Sound Quality
The Skullcandy Mix Master is a very good sounding headphone. The general impression is of a powerful headphone that's a bit laid back up top. The bass is well extended, tastefully big, and reasonably punchy with just a bit of bloom. It's not as tight and bottomless as the best planar magnetic headphones, but the bass is far, far better than most, if not all, of the celebrity cans I've heard so far. The mid-range is also very good. Just slightly lower in level than the bass, the mids have a slight warm tilt, but the balance of the whole seems very good to me. Something I often find missing is what I call the "throat" of the instruments or voices. These are the sounds that can bark, and if not done well, bite. I found the upper-mids, and low-treble very naturally balanced and authoritative on these cans. Voices and saxophones had plenty of bark when appropriate. The only real fault I could find was that the mid and upper treble rolled off just a bit too quickly. This plays to my tastes, but it's still a departure from neutral. Not blurred or muffled sounding, more that they sounded just a bit soft. The treble was also a bit indistinct, there was energy there, just not a lot of definition. I broke out my Denon AH-D5000 for comparison, and the clarity and detail was significantly better, but it's double the price. The advantage of a slightly rolled off treble with these cans is that they are likely to play some pretty aggressive sounding and likely "loudness wars" compressed music. Taking a little off the top will make these headphones less fatiguing.
Measurements
Distortion figures above 100Hz are fairly low, and coupled with the smooth frequency response indicate the well behaved headphone I heard.
With broadband isolation at -11dBr this headphone provides moderate isolation. It wold be nice to see this result a bit better for a DJ headphone, but again, this might just be a poor seal on the measurements head and actual isolation may be a bit better. It did seem like it was pretty good as I used them.
With a fairly even 20 Ohm impedance plot and 27mVrms needed to achieve 90dB SPL at the ear, these headphones will play quite loud on portable players. Coupled with decent isolation, these would make for a good all around headphone, fine for occasional use trains and bustling sidewalks. Hard-core train and plane travelers should look elsewhere however.
Summary
Though the styling is a bit gaudy for my taste, the Skullcandy Mix Master is a nicely featured, secure and comfortable, well accessorized, and very good sounding headphone. In fact, I really can't think of a better sounding, full-sized, sealed headphone in the $300 price range. In the celebrity arena, it pretty much trounces the Beats by Dre Studio and Pro, and the Soul by Ludacris SL300 and SL150.
I think Skullcandy has worked hard and achieved much with regard to sound quality. Mark my words, just because it's bold and plastic with skulls here and there all over it, doesn't mean it sounds bad. No more jumping to that conclusion, m'kay?
The Skullcandy Mix Master is a very good sounding headphone. The general impression is of a powerful headphone that's a bit laid back up top. The bass is well extended, tastefully big, and reasonably punchy with just a bit of bloom. It's not as tight and bottomless as the best planar magnetic headphones, but the bass is far, far better than most, if not all, of the celebrity cans I've heard so far. The mid-range is also very good. Just slightly lower in level than the bass, the mids have a slight warm tilt, but the balance of the whole seems very good to me. Something I often find missing is what I call the "throat" of the instruments or voices. These are the sounds that can bark, and if not done well, bite. I found the upper-mids, and low-treble very naturally balanced and authoritative on these cans. Voices and saxophones had plenty of bark when appropriate. The only real fault I could find was that the mid and upper treble rolled off just a bit too quickly. This plays to my tastes, but it's still a departure from neutral. Not blurred or muffled sounding, more that they sounded just a bit soft. The treble was also a bit indistinct, there was energy there, just not a lot of definition. I broke out my Denon AH-D5000 for comparison, and the clarity and detail was significantly better, but it's double the price. The advantage of a slightly rolled off treble with these cans is that they are likely to play some pretty aggressive sounding and likely "loudness wars" compressed music. Taking a little off the top will make these headphones less fatiguing.
Click on graphs image to download .pdf for closer inspection.
Raw frequency response measurements (bottom FR plots) show modest spread in the bass indicating a mildly varying seal. Bow in the top of the 30Hz squarewave, and rising THD+noise below 100Hz indicate a driver and/or enclosure that's having trouble compressing the big low notes. These results are good, but not great. I thought they sounded a bit better than they measured.
Averaged and compensated frequency response (upper FR traces) is very good showing good bass extension, and a fairly flat but slightly warm response from 30Hz to 2kHz. Thereafter it starts an ever-steepening, but relatively even response as it aproaches 22kHz. It seems to me that this curve is right where it should be with the exception of the top and bottom octave falling off, and the slight warm tilt throughout.
Leading edge overshoot on the 300Hz square wave is well under control, but the higher frequency ring, indicates resonance somewhere. The impulse response shows a driver that's a bit slow, and is echoed in the highest treble octave roll-off in the FR.
Though the styling is a bit gaudy for my taste, the Skullcandy Mix Master is a nicely featured, secure and comfortable, well accessorized, and very good sounding headphone. In fact, I really can't think of a better sounding, full-sized, sealed headphone in the $300 price range. In the celebrity arena, it pretty much trounces the Beats by Dre Studio and Pro, and the Soul by Ludacris SL300 and SL150.
I think Skullcandy has worked hard and achieved much with regard to sound quality. Mark my words, just because it's bold and plastic with skulls here and there all over it, doesn't mean it sounds bad. No more jumping to that conclusion, m'kay?
