The Skullcandy Indy Fuel Truly Wireless are simple, truly wireless headphones. They feel sturdy, are very portable, do a good job of staying in your ears, and have a fairly comprehensive control scheme. Unfortunately, their integrated microphone struggles to isolate speech from background noise. They also have short battery life, and the sound profile is light on the mid and treble ranges, which may be annoying for some listeners.
Our Verdict
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel are fair for neutral sound. While they have a very accurate bass range, their mid and treble ranges are underemphasized, resulting in vocals and lead instruments being nudged to the back of the mix and sounding dull as well as veiled. Luckily, they have three built-in EQ modes, but you can only change them via their touch-sensitive control scheme, not on their companion app.
- Consistent audio delivery.
- Underemphasized treble response.
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel are good for commuting and traveling. They're lightweight, feel well-built, and are small enough to fit into most bags or pockets without too much of an issue. Their case supplies roughly four additional charges, though their single-charge battery life is short. Unfortunately, they struggle to cut down the low rumble of bus and plane engines.
- Sturdy build quality.
- Low latency on mobile devices.
- Stable fit.
- 3-hour continuous playback time.
- Struggles to block out bass-range noise.
The Skullcandy Indy Fuelare great for sports and fitness. They’re sturdy-feeling and are certified IP55 for dust and water resistance. The buds have a stable in-ear fit, and while their touch-sensitive control scheme isn’t the most intuitive, it places a lot of functions within easy reach, so you don’t disrupt your rhythm while you're on the move.
- Sturdy build quality.
- Stable fit.
- Companion app offers very little functionality.
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel are okay for office use. They’re decently comfortable, block out a decent amount of background speech, and leak next to no audio, so you should be able to listen to your music as loud as you want without fear of disrupting coworkers, even if you work in a quiet office. Unfortunately, they have a short continuous battery life, so you need to put them back in their case frequently to recharge.
- Can block out office chatter.
- Low latency on mobile devices.
- Leak almost no audio.
- 3-hour continuous playback time.
- Companion app offers very little functionality.
- No multi-device pairing capability.
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel are Bluetooth-only, and you can't use them with PlayStation or Xbox consoles. Their audio latency on PC is too high for them to be suitable for gaming.
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel are Bluetooth-only headphones, and you can't use them with a wired connection.
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel are passable for phone calls. While their integrated microphone does a decent job of making your voice sound detailed and mostly distortion-free, it struggles with isolating speech from even moderately loud background noise, meaning people on the other end of the line may struggle to understand you in a crowded or noisy setting. Thankfully, the buds do a satisfactory job of blocking out background noise.
- Can block out office chatter.
- Consistent audio delivery.
- Disappointing microphone noise handling.
- Underemphasized treble response.
Changelog
- Updated Nov 05, 2021: Updated review for accuracy and clarity.
- Updated Oct 22, 2021: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Nov 23, 2020: Updated review for accuracy and clarity.
- Updated Aug 07, 2020: Review published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel True Wireless Earbuds have two color variants: 'Chill Grey' and 'True Black'. We tested the 'Chill Grey' variant but expect the other model to perform similarly overall.
If someone comes across a differently-configured variant, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel True Wireless are good sports-oriented truly wireless headphones. They’re well-built, portable, and have very low latency on mobile devices. However, they have an uneven treble response, a short continuous battery life, and an integrated microphone with a lot of trouble isolating the wearer's voice from background noise.
Take a look at our lists of the best true wireless earbuds, the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds, and the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds for running.
The Skullcandy Indy Evo True Wireless and the Skullcandy Indy Fuel Truly Wireless are almost identical truly wireless in-ears. The primary difference between the Fuel and the Evo is the former’s wireless charging-compatible case. However, there are some other small differences. The Evo offer a more consistent listening experience due to their fractionally larger ear tips, while their integrated microphone does a slightly better job of isolating speech from background noise.
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel Truly Wireless are more versatile than the Skullcandy Push Ultra Truly Wireless. The Indy Fuel are more comfortable, deliver audio more consistently, leak less audio, and offer lower wireless latency. They also have a better-balanced sound profile. However, the Push Ultra have a longer battery life, and their inferior passive noise isolation might make them better for situations where you want to stay aware of your surroundings.
The Skullcandy Indy Fuel Truly Wireless are better suited for mixed usage than the Apple AirPods (2nd generation). The Skullcandy deliver a more consistent listening experience with more accurate bass. They leak much less audio, feel more secure in the ear, and block out substantially more ambient noise. However, the open-back Apple are better built, generate a more spacious listening experience with a better-reproduced treble, feel more comfortable to wear for extended periods, and have a better-integrated mic.
The Apple AirPods Pro are better all-around headphones than the Skullcandy Indy Fuel Truly Wireless. The Apple headphones have a more comfortable fit, a better build quality, a more neutral sound profile, and a far superior noise isolation capability. However, the Skullcandy are far more affordable and have lower wireless latency on Android devices.
Our How We Test Headphones article takes you behind the scenes in our lab. You'll learn how we choose and purchase products and dive into the details of our review philosophy, from testing and scoring to writing and editing.
You can also discover how we produce recommendations like this one so that you can find the best headphones (or earbuds!) for your needs.
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