Skullcandy Sesh Evo

These robust-looking in-ears are water, sweat and dust resistant according to IP55, which allows you to take part in sports activities, simplifies cleaning and provides protection from the rain. Not only that, but their comfortable and stable fit also does not cause any complaints about pressure even during use for longer periods, as they have a light weight of just five grams per side. The earpieces are hardly visible and embed well in your ear, barely sticking out, so it’s even possible to wear a cap or hat over them if it is not a tight fit.

With a runtime of five hours at a moderate level, the endurance of the batteries has increased significantly compared to the previous model, the Sesh (link to test). Further improvements include a quick charge function, which allows spontaneous use of about 90 minutes after ten minutes of power in the transport case, which serves as the charging station. In addition, the duration of a complete charging cycle has been reduced to 50 minutes so that the Sesh Evo can be charged three times in the case. Moreover, the capacity is sufficient to use the quick charging function once, so that the total runtime of this compact pair of headphones is a good 21 hours. If the battery reserve of the transport case is used up, it can be recharged within a little less than two hours via USB-C connection, for which purpose a USB-C to USB-A charging cable is included in the package.

Device control

Coupling these in-ears, which support Bluetooth standard 5.0 and can also be used individually in single mode, happens directly upon removing them from their case. This switches the system on and automatically puts them into pairing mode, while putting them back into the charger causes them to switch off. Alternatively, it is also possible to switch the system on and off manually by a long press down on the buttons integrated into their surface, with the buttons providing extensive device control when a wireless connection is established. A simple press serves to start and pause playback, as well as to answer and end telephone calls which can be made with outstanding speech intelligibility. Title selection is also enabled by briefly pressing the right button to jump forward, and the left button to go backward. Pressing twice, controls the volume, with the button on the left-hand headphone reducing the level and the one on the right-hand headphone increasing it. In addition, voice assistants can be activated by pressing three times. A disadvantage of these controls is that the buttons are not necessarily easy to operate, so that remote control requires some attention. However, unintentional operation is virtually impossible. It was also noticeable that occasional Bluetooth dropouts occurred. When using them in combination with various Android and iOS devices, the range within an urban environment was between seven and eight metres.

Sound

These in-ears have a powerful basic sound which offers considerable depth to bass-oriented hip-hop or electro productions. The ample low bass range has a slight dullness to it, but otherwise the full bass foundation sounds defined and very powerful. For your listening pleasure, there is also an extremely clear and thoroughly detailed mid and high frequency reproduction, which is not masked and puts vocals in the spotlight. Although a slight drop is noticeable in the trebles, they are free of peaks or sharpness, making them pleasantly unobtrusive. The virtual stage is also surprisingly spacious and by no means narrow for an in-ear system in this price class, which is a positive feature for listening to pieces with more complex arrangements, and overall a wide range of applications is covered. While Android devices with the standard codec SBC are favoured, iOS users will benefit from the support of the higher quality AAC format.

The EQ, which can be toggled by pressing the button four times, can be switched from music to podcast and movie mode. When optimised for spoken content there is a significantly reduced bass response and focus on the intelligibility of voices; in movie mode the bass range is additionally amplified, which gears it towards the enjoyment of action-packed entertainment. The perceived loudness also increases, although the headphones themselves already have a high output. There is no need to compromise on sound quality here, but the EQ modes are a good way to make adjustments to the sound.