Skullcandy Indy Evo Truly Wireless [Review]

The Skullcandy Indy Evo truly wireless headphones are acceptable and operate very comparable to the Skullcandy Indy Fuel Truly Wireless. They’re lightweight, durable, and have a control system that crams a lot of capability into a compact footprint. However, they only last about three hours on a single charge, which may be inconvenient for those who have long commutes, and their sound profile is limited due to their underemphasized treble response. Finally, if you want a pair of really wireless headphones that are well-made, they are a wonderful option.

Style

The Skullcandy Indy Evo is identical to the Skullcandy Indy Fuel Truly Wireless in appearance. They’re ordinary-looking true wireless earbuds with a stalk that doesn’t protrude too far from your ears. They’re composed of hard, matte plastic that comes in a variety of colors, including mint green, that varies from modest to eye-catching. If you don’t like the stem-like form of the Skullcandy Sesh Evo True Wireless, you might choose the Skullcandy Sesh Evo True Wireless, which features a more typical in-ear appearance.

Comfort

The Skullcandy Indy Evo totally wireless earbuds are quite pleasant. While their outer buds are a little large and can cause a little irritation if worn for long periods of time, they’re incredibly light and shouldn’t put too much pressure on your ear canal. They also come with a variety of ear tips and stability sleeves in various sizes to assist you to find a snug, secure fit.

Controls

The Skullcandy Indy Evo’s control arrangement is adequate. It has the same touch-sensitive surface as the Skullcandy Indy Fuel Truly Wireless, which isn’t particularly intuitive but does provide a fair amount of functionality. A double-touch on either bud pauses and plays your music as well as answers calls, while a single tap on the right or left earbud increases or decreases the volume. All of the other functions require a hold to be activated. Track skipping necessitates a two-second hold on the right bud, while rewinding necessitates an equal amount of time on the left bud.

Portability

The Skullcandy Indy Evo headphones are extremely portable. They’re as compact as the Skullcandy Dime True Wireless and their charging case can simply be thrown into a bag, just like the Skullcandy Dime True Wireless.

Case

These genuinely wireless in-ears come with a sturdy carrying case. The headphones have a thick plastic construction that should protect them from drops and minor water exposure.

Build Quality

The Skullcandy Indy Evo is constructed well. They’re made of a strong matte plastic that shouldn’t collect fingerprints or be damaged by minor impacts. They’re also IP55 rated for dust and water protection, though we don’t test for that. The case is similarly durable, however it should be noted that if the buds aren’t perfectly positioned in their charging cradles, the top won’t close.

Stability

The Skullcandy Indy Evo is a very solid headset. They produce a pretty tight seal that shouldn’t fall out of ears, even during moderately vigorous exercise, as long as you get the right-sized ear tips and stability sleeves.

Sound Profile

The Skullcandy Indy Evo’s sound profile is fairly dark when utilising the default EQ’Music’ setting. Although the bass response is correct, aficionados of EDM and hip-hop may want for a little more thud and rumble. Unfortunately, their underemphasized treble mutes a lot of finer detail, making them unsuitable for more delicate genres such as jazz or classical music. These headphones have three built-in EQ modes to better suit different types of content: ‘Music,’ which is the default option, ‘Movie,’ and ‘Podcast.’

Bass Accuracy

The bass precision on these headphones is incredible. Because it’s flat across the spectrum and well-reproduced, music should have enough of punch and body without overpowering delicate voices or instrumentals.

Mid Accuracy

The Skullcandy Indy Evo’s mids are incredibly accurate. Clutter should be generally void of vocals and lead instruments. However, a long dip over the mid-mid and high-mid frequencies pushes them to the rear of the mix, dulling their sharper edges significantly.

Treble Accuracy

These in-ears have poor treble precision. It’s significantly below our desired curve, which means the vocals and lead instruments are dull, lispy, and closed off.

Peaks/Dips

The Skullcandy Indy Evo has excellent peaks and dips performance. Apart from a continuous dip in the low treble region, which dulls some vocalists and lead instruments, and an adjacent spike in the mid to high treble region, which makes notes in this frequency range sound piercing, there aren’t many notable movements across the range.

Imaging

The Skullcandy Indy Evo has excellent stereo imaging capabilities. Their weighted group delay is completely undetectable, resulting in tight bass and clean treble. The L/R drivers have a slight amplitude mismatch, but they’re well-matched in terms of frequency and phase response, so they should be able to reliably localise items like voices and footfall in the stereo image. However, these findings apply exclusively to our test unit; yours may behave differently.

Passive Soundstage

The Skullcandy Indy Evo’s passive soundstage is disappointing for a pair of in-ear headphones. Music sounds like it’s coming from within your head rather than from speakers surrounding you since they don’t interact with the outer ear and have a closed-back construction.

Noise Isolation

The passive noise isolation performance of the Skullcandy Indy Evo is adequate. While they fail to block out sound in the bass range, such as bus or plane engines, they are considerably better at filtering out sound in the mid-range, so you shouldn’t hear any background talk. They also effectively block out higher-pitched noises, such as the hum of an air conditioner.

Leakage

These headphones have excellent audio leakage performance. Even if you’re in a very calm location, you can listen to your music at very loud volumes without disturbing others close.

Microphone Recording Quality

The recording quality of the built-in microphone is adequate. People on the other end of the line should be able to understand you without difficulty, but your voice may sound thin and muffled.

Noise Handling

The inbuilt microphone on the Skullcandy Indy Evo isn’t up to the task of handling noise. In loud or crowded locations, your voice may be drowned out by background noise, so they’re not the greatest choice if you frequently make calls in those situations.

Battery

The Skullcandy Indy Evo’s battery life is low. The battery lasts less than three hours, which is less than half of the six hours advertised in Skullcandy’s promotional materials. However, the case contains four more charges, which should be sufficient to get you through the day. It also charges the buds quickly, with a 15-minute charge giving our test device around 2.5 hours of listening. You may also use one bud to listen to music while the other is charging in the case. If their shorter battery timing is a deal-breaker for you, consider Skullcandy Jib True Wireless or the OnePlus Buds Z Truly Wireless.

App Support

These in-ears, like many other Skullcandy truly wireless headphones, have a bad accompanying app. The Skullcandy app isn’t particularly useful, as it merely offers an ambient mode toggle switch and the ability to update the headphones’ software. It also includes a user manual and a display of the user’s current EQ mode, however you can’t change it. Check out the Skullcandy Indy ANC True Wireless if you want similar headphones with EQ settings in their app so you can tailor your sound.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth connectivity is adequate with the Skullcandy Indy Evo. Although they enable Bluetooth 5.0, they don’t support multi-device or NFC pairing. On a PC, their audio latency is too high to be useful for gaming or viewing movies, but it’s significantly lower on iOS and Android devices, so you can view YouTube videos on your phone without too much lag. However, different apps compensate for the lag in different ways, so your results may vary.

Pros and Cons

Verdict

The Skullcandy Indy Evo are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. They’re durable and compact, and they do a good job of blocking out ambient noise, but they struggle with lower-frequency sounds like bus engines. Unfortunately, its built-in microphone has trouble distinguishing conversations from surrounding noise, and their battery life is frustratingly short, despite the fact that the buds themselves charge quickly.