If you’re looking for a pair of true wireless earbuds built for exercise, there is no shortage of options, but many of our favorites cost well over $100. The Push Active earphones from Skullcandy deliver a secure fit with exercise-focused ear hooks and an above-average water-resistance rating for $79.99. They also offer excellent battery life, powerful bass-heavy audio, and work with a companion app that has adjustable EQ and enables Spotify voice controls. That said, they do little to stand out from the pack, and have a plastic build that looks and feels cheap. For the same price, Jabra’s Elite 3 earphones offer a higher-quality build and more balanced audio performance, while Anker’s Soundcore Life P3 earphones add active noise cancellation.
A Bulky Design, But Long Battery Life
The Push Active earphones are available in black or gray (the black model comes with a charging case with a green or orange interior, while the gray model’s case has a blue case interior) and sport ear hooks that grip the tops of your ears for extra stability. The earpieces fit securely, but if you wear glasses or sunglasses, you might have trouble with the ear hooks. Skullcandy includes three pairs of silicone eartips in small, medium, and large sizes. Internally, 6mm dynamic drivers deliver a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. The earphones are compatible with Bluetooth 5.2, but support only the SBC codec, not AAC or AptX.
You can control the earphones via on-ear buttons or with voice controls. The push-button controls are easy to operate. A single press handles playback and call management on either earpiece; a double press on the left and right earpiece respectively lowers and raises the volume; a short press and hold on the left ear launches and plays Spotify; and a three-second press-and-hold on the right earpiece shares audio using the Skull-IQ streaming function, while the same gesture on the left earpiece accepts incoming Skull-IQ transmissions.
If you use Spotify, you can use say “Hey Skullcandy, Play” to play music, as well as additional commands to skip tracks or manage incoming calls. If Spotify isn’t your default music player, the companion app’s voice command options won’t be very useful. Of course, you can also completely turn these voice control options off.
Beyond the voice-activated Spotify controls, the Skullcandy app (for Android and iOS) offers adjustable EQ presets, the ability to link the earphones with a Tile tracker (to locate them if they go missing), and some basic on-ear button customization options. You can also turn Stay Aware mode on or off; when on, it enables you to hear your surroundings through the earpieces.
An IP55 rating means that the earpieces are highly resistant to dust and relatively resistant to water. The rating is better than many competing pairs that offer only IPX4 protection, but others, such as the Jabra Elite 7 Active, carry an even more impressive IP57 rating. In any case, the Push Active earpieces can withstand light splashes and low pressure water jets from any direction, so neither sweat nor rain should cause problems. Avoid rinsing them off under a faucet or submerging them in water for cleaning, however. And the case isn’t water resistant, so you need to completely dry the earpieces before docking them.
Skullcandy estimates that the earpieces can last roughly 10 hours on battery, with 34 additional hours available via the charging case. These are great numbers for true wireless earphones and help explain the charging case’s massive size (it’s twice as big as most others). As always, however, your results will vary based on your volume levels.
Bass-Forward Sound
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the earphones deliver powerful low-frequency response. At top, unwise listening levels, the lows don’t distort, and at more reasonable listening levels, the bass still feels substantially boosted.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, better reveals the sound signature. The drums on this track sound deep and round—they don’t quite extend into unnaturally thunderous territory, but the earphones definitely exhibit a bass-forward sound signature. That means Callahan’s baritone vocals also get some additional low-mid richness. While you get enough high-mid presence to keep the mix from getting muddy, those frequencies can sound overly sculpted and scooped out at times.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence to retain its punchy attack, but it’s the higher-frequency vinyl crackle and hiss that steps forward most in the mix. The loop also gets some added thump, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat come across with gusto. The deep lows here aren’t quite as powerful as they sound through some models that really push the bass depth, however. The earphones deliver the vocals on this track with solid clarity and no extra sibilance.
On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, you get a solid balance of rich lows and crisp, bright highs; the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals retain their place in the spotlight.
The built-in mic offers solid intelligibility. We tested it with the Voice Memos app on an iPhone, and could understand every word we recorded without issue. We noticed hints of typical Bluetooth audio artifacts, but the signal was strong and relatively clear.
Solid Capabilities, Tough Competitors
The Skullcandy Push Active earphones deliver a sculpted sound signature with boosted bass and bright highs. We like their long battery and companion app with adjustable EQ, but nothing really sets the earphones apart from the competition. Ultimately, we’re biggers fans of Anker’s Soundcore Life P3 earphones if you’re more interested in accurate audio performance and active noise cancellation than an exercise-friendly build, or Jabra’s Elite 3 earbuds if you want to go the exercise route. If you’re willing to spend more and want the best exercise-friendly earphones, meanwhile, we recommend the $179.99 Jabra Elite 7 Active.
