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Should you upgrade to the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC or 720? I compared them to the old Crusher ANC2 and Evo
Aug 26, 2026 — 5:00 AM ET
Skullcandy’s new Crusher headphones, the Crusher 1080 ANC and Crusher 720, come out of two respective brand collaborations with Bose and THX. It’s been three years since the last Crusher release, so I put the new sets of cans up against the older Crusher ANC2 and Crusher Evo to figure out if it’s finally time to upgrade, and which of the two new models makes more sense for you.
Build and comfort
The Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC and 720 share a similar build, though the 1080 ANC uses more exposed metal. Its headband is mostly metal, with a metal accent on the bass adjustment knob. The 720 is almost all plastic on the outside, but it does have an internal metal frame.
Both new models are noticeably more comfortable than the older Crusher ANC2 and Evo, which are built mostly out of plastic. The Evo in particular has a rubber headband that tends to pull on your hair, which isn’t pleasant during longer listening sessions.
Weight tells a similar story in the other direction: the Crusher 1080 ANC and 720 both weigh around 350 grams, while the older ANC2 and Evo are lighter at roughly 320 grams. Even so, all four pairs feel more comfortable than their weight would suggest.
Battery life
Battery life is one of the clearest upgrades. Both the Crusher 1080 ANC and 720 are rated for over 50 hours of use. If your ANC2 or Evo has started dying faster than it used to, that’s a meaningful jump.
Compared to their original ratings, though, the improvement depends on which older model you’re coming from. The ANC2 was already rated for 50 hours out of the box, so you’re looking at roughly the same battery life there. The Evo was rated for 40 hours, so the new pair is a step up if you’re upgrading from that one specifically.
Controls and features
If you liked the tactile bass slider on the older Crushers, it’s still here in spirit. The Crusher 1080 ANC and 720 use a bass adjustment knob instead, but it feels close enough to the old slider that the change shouldn’t bother longtime fans. All four headphones let you personalize sound through a companion app, though you can’t carry over any custom settings from your old pair. You’ll need to set your preferences up again from scratch.
The new headphones also add spatial audio, courtesy of the Bose and THX partnerships: the Crusher 1080 ANC uses Bose True Spatial, while the 720 uses THX Spatial Audio. Neither impressed me much. Both modes made music sound like it was coming from a pair of small speakers placed inside a large tin can, roughly an arm’s length away. If I had to pick the lesser of the two, THX Spatial Audio on the 720 sounded a little less boxed-in and slightly farther away than Bose True Spatial on the 1080 ANC. Still, neither is a main reason to buy either pair.
Sound quality and noise canceling
Both new Crushers offer more bass depth than the ANC2 and Evo. Looking at the frequency response of the 1080 ANC against the ANC2 above, the sub-bass is emphasized all the way down to 20Hz, a range you feel more than you hear.
One caveat on the older Evo: our original measurements for that model are quite old, but based on that data next to our own measurements of the 720, the Evo’s bass depth is likely similar to the 720’s. So if you’re after more of that rumbling low-end sensation, both new Crushers represent an upgrade over the Evo, and by extension likely over the ANC2 as well.
Comparing the two new models directly, the 1080 ANC’s sub-bass gives you more of that low-end pressure you’d feel at a concert, so it’s the better pick if you specifically want harder-hitting bass rumble. You can push the bass even further on both models using the Crusher dial. Based on our MDAQS listener panel data, listeners are likely to prefer the sound of the Crusher 1080 ANC over the 720. We don’t have MDAQS data for the ANC2 or Evo, since both are old enough that we never ran them through that testing.
noise canceling is where the new Crusher 1080 ANC pulls ahead most clearly. The ANC2 was already falling behind competitors back in 2023, reducing outside noise by an average of 62%. The Crusher 1080 ANC reduces outside noise by an average of 81%, a real jump in how much of the outside world gets blocked out.
The 720 and Evo don’t have active noise canceling, but they still block some outside noise passively, just through the fit and seal of the ear cups. The 720 blocks around 56% of outside noise on average, versus 51% for the Evo. You’ll notice some improvement, but it’s not a dramatic one.
Is the upgrade worth it, and which one should you get?
If you’re coming from the Crusher ANC2 or Evo, yes, it’s worth upgrading. The Crusher 1080 ANC and 720 improve on comfort, battery life, bass depth, and noise reduction across the board. That said, the ANC2 and Evo do show up on steep discounts fairly often, which can make them a reasonable budget option if you’re not ready to spend more.
Between the two new models, it comes down to whether you need active noise canceling. The Crusher 720 costs $209, about $70 less than the $279 Crusher 1080 ANC, and gets you roughly 90% of the way to the 1080 ANC’s sound quality once you turn the bass knob all the way up. If you mostly listen indoors and don’t need ANC, the 720 is the better value.
If you want slightly better sound along with active noise canceling, I’d spend the extra $70 on the Crusher 1080 ANC, even if you plan to use it indoors most of the time. You’ll eventually want the ANC when you take it outside, so it’s worth having.
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