If you’re a bass head then both the Sony XB900N and the new Skullcandy Crusher Evo’s
are great options to choose from. But these headphones are very different one another…
and I like to think that the Sony’s are better suited for the responsible and logical
bass head… and the Crusher Evo’s are better suited for the I don’t care, give me all
you’ve got bass heads. So if you’re a bass head trying to decide between these two
headphones, lets see which ones right for you.
Now when it comes to price these headphones are fairly similar to one another. The Crusher
Evo’s have a retail price of $200 which I think isn’t too bad where as the Sony’s
have a retail price of $250. But these headphones can routinely be found on sale for $178. And
bass head or not these are still one of my favorite pair of mid tier ANC headphones to
recommend. But nonetheless if you want to pick either of these headphones up they’ll
be linked down below.
Now first off lets talk about cases… both of these headphones come included with carrying
pouches. So if you do plan on traveling a lot with either of these headphones I do recommend
that you invest in a hardshell case. But regardless the Crusher Evo’s come included with a much
more durable pouch than the Sony’s. The outside is thicker, the inside is lined with
thicker fake fur and there are even dedicated pockets for your cables. And in Skullcandy
has always really knocked it out the park when it comes to carrying pouches.
Now when it comes to the headphones themselves… both of these headphones have good build quality.
They’re both fully collapsable, they both have a good click to them when you extend
their headband, and they both have zero cracking or squeaking whenever you handle them or flex
them. But when it comes to their materials… the Sony's have a mostly textured plastic
body. Now there’s nothing wrong with having a mostly plastic body but the Crusher Evo’s
do feel way more premium when you’ve got them in your hands. The majority of the body
on the Evo’s has a soft touch feel to it, the top of their headband has a hit of alcantara,
underneath the headband there’s padded silicon and when we get to the ear pads… the crusher
Evo’s have way better feeling leatherette than the Sony’s. The leatherette on the
Evo’s feels much smoother and supple and there’s even a slight grain to it which
is nice. Where as the leatherette on the XB900N’s feels decent but it just doesn’t feel as
luxurious as the leatherette on the Evo’s. So when it comes to build quality the Crusher
Evo’s feel way more premium than the Sony XB900N.
But when it comes to fit… thats a whole other story. Plainly said, the XB900N’s
are way more comfortable than the Crusher Evo’s for multiple reasons. First off when
it comes to clamping force even though both of these headphones are big head approved,
the Sony’s have way less clamping force than the Evo’s. The Sony’s have a loose
fit where as the Evo’s have a firmer fit. And when it comes to weight, since the Sony’s
weigh in at 254 grams they’re much easier to forget that you have on. Where as the Evo’s
weigh in at a hefty 310 grams so you never forget that you have these headphones on and
you really notice them when you’re walking around with them on. And when it comes to
the padding on these headphones… the Sony’s have much better padding as well. First off
since the Sony’s have a good amount of soft padding underneath their head band, this headband
don’t create a hot spot on the top of your head which is super important for long use
sessions. Where as since the silicon padding on the Evo’s is much stiffer this headband
does like to create a hot spot at the one hour mark. I can muscle through it but at
the hour and half hour mark is when I start to either shift this headband back and fourth
or I’ll just take these headphones off and take a 5 minute break. And when it comes to
the ear pads… the ear pads on the Sony’s are way more spacious than the ear pads on
the Evo’s. The ear pads on the Evo’s are very cramped even for my average sized ears.
Where as the Sony’s should be able to fit most people just fine. So over all if you’re
looking for a pair of headphones to wear for hours and hours on end the Sony’s are the
obvious choice here. They have less clamping force, they’re much lighter making them
easier to forget that you have on, their headband doesn’t create a hot spot on the top of
your head and their ear pads are much roomier. Where as the Evo’s are really only good
for an hour long listening session.
Now when it comes to tech specs both of these headphones charge via a USB C port as they
should. And when it comes to battery life the crusher Evo’s have and advertised battery
life of 40 hours where as the Sony’s have an advertised battery life of 35 hours with
their ANC turned on. But you can always stretch out the battery life on these headphones if
you use them with their ANC turned off. And also keep in mind the battery life on the
Evo’s really is dependent on how you use them. More bass means less battery life, and
less bass mean more battery life.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity, both of these headphones can only be connected
to one device at a time. So if you’re power user you’re not going to be able to hot
swap from one device to another. Now ultimately its not huge deal if your headphones have
simultaneous multi device connectivity but it is nice to have.
But more importantly when it comes to watching movies or videos on your phone both of these
headphones have zero latency across the board whether you're using an iPhone or android
device. But when it comes to audio codecs the Evo’s only have support for SBC and
ACC. Where as the Sony’s have support for SBC, AAC, APTX, and APTX HD… and they also
have support for LDAC which is Sony’s own high res audio codec.
Now if you’re an iPhone user this doesn’t really matter cause iPhone top out at AAC
anyways… and like we’ve seen with Sony’s newer headphones like the 1000XM4’s and
H.ear On 3’s, sony is phasing out APTX support on their newer headphones in favor of LDAC.
But still if you want to use a wired connection with either of these headphones you still
can cause they both still have an easy to reach 3.5 millimeter audio jack.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these headphones… even though both
of these headphones are bass head headphones… these headphones sound and perform very differently
from one another. Now the Sony’s have a fully customizable EQ so you can make them
sound how ever you want. And you can have different preset EQ settings for different
listening situations. But I know what you’re really wondering about here is the bass. Now
the XB900N’s have way more head rattling bass than your average pair of headphones.
And like ive mentioned in the past, having the clear bass slider on the 1000XM4’s set
to ten is like having the bass on the XB900N set to 4. With the XB900N’s you are definitely
going to feel the bass in your music. But bass isn’t everything, with the XB900N’s
you are going to get the better instrument separation and the better clarity. Now ill
admit having all of the extra bass on the Sony’s is a lot of fun… but having a lot
of bass can get old after awhile so with the Sony’s if you want to switch it up and go
for a neutral EQ for awhile you can do that and you’re also going to enjoy better clarity
and better instrument separation.
Where as with the Crusher Evo’s these headphones are all about bass. Plainly said the bass
on the XB900N doesn’t come anywhere near the Evo’s. The XB900N’s will rattle your
head, but the Evo’s are going to rattle your head so much that your teeth are going
to chatter to the point where you’ll might chip a tooth. Okay thats a little exaggerated
but the bass on these headphones is insane. Now the bass on the Evo’s is tight and well
managed. It doesn’t roll of like the original crushers and it doesn’t muddy up your music
which is good. The bass on the evo’s is more like getting punched by your headphones
cause this bass is actually very precise. Now the evo have your standard 40 millimeter
drivers just like the XB900N’s but what makes the Evo’s special is that they have
a separate pair of drivers that put out the bass on these headphones essentially acting
as vibration motors. Now essentially these headphones are all about bass and vocals cause
the instrument separation and sound stage on these headphones isn’t the best. But
quite honestly you’re not really going to care cause the bass on these headphones is
just over whelming and distracting. And besides you’re here for the bass. And in that case
the bass on the Evo’s will over deliver.
So over all when it comes to sound quality the Sony XB900N’s are far more versatile
than the Crusher Evo’s because they have more than enough head rattling bass to satiate
your average user but thanks to their fully customizable EQ they can also be used for
different listening situations or if you’re taste changes than the Sony’s can keep up.
Where as the Crusher Evo’s are a one trick pony. These headphones are all about bass
and they have way more and much more dramatic bass than the Sony’s. Now even though the
Evo’s are a one trick pony they’re an insane amount of fun. With the evo’s you
can’t help but grin when you’re using these headphones. Now even though yeah these
headphones do have a few preset EQ setting to choose from and they do have personalized
audio… personally I would still prefer if these headphones just had a fully customizable
EQ like the Sony’s.
Now like I mentioned in the Crusher Evo’s full review, even though these headphones
are a lot of pure dumb fun these headphones are better suited as a pair of secondary headphones.
Since the evo’s aren’t as comfortable as the Sony’s they aren’t the best for
commuting for or for long use sessions and the evos are also lacking active noise cancellation.
Now even thought the XB900N’s don’t block out a tremendous amount of noise at least
it is something. But so that you can see for your self we’re going to jump into an ANC
test.
So obviously the 1000XM4’s block out way more noise than the XB900N’s thats a given.
But I do want to point out like ive mentioned in the past, the entry level WH-CH710N’s
actually manage to block out a little more noise than the XB900N’s. Now I didn’t
include them in this ANC test for time but given that the XB900N’s are the oldest headphones
in Sony’s current headphones lineup as of late 2020 their ANC isn’t as effective as
newer ANC headphones cause the XB900N’s came out in the summer of 2019. Regardless,
the ANC on the XB900N’s is still good cause it doesn’t have any cabin pressure which
is important for comfort, and it doesn’t change how your music sounds. So even though
the ANC on the XB900N’s isn’t as affective as newer 2020 ANC headphones, the ANC on the
XB900N is still useful and its a feature the Evo’s just don’t have.
Now another feature the Evo’s don’t have is an ambient mode… where as the Sony’s
do. And the ambient mode on these headphones is really good. It sounds very natural with
zero hissing in the back ground… you can adjust how much noise these headphones let
in and this microphone array does a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking
out doors. Now im fully aware that the Evo’s bigger brother the the Crusher ANC’s also
have an ambient mode… but im not a fan of their ambient mode cause this ambient mode
has a constant hissing the background which is distracting the they like to pick up a
lot of wind noise when walking outdoors. But also, the sony’ shave quick attention where
is you fully cover their touch pad they’ll lower the volume of heir music and pump in
all of the ambient sound around you like this.
And then when you let go the headphones will go back to normal again. But something the
crusher Evo’s do have over the Sony’s is that they have tile support. Now personally
I would prefer if these headphones had ANC and or ambient mode but tile support can always
come in hand if lets say you lose your back pack on campus or while you’re commuting.
And finally here’s the microphone test. Now the microphone on either of these headphones
isn’t the best but I do feel the microphone on the Sonys is better than the Evo’s. Now
neither of these headphones do all that great of a job blocking out ambient noise
Cause with both of these headphones you can clearly hear that AC unit in the background.
But with the XB900N’s my voice does sound a little more natural cause this microphone
doesn’t have so much amplification going on.
Cause with the evo’s there’s is a considerable amount of amplification going on and also
there is a slight hissing in the background.
So with all that being said, like I said at the top of this video. Both of these headphones
are great bass head headphones but these headphones are very different from one another. The Sony
XB900N’s are the logical and responsible choice here. These headphones are way more
comfortable than the Evo’s so you can wear them for hours on end without any problems
and they have active noise cancellation and an ambient mode making them far more versatile
for different situations. And when it comes to their sound, if you wanna feel your music
then the bass on these headphones definitely have you covered but thanks to their fully
customizable EQ you can have them set for different listening situations or if your
tastes changes than these headphones can keep up. And besides from a performance standpoint
these headphones have far better clarity and instrument separation. The Sony XB900N are
not just a great pair of bass head headphones… they can also easily serve as your daily drivers.
So these are the better long term investment here. Where as with the Skullcandy Crusher
Evo’s these are better suited as a pair of secondary headphones. These headphones
aren’t the most comfortable and since they lack Active noise cancelation or an ambient
mode they aren’t the best for commuting. And these also aren’t the best sounding.
But the bass on these headphones is truly insane and it just pure dumb fun. Quite honestly
when you listen to music with these headphones you can’t help but grin from ear to ear.
And also there’s the fact that these headphones do feel much more premium in your hands cause
of their soft touch body, alcantara and silicon underneath their headband and their better
feeling leatherette.