Skullcandy Sesh Evo True Wireless Headphones Review

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo are conventional-looking truly wireless headphones. Unsurprisingly, they look very similar to the Skullcandy Sesh Truly Wireless, with buds that don't stick too far out of your ear. They're also available in a couple of different eye-catching color schemes.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo are decently comfortable. They don't enter your ear too deeply and once you find the right-sized ear tips, they don't put too much pressure on the inside of your ear canal. You should also be aware that using the multi-function button forces the buds further into your ear, which can be annoying. The buds themselves are also a little on the bulky side, and you might start to feel a little discomfort in the outer ear region.

Update 10/08/2020: The ‘Additional Controls’ section has been updated to also mention the manually adjustable EQ presets.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo have an alright physical control scheme. It relies entirely on multi-press inputs on the buds' multi-function button, with one tap of either bud pausing and playing media and answering calls, three taps to turn on your phone's voice assistant, and four taps to change the EQ preset. Turning up the volume requires a double-tap of the right bud while turning it down requires the same input on the left unit. Holding down the left and right bud skips tracks backward and forwards, respectively. You'll receive voice prompts for powering the headphones on and off, successful Bluetooth pairing, and activating the voice assistant.

Like most truly wireless headphones, the Skullcandy Sesh Evo are outstandingly portable. They can easily be carried in your pocket, though their case is a little on the tall side.

These truly wireless headphones have a good charging case. It's made of hard, dense plastic and feels sturdy enough to protect the buds from minor drops and bumps. It features four indicator lights on its exterior to show current battery life and also supports wireless charging.

These in-ears are well-built. While their all-plastic construction doesn't seem especially premium, the buds and case still feel quite dense and sturdy and should survive a couple of small drops and bumps. The buds are also rated IP55 for dust and water resistance, though this isn't something we currently test for.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo are quite stable. They should stay in your ears without issue if you decide to go out on a run with them. However, since they lack stability fins, they aren't quite as stable as options like the Mpow M30 Truly Wireless.

• Skullcandy Sesh Evo headphones
• Wireless charging case
• USB-C charging cable
• 3x ear tips
• Manuals

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo have a bass-heavy sound profile. While this may please fans who crave a little more thump and rumble in their music, their overemphasized bass response muddies vocals and lead instruments. Their underemphasized treble range dulls the details of some higher notes and makes sibilants sound dull and lispy. They have three different EQ presets, 'Music', which is the default one we tested, 'Movie', and 'Podcast'.

Their frequency response consistency is outstanding. As long as you manage to get a proper fit with the included assortment of ear tip sizes, you should get consistent audio delivery every time you wear them.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo's bass accuracy isn't bad. It's overemphasized but very flat throughout the range. This should please fans of EDM and hip-hop, but may sound boomy to some listeners and muddy the vocals and lead instruments of other genres.

The headphones have great mid-range accuracy. While the low-mids are slightly overemphasized, which muddies some vocals and lead instruments, the rest of the range is quite neutral. This means that vocals and lead instruments are also present and detailed in the mix.

These in-ears have okay treble accuracy. It's underemphasized across the entire range, so vocals and lead instruments may lack detail while sibilants sound dull and somewhat lispy.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo's peaks and dips performance is excellent. There's a slight bump in the high-bass through low-mid range that causes some boominess as well as a dip in the mid-mids that nudges vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix, but neither is too significant. There's also a larger peak in the mid-treble range that causes some sibilants to sound a little harsh and piercing.

The stereo imaging performance of these headphones is excellent. Their weighted group delay falls entirely beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. The L/R drivers are also very well-matched in terms of amplitude, frequency, and phase response, meaning that objects are accurately placed in the stereo image. That said, these results are only valid for our test unit, and yours may perform differently.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo have a terrible passive soundstage, which is normal for in-ear headphones. They bypass any sort of interaction with the outer ear, which is important in creating an outdoor speaker-like listening experience, and feature a closed-back enclosure. The end result of this is that sound will be perceived as coming from the inside of your head rather than all around you.

These in-ears have no virtual soundstage features.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. While most of the range falls within good limits, you may encounter some distortion throughout the treble range, more so at moderate volumes. However, it shouldn't be too noticeable for most listeners.

These are the settings used to test the Skullcandy Sesh Evo. We used the 'Music' EQ preset because it's the default setting. Also, the mic tests were performed with a Bluetooth 4.2 dongle, instead of our traditional Bluetooth 5.0, due to connectivity issues. Our results are only valid when the headphones are used in this configuration.

These in-ears offer good noise isolation capability. They don't filter out too much ambient noise in the bass range, so you'll probably hear the rumble of bus engines and construction equipment, but they do a far better job of dealing with mid-range and high-pitched ambient sound. You won't hear much of the chatter of fellow coworkers or the hum of a nearby AC unit.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo are exceptionally good at keeping audio from escaping your ear canal. They leak almost no sound, so you can listen to your music at high volumes without worrying about disrupting people nearby, even in a quiet room.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo earbuds have an integrated microphone.

The integrated microphone's recording quality is mediocre. While recorded speech should sound fairly natural, it may also be perceived as thin and muffled.

Note: This test was completed using a Bluetooth 4.2 dongle rather than the Bluetooth 5.0 dongle used in regular testing due to connectivity issues.

The integrated mic has poor noise handling capability. People on the other end of the line may have trouble understanding you even in an only slightly noisy environment.

Note: This test was completed using a Bluetooth 4.2 dongle rather than the Bluetooth 5.0 dongle used in regular testing due to connectivity issues.

These in-ears have sub-par battery performance. They provide just 4.7 hours of continuous playback time, which is far less than alternatives like the Boltune BT-BH024 Truly Wireless. Thankfully, their case yields roughly three additional charges, and they take under an hour to completely recharge. You can also use one bud while the other charges, though you'll be missing out on a couple of control functions, like volume adjustment and track skipping.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo don't have a companion app, but they are Tile-enabled, meaning that you can find them if they're ever misplaced using the Tile app.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo have reasonable Bluetooth connectivity. They're Bluetooth 5.0-compatible but don't support NFC or multi-device pairing, which is annoying if you like to switch between listening to content on your phone and computer. They also have high audio latency on PC and especially iOS devices, which can be quite disruptive when gaming or streaming videos. That said, they perform decently well on Android devices. Of course, apps and devices all compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience may vary.

These are Bluetooth-only headphones.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo are wireless-only and can't be used with a wired connection. They come with a USB-C cable to charge their case.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo aren't compatible with PS4 consoles but offer full audio and mic compatibility with Bluetooth-enabled PCs.

These in-ears are Bluetooth-only and can't connect to Xbox One consoles.

The Skullcandy Sesh Evo come with a case that provides around three additional charges. It also features four indicator lights to indicate the remaining charge. The case can be recharged wirelessly or via a USB-C cable.