Skullcandy Navigator – Hands On Review

If you are looking for stylish headphones in the market, then you should consider Skullcandy Navigator. The Navigator resembles to a pair of Ray-Ban's classic aviator sunglasses. It is generally seen that Skullcandy headphones are loud by design, but low on ‘Pure ‘sound quality. With Navigator, the company tried to balance design and sound to some extent.Undoubtedly, the Navigator biggest strength is by and large - affordable price tag attached to it. The audio sound quality is satisfactory. The deep bass is, however, missing. At Rs. 6,999, the Navigator is not bad considering its youthful design and above average performance motivates you to buy one.

Design

Skullcandy's latest on-ear headphones - Supreme Sound ‘Navigator ‘, doesn't look ordinary. They are high on fashion and can easily give competition to some of the premium on-ear headphones. The first thing you will notice is how cool these headphones are.

The build quality is way better than similar priced headphones available in the market. The headband (see above image), is made of leather. The metallic construction gives premium finish to it. A shiny Skullcandy logo on the sides adds charm.

The earcups are soft and comfortable to wear in. These headphones are recommended for travelers. Along with the Navigator, you also get a free black protective pouch to store you headphones.

The most common problem faced by users is the malfunctioning of audio cables. Thankfully, the Navigator supports detachable audio cable. If even the audio cable break, one can change it with a new one.

The Navigator is designed to work with Apple devices. It's clearly mention on the retail box "Made for iPod, iPhone and iPad". However, we tested the Navigator by using Sony Xperia Z and it worked effortlessly producing great sounds. Sometimes we do feel jitters still the overall experience are manageable.

The detachable audio cable comes with in-line remote and microphone functions. You can take /make calls, Play/pause tracks and up/down volume. The performance of microphone, however, is dull.

Performance

We purchase a pair of headphones to experience great sound. The Navigator is an impressive piece, when you play a soulful track. It catches the rhythm instantly. The audio quality is clear and noise free. For instance, Adele's Rolling in the Deep, has dark natured vocals.

The Navigator managed to recreate the ambience; you can fell the drum playing in the backdrop. The headphones failed to satisfy when we played LadyGaga's Born This Way. We had to lower down the volume, which means there would be a fair amount of distortion at higher levels.

It is no where written that the Navigator comes with noise cancellation mechanism. But in our test we find that they are pretty good at cancellation noise. These headphones are not usable with older generation iPhones and iPods, which is a bummer.

Conclusion

No doubt, the Navigator impressed us in the design department. As we said earlier, it is way above the competition, if one only looks at the aesthetics side. We are testing a headphone, not high-end sunglasses. The audio quality is above average. There are compatibility issues with old gen idevices. The makers should have concentrated more on sound quality rather than just style. There is another over- the -ear headphone called SENNHEISER RS 120 , which seems good at similar price range.