Skullcandy has cracked the code on one of my most-requested features for wireless earbuds. Unlike almost every other pair I’ve owned, dropping the charging case won’t send the earbuds flying across the room. For my fellow clumsy humans, I’m happy to report that the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC (8/10, WIRED Review) are marked down at several retailers. I found the best price on the white (Bone) pair at Amazon, but some of the other colors are discounted too if you don’t mind paying a little extra.
While the enclosed case is my favorite thing about these earbuds, they also have excellent active noise-canceling. That’s largely thanks to a collaboration with Bose, one of the best in the business when it comes to ANC, giving these a truly impressive level of sound isolation and noise reduction, particularly for the price.
The sound profile has clearly taken some notes from Bose as well, with our reviewer Parker Hall saying “There is a real life to this listening experience in the midrange, with vocals, pianos, guitars, and other center-heavy instruments each occupying their own musical space.” He was also impressed by the wide stereo image, which can give a lot of life to panning, and the intricate details that stand out when you have good isolation and tuning.
Of course, if you want to tweak the experience you can always use the mobile app to adjust button functionality, or change the equalizer profile for your preferred music genre. There are noise-canceling and transparency mode settings here as well, the latter of which works particularly well for hearing traffic while walking the dog.
The downside here is that the whole setup is slightly bulky. The earbuds themselves have a sizable back-end that sits flush inside your ear, making them a bit more noticeable than some of the other earbuds we like. The case itself, while great for keeping your earbuds in one place when you knock it off the kitchen counter, is also on the large side, and a little awkward to use at first. Still, for under $100, you get excellent ANC, quality sound profile, and a comfortable fit, which I think is well worth the price of admission.
