The microphone has trouble differentiating your voice from the moderate background noise, they have trouble drowning out the deep rumbling of aero plane and bus engines. There are several options available if you’re seeking for a pair of truly wireless earbuds made for working out. For $79.99, Skullcandy’s Push Active earphones offer an above-average water resistant rating and a secure fit with exercise-focused ear hooks. Additionally, they have a great battery life, strong bass-heavy sounds, and they function with a companion app that supports Spotify voice commands and has an EQ that can be adjusted. However, they don’t really stand out from the crowd and have a cheap-looking, plastic construction. Anker’s Soundcore Life P3 headphones include active noise cancellation, while Jabra’s Elite 3 earphones provide a higher-quality design and more balanced audio performance for the same price.
Skullcandy Push Active True Wireless Earbuds review: Design
The Push Active earphones have a sporty but somewhat uninspired appearance that feels more functional than beautiful. Each device is substantial, with an oval-shaped body and a thick rubber ear hanger that encircles the top of the ear. The style is similar of the PowerBeats Pro from Beats. A slight flash of colour can be found where the control button resides, albeit this is barely noticeable because the button just just peeks out from the bottom while the earbuds are in the ears. The Skullcandy logo is delicately imprinted on the matte black, dark blue, or light grey finish of the earbuds. For an additional $10, £10, or €10, Skullcandy has created a limited-edition metallic purple version in association with Pit Viper, a skiwear company with a 90s vibe. The Push Actives have an incredibly snug fit thanks to the ear hangers. With the earbuds in, we went for a jog and scarcely noticed any movement. They also come with three ear tips in sizes S, M, and L, which helped to create a good seal and offer a respectable level of passive noise cancellation as a result, muffle the rumble of the train during our trip.
Comfort
If it wasn’t clear from the outset, the Push Actives were made for those who are, well, active. The one issue with most truly wireless earphones is that, if you’re not careful, they can fall out (and thus easily be trodden on or misplaced). On the other hand, wired earbuds and headphones are far more difficult to lose, but they are terrible to use while exercising. These earphones, however, strike a balance between being small and out of the way and being substantial enough to provide a more secure fit. also you will learn our article on Skullcandy Push Active True Wireless Earbuds review. No matter how intense your workout becomes, the earbuds will stay in place thanks to their plush gel tips and ear hangers. If you use glasses, this will just slightly alter how well they fit. Our glasses never felt awkwardly unbalanced or like they were about to fall out, even when we only had one bud in them, which is all we could hope for. Gel eartips are used by the Push Actives. You’ll need to weigh the trade-offs between their moderate level of comfort and the fact that they have a more secure fit over earphones with foam tips. Additionally, these eartips may make it more difficult for you to achieve a completely natural-feeling seal.
Skullcandy Push Active True Wireless Earbuds review: Connectivity
Because the Skullcandy Push Active only supports the SBC Bluetooth codec, neither iOS nor Android smartphones will receive very high-quality streaming. Considering that these earbuds are intended for active and adventurous listeners rather than audiophiles and sound engineers, this isn’t a significant loss, though. When streaming videos, however, you can experience some audio-visual lag due to the Push Active’s 360ms latency measurement. The earbuds’ Bluetooth 5.2 technology enables quick pairing and efficient power use for longer battery life. At this pricing point, Bluetooth multipoint isn’t expected to be available.
Noise cancelling
The Skullcandy Push Active is not the ideal choice if you want to block out your surroundings. The silicone ear tips have trouble isolating background sounds, and the earbuds lack active noise cancellation (ANC). The majority of what is going on around you will be audible to you, but some incidental sounds, like far-off talk, will be muffled. The real ear tips aren’t placed very far into the ear canal because the earbuds are held in place by the hooks on the exterior of the ear. Ambient noise can easily seep in without a strong seal. You might want to opt for a pair of noise-canceling headphones if you like to drown out all interruptions at the gym. Even though the Beats Fit Pro costs twice as much as Skullcandy’s earbuds, we really appreciate it.
Audio performance
Although the Push Actives deliver a strong performance, the tonal balance leans a little too far toward the low end. In Bad Bunny’s Ojitos Lindos, the bass is dominant and provides a rhythmic performance that is sure to energies your exercises. Each instrument carves out its own spot on the earphones’ stunningly realistic stereo image, while the soundstage as a whole sounds open and spacious. The Bad Bunny tune obviously loses some dynamism because the treble isn’t strong enough, even though the low-end sounds fantastic. Therefore, while the bass expansion sounds good, we think it might be pushed further. Shivers by Ed Sheeran is the next song, and here the bass is the star. However, the voices fall flat because they lack vigour and focus. Additionally, audio distortion starts to appear when the level is turned up past 70%. We felt the same when we played a jazz track. While the bass is the most audible instrument in Miles Davis’ Quintet Four, we feel it could go deeper and be presented with greater weight. The mid-range also seems to lack depth and punch. The Skullcandy Push Actives’ audio does seem a little out of balance, with the bass dominating the mids and highs. You may tailor the sound to your preferences using the equalization in the Skullcandy app. There are presets available for music, podcasts, and movies in addition to the custom EQ, which did a good job of bringing out the bass, mids, and highs as needed.
Skullcandy Push Active True Wireless Earbuds review: Call performance
Since Skullcandy incorporated so much functionality into these buttons, the fact that they are difficult to push is ultimately really aggravating and disappointing. We might not think fussy buttons are a huge concern on other earbuds. These buttons were created by Skullcandy so that you could manage both your phone calls and audio playing. Without opening the mobile companion app, you may change the volume, play Spotify, share or join audio with another Skullcandy device, and link your earbuds with a new device. These are buttons you’ll actually want to use on a daily basis, though we’d still like to see Skullcandy make them better in earbuds down the road.
Battery and charging
When used with the charging case, most wireless earbuds have a battery life of about 24 hours. The Skullcandy Push Active can be used for an amazing 44 hours without needing to be topped off, the firm claims. Even almost most manufacturers list battery assumptions in ideal circumstances, throughout testing we discovered that the 44-hour promise was generally accurate. However, the Push Active never ran out of power, which was even more crucial. Instead, we might use the case’s integrated USB-C port to rely on them for extended periods of time before charging. We didn’t need to establish a regular charging schedule because they last so long; instead, we could just plug them in occasionally when we remembered. you can read our article on Skullcandy Push Active True Wireless Earbuds review.
Price
The Push Active running headphones, which were first introduced in late 2021, recently experienced a modest price reduction in the UK and Australia. Although several online shops sell them, a further 20% discount was also offered at the time of writing on the Skullcandy website. Choose between black with orange detailing, dark blue with green, or light grey with blue for these items.
Conclusion
Sports and fitness enthusiasts will love the Skullcandy Push Active. They offer a cozy, well-built design that is rated IP55 for resistance to water and dust. Additionally, they contain ear hooks, which aid in keeping them steady when you run or exercise. In addition to using physical controls, you may use voice commands with the Skull-iQ feature in their companion app. The sculpted sound signature of the Skullcandy Push Active earbuds has increased bass and clear highs. Although they have a lengthy battery life and an EQ-adjustable companion app, the earbuds don’t truly stand out from the crowd.
