In today’s world, wireless connectivity is everything. Internet, controllers, sound systems and headsets. You name it, it has a wireless version available. I’ve been a bit slow on the uptake myself, still trudging around with a set of headphones plugged into my phone whenever I wanted to listen to some music, and unfortunately I’ve got them caught a number of times, causing some nasty breakages and ultimately damaging the socket on my phone. The range of wireless headphones available just didn’t appeal to me, so I never bothered. That was until I was offered the Skullcandy Indy Evo wireless earbuds to try out.

These neat little earbuds are incredibly comfortable to wear, with 3 different sized ear gels to choose from and a design that comfortably fits into your ear, they’ll stay in place no matter how active you may be. While they’re not noise cancelling, I personally find that the ear gels do reduce a lot of incoming noise from outside sources, so I personally feel they work better than some of the other big brands available. They’re also rated IP55, meaning the water resistance is perfect for those who do lead a more active lifestyle as sweat will have no effect on them, and you can use them independently of each other, so you can leave one in the charge case and still enjoy great quality audio while being aware of your surroundings.

The Skullcandy Indy Evo features a cool idea in the form of something called ambient mode. This mode seems to activate the built in microphone and allows you to easily listen to what is happening around you. While driving, I could still hear the sound of my car as well as other vehicles on the road. I could hear the rustle when I was opening a chocolate bar, better than I could hear it with my own ears, all while still enjoying my music. It’s a feature that I found very impressive, but not as reliable as I might have liked. It picked up “ambient” sounds really well, but if it was particularly windy, you’d get that horrible sounds as the wind catches on the microphone holes, and it wasn’t particularly good at picking up other people’s voices, so I did find myself taking them out if I needed to chat to them. To be honest though, it’s kind of rude to talk to someone with headphones on anyway, so perhaps this is the reason it doesn’t do this particularly well.

If you really need to play around with an equaliser, the Skullcandy Indy Evo has three pre-set options; Music, Movie and Podcast. Each of these settings will adjust the audio automatically to suit your desired setting. Music mode will give you crisper sounds, with a nice bass line, while the Podcast mode will really help emphasize and clear up any voices that are coming through. As useful as the equaliser might be for some people, I found myself leaving it on Music mode, even when watching YouTube, as this is what sounded best to me anyway.

The Skullcandy Indy Evo is controlled with a touch sensor on each earbud. A highly detailed manual will tell you exactly how many times you’ll need to tap your ear, or how long you’ll need to keep your finger there to do what you want. They’re also completely compatible with your chosen assistant, allowing you to control your phone with nothing but your voice, and I found this to be a lot more reliable than trying to do it with your phone directly. The set also comes with a built in Tile, so misplacing your headset this a thing of the past, assuming you connect it to the Tile app on your device.

The ear buds themselves will run for about 6 hours, depending on how loud you have them, or how often you feel the need to mess around with the touch controls. They are also supplied with a charger case that can hold another 24 hours of battery life. Placing the earbuds back into their designated slots will allow them to charge directly from the case and automatically disconnects them so that you won’t have to worry about making sure they’re turned off. They also feature a rapid charge, so if you happen to run the built in batteries flat, simply drop them back into the case, and in 10 minutes you’ll have another 2 hours playtime.

Skullcandy are known for great quality audio devices, and the Indy Evo is no exception. They offer more features than some of the more expensive earbuds, all while delivering an incredible level of sound at a very affordable price. Being comfortable to wear, while also looking stylish and offering a high degree of versatility, you really can’t go wrong with these earbuds.

Written by: Mathew Lindner