By Tony Ware
Published
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In April 2025, “agents” (and executives) from Park City, Utah-based personal audio company Skullcandy assembled in New York under the direction of brand ambassador Tony Hawk to stage a “SoundHeist.” Though, truth be told, it was more of a silence heist, as the big reveal was a partnership with Bose to bring advanced active noise cancellation to affordable earbuds. Now, 15 months later, the masterminds behind this sonic scheme have reconvened on stage at Capitale in NYC for a caper with even higher stakes.
Skullcandy
The Method 360 ANC earbuds saw Skullcandy breaking into the Sound by Bose vault, but it was quickly a crowded strongbox with similar releases by Noise and Baseus, among others. So for its latest operation, Skullcandy has gone for the crown jewels. The new Crusher 1080 ANC ($279.99 MSRP) is the first non-Bose headphone to feature QuietControl adaptive ANC (six mics, real-time fit-and-seal monitoring), Bose TrueSpatial spatial audio with head tracking for more immersive soundstaging, and the Bose WaveForm audio engine that keeps things full and balanced without letting distortion crash the mix. But there’s more that makes this upgrade to Skullcandy’s flagship bass headphones a multidimensional experience, because this is a Crusher with Sound by Bose, not just a Bose in disguise.
The Crusher 1080 ANC still features dual drivers with one dedicated to ramping up the rumble. But cranking that wheel in the past has cost some clarity. Skullcandy claims to have addressed this with a newly developed “live edge” diaphragm made of stiffer material, so its pistonic motion is more controlled. This should mean increased fidelity to match the feel. Feeding the Crusher 1080 ANC is Bluetooth 5.3 + LE Audio with Auracast and up to 60 hours of battery life with ANC mode turned off (50 hours with ANC mode turned on).
Available in four colorways—black, candy, primer, and cement—the flat-folding and collapsible Crusher 1080 ANC comes with a lined rolltop bag that’s easy to clip to a backpack or stash when you don’t need it.
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Tony Ware is the Managing Editor, Gear & Commerce for PopSci.com. He’s been writing about how to make and break music since the mid-’90s when his college newspaper said they already had a film critic but maybe he wanted to look through the free promo CDs. Immediately hooked on outlining intangibles, he’s covered everything audio for countless alt. weeklies, international magazines, websites, and heated bar trivia contests ever since.
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