Skullcandy FMJ headphones review

Skullcandy has been with us for a while now, hit any skatepark and you’ll see a few people wearing their brightly coloured headphones, but are they any good? Is it a load of style over substance?

I’ve got a pair of FMJs here, or Full Metal Jackets to give them their full name. They’re a pair of ‘buds’ which are designed to fit into the ear canal. The first thing you notice is the buds are made from metal, hence the name ‘Full Metal Jacket’. These are from the Vintage Road collection released as a celebration at the end of the Tour De France.

Most headphones of this type are some kind of plastic, I haven’t yet tested these to destruction but I’m willing to say they’re going to stand up to a lot more abuse than any other plastic and inferior feeling headphones. The surface texture is smooth to touch and the finish and workmanship looks great. the pair I’ve got here are white, with a white cable that leads to a splitter, contol (more on that later) and the plug. Even the plug has an etching of the Skullcandy logo in polished metal, another example of their attention to detail. Unfortunately some of the paint has chipped on the left ear piece, which leads me to think that after prolonged use these might start to look tired.

The set comes with a variety of rubber inserts for the ear which you can interchange to ensure a comfortable fit. There’s also some foam inserts included. Designed to give an even more comfortable fit and provide better external noise cancellation, I found the foam ones comfortable enough but they also seems to focus the bass so much that the music appeared a little muffled. Luckily there’s a selection here, I must have small ears, the smallest set feel the most comfortable and clear

So they look great and they’re comfy, but that’s no good if they don’t perform!

The FMJs provide a lot of clarity at the higher spectrum, and plenty of low response too. The bass carries well no matter what you’re listening to, which I believe these headphones are designed for. But they’re not flawless. The middle ranges tend to get muddy if there’s a lot going on in the mix. If anything, they highlight poor music producing, they’re not very forgiving to poorly mixed tracks, leaving the layers of sound to get on top of each-other. However, listen to a well produced track like Open Your Eyes by Alex Metric and these headphones really shine.

I listened to a variety of music and artists to try and get a good overview of what works and what doesn’t: Alex Metric, Turbo Negro, The Pixies, Masters In France, Clutch, Ben Howard, Slipknot, Green Day and The Prodigy. The verdict is that they’re outstanding when listening to dance music, rock performs well, as does metal. Punk and acoustic do get muddy, but I’m being picky here. The bass is driven hard, and if it features too much in the mix, you’re going to notice as it creeps over the mid range.

As well as being a set of headphones, the FMJs also double as a headset for your mobile phone. The controls are confirmed to work with iPhone and Blackberry Curve. You can answer calls using the in-built mic and control on the left cable as well as pause and play tracks and skip tracks too. The control build quality is good, featuring the same metal as the bud earphones. The microphone is clear as is the audio when listening to a call.

There is one weird thing that we discovered, plug these into a Samsung Galaxy phone and the audio drops out to barely audible – until you press and hold the button on the headset control! No idea what thats about.

To sum it up, great headphones, stylish, robust and better quality sound than you’d expect from ‘bud’ style headphones.