Sunday, May 18, 2008

Skullcandy SK Pro Review

Up for review is a nice pair of Skullcandy SK Pro DJ headphones. They are blue with white leather touch ear pads and a soft leather touch black head wrap pad. The ear cups have a 90-degree swivel for studio monitoring, and out of one of the ear cups is a pro coil cord with a gold plated screw on ¼ inch plug adapter. The speakers are 50mm power drivers with neodymium magnets with a 20Hz-20,000Hz frequency response. The build quality felt great.

Now for the real test. For comparison I am using some Sennheiser 212Pro’s. I have had them for years, and they sound great. The Sennheiser 212Pro’s have been my reference model, but that is about to change. To put the SK Pro’s to the test I used a variety of different music. Sound and Vision’s SACD Sampler disc by Telarc, Mannheim Steamroller’s Fresh Air III and Fresh Aire V, Dead or Alive’s Rip It Up, Metallica Black Album, The Very Best of Erich Kunzel: With the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and the Star Wars Trilogy by John Williams released by Sony were all used.

From Sound & Vision’s SACD Sampler, Eric Bibb’s Don’t Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down, the sound was wonderful. The piano was very natural sounding. Both male and female vocals were right on. The channel separation was great. The SK Pro’s projected a good sized soundstage with excellent imaging. The resolution was phenomenal.

For a test of pounding bass performance I turned to some old school 1980’s Dead or Alive in their album Rip It Up. The track You Spin Me Right Round sounded very nice as with everything else. The highs and mids sounded nice and clean. The bass really pounded, so well that it actually vibrated my lobes!

Mannheim Steamroller is a favorite for me in reviewing and critical listening. In Fresh Aire V the track Creatures of Levania was extremely pleasant. I must have listened to it over a half dozen times in a row because it sounded so good on the Skullcandy. At the very beginning there is a bass tone that continues to drop until it reaches around 20 cycles and really shows how deep the SK Pro’s can go. Channel separation was again excellent. The flute was nice and airy. In Fresh Air III’s track titled Toccata, the sound was very clean. There is a lot of percussion, with the cymbals being very crisp and not overbearing. The kick drums were good and tight. The detail and resolution of both tracks were wonderful, more so than the Sennheiser’s.

I also love the acoustic guitar intro into Nothing Else Matters on the Metallica Black album. It sounded nice and clean, with good definition. Sing, Sing, Sing, on The Very Best of Erich Kunzel: With the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra was another good one. The trumpet solo really wailed! I also cannot forget one of my favorites with the trumpets and horns in Throne Room and Finale by John Williams on The Star Wars Trilogy released by Sony. It was extremely clean and not too brassy. It gave me Goosebumps!

Not only do they have great sound, but they come with an awesome warranty. In the box with the headphones was a warranty card with their warranty. It was so great, I have to quote it. “LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY. Skullcandy is proud to provide the best product warranty in the industry: If this product should fail in your lifetime, we will replace it at no charge. If the product is damaged by aggressive music listeners sliding a rail, sliding down the emergency ramp off your aircraft, slammed in your locker, slammed in your car door, run over by a car, running into a wall, getting run out of town, mountain biking, road biking, sky diving, beating your boyfriend unmercifully, getting beat down by the man, blown up in an accidental experimentation with flammable substances, or damaged in any other every day experience, it means you are living your life the way we want our product used! In these, or any other damaging events, we will replace the product for a 50% discount from retail. Love Skullcandy.” While we at Stereowise Plus wouldn’t condone……some of those things, that warranty is just awesome! It had to be included in the review.

Bottom line is I found my new reference headphones. Sorry Sennheiser. With this kind of resolution and sound quality, everything sounded good on them. So if you want to give your head a real treat, give it candy. Make it a Skullcandy! For more info and complete specs, check out their website at http://www.skullcandy.com/.

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