It was only earlier this year that I reviewed the Skullcandy Grind true wireless earbuds. I was extremely impressed with them and considering the relatively affordable price I gave them two thumbs up. Now Skullcandy are back with an even more affordable set of true wireless earbuds, the Skullcandy Mod.
The Skullcandy Mod are priced at just $99 and although they do include the following features, the expectations were low from the outset.
We were sent a set of the Skullcandy Mod to test out and although the results are not a premium quality we were impressed with the quality Skullcandy were able to squeeze out of a sub-$100 set of earbuds
Upon first look the Skullcandy Mod earbuds look the same as the Grind earbuds. Closer investigation reveals that they are considerably smaller than the Grind which you would think would make them easier to fit into the ears. Unfortunately not.
For some reason it took quite a bit of twisting to figure out the correct way to get the Mod earbuds to fit comfortably into the ears. Once in they fit ok, but just ok. Although they do fit down into the ear canal well and there is very little of them protruding from the ears, they just do not have that comfort and fit that a pair like the Sony do.
The Mod earbuds do not fall out by any means but just don’t seem to fit as well as even the Grind form earlier this year. Although they seem to be the same shape as the Grind, the process of making them smaller must have changed the way they fit into the ears. Once in the ear they feel relatively secure, but the process just seems more difficult than the effortless process with the Grind. The process did get easier the more I used them though.
The button controls on the earbuds are not the touch sensitive capacitive type buttons but actual physical push buttons – and I prefer that. There is no accidental pausing etc if you adjust them and no button presses when putting them in or out.
As mentioned above, the Skullcandy Mod earbuds are difficult to get into your ear canals the correct way but once they are in correctly, they stay put through quite a range of movement. I wore them for quite a few workouts, and they did not fall out even once.
The fit is also solid enough that they do block out a lot of the surrounding noise if that is what you prefer and although they do not have active noise cancellation, the Skullcandy Mod offers decent noise isolation.
The Mod earbuds are not the most comfortable earbuds you will ever use but they did not cause me to have to remove them due to discomfort. One thing I can say about them is that they are lightweight so once in the ear they don’t feel like they are going to pop out due to their weight.
I wore them for approximately 90 minutes at a time and didn’t have sore ears afterwards, so you can say that they are not uncomfortable.
Disclaimer: The Skullcandy are priced under $100.
The sound profile from the Skullcandy Mod is similar to that from the Skullcandy Grind which is not surprising. Skullcandy put their spin on how the music should sound and it’s pretty good. By themselves, the Mod earbuds sounded decent.
Side by side with more expensive earbuds such as the Grind and the JBL Live Pro 2 the Mod struggled. The sound wasn’t as “big”, the notes were not as crisp and the bass certainly wasn’t as punchy. There is that old saying though – “you get what you pay for”.
The Skullcandy Mod sounded decent and if all you have is $100 to spend on a set of true wireless earbuds the quality of sound will keep you satisfied. For under $100 though you should not be expecting anywhere near audiophile-quality sound.
Skullcandy has a decent app that can be used to control not just the sound profile through an equaliser but also their “Stay Aware” mode that focuses and enhances your surrounding noise and will help you to hear voices and other things around you.
The app also allows you to change what the button presses on the earbuds triggers which is decent, but more apps/earbuds have that these days. There is also the Tile Finding technology in there as well – handy if you can’t find one of your earbuds.
Let’s face it – times are tough. Many of us do not have as much money as we once did and for a lot of people budgets are tight. For those people the Skullcandy Mod are great.
They offer a decent sound (not great but decent) with a fit that, although difficult to get the hang of implementing, is secure once in the ear canal. Wearing them for long periods of time does not hurt the ears so there is nothing glaringly wrong with them – they could be easier to get into the ears though.
For $99 I can recommend the Skullcandy Mod to those on a budget but keep in mind that at $99 you are not going to get audiophile-quality sound. In saying that though, you will get an affordable set of earbuds that offer good sound quality, decent battery life and a USB-C chargeable carry case.
You can buy the Skullcandy Mod true wireless earbuds for RRP $99 from all good tech stores.
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