The Skullcandy Hesh 2 are pretty much the only over-the-ear headphones available for average consumers.
I recently purchased the Skullcandy Hesh 2 headphones from the Skullcandy website after my previous headphones broke. For those that don’t know, all non-gaming headphones from Skullcandy have a lifetime warranty. If your headphones break down on their own, you get a coupon worth the entire value of the broken headphones after sending them in. If your headphones broke because of something you did, you get a coupon worth 50% of the headphones’ value. You can use that coupon to purchase another set of headphones at Skullcandy’s web store.
Unfortunately, Skullcandy’s web store is really lacking these days in product variety. There are only about four over-the-ear headphones, and only one pair was in the same price range as the previous ones I owned. Those of course were the Hesh 2 headphones, also written as Hesh 2.0 on some websites.
I’m not a huge tech expert when it comes to audio quality in headphones, so I wanted to comment on the design and craftsmanship quality over the sound quality. All I can say about the sound quality is there’s quite a bit of base, you can’t hear too much of the outside world with these on, and the sound quality seems great for a pair of $60 Skullcandy headphones.
When it comes to the design, they’re mostly made out of plastic, fake leather, and fake suede materials. The top band has a small cushion covered in fake suede where your head goes, and the ear cups have a decent amount of cushion covered in fake leather. I should note, there’s a good chance your ears get sweaty after using these headphones for long periods of time. The cups really bottle in all the heat from your ears.
The ear cups can extend a small bit from the head band, but the extender is made of a very cheap plastic. Although it can extend up and down, the ear cups cannot rotate side to side. You will have to be very careful with these if you use them often over one ear. My previous headphones did rotate a little to the left and right, and the plastic arm still cracked after two years of use.
The best thing about these headphones is the detachable cable! All of the headphones I have ever owned only broke because the cheap cord snapped, ripped, or the audio clicker malfunctioned. If something happens to this cord, you can now easily replace it instead of buying an entirely new pair of headphones! The cord that does come with the headphones should last for a few years. It is made of a rough braided material, and it has an audio clicker and mic attached to one end. I haven’t been able to get the mic to work, but it’s the same type of mic that comes with most other Skullcandy headphones.
All in all, these headphones are pretty great for the price. The quality does seem a bit cheap, but they’re the cheapest over-the-ear headphones Skullcandy has to offer, and they come in a wide variety of colors and designs.