Skullcandy Sesh Evo Review: No More Lost Wireless Earbuds
"With convenient tile tracking, these sporty earbuds can justify their $ 60 price tag."
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Inexpensive
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Handy tile tracking
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Multiple colors
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Bad call quality
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Mediocre battery life
Skullcandy has done an admirable job of providing affordable and stylish true wireless earbuds for those who refuse to pay the Apple premium – or just want something different from those ubiquitous white earbuds.
The latest offering is the $ 60 Sesh Evo – one step from his $ 50 Sesh – a no-nonsense set of true wireless earbuds aimed at the tricky middle ground where people want just the right combination of features and price.
Thanks to an ongoing partnership with Tile, they have a feature that no other brand of true radio buds can claim: the ability to track and find them in case you misplace them.
Is it enough to tell the Sesh Evo apart from an Amazon-sized tsunami with $ 60 earbuds?
Let's look at them.
What's in the box?
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Skullcandy's packaging needs to be improved from a sustainability perspective. In the outer cardboard box there is a black plastic shell with black foam padding. Even if the plastic on the roadside were easy to recycle, the foam would have to be removed and discarded first.
When you sit in the shelf, you'll find the Sesh Evo buds (equipped with the middle earbuds) and their charging case. A resealable polybag contains a 9-inch USB-C charging cable, two additional sizes for earbuds and a small printed quick guide.
design
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
The Sesh Evo is available in four colors: black, red, light blue and light green. This is a refreshing change from the usual white or black options most companies offer.
A satin-like plastic is used for both the earbuds and the charging case – it's practically the same finish you find on all true non-Apple-made wireless earbuds.
Several seams are visible on the earphone cups. Even so, they have an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance, which is more than enough to cope with the most strenuous training sessions – and far more protection than Apple's AirPods. or Samsung Galaxy Buds.
The earbuds have an asymmetrical oval shape with a discreet skull logo on a rubber membrane outer surface that you press to trigger physical button controls.
An LED on the sides of the earbuds will glow red when they are in the charging case to let you know they are properly seated and charging. You will also be informed when the buds are in pairing mode.
The charging case isn't the largest I've seen, but its wide, box-like shape makes it awkward to plug in. If you have a handbag, backpack, or other bag, at least it will be easy to find.
The hinged lid is easy to open and can be closed tightly thanks to a strong magnet. The charging sockets themselves also have very good magnetic contacts. However, you need to make sure that the red charge indicator is on. Especially when using the larger earplugs, the Sesh Evo does not always fit perfectly without help.
You can find the USB-C charging port on the back, while a small button on the front can briefly trigger the four-LED charge indicator to see how much juice is left in the case.
Overall, the Sesh Evo are well designed and functional true wireless earbuds.
Convenience, control and connections
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I found the Sesh Evo to be average for a set of true wireless in-ear headphones in terms of fit and comfort. If you've used in-ear earphones before and found them to be comfortable to wear for a few hours, the Sesh Evo doesn't present any suitable challenges.
Activating the buttons requires adequate pressure, which is not ideal.
The three sizes of earbuds are below average, and while this will likely give most people the range they need for a good seal, it can feel like the worst place to cut costs for the particularly sensitive or small ear canals. We would like to see at least four earplug options available from each manufacturer in the future.
As with most in-ear designs, some amount of twist is required. You are supposed to sit in your ear with the skull logo upright – if the models on the Skullcandy website indicate it.
For me, the most comfortable position was a slightly sloping angle.
As soon as they were wedged in my ear canal, they sat very securely – I didn't need any additional ear fins or other supports at all.
Using the controls on the earbuds was a little less satisfactory, however. Regular readers of Digital Trends know that I prefer physical buttons over touch-based controls on real wireless earbuds, and the Sesh Evo are physical. It's good. However, they do require adequate pressure to activate, which is not so ideal.
The button mechanism sits under a membrane that protects it from dust and water, but also makes it difficult to press. After some trial and error, I found that the easiest way to use them was to press a finger against the diaphragm and then press a little harder until the mechanism triggered. It is similar to the system where the camera is pressed halfway to focus.
It still has all of the benefits of physical buttons (no accidental triggering and a noticeable click for feedback). However, if you do a lot of these printing operations, you are likely to get sore over time.
On the positive side, the control scheme is very intuitive and covers all important aspects: increase / decrease volume, play / pause, skip tracks forwards / backwards, answer / end a call and access to voice assistants (Siri / Google Assistant).
You can also use the buds to turn the buds on or off regardless of their charging case.
The Sesh Evo use Bluetooth 5.0, which has proven very reliable for both pairing and overall connection quality. You can pair the Buds with multiple devices, but only one device can be paired at a time.
The quick charge function is excellent: 10 minutes of socket time gives back two hours of gaming time.
It is also possible to use the earphones individually. Note, however, that some controls like volume up / down and track skipping forward / back depend on using two earbuds.
Battery life
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
The battery life of the Sesh Evo is a bit disappointing by today's standards. They have five hours of play time between trips back to the charging case, which is on the lower end of the spectrum. In the meantime, three full charges are carried out in the charging case for a total of 20 hours – some hours less than expected.
The good news is that the quick charge feature is great. 10 minutes of socket time returns two hours of gaming time.
So while you can find plenty of other models that offer longer battery life, the Sesh Evo will still last you a full day unless you use it for more than five hours at a time.
Sound quality
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
Within its price range, the Sesh Evo offers an acceptable sound performance. They won't blow you away, but they won't let you down either, especially if you're not expecting audiophile quality.
The most important thing is to get a good seal with the earplugs available. Without this, the earbuds sound downright terrible – both hollow and thin.
It's harder than it seems. I found that what initially felt very good wasn't enough when I started playing music. A bit of extra twisting and turning until you find the right angle is likely to be required.
You'll know you've got it right when you hear bass that feels full rather than hollow. Keep trying until you get there.
The overall frequency response is decent – you get the lows, mids, and highs at a sufficient level that it feels like nothing is missing. However, the separation between these frequencies is not as clearly defined as it is with some of the best performers at this price point.
They also lack a bit of liveliness, especially when it comes to the vocals. If your taste is towards hard rock, punk or metal, these genres can overcome this limitation by sheer force alone. But music that requires a skilful touch like jazz, folk, or classical is not going to reach its full potential.
Accessing the Sesh Evo's built-in three-mode EQ (music, movie, podcast) can help liven up the highs – especially in podcast mode – but only at the cost of losing some of the low-end bass .
Are you looking for a training companion or something that makes commuting a little less painful? The Sesh Evo are more than suitable. But for a more loyal music partner, I would check out the $ 79 Earfun Air, which you can usually find for around $ 50.
Tile tracking
Skullcandy has started rolling out tile-based object tracking for several of its wireless headphones, including the Crusher Evo and now the Sesh Evo.
While I'm not that convinced that a large number of cans like the Crushers will benefit from this feature, true wireless earbuds like the Sesh Evo are perfect candidates.
Even when stowed in their charging case, they're small enough to get lost between sofa cushions or accidentally sit on a restaurant table. Just trying to remember where you last set them up in your own house could prove to be challenging.
The tile functionality works fine. As soon as you have registered the Sesh Evo with the Tile app – a quick and painless process – you can use the "Search" button on the app to trigger a high-pitched whistle from the earphones, which gets louder the longer it runs.
Better still, as long as the left earbud still has some battery power (it keeps the tile connection), you can trigger the position sound, regardless of whether the earbuds are on or off, are in their charging case or lying around alone.
The tile functionality works fine.
As long as you're not in a particularly noisy environment, you should be able to hear the distinctive whistle from up to 20 feet away – possibly more if the buds aren't in their case.
The tiling feature can't guarantee that your lost earbuds will always come back to you, but it does significantly increase the chances.
Call quality
Call quality on the Sesh Evo is all about what you can expect from a set of inexpensive earbuds. You can certainly use them to make and receive calls, but you need to speak very clearly and perhaps a little louder than you would like to make sure your voice is heard.
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
You'll likely speak louder anyway as there is no transparency / ambient mode that lets you route your voice into the earbuds to break the eardrum seal on the silicone tips.
Even then, you regularly drown out nearby noises like traffic – especially heavy traffic or noisy commercial vehicles – making it difficult for your callers to hear you.
Indoor calls are reasonable, but overall, I wouldn't rely on these earbuds for mission critical business calls.
Our opinion
The Sesh Evo offer a good true wireless experience for the price, but their unique and convenient tile tracking feature helps them (literally) stand out from the crowd.
Is there a better alternative?
Skullcandy found a sweet spot in terms of the price of the Sesh Evo – there aren't a lot of true wireless earbuds out there at this exact price, and those close to each other certainly don't have the Sesh Evo's tile chase.
If you like the design of the Sesh Evo and don't mind foregoing tile tracking and battery life, this is the normal one Skullcandy Sesh are now $ 50 or less.
The Earfun Free are also $ 50 or less and offer slightly better sound and wireless charging.
For a much better sound and only a few dollars more, the Earfun Air are an excellent alternative.
How long will they last?
Skullcandy products are generally quite durable and the Sesh Evo looks great. The protection class IP55 and a healthy two-year guarantee from Skullcandy ensure safety in any case.
It's also worth noting that Skullcandy's Fearless Use Promise allows you to purchase replacement earbuds at a discounted price in case you should ever lose or damage one or both.
Should you buy it?
Yes. For $ 60, the Sesh Evo offers a good mix of features and performance.
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