The Headphone Conundrum (Skullcandy Agent Review)

After arriving to the UK, I soon realized the need for some good sounding headphones. Beats by Dre looked like the all time public favorite but sadly, they are not student budget friendly. Though my original Nokia headphones had sufficed so far but looking at all the shiny and beautiful headphones during my tube journeys, I decided to look for some new headphones. But then I was faced with the biggest problem, which headphones to buy?! I searched online for reviews and suggestions but it proved to be one of the toughest decisions of my life. So finally, I decided to buy the Skullcandy Agents owing to the 50% discount on Play.

The specifications are as follows, 

• 40mm power drivers
• Soft leather-touch ear pillows
• Frequency response: 18-20 kHz
• Impedance: 32 ohms
• Max input power: 30mW

First and foremost, the headphones look stunning with the skull design at both the drivers. They have 40mm drivers, so they are on-ear instead of over-ear headphones The headband is completely adjustable (so you don't have to worry if you have a particularly small head like mine) and have a tilted design to ensure a proper fit and that no sound leaks. 

The audio quality is absolutely amazing with clear mids and a deep bass with reverberating drivers (the vibration produced by a sub-woofer) . There was no distortion even on the highest volume setting (and yes I tried every genre from dubstep to rock). So much so that I started using them as my laptop speakers by just plugging them in and putting them somewhere near with the drivers facing out (of course it sounded a million times better than standard laptop speakers).

Everything was fine and I was in eternal bliss until I had to wear these headphones for a long duration of time. The sound-leak-proof design coupled with the extremely uncomfortable cushions made my ears sweaty and fatigued as the drivers apply considerable pressure on your ears over longer periods of use. The weariness is so noticeable that I had to take the headphones off to recover, and after I had taken them off, my ears were really in pain. something that had never happened before! Addtionally, the headphones do not have great build quality for after a month's continuous use, one of the drivers stopped working. They come with a year's warranty so I got them replaced but alas, the second pair faced the same problem so I got a refund. 

Final summation: 

- Great sound, incredible bass, beautiful design with a good range of colors and designs.

- Awful build quality and uncomfortable over long periods of time (1 hour approx.)

So do the headphones deserve the attention of a student? I think not, simply because we students don't have the time to be returning headphones after every month.