Skullcandy Rail ANC true wireless earphones review

Skullcandy’s design language is less about subtlety and elegance, and more about getting eyeballs any way possible. The Skullcandy Rail ANC is exactly this, thanks to its iconic skull logo, the somewhat chunky dimensions of the charging case, and the liberal use of transparent materials. The earpieces are a bit large, but they aren’t heavy and I managed to keep them on securely and comfortably.

You can see straight through much of the earpieces, and this isn’t designed to make the inside bits look a bit too clean. There are actual components visible underneath instead of just a showpiece, giving the Rail ANC headset a pretty industrial look that is actually quite endearing. Even the inside of the charging case is exactly like this - unabashedly see-through and raw, with a bright blue light to illuminate the slots. I love it.

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The earphones are IPX4 rated for water resistance, and the charging case supports both USB type-C fast wired charging, and Qi wireless charging. Other key features and specifications include Bluetooth 5.2 with multi-point connectivity for up to two devices simultaneously, SBC and AAC codec support, and four microphones to handle ANC and voice duties. The sales package  of the Skullcandy Rail ANC comes with a total of three ear tips for a customisable fit.

 

 

 

 

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The Skullcandy Skull-iQ app - available on Android and iOS - lets you control and configure the Skullcandy Rail ANC earphones. This includes native voice recognition to handle basic functions such as playback, ANC, and volume controls hands-free (“Hey Skullcandy” is the wake word), customisable tap controls for both the left and right earpiece, ANC and hear-through intensity levels, and setting up the personal sound profile, among other things. 

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You can also set up controls to let you trigger the camera shutter on your smartphone, Tile tracking and connectivity, and Spotify Tap functionality. The app itself is well presented and easy to get around, although once you’ve set everything up you’ll be able to get whatever you want done directly on the Rail ANC earphones themselves.

Skullcandy’s pitch with the Rail ANC is focused on the features - particularly active noise cancellation. That said, there’s still enough attention paid to the basics, ensuring that you get a fairly rounded experience on the whole. There’s no fancy codec support here, which means that sound quality will be pretty uniform regardless of which source device you use; it’s a good thing if you intend to use the headset with multiple devices such as smartphones, laptops, or tablets.

Active noise cancellation is adjustable on the Skullcandy Rail ANC, but even at the highest level the effect isn’t significant. It does offer some level of noticeable noise reduction, but it wasn’t quite enough to even mute basic household noise such as a spinning ceiling fan, or the low hum from an open window. It did help in making playback a bit more focused and easier to pay attention to.

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Sound quality itself wasn’t bad, with the Skullcandy Rail ANC delivering a warm sound that will work well with most genres. The headset manages to find a bit more bass in everything, giving a firm rumble to even typically subdued and smooth tracks such as Something Got Me Started by Simply Red. For more aggressive tracks such as Bad Boy by Yung Bae, the punch fits right in and gives the sound a bit of character.

Fortunately, the low-end rumble doesn’t make things sound odd or unpleasant in any way; the mid-range gets some decent impact on the Skullcandy Rail ANC too.The highs seem to taper off a bit faster than usual, but this makes for an interesting sonic signature that is admittedly right up Skullcandy’s alley.

 

 

 

 

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Long story short, this isn’t incredibly detailed, revealing, accurate, or anything of the sort, but it’s clean enough and aggressive in a fun way. That said, you do need to turn the volume up to get the most out of the earphones; the Skullcandy Rail ANC isn’t for soft listening, and you need to be as audacious as the design to get the most out of it.

Battery life on the the Skullcandy Rail ANC is very good, delivering around 6.5-7 hours per charge on the earpieces even with ANC switched on. The charging case will give you about three extra charges for a total of close to 28 hours per charge cycle.

Skullcandy’s true wireless headsets don’t necessarily sound  the best even in their segments, but you’re paying for things like features and adventurous design here. The Skullcandy Rail ANC is exactly this, delivering workable ANC, an excellent app experience with features such as customised sound and native voice controls, and very good battery life - all in a package that admittedly looks pretty good.

The sound is bass heavy as you’d expect from a Skullcandy headset, but that might even appeal to many listeners. It’s a good option to consider at under Rs. 10,000, especially if you want the bold looks that come with it.