For music junkies like me, losing a pair of headphones is almost traumatic. In my case, my newest pair of iFrogs were eaten by my French Bulldog. After a long rant and some frustrated sighs I got over it with no real harm done (aside from the inability to block out society).
It was a week before I was able to go the Best Buy and Get a new pair (a painfully boring week). When, in the store, looking for my music’s newest form of transportation into my brain, I came across a pair of Skull Candy Smokin’ Buds. Being the nerd I am I knew Skull Candy made some great headphones, so I threw down the $30.00 for them (well 29.99) and took them home to try them out.
The First thing I notice was the super-sleek design. When looking at the ‘buds’ you see the top of the cords wraps around the back of the headphone for a very unique appearance. The Entire cord, from devise’s gold plated jack to the ear, is flat. This is nice in style and seems very sturdy, but slightly hard to manage. I was using my WP7 Samsung Focus with Zune player for all of my music. It was very hard dealing with other apps on the phone without the headphone cord getting in the way. I eventually started wrapping the cord around the middle finger on the hand I was holding the phone with.
The headphones, over all, sounded great. I never experience any poor sound quality. In a few cases, on some soft rock, the instrumentals washed out the lyrics slightly. This did not by any means make it hard to listen to. When listening to a pod cast, one of the commentators kept hitting his S’s very sharply and it took a few minutes to get used to. Most things came across very clear and crisp
When listening to heavy metal (my music of choice), the fast pace didn’t slur a beat. On country, the voices were very clear, and the music was very direct and easy to listen to. Though all the music was above average; I found rap and other bassy music to be highly enjoyable.
Bass is truly where these earpieces shine. Listening to music with a lot of bass was an interesting experience. Somehow Skull Candy has managed to produce bass, mids and treble through one speaker with clear definition between the three. Unlike most speakers, none interfered with another.
Turning the volume up, surprisingly, doesn’t sacrifice clarity. It wasn’t until they were almost maxed out (which is relative to the listening devise) that I started to hear a little distortion. This came long after what I would consider ‘too loud’.
Overall, Skull Candy Smokin’ Buds are a great pair of headphones for moderate listeners. Their sleek yet durable design is worth the $30 but any more and I would have to pass them up. Though I am very pleased with the sound on all music, bass is where the speakers really show their quality. I would definitely recommend these to anyone looking for something short of over-ear headphones.