HIGHLIGHTS
- Skullcandy Spoke is priced at an introductory offer of Rs 2,999.
- The Spoke buds are truly wireless and claim to offer 14-hour battery life.
- In this Skullcandy Spoke review we find they perform better with an iPhone compared to Android.
Earlier this month Skullcandy launched a pair of truly wireless stereo (TWS) buds called Spoke. Now, there are a number of options available in the market when it comes to TWS buds. At the high-end, you have buds from companies like Apple and Bose. On the lower-end, websites like Amazon and Flipkart are full of buds from non-descript and unknown companies. Phone makers like Realme and OnePlus too have joined the market with their offerings. At the lower end, however, quality and feature set is still a concern. Skullcandy hopes to fill in the gaps with the Spoke.
The Skullcandy Spoke earbuds come with a number of appealing features. One of them is the promise of 14-hour battery life. Now, there are conditions attached here. Skullcandy counts the battery life of buds as well as the charging case in this figure. This means the buds offer a battery life of around four hours, and additional via charging through the case. There is a feature called Solo that lets users utilise one bud at a time. Then there is the dust and water protection with an IPX4-rated design. The price of the Skullcandy Spoke right now is Rs 2,999, though the company says that this is an introductory price.
Design: Simplicity at its best
With the Spoke design, Skullcandy has kept it simple and modest. The earbuds come with a charging case and a USB wire, which you can connect to any compatible charger to juice up the battery inside the case. In the box, there are three earpieces made of Silicon with small, medium, and large sizes.
The reason why I call the design modest is because Skullcandy has kept the branding subtle and glitzy bits out of the Spoke buds. The case and the earbuds are made of plastic but have a matte finish which gives them a sophisticated look. Spoke is only available in black colour and the brand’s name is also embossed black, which sorts of melt into the plastic casing.
Inside the case, the buds fit well into their charging and storage slots and are held snugly in place with magnets. The lid of the case is firm and stable. There are status LEDs on the outside that show how much the case is charged.
Overall the build quality of the Skullcandy Spoke is better than what users get with affordable pairs of TWS buds.
Spoke earbuds are easy on the ears. They are a little bulky, for example compared to the recently launched Skullcandy Indy Evo, but they are also hassle-free to use and that is what matters. I was able to go on walks while wearing the earbuds and a mask simultaneously. Although, their size is such that they will be discomfiting if you use them while wearing a helmet. Also, the fit is fine enough while you are walking or using these buds as part of your daily office or home life. But they don’t have the fit good enough for vigorous exercises or something like Zumba.
Spoke earbuds have button controls and are not touch-sensitive. There is one button in each bud that can be used to control the functionality. You can press and hold the button for two seconds to play the music and hold it a little longer to pause it. Pressing and holding the button on the left bud let users go a track backward. Pressing the button on the right moves a track forward. While answering or ending calls either earbud has to be pressed once. To activate the smart assistant, press the thrice, and to change the equaliser mode, press either earbud four times. Spoke has music, movie and podcast modes. It is set on music mode by default.
If it sounds a little complicated, that is because it can be. It is bound to be a bit tedious to control the buds through the button that they have. But it is also something I got used to after using the buds for several days. Though, even after close to 10 days of use, I prefer to use the paired laptop or paired phone to access controls on the Spoke buds.
Skullcandy Spoke sound quality
The Spoke earbuds have 6mm drivers, with a frequency range of 20Hz to 20KHz and an impedance of 32ohms. They use Bluetooth 5, and you can pair Spoke earbuds together or use each one individually by itself. Each one weighs 57g.Whether you will like the sound from the Spoke buds is very much dependent on which phone you use it with. I found that for some reason, the Spoke buds work great with the iPhone but sound ordinary with Android phones.
For example, when I paired the Spoke with Android Vivo Y17, the sound was underwhelming and left me disappointed. It just was not loud enough. I could not enjoy the music nor could I watch the shows without being at the mercy of subtitles. Then I paired the buds with other phones like the OnePlus 7 and mainstream Samsung phones, and there wasn’t much improvement I found with the sound quality. But the performance goes up big time when the Spoke buds are paired with the iPhone or a MacBook. It is as if they come to life when paired with an iPhone or Mac.
What’s the takeaway? It is well-known that iPhones mostly do offer better sound performance for paired products. But so do more high-end Android phones. In comparison, the mainstream and cheaper Android phones do lack the hardware that can bring out the best in paired audio devices. So, in other words, if you use Spoke with the higher-end phone, you will get much better performance compared to if you pair it with a low-end or budget Android phone. And that is something I wish was better because, given the price of the Spoke, it is likely to be used with mainstream Android phones.
Anyway, if you do pair the Spoke with a good phone, it is capable of offering a good performance. When connected to the right device I mostly used it with an iPhone and MacBook Air Skullcandy Spoke gives a decent sound. I listened to a lot of upbeat hip hop and rock songs like Time by Childish Gambino and Dark Necessities from Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The beats on the song were heard clearly. I could make out most of the instruments in songs and the stereo effect was easy to distinguish in buds. The earbuds also rendered mellow and slow songs pretty well. They worked fine with Suryakant Sawhney’s voice in Lifafa and Nusrat Fatheh Ali Khan’s rustic voice.
The Spoke buds work well with calls. Taking calls is extremely convenient, whether the Spoke buds are paired with an Android phone or an iPhone. People on the other end could hear me, loud and clear, and the controls are simple.
The battery life is good here. Skullcandy promises 4 hours of battery with Spoke and I found the claim accurate. The Spoke lasts a 3-hour movie and then some. On most of the days, I got four hours of actual use of battery life from Spoke. The LEDs on the case, while charging the buds, glows.
Skullcandy Spoke review conclusion
Should you buy the Spoke? For Rs 2,999 the Spoke is a pair of convenient, hassle-free earbuds that offer decent sound with good enough battery life. I like the price, and the fact that the design is subtle with a matte finish, build quality above average, and fit nice enough to be suitable for day to day use, though there are not the buds you will enjoy wearing in the gym while exercising rigorously.
But there is one issue. The best sound quality is only available with more premium phones. If only the Spoke buds had a more consistency in sound performance when paired with mainstream phones, I would have had no hesitation saying that these are absolutely worth a Rs 3,000 price.
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