Amateur Contortionism for the Audiophile (Skullcandy Lowrider)

Member Name: badhandshakes

Product:	Skullcandy Lowrider
Date:	07/02/09 (547 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Design, sound quality, inexpensive

Disadvantages: Tight around the head

My old Sennheisers bit the dust the other day, and in a mad music-deprived impulsive haze, I treated myself to a pair of Skullcandy Lowriders, having admired them from afar on trendy people's heads for quite a while now. The pair I got are dark grey and red, rather than silver and black like the picture- with bright red pads, skull detail on the outside of the earphones, and bright red wire!

They're certainly extremely attractive, and I'm a bit of a sucker for pretty gadgetty things, so they ticked the box on that front. They're an unusual design, cute and hardwearing, but not too bulky.

On the sound quality front I was actually very impressed- I was expecting a compromise between sound and aesthetics, but these certainly rival my Sennheisers, and I'd even venture to say that there's very little difference between these and REALLY expensive headphones- my mate Dan's £120 Bose ones spring to mind. They certainly do me, for general iPod listening, and watching films on my laptop.
One thing a lot of reviews I've read have commented on, is the noticeable lack of bass (not "base", folks!)- this is true, they're not ultra-booming bassy headphones. I don't necessarily want audio that makes my head reverberate, though, so I wouldn't view this as a disadvantage. If I DO fancy a thudding bassline, I just twiddle the bass boost on whatever personal audio device I'm using at the time, which alters the headphones sound accordingly. They certainly don't sound tinny without bass-boost though- just very clear, and not saturated in booming unnecessary noise.

Something these Lowriders (trendy name, eh?) have in common with my old pair of over-head Sennheisers, is their Rubix-cube skill in folding up in a quite bizarre way for storage. Whereas my previous pair had quite a logical system, of split/fold/pack away- these seem to be like some kind of lateral thinking puzzle, as the ear-part can rotate 90 degrees, as well as flip entirely and rotate 360 degrees around the headband. The headband can split and fold, in three different joints!
Despite my initial confusion regarding this yoga-esque portability, I do quite like being able to fold them away- having the earpads facing inwards means that they're less likely to get damaged in my bag (and from a previous review, you'll know what my bag is like... nigh-on lethal), and it makes them take up less room. What's best about this feature is that the flexibility of them once you start fiddling, doesn't compromise their sturdiness in normal wear. Bashing them isn't going to make them suddenly collapse in on themselves.

Which brings me to ANOTHER thing I admire about these headphones, especially considering they weren't all that expensive, is that they're not at all cheap and flimsy- yeah, they're plastic- but mega-durable with it. I like a pair of headphones that can withstand a few beatings, doesn't mind being sat on/thrown around/putting up with general wear and tear. I don't want headphones that I have to caress delicately and worry about scratching. These, despite being "fashion" headphones, definitely fit into the former group. The mock-leather padded parts are sturdily attached to the frame, the headband is thick and the joints are fastened with metal screws.

Comfort-wise, however, these headphones flop a little. I normally wouldn't get my knickers in a twist over this, because over-the-head headphones are notorious for squashing your ears and making you feel like you're getting brain damage, but Skullcandy make a real point of mentioning how comfy their products are, all over their packaging. If you were to swallow everything they say, you'd believe that wearing a pair of Skullcandies is like floating on a bed of cottonwool while being gently massaged by kittens.
More realistically, they're pretty average in terms of comfort- over an hour in them, and your ears do start to hurt, and you get that worrying blood-circulation-failure feeling. These are designed for a very tight fit, and fair enough, they don't wobble in the slightest however much you mosh, and I've even hung upside down in them over the edge of a sofa (for the sake of this review, of course), without them budging. They're action headphones! For running, jumping, climbing trees! But that tightness does get uncomfortable- in my case pushing the arms of my glasses right into the sides of my head in a nasty way. I mean, it's certainly not unbearable, but just don't believe their hype on the comfort issue.

I wear mine for a couple of hours a day walking to-and-from college, around the studio when I'm working, for watching dvds in bed at night, and occasionally for gaming, so if they can't be that bad. You'll just want to take 'em off and rub some circulation into your ears every hour or so.

Because of the tightness I assume, these are also VERY noise-cancelling, and although I didn't notice it at first, if you wear them, even with no music on, you can barely hear anything going on around you. So.... be careful on busy roads. The other side of that is there's also very little "sound bleed" (is that even a real term?)- ie, people on the bus won't be able to hear the loud offensive lyrics to NIN's "Closer" when you're sat next to them.

If you fancy a pair of these, I'd recommend some shopping around, because on amazon the same pair in different colours ranges from £18.50 to £36! Surely you can't want 'em in metallic orange that badly, eh? I got mine from HMV, rrp £32, on offer for £19.99. I think for that price, they're definitely worth it- surprising combination of funky design and nice audio too!

Summary: A "sound" investment. Ha!

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