student you can cram the crusher’s into your backpack
and not have to worry about them.
Where as with the Sony’s if you do plan on commuting with them I highly recommend
you use some of your $70 savings and get yourself a hardshell carrying case.
But now lets talk about fit cause this can be a differentiating factor for the majority
of people here.
Hands down, the Sony XB900N are way more comfortable to wear than the Skullcandy Crusher ANC…
and there’s a few reasons for that.
First off, the Sony’s are significantly lighter than the Crusher ANC’s.
The Crusher ANC’s weigh in at a hefty 310 grams where as the Sony’s weigh in at 250
grams.
You’d be surprised at how noticeable this 60 gram weight difference is especially when
you’re walking with these headphones on.
But also the difference in ear pads here play a big role when it comes to comfort.
First off, my ears feel less cramped with the Sony’s than they do with the Crusher’s.
And that’s cause the ear cups on the Sony’s are more spacious than on the Crusher’s
but they’re also slightly slanted so they rest more naturally on your head.
But also the padding on the Sony’s is noticeably softer and the their leatherette feels nicer
than the leatherette on the crusher’s.
So overall comfort wise the Sony’s are way better than the Crusher’s.
I think the Sony’s are going to fit most people just fine and you can wear them for
hours on end and forget that they’re there.
If you’re looking for a pair of headphones to constantly travel with or if you plan on
watching a lot of movies with them then I highly recommend the Sony’s over the Crusher’s.
Like I said in the full review, the Skullcandy Crusher ANC’s just aren’t the most comfortable
headphones out there.
You never forget they’re there and I constantly find myself having to readjust them.
Regarding tech specs, both of these headphones charge via a USB C port, and they both have
very decent battery lives.
The Skullcandy crusher ANC’s have an advertised battery life of 24 hours where as the Sony
XB900N have an advertised battery life of 30 hours.
Real world use I can go a week and a half in between charges with the Crusher’s where
as with the Sony’s I can go about 2 weeks in between charges.
But the Crusher ANC’s simply out perform the Sony’s when it comes to fast charging.
If you plug the crusher in for 10 minutes from a dead battery they’ll get you 3 hours
of playback time where the Sonys will only get you one hour of playback time from the
same 10 minute charge.
So yeah if you’re ever in a rush to go somewhere then the Crusher’s rapid charge can come
in clutch.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity both of these headphones can only be connected
to one device at a time.
Now Skullcandy claims that the Crusher’s can be connected to 2 devices at them same
time, but I haven’t actually been able to get them to hot swap.
But when it comes to watching videos with these headphones the Crusher ANC’s are better
than the Sony’s cause they don’t have any latency when watching youtube videos on
an iPhone.
But for everything else like Netflix, HBO, or whatever they’re both perfectly fine
wether you’re using an iPhone or android device.
Now regarding audio codecs if you’re an android user the Crusher ANC’s have APTX
support where as the Sony’s have APTX HD and LDAC support.
But its important to keep in mind you can only take advantage of those higher audio
quality codecs on the Sony’s if you use them with their stock EQ.
Other wise they’re going to revert back to SBC if you use a costume EQ.
Where as with the Crusher’s they use APTX no matter what.
But if you’re an iPhone user the Sony’s will use AAC no matter what EQ you use.
But now let's talk about listening to music with these headphones cause they are very
different.
Like I mentioned earlier these headphones are for bass heads… and the Sony XB900N
have way more bass than your normal headphones.
They’re going to rattle your head a little bit and they’re going to allow you to feel
your music.
But the Crusher ANC’s have way more head rattling bass than the Sony’s do, its not
even close.
The Crusher ANC’s are like having two subwoofers tied to your head.
They’re very fun to use and if you’re really a bass head then these are the headphones
to get.
But like I’ve mentioned in the past all of this excess bass does get old after while.
Now obviously you don’t have to use these headphones with their bass features turned
on but you do have more control over how the Sony’s sound compared to the Crusher’s.
With the Sony’s you have full control over their EQ settings and you can even have different
eq settings for different listening situations.
So you can make them sound how ever you want.
Where as with the Crusher’s all you can really do is just adjust the amount of bass
that you want using the slider.
Cause even though these headphones have an optimal EQ feature personally I just wish
Skullcandy would just give us manual control over the EQ settings on these headphones.
So if you’re someone that likes a lot of bass in your music, but you also plan on using
your headphones to regularly watch movies, listen to podcasts, or even listen to audio
books then I recommend the Sony’s cause of their more versatility.
Cause with the Crusher’s all of that extra bass is really just fun when you’re listening
to music and not so much in other situations.
But a major reason why I don’t recommend the Crusher ANC’s for watching movies with
other than their fit is that they have a constant hissing in the background.
Hissing that just isn’t acceptable on a pair of $320 headphones.
And this constant hissing in the background is very noticeable when you’re watching
movies with these headphones.
But when you’re listening to music you don’t hear that hissing.
Now when it comes to controlling your music playback the Crusher ANC’s are using physical
buttons while the XB900N’s have a touch pad.
Now all of this comes down to personal preference but the touch pad on the Sony’s is very
decent and accurate and easy to use once you get used to it.
But if you just prefer physical buttons then the Crusher ANC’s have your back.
But a major critique I have about the control buttons on these headphones is that they feel
very mushy.
And like I said in the full review, mushy feeling buttons on a pair of $320 headphones
just isn’t cool.
But now let's talk about the active noise cancellation and ambient modes on these headphones,
cause even though these headphones are meant for bass heads its really nice to have both
of these features.
It just makes both of these headphones more versatile.
Now the active noise cancelation on both of these headphones is ok but its not going to
stack up compared to the Sony 1000XM3 which are currently the gold standard.
Both of these headphones block out a good amount of constant low frequency sounds likes
road noise, which shouldn’t be a problem for a pair of decent ANC headphones.
But they do struggle to block out random higher frequency sounds like chatter.
But so that you can see for yourself we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
Like you may have just seen the active noise cancelation on both of these headphones perform
relatively the same.
But the Sony’s did manage to block a little more road noise and a little more chatter.
Just a little.
But more importantly, the active noise cancelation on the Sony’s has noticeably less cabin
pressure than the Crusher ANC.
With the Crusher ANC’s you do feel a little bit of pressure on your eardrums if you’re
not playing music or if you’re watching Netflix with these headphones with ANC turned
on.
Where as with the Sony’s you barely feel anything.
So for that reason, I do think the Sony XB900N have slightly better active noise cancellation
over the Crusher ANC.
Now both of these headphones also have an ambient mode where you can make your headphones
pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can be aware of your surroundings.
And an ambient mode is very useful for when you’re walking around the city or even when
you’re watching Netflix at home.
But objectively the ambient mode on the Sony’s is better than on the Crusher ANC’s cause
you can adjust how much noise you want to let in.
Now this isn’t a huge deal, but I thought I should point it out.
But none the less the ambient modes on both of these headphones sound natural but again
keep in mind the Crusher ANC’s are still going to have that constant hissing in the
background.
But something the Sony XB900N’s have the Crusher ANC’s don’t is quick attention.
If you fully cover the touch pad on these headphones they’ll automatically lower the
volume of you’re music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can
quickly talk to someone without having to take you’re headphones off like this.
And then when you let go of the touch the headphones will go back to normal.
So yeah, quick attention is great for like a quick conversation with a cashier or stewardess.
So with all of these being said, if you’re a bass head trying to choose between the Sony
XB900N and Skullcandy Crusher ANC… the smart and responsible choice is going with the Sony
XB900N.
They cost significantly less than the Crusher ANC’s, their Active noise cancelation is
slightly better mainly cause they have less cabin pressure, you have full control over
their EQ settings and they fit much better so you can comfortably wear them for hours
on end and use them to watch movies.
But if you’re really serious about your bass then the Skullcandy Crusher ANC’s are
the way to go.
Even though they’re not the most comfortable headphones out there, their active noise cancellation
is just ok, and the constant hissing in the background is incredibly annoying… these
headphones offer a completely different listening experience that the Sony’s just can’t
come close to matching.
These headphones will literally rattle your head and make your teeth chatter, but still
sound good doing so.