Skullcandy Venue Active Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones Review

TechRadar Verdict

The Skullcandy Venue offer long bombardment life and unique Tile integration but its average active racket cancellation, spotty connectedness, and poor build quality are allow downs. For the money, there are improve alternatives but if you lot accept a addiction of losing your headphones and like the mode, the Venue are a unique pick.

Pros

• +

  Tile integration

• +

  Long bombardment life

• +

  Counterbalanced sound

Cons

• -

  Poor build

• -

  Mediocre ANC

• -

  Spotty connectivity

Wireless headphones have come a long way and simply about every headphone maker produces a pair with active racket counterfoil (ANC). Skullcandy, known for its stylish and bassy headphones hopes to stand up out from the crowd with a singled-out feature in its Venue headphones: Tile integration.

For the unfamiliar, Tile is a product that you lot can attach to things similar your keys and then you get an alarm on your telephone or smartwatch if you go out them behind. If you have the habit of misplacing those, too, Tile can also make racket to help you find your misplaced items quickly. If that sounds like you, you'll be glad to hear that Tile technology is built correct in to the Skullycandy Venue then you don't need to go out and buy boosted hardware that can cost $25 (£22, AU$29) a pop.

While the Tile integration is great, only after using the Venue for several weeks we came away frustrated past its build quality and connection problems, which is a shame equally the headphones take stellar battery life and balanced audio, something we didn't expect from the company known for its bass-heavy tuning.

Ultimately, if y'all have a addiction of losing your headphones and like the style, the Venue are a unique pick - only, for the money, there are better alternatives.

Design

The Skullcandy Venue features a minimalist blueprint with barely any noticable branding, especially on the blackness model. Sure, at that place'due south a pocket-size Skullcandy logo on the headband but that'south it. The earcups themselves are smooth and overall sport a mature expect that doesn't look out of place in an part.

In terms of build quality, the headphone is fabricated mostly out of plastic only the false leather headband and ear pads help the headphone feel a bit more than premium. Unfortunately, it leaves a lot to be desired in everyday utilise as they creak and groan under stress. The headband adjustments don't lock firmly in place either so information technology'due south easy to accidentally move the headphones out of your preferred fit.

We have nix confronting using a plastic construction but the headband and forks should be redesigned to experience more than sturdy.

Controls for the Venue are physical buttons located on each earcup. The left earcup has a battery indicator every bit well equally the power and ANC toggle. Users can tap the ANC button to interruption music and hear the surroundings without having to take off headphones, which is keen in an airport or when ordering in line. The right earcup houses buttons for book, pairing, and music playback.

The bottom of the right earcup is also where you lot'll find the headphone'due south microUSB charging port and a 3.5mm jack that can exist used for wired way if y'all run out juice. It's disappointing that USB-C isn't used here simply Skullcandy is far from the only company sticking to the outdated microUSB standard.

The same Tile tracker is built into the correct earcup and is easily setup from the Tile app on your smartphone. You lot tin can locate your headphones either from inside the app or emit a sound and it works exactly similar other Tile devices. For both better and worse, this feature is exclusive to Skullcandy for now.

Performance

Nosotros were expecting the Skullcandy Venue to be bass heavy simply were pleasantly surprised past the relatively balanced sound - there'due south all the same a slightly warm tilt to the tonal rest and bass still hits hard, only neither are overbearing.

The resolution leaves a lot to exist desired and ANC as well introduces a hiss to the sound, which is noticeable when listening to music at lower volumes or with songs with silent passages, only nosotros're not talking about an audiophile headphone here.

While we were pleased with the counterbalanced audio, we were disappointed by the wireless connection. We experienced constant dropouts when walking around the city with our phone in our left pocket. The headphones had no problem staying connected at our desk at work but would inevitably skip when walking.

Active racket cancellation is average, helping to dull the outside noise but it'south not anywhere almost as effective as grade leaders similar the Bose QC35II and the Sony WH-1000XM3. There's besides no adjustability for noise cancellation so you only turn it on and off. At that place'south "Monitor Mode," which pauses your music and allows you to hear everything outside without taking off your headphones, but information technology'southward not quite the aforementioned.

Battery life is rated at 24 hours with ANC and Bluetooth turned off and our tests showed that number was relatively accurate with 22 hours of battery life with both ANC and Bluetooth turned on. If yous're low on juice or need to the headphones to final for a few days, yous can theoretically stretch that time to 40 hours when using the included cable and ANC.

When yous exercise run out of juice, the Venue has handy rapid charging, which gives you 5 hours of listening fourth dimension with but x minutes on the charger.

Verdict

The Skullcandy Venue is a solid dissonance cancelling headphone with a couple of serious problems: The wireless connection is weak, leading to skips when walking around boondocks and the Venue also feels cheap equally the headphones creak and groan nether stress of existence stretched out.

Compared to the Plantronics BackBeat GO 810, the Venue only differentiates with its unique Tile integration, which may not be plenty for some users. The BackBeat GO 810 sounds better, is built better, offers more than customization for audio, and improve ANC for the same price. Both headphones are made out of plastic but Plantronics makes their headphone experience much more than premium. If you want a competitor with a bit of fashion, the Marshall Mid ANC is besides splendid, just will price you lot a bit more.

• We also accept a round-upwardly of the best racket-cancelling headphones yous tin bank check out

Lewis Leong is a freelance writer for TechRadar. He has an unhealthy obsession with headphones and can identify cars simply by listening to their exhaust notes.

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Source: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/skullcandy-venue

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