The other day, I was out jogging along the Chattahoochee river along with my constant companion, my
Zune 120 GB digital media player. I had a pair of
Skullcandy Ink'd in-ear headphones on to listen through, and I have to tell you that as always, they really sounded great. But like a fickle lover grown bored with the spouse he wakes up next to every day, I began to toy with the idea of purchasing a pair of over-the-ear phones, just for a change of pace.
I browsed a bit online, read some reviews here on Epinions (of course) and decided to go with a pair of
Skullcandy Lowrider Stereo Headphones. Hey, Skullcandy has been good to me after all, and I had a positive experience with their
Smokin' Buds , too. So, I headed on over to Circuit City and plunked down my hard-earned $29.95 for a pair.
Getting them home was easy; extracting them from their nigh impregnable clamshell packaging proved much less so. But eventually I was able to remove the Lowriders from their package. At first glance, they were attractive enough, with brilliant gold trim contrasted against the flat black frame.
Then too, the Lowriders seemed easy enough to store away when not in use: they fold at the top and sides, and the phones swivel and twist with just a touch. The latter allows for a comfortable fit, too, as I found when I tried them on. It was child's play to adjust the band around the top of my head, and twist the phones to their most comfortable positions. Padded cushions on the inside of the band and on the phones assure a snug fit and provide maximum comfort, too. Finally, the 1.2 meter cable was plenty and enough for use with my Zune.
So far, so good. But how do they sound? That was the $64 question. The package touted the benefits of the 40MM speakers, and although I was less than impressed with the 100-18,000 Hz frequency response (Epinions listing details appear to be incorrect at 20-20,000 hz), my Smokin' Buds had had the same and still sounded good.
So, off I trudged with my new Lowriders atop my head for my Saturday morning exercise. And that's when the problems began. I started out with some classical, Berlioz's
Symphonie Fantastique. At first, I could barely hear it above the outside traffic noise. Now to be sure, these do not profess to be noise canceling, but even as I increased the volume the Lowriders seemed incapable of outputting enough sound to override the din of passing cars.
When I got to the relative quiet of the river, I could hear a bit better, but only a bit. And what I heard completely under-whelmed me. The Lowriders absolutely lacked bass of any kind, and sounded flat, hollow, and dull. I toggled through various tracks by Chicago, Hall and Oates, and ZZ Top; all sounded lifeless and boring. In addition, the vocals seemed to echo as if they were being sung through a tin can.
When I got home, I decided to try the Lowriders on the PC and with a stereo amplifier to see if power was an issue, thinking they might need more than a portable player could put out. Volume-wise, they performed a little better, but still had an overall bland sound to them.
In the final analysis, I can't recommend the Lowriders at all. Comfortable fit and attractive design just don't matter when sound reproduction is this unfaithful. Skullcandy has hit a few home runs with me in the past, but with the Lowriders they've definitely struck out.
Other Headphones I've Used: Sennheiser MX75 JVC's Gummy Phones Philips HE-592s SHE-9500s 
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