- Skullcandy -Method 360 ANC is wireless earplugs with Bose Sound
- 9 hours battery in the buds with ANC on, ergonomic fit in Bose style
- Available now for $ 99 / £ 99 (approx. AU $ 200) – The US Price will rise to $ 119
Skullcandy has just revealed its latest earplugs and they are a mashup with Bose, which I think looks like an incredibly good value for their launch price of $ 99 / £ 99 – though in the US it is just an initial introductory price and will rise to $ 119 officially.
The Skullcandy method 360 ANC knobs are real wireless buds that come in a really cool slide-out case with an O-ring to connect to your backpack or cool skate clothing (the press images appear to emphasize the skating).
The design of the buds themselves wears more than a passing resemblance to Bose QuietComfort Ultra earplugs, but with Skullcandy-like funky color settings. They have fins for a super-safe fit, and apparently this is “licensed technology from Bose [to] Help to ensure a perfect fit and block unwanted sound ”. There are fins of different sizes and ear tips to help get the most secure fit for your ear form.
When we talk about blocking the sound, they have active noise cancellation, with adjustable states via Skullcandy’s app and a ‘residence conscious’ review mode. Four microphones power ANC, and given the technique involved, it seems that Bose has also had his hand in here-dee can rank among the best noise-reducing earplugs on a budget.
Impressive is the life of the battery with ANC turned nine hours from the earplugs with another 23 hours from the case. It is far through most of the competition from even the best earplugs. With the ANC away you get 11 hours from the buds and another 29 from the case.
Now you can assume (as I did) from the ‘360’ name that there is some kind of spatial sound here. There is not.
Which is fine considering the budget, I have no complaint over-but it feels like Skullcandy already blasted the very good name it could have given the next gene version where it did Add this feature.
There is multi-point pairing, Google Fast Pair Support and Bluetooth 5.3 including Bluetooth Le Audio Support, so they are somewhat future-proof. There is no mention of Bluetooth Auracast support, but the version of Bluetooth here supports it so it may be possible in the future.
It is also a shame that there is no support, but I can live without it. There is very little to complain about or even small things that are often left out of budget buds are here, including IPX4 sweat resistance and auto-breaking wear detection when you take them off.
The color options are especially good. They are in order of how amazing they read: plasma, leopard, bones, primer and black. They are in order how cool they look: leopard, plasma, primer, black and bones.
If these have sound quality and ANC that match the BOSE partnership and the comfort we expect from Skullcandy, these look like they have hit a real value of sweet space and can rank among the best budget troops.
We have already had our hands on them and will give you some first impressions when we have had a chance to make some early judgments. They can be purchased from today.
