‘Bose features at a non-Bose price, for the first time’: Skullcandy launches its most premium headphones ever and gets by with a little help from its friend

Skullcandy launches Crusher 1080 ANC, new premium over-ears
They mark the debut of three Bose-made features in a non-Bose product
Just launched and available right now, for $280 / AU$399.99 (approx £210)

It’s as I predicted: After we saw Skullcandy tease new headphones, the brand has revealed exactly the pair of cans I predicted. Meet the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC; they’re the pair skate legend (and brand ambassador) Tony Hawk is pointing at in the photo above — yes, that’s really him.

These are, according to the brand, its “best sounding product” (though interestingly not the most expensive, as Skullcandy’s Aviator 900 cans are slightly more expensive), and if you didn’t know, a 1080 in skateboarding involves three complete skateboard and body rotations performed either front or back.

As a new member of their Crusher line-up, part of the draw will be the adjustable bass (see the large dial on the ear cup), but there’s a lot more to celebrate besides that.

What we call a Bose by any other name would smell so sweet

Four different color models of the Skullcandy Crusher 1080, hung on a bar in a subway.

(Image credit: Skullcandy)

We’ve seen Skullcandy headphones with Bose features before, but the Crusher 1080 ANC is the first pair of cans not made by the brand to feature three specific features. And these three functions are one great selling point for the product.

The biggest will be the Bose QuietControl ANC, which is a massive draw within Bose’s own products (including the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen). The company’s noise cancellation is best in class, and now the proprietary Bose technology is also built into Skullcandy’s headphones. For many, this may be a reason to buy the Crusher all by itself.

Bose’s TrueSpatial audio with head-tracking (for surround sound profiles regardless of source material) and WaveForm sound engine (for fast digital signal processing) also step away from the Good Ship Bose for the first time with the 1080. These will be great little extras to refine and finesse what Skullcandy already offers.

And that’s before we even mention Sound by Bose tuning and SpeechClarity voice recording to enhance the music you listen to and your call quality. The latter is new to Skullcandy, but we’ve seen the former on some earphones like my beloved Method 360.

And what about the headphones themselves, beyond the Bose stuff? Skullcandy hasn’t confirmed the drivers, but I’d guess they’ll be 40mm and connected to woofers.

Battery life is 60 hours with ANC off and 50 hours with it on, which is pretty impressive; there’s a 5-band EQ and other features via the Skullcandy app (not Skull-IQ, which some of the company’s earphones use). Images show a dial on the side of the headphones, among other physical controls; I bet this is a redesigned bass slider, and considering how easy it is to miss this on my Crusher 540 Active, I appreciate the reconsideration.

Reading between the lines, and having tested the Method 540 earlier this year (a 540 is a skateboard and a half and body rotation done either front or back, which I can’t do), I get the impression that Skullcandy is going through a push to really catch up.

The company doesn’t seem to be abandoning the commitment to bass that has defined its products in the past (or its love of athletes as brand ambassadors), but seems to want to bring it into a better-rounded sound package with higher sound quality on offer. And if the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC is the culmination of this process, I am really interesting to know how they sound.

Tony Hawk with laser eyes, reading a newspaper and wearing Skullcandy headphones