'Bose features at a non-Bose price, for the first time': Skullcandy launches its most premium headphones yet, managing with a little help from its friend

Skullcandy launches Crusher 1080 ANC, new premium over-ear headphones
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 (around £210)

It’s just as I predicted: After we saw Skullcandy tease the new headphones, the brand unveiled exactly the pair of cans I predicted. Meet the Skullcandy 1080 ANC shredder; They’re the pair that skate legend (and brand ambassador) Tony Hawk points out in the image above; yes, it really is him.

These are, according to the brand, their “best-sounding product” (although, interestingly, they’re not the most expensive because Skullcandy’s Aviator 900 cans are a bit more expensive) and, in case you didn’t know, a 1080 skateboard involves three full rotations of the skateboard and body performed either front or back.

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

What we call Bose by any other name would smell just as sweet

Four models of different colors of Skullcandy Crusher 1080, hanging on a subway bar.

(Image credit: Skullcandy)

We’ve seen Skullcandy headphones with Bose features before, but the Crusher 1080 ANC are the first pair of cans not made by the brand to have three specific features. And these three characteristics are one big point of sale of the product.

The biggest will be Bose QuietControl ANC, which is a big draw within Bose’s products (including the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen). The company’s noise cancellation is best in class, and now that proprietary Bose technology is built into Skullcandy’s headphones, too. For many, this could be a reason to purchase the Crusher on its own.

Bose’s TrueSpatial audio with head tracking (for surround sound profiles regardless of source material) and WaveForm audio engine (for agile digital signal processing) are also coming off the Good Ship Bose for the first time with the 1080. These will be cool little extras to refine and perfect what Skullcandy already offers.

And that’s before we even mention the Sound by Bose setting and SpeechClarity voice pickup, to improve the music you listen to and the quality of your calls. The latter is new to Skullcandy, but we’ve seen the former on some headphones like my beloved Method 360.

And what about the headphones themselves, beyond the Bose ones? Skullcandy hasn’t confirmed the drivers, but I assume they will be 40mm and accompanied by woofer units.

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 headphones use). The images show a dial on the side of the headphones, among other physical controls; I’m betting this is a redesigned bass slider, and given how easy it is to miss on my Crusher 540 Active, I appreciate the rethink.

Reading between the lines and having tried the 540 Method earlier this year (a 540 is one and a half skateboards and the body rotation is done either forward or backward, which I can’t do), I get the impression that Skullcandy is undergoing a push to really level up.

The company doesn’t seem to be abandoning the commitment to bass that defined its products in the past (or its love of athletes as brand ambassadors), but it does seem to want to incorporate that into a more complete audio package with higher fidelity music on offer. And if the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC is the culmination of this process, I’m In fact I’m curious to know what they sound like.

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