• Tweet
• Sumo

• Tweet

Just after a few months more than a year, my dbE Acoustic PR-20 broke. The reason seems to be a very classic problem, that is the wire inside breaks and thus one of the earpiece no longer produce any sound.

I should say that I’m a bit disappointed because it didn’t even last to two years (two years is my magic number for digital gadgets shelf-life). But what should I say, I cannot expect a $27 in-ear earphone that sounds good to be that durable anyway.

Anyway, since I definitely need an in-ear earphone as a replacement I bought a Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds from TJ Maxx at half of the retail price. It’s not the most colorful, it’s ‘just’ a white and bright red colored one (if you’ve seen some other Skullcandy earphones you would understand what I meant.. :D).

I’ve been using this earphone for almost a month now, and I think it’s a good time to write a review about it.

Sound

It’s an in-ear earphone, so the sound isolation is naturally good. It is the fifth in ear earphone I’ve reviewed, and I start to notice an interesting thing.

Most people thinks that the best earphone has the best bass sound, and I think it is a wrong thinking, because it seems that it’s easier to create an earphone that has deep bass sound rather than an earphone with crystal clear sound where you can hear the treble, mid, and bass altogether. Some of the best in-ear earphones I reviewed simply deliver this crystal clear sound without any problem.

If you want bass sound, the Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds has something to offer you. It has a good bass sound, but not the best I’ve heard before, and to be precise, not even close to the best that I’ve heard before.

The problem is it doesn’t deliver clear mid and treble, the bass seems to swallow the other sound. It is a bit expected actually, considering the earphone price.

Physical Design

It’s a Skullcandy product, so expect it to be colorful.
I like the volume control that it has, it can becomes handy when I need to adjust the volume without needing to take my iPod out of my pocket.

The first thing that I don’t like is its uncomfortable ear caps, it’s not soft as the silicone ear caps of any in-ear earphones I have reviewed. I can stand a bit for a short period of time, but I can’t have it in my ear more than an hour. Fortunately, this can be fixed by replacing the ear caps with a softer ear caps you have, which in my case I replaced them with the dbE Acoustics PR-20 ear caps.

The next thing that I don’t like is its thin and sort of flaky wire. It seems to break easily and definitely it tangles frequently.

Price

Definitely it is an affordable in-ear earphone at $15 (I bought it at TJ Maxx, elsewhere it may be more expensive).

Conclusion

I’m going to be straight forward here. I don’t think that this earphone is worth buying if you have options. It’s price maybe attractive to anyone who is on budget, but it doesn’t pay back in terms of sound quality and build quality.

The Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds is the cheapest in-ear earphone I’ve reviewed so far at $15 and it simply does not compare to the other in-ear earphones I’ve tried.