Skullcandy HESH

...look cool. The market that Skullcandy have created with stylish headphones is admirable, and putting them on can make anyone look a little bit more trendy. So a big thumbs up in this department.

Now, in terms of value for money, these things have been a bit confusing for me. I picked them up on play.com for £18 last year (the price has gone up since then, presumably these were discounted). However one of my friends, who was buying almost ...
...zebra print ones (I plumped for the black) for around £40. So I think it depends on the price you get them for really. For £18 they have been great.

And the most important aspect, the sound. It's fantastic. That's no exaggeration, these really opened my eyes. Songs sounded so much clearer and bassier, without sounding overly thumpy. So yes, if your looking for a great sounding pair of headphones, these really hit the mark. What I will ... more

Now, before I get into the reason I have had to stop using these headphones, I shall make clear that I did thoroughly enjoy using them when I did.

The first thing that strikes you about these headphones, is that they just look cool. The market that Skullcandy have created with stylish headphones is admirable, and putting them on can make anyone look a little bit more trendy. So a big thumbs up in this department.

Now, in terms of value for money, these things have been a bit confusing for me. I picked them up on play.com for £18 last year (the price has gone up since then, presumably these were discounted). However one of my friends, who was buying almost at the same time as me, got the red and zebra print ones (I plumped for the black) for around £40. So I think it depends on the price you get them for really. For £18 they have been great.

And the most important aspect, the sound. It's fantastic. That's no exaggeration, these really opened my eyes. Songs sounded so much clearer and bassier, without sounding overly thumpy. So yes, if your looking for a great sounding pair of headphones, these really hit the mark. What I will say though, is that, at least for me, these Skullcandies have made the difference between different audio bit rates much more noticeable, and have consequently made me hunt out the highest bit rate available for all the songs I have downloaded since.

Finally, here's what has let me down about these headphones, the durability. I only managed to get around 3 months of usage from them before disaster struck. A crack emerged on the rather thin plastic casing that conntects the 'can' to the comfortable leather headwrap. This crack got bigger, and has since snapped, and rendered the headphones unwearable.

I initially thought this was a one off case, and must confess that I thought/think it has something to do with the fact that I have quite a large head (not ridiculous, but not small either). However, recently when talking to the friend who bought these for £40, he has told me that this has happened to him to (and I can assure you, he has a very average sized head). So I feel that this warning should infact apply to everyone.

For the above reason, I can't really recommend these headphones, which is a shame because of the great sound, look and comfort of the product. It can't be faulted on those aspects. It's just the build quality that has let me down.

 

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