The Skullcandy Push ANC Active are a solid everyday carry with decent sound

Do you want solid ANC earbuds for your daily commute and gym activities? Do you want earbuds that don’t cost an arm and a leg, so you won’t have to spend a mint to replace them if you lose them or they get damaged? 

The Skullcandy Push ANC Active may fit the bill for you—that is, if you are okay with decent audio quality and ANC. There are definitely better options at this price point, but the Skullcandy Push ANC Active still have some  I’ll help you decide.

Good sound, but ANC falls short

First, let’s talk about the case. It is heavy-duty. Made for backpacks and daily commutes, it is huge but has an attachment point for carabiners in case you don’t want it to take up space inside your everyday carry bag. You can charge via USB-C, but it’s also wireless charging enabled—a feature you won’t find in some true wireless products at this price point.

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Earbuds with ear hooks are my jam! Their secure fit works well for my lifestyle, so I tend to gravitate towards them. The Skullcandy Push ANC Active has a great fit and is quite comfortable. The ear hooks don’t feel like they’re pushing into the back of your ears, and the hooks are thin enough that they don’t feel awkward when I’m wearing glasses.

I also like the mix of physical buttons and touch controls on the buds, both of which are responsive when you interact with them. You can access physical rockers on both earbuds, which control volume, track forward, and track back. Then, there are the touch controls on the skull area, which control play/pause and call functions.

Let’s talk about the most important feature: the sound. These are good, all-around, everyday carry earbuds for those who lead an active lifestyle. They’re urban tuned, with bass hyped slightly, but not annoyingly so. Bass response is satisfying for an upper entry-level priced pair of buds. The issue I ran into was using the Bass Boost preset. Listening to bass-heavy tracks from my hip-hop workout playlists on Tidal, the Bass Boost preset caused distortion in the drivers. When I switched back to the Music preset, everything was fine.

With regard to the other frequencies, I found mids and highs to be well-presented and airy. These earbuds have a respectably sized soundstage, which was apparent when listening to the FLAC file of Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes” and the Tidal track “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” from the “Get Out” OST.

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You’ll definitely want to take the hearing test found in the Personal Sound menu of the Skullcandy app (pictured in the gallery above) to get the best quality sound for your ears. If you still need to play a bit, the Custom setting on the Equalizer tile gives you a five-band EQ to further fine-tune the sound to your liking.

Overall, the Skullcandy Push ANC Active worked well for all of the genres I tried. From hip-hop to pop, folk, classical, and death metal, as I said at the outset, these are solid everyday carry earbuds.

ANC is decent at this price point. It effectively minimizes ambient noise in your environment, giving you some respite from low-frequency droning sounds like jet engines. However, you shouldn’t expect the level of noise-canceling you might get from some of the best ANC earbuds on the market, especially in the higher-end frequencies.

Drawbacks and closest competitors

These earbuds have ANC and an Ambient mode. Though they're clear and people talking to you are audible, the Ambient mode can be tinny sometimes. They're definitely not the best I’ve reviewed, but they're serviceable.

For Skullcandy’s audience, I don’t think this is an issue, but the case is huge compared to some competing products I’ve reviewed lately. It won’t matter if it is in a backpack or attached outside of a backpack by a lanyard.

As I stated previously, it’s all about what you want. There are offerings at this price point that I think have better sound quality but aren’t as stable or don’t have wireless charging.

Nothing Ear (a) sound better with their support for Hi-Res Wireless Audio, but are an AirPod-style pair of earbuds. They stay in my ears (AirPods don’t) but won’t be as “locked in” for dynamic gym use. It’s pretty much the same story with the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC with LDAC, but add in wireless charging.

Then there’s the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro which are $20 less than the Skullcandy Push ANC Active and I’d say have somewhat better sound quality but, like the Ear (a) won’t be as locked in. 

Call quality is good in a quiet space, and it's actually pretty decent in mild traffic, but the heavier the traffic noise gets, callers on the other end may experience dropouts in the audio. Wind noise may exacerbate that issue.

Should you buy them?

If you have the sort of lifestyle that requires ear hooks and you want relatively inexpensive earbuds with wireless charging, these are for you. However, you may want to steer clear if you're looking for something with support for Hi-Res audio, and the bulky charging case is definitely a bit of a turnoff, even if it does have wireless charging.

Overall, the Skullcandy Push ANC Active is a good buy for those needing a rugged everyday carry pair of earbuds. There are some tradeoffs at this price point where overall sound quality is concerned, but for gym use and commuting, these should fit the bill for many people.