Skullcandy Grind Wireless Review - Review 2022

Skullcandy's Grind ($89.eighty at Amazon) is easily one of the manufacturer'south more successful products in terms of design, performance, and value, and now the company brings usa a wireless version of the headphones. At $89.99, the Skullcandy Grind Wireless (bachelor March 31, 2022) rings in at $thirty more than its cablevision-only predecessor. In terms of look and fit, the stylish Grind Wireless is a hit. As for audio, there'south a solid balance between rich lows and crisp highs. There withal aren't too many Bluetooth headphones in this toll range that sound as adept equally this, and and then the Grind Wireless wins our Editors' Option honor for being a chip ahead of the curve while staying priced similar it'south behind it.

Design
The Grind Wireless is available in a wide diverseness of unique color/pattern combinations—you tin opt for a simple matte blackness or white design, or mayhap you'd prefer a camo-and-hunter's plaid motif? In all, there are 6 stylish options that combine various materials for strikingly different looks.

The supra-aural (on-ear) design of the Grind Wireless offers a secure—and exceptionally comfortable—fit, thank you to ample padding in the earpads. Backside the cushioned pads, each ear packs a 40mm commuter. The right earcup houses three buttons that combine to control book, playback, and calls.

The decision to brand the Volume Upwards/Down buttons double every bit runway navigation buttons depending on how long you press them is likely to result in some inadvertent track skipping or volume adjusting early on—we're bigger fans of the central multifunction button performing track forward and backward tasks while the Book buttons are dedicated. This earcup is also the location of the connections for the charging cable and audio cablevision, besides as the pinhole mic.

The headphones don't fold downward into a smaller size, nor is in that location an included conveying pouch, which makes them a bit harder to stuff into a comport-on or tote.

Skullcandy Grind Wireless inline In fact, on the accessory front, the Grind Wireless is notably light. There's a three.5mm audio cablevision for wired, passive listening (the headphones automatically un-pair and switch to battery-free, passive performance when the cable is connected). The cablevision, however, has no inline remote, so there'south no fielding phone calls or controlling music—a slight surprise, but given the Grind Wireless'due south reasonable price, information technology'south not a huge surprise nor is it a drawback. The only other inclusion is a micro USB-to-USB charging cable.

Skullcandy rates the Grind Wireless's battery life at roughly 12 hours, merely your results will vary in relation to your volume levels. Skullcandy claims the headphones will shut downwardly automatically after 5 minutes in two scenarios: if they are not paired, or if the paired device is out of range. In all other scenarios, the Grind Wireless volition not shut down, but will enter a standby mode that uses far less battery life than staying active.

Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Pocketknife'due south "Silent Shout," the Grind Wireless delivers a palpable thump, and doesn't misconstrue even at top volumes (no small feat for headphones in this cost range). At moderate volumes, the bass response is even so quite powerful, but is thankfully balanced out by similarly boosted loftier frequencies.

Bill Callahan'due south "Drover," a runway with less powerful deep bass content, gives usa an idea of what the Grind Wireless'southward overall sound signature is similar. His baritone vocals are delivered with an platonic level of high-mid treble edge, bringing out their contour and adding definition to the low-mid richness. The drums on this track tin oftentimes sound overly bass-heavy on heavily boosted pairs, but here they audio fairly tame—neither weak nor brittle, but likewise non massively, unnaturally deep. Overall, this mix has a solid residue between lows and highs.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church building in the Wild," the kicking drum loop gets enough high-mid presence to retain its abrupt treble attack. We've heard this attack sound more piercing on other pairs that seem to tweak the high-mids and highs more than, but the Grind Wireless still adds definition in this range. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the trounce are delivered with a solid sense of deep bass, but the lows stop curt of serious thunder here—the Grind Wireless'south bass response is more firmly rooted in lows and low-mids than sub-bass frequencies. The vocals are delivered in a crisp and clear way, well-defined and able to float clearly over the lows and mids while never sounding harsh or overly sibilant.

The Skullcandy Grind Wireless presents itself equally one of the improve-sounding, more than comfortable Bluetooth headphone options available for under $100. We're also fans of the Jabra Motion Wireless ($49.99 at Amazon) , the even less expensive Creative Sound Equalizer Jam ( at Amazon) , and the in-ear JBL Reverberate Mini BT ($59.95 at Amazon) . Information technology's worth reading up on all of them if $100 is your budget limit for a Bluetooth headphone pair. But this remains a price range with many options and few all-stars, and for its overall high quality design and functioning, the Skullcandy Grind Wireless earns our Editors' Pick award.

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