I let the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC rattle my skull for a week. The Bose tech was why I didn't quit

Bass lovers often bemoan the lack of options on the market that can rattle their skulls, but Skullcandy has been meeting this demand for years with its Crusher line of headphones. This time, though, there’s a twist: the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC packs Bose tuning, spatial audio, and microphone processing under the hood — the same partnership that made the Method 360 ANC earbuds such a standout value. Can borrowed Bose brains tame Skullcandy’s bass-first instincts? We took a deep dive for our Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC review.

What’s it like to use the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC?

The Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC is a very straightforward set of ANC headphones, with one notable curveball on the left ear cup.

Design

The Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC are a rather interesting set of headphones, built around a standard-looking chassis for Skullcandy products. The exterior is a matte plastic, with faux leather accents, and a control cluster on the right ear cup. On the back of the left ear cup is the dial for the crusher drivers — a set of drivers that increase the sensation of bass by giving you a tactile sensation corresponding to the content your headphones are playing. The louder the bass, the more these drivers rattle your head to increase the sensation. It’s quite convincing, if a bit overwhelming at times.

Underneath that plastic and padding is a notched metal band to allow users to get the right fit. At the base of the band is a swivel joint, allowing the headphones to lie flat, and two yokes that allow the ear cups to angle differently to meet your head. Together, these allow the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC to fold up for storage in the included lined bag. Though it’s not a hard case, this is more than enough to keep your headphones fresh when traveling.

Weighing in at 374 grams, these are exceptionally heavy headphones. Though the thick padding and wide surface area are enough to mitigate some of the strain of wearing them, this is well over the 300 gram threshold where many people start having fatigue issues. These seem to be headphones made for shorter listening sessions and not an hours-long gaming session or something.

Features

As far as ANC headphones go, the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC has a fairly robust set of features, owing in part to Skullcandy’s partnership with Bose for the headphones’ guts and firmware. The Massachusetts-based audio company granted the use of its tuning tech as well as its spatial audio for the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC. Additionally, the headphones have the requisite hardware for this feature to use head-tracking, which is cool. However, Bose’s spatial audio feature is a little different than other brands’ offerings. When you toggle the “motion” option, the head tracking is turned off and the headphones attempt to make the sound appear as though you were listening to speakers around you. With the “still” option toggled, it turns the head tracking on, and you hear your music as though you were listening to speakers directly in front of you.

In the Skullcandy app, you’ll find the usual complement of controls for ANC, device pairing, tutorials and more that most other ANC headphones have. But you’ll also see a digital crusher driver dial, a hearing test from Mimi meant to tune the headphones to your head, and a few other cards that allow you to dig deeper into the headphones’ settings and announcements. There’s also a five-band equalizer, along with a handful of presets you can choose from. The app wastes a lot of screen space on its content, but with a little work, you can find pretty much anything you’re looking for.

How does the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC connect?

As a contemporary set of headphones, the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC has a very contemporary array of connection options. Supporting Bluetooth 5.3 with LE audio, Auracast, Fast Pair, Multipoint, and Auto Connect, the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC should be able to handle most of what you can throw at it. If wired connections are more your speed, you can use a 3.5mm male-to-male cable for analog sources. These headphones are easy to power, too, so you can plug straight into a phone or laptop and get the best out of them — no extra equipment needed.

I didn’t have any issues with dropouts or pairing problems, but just be aware that you can factory reset the headphones by pressing down the power button too long. It’s not a bad thing — and you likely won’t lose anything important in the process — but this can also solve some firmware gremlins should you encounter them.

How long does the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC’s battery last?

Using our standardized battery test protocol, the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC was able to last 50 hours and 20 minutes with the noise cancelation enabled, actually edging past Skullcandy’s 50-hour claim. Skullcandy claims that a 10-minute charge will grant you up to 4 hours of listening time, and I’m inclined to believe that. One, because headphone batteries typically aren’t as big as your cell phone’s, and two, because typical chargers tend to be fastest when the cell is below 80% charge. Though the headphones support rapid charging, it will be hard to tell the difference between that and a standard charging rate anyway.

How well do the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC cancel noise?

With a good fit, the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC does a decent job at isolating users from outside noise. Though the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC can attenuate up to 81% of outside noise with the ANC on, it still blocks out up to 67% of junk sounds by perceived loudness when the unit is disabled. That’s pretty good, even if it’s more or less standard in 2026.

I was able to have a relatively noise-free experience on Vancouver’s SkyTrain, though I’ve yet to meet headphones that can completely delete the loudest screeches. However, I will point out that the tuning of the headphones also crushes the perceived loudness of low-frequency noise around you, simply because it makes your music so loud in that range at any volume.

How do the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC sound?

These are not simply headphones. The Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC is a less-expensive set of Bose headphones with extra bass cannons folded into the chassis.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Can you use the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC for phone calls?

Yet another of the enhancements Skullcandy licensed from Bose is the microphone processing. But is it any good? Listen for yourself below:

Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Should you buy the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC?

Though I don’t think that the marketing is accurate when Skullcandy insists that the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC is the best set of headphones under $300: it’s not a bad buy — just tailored for the basshead and not most people. However, I will point out that unless you’re really addicted to getting that tactile sensation of bass, there’s plenty out there that does just fine — better even — at the same price. Personally, I’d encourage people to check out the Nothing Headphone (a) ($199 at Amazon) instead of the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC if they’re on a budget, as the battery life is stellar, ANC is fairly close to the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC, and still plenty bassy.

If you don’t care about the crusher drivers too much, take a look at the Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus ($217.95 at Amazon), Sony ULT WEAR ($199.99 at Amazon), or even the Bose QuietComfort Headphones ($349 at Amazon). You may also be able to snag the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless ($289.23 at Amazon) now that it’s been replaced by the MOMENTUM 5 Wireless ($569.95 at Amazon) — or even suck it up and pay for the upgrade there.