Skullcandy’s Indy Fit, Feel, and Sound Better Than AirPods – There, I Said It!

So here’s the thing: Yes I have AirPods, and yes they fit in my ear and I enjoy them. But the Skullcandy Indy Bluetooth truly wireless earbuds are in every way a more pleasant listening experience, for half the price.

Skullcandy’s been on a tier lately, creating products that are a fraction of the price cheaper than the competition, but offering up a better listening experience, and the Skullcandy Indy keeps that legacy going with their Indy series. Essentially looking like a black version of AirPods, the Indys improve on the aesthetic look and feel of the AirPods by coming complete with a removable stability gel that allows them to sit in without moving which is absolutely fantastic for going to the gym, walking around your town, or honestly, just listening to anything from phone calls to podcasts.

Compared to the AirPods (clearly their target competition), the Indys by Skullcandy offers up 16 total hours of battery life which measures up to four hours per charge before placing the earbuds back in the case. They’ve also managed to slap an IP55 rating on it for sweat, dust, and rain. While not completely waterproof, you can easily rely on these to get you through a workout. While the headphones are pretty bass-y and great for amplifying your workouts, I will say dependent on your volume, you will truly over-drown-out your surroundings with these.

I felt like the stabilizing gels close out more outside noise than I personally am comfortable with, especially at work. Compared to other truly wireless headphones, I found myself pulling an earbud, sometimes both out to have a conversation because they sealed virtually any outside noise, even when my music was paused. While this is ideal for ignoring that lug at the gym grunting, it’s less suitable in the workplace if you need to answer a phone call or be alert of your surroundings when walking outdoors.

What I love the most about the Indys is it’s capacitive touch controls. Being able to tap your earbud once to turn the volume up or down, changing songs or even decline that anonymous caller, the Indy already has the Apple AirPods beat just in usability directly from the ear. But honestly, they are just some REALLY impressible looking, and sounding earbuds, that give me what I wanted most from Apple — BLACK earbuds. No longer do you have to look like you have Q-Tips in your ears (or sound like them).

Now I mentioned the Indys being half the price of the AirPods right? I wasn’t joking. At $80, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better option (even Anker’s Soundcore buds tried but ultimately do not compare to these or the AirPods). Skullcandy made sure to impress in terms of the overall listening experience, comfortability, and the only negative I had was the fact that you’ll probably have to purchase two pairs because, for the price of AirPods, you can get a friend a pair.

For more information on the Skullcandy Indys, head over to their site.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit

What I Like: Comfortable to wear for hours; BLACK; Noise Reduction

What Needs Improvement: Might isolate too much noise if you listen at loud levels.