Skullcandy Aviator 900 ANC Review: stylish travel cans with solid ANC and a few software quirks

I picked up the Skullcandy Aviator 900 ANC mainly because they looked different from the usual black plastic headphones. The tortoise color, the little visible wires, and the LED display on the side looked fun, and I was curious if they were actually good or just a fashion piece. I used them as my main headphones for work, commuting, and a couple of gaming sessions over roughly two weeks. So this is not a lab test, just how they behaved in normal daily use.

My usual references are Sony WH-1000XM series and some cheaper ANC pairs from Anker/Soundcore. So I wasn’t expecting the Aviator 900 to beat the Sony, but I did want something that felt more playful without being junk. On paper they tick a lot of boxes: Bluetooth 5.3, multipoint, THX Spatial Audio, app with EQ, up to 60 hours of battery, and a proper carrying case in the box. That’s more features than I actually use most days, but it’s nice to have options.

In practice, the headphones did some things very well and a few things annoyed me. The hardware itself feels pretty solid for the price, and the comfort surprised me. The sound is clearly tuned for casual listening, not for audio purists. The app is where things go a bit sideways, especially if you start pushing the advanced features and custom EQ too hard. Nothing totally broke on me, but it’s not as smooth as it should be.

If you want a clean, polished experience like a Sony or Bose, these are not quite there. If you want something that looks cool, has strong battery life, and decent ANC for travel or office use, they’re worth a look. I’ll go through the details, but overall I’d say they’re pretty solid with some caveats, mainly around the software and a few sound quirks.

In terms of value for money, the Aviator 900 ANC sits in a tricky spot. You’re paying for a mix of style, features, and decent performance. Compared to something like Sony WH‑1000XM5, they’re cheaper but also not as polished in sound tuning, ANC quality, or app stability. Compared to some mid-range ANC headphones from Anker/Soundcore, the Skullcandy looks cooler, has THX Spatial Audio and head tracking, and a nicer case, but the software bugs and occasional connection quirks drag the experience down a bit.

What you’re really paying for here is a combo of design + long battery + solid ANC + extra features. If you care about all of that and you like the aviator look, the price makes sense. If you just want the best possible ANC and sound for the money and don’t care what they look like, there are more “boring” options that might suit you better. The 4.2/5 average on Amazon feels about right to me: most people will be happy, a few will run into app bugs and be annoyed.

For casual listeners who stream Spotify/Apple Music, watch Netflix, and want something comfortable with strong battery life for travel and office, I’d say the value is pretty solid. You get a good carrying case, AUX cable, USB‑C, multipoint, and enough customization in the app if you’re willing to deal with the occasional glitch. If you’re more of an audio nerd or you’re very sensitive to software issues, you might find them a bit frustrating and prefer a brand with a more mature app.

So in my opinion, they’re good value if you specifically like the look and want the feature set. If the design doesn’t matter to you, you can probably find something with cleaner ANC and more stable software for similar money. They’re not a bad deal, but they’re not a no‑brainer either. It depends a lot on how much you care about style and THX Spatial Audio versus a perfectly smooth, boring experience.

Design-wise, this is where the Aviator 900 stands out from the usual black plastic blob. The tortoise color gives it a retro look, and the visible coiled wires near the earcups add to that aviation style. It’s a bit flashy but not childish, more like something you’d notice on a train and think, “ok, those look different.” The LED display and controls on the side are also pretty unique. You get feedback for battery and modes without having to guess from beeps, which I appreciated more than I expected.

The earcups are oval and over-ear, which helped with comfort and passive isolation. The headphones fold flat and also collapse inward, so they fit nicely in the included zippered carrying case. That case is actually decent, not a thin pouch. There’s enough room to stash the AUX and USB-C cables, and it doesn’t feel like it will fall apart after a couple of trips in a backpack. For travel or commuting, this is practical: you don’t have to baby them.

Button layout is mostly straightforward. You get physical buttons for volume and playback, plus mode controls for ANC and awareness. There’s also touch/app control for things like THX Spatial Audio. Personally, I prefer buttons over full touch surfaces, especially when I’m wearing a beanie or gloves. Here, the buttons are easy enough to find by feel, though at the start I did press the wrong one a few times because they’re quite close together. After a few days, muscle memory kicked in.

In terms of looks versus function, I’d say Skullcandy did a good job balancing style with usability. These are not super minimal or low-key, so if you want something that disappears on your head, this isn’t it. But if you like a bit of personality and you don’t mind people noticing your headphones, the design is a strong point. It also doesn’t feel cheap when you hold it, which is important when you’re spending this kind of money.

Battery is one of the strong points here. Skullcandy claims up to 60 hours of playback with ANC off, and while I didn’t sit there with a stopwatch, in real use it’s clearly in the multi-day territory. With ANC on most of the time, watching videos, some calls, and music during work, I charged them only twice in two weeks. I’d estimate around 30–40 hours of mixed use with ANC on before I felt the need to plug them in. So the marketing number might be a bit optimistic for real conditions, but the general idea holds: you won’t be charging these every day.

The more useful feature for me was the Rapid Charge. They promise about 4 hours of listening from a 10-minute charge. I tried this twice when the battery was low. Plugged them in with a USB‑C charger while making coffee, came back 10–12 minutes later, and I got through the rest of my work afternoon without any low-battery warnings. So it’s not just a marketing line; it actually works in everyday life. For travel, that’s a big plus: even if you forget to charge overnight, a quick top-up at the airport or before leaving home is enough.

Charging is via USB‑C only, no wireless charging. Personally I’m fine with that; wireless charging on big over-ears always feels a bit gimmicky. There’s no huge LED light show while charging, just basic feedback. It goes from low to full in a couple of hours depending on your charger, which is normal for this type of battery size. I never felt like I was waiting forever for them to fill up.

In day-to-day use, the main benefit is peace of mind. With some cheaper ANC headphones, I’m always checking battery levels or I end up with dead headphones mid-commute. With the Aviator 900, I honestly stopped thinking about it. I just plugged them in every few days when I remembered. If long battery life and not babysitting your gear is important to you, these do very well in that department.

Comfort was one of the nice surprises. I wore the Aviator 900 ANC for full workdays (8–10 hours with breaks) and a couple of 2–3 hour gaming sessions. The memory foam earcups are soft and the clamping force is moderate. They’re tight enough that the headphones feel secure when you move your head, but not so tight that you get a headache after an hour. I have fairly large ears and they still sat fully inside the cups without rubbing on the drivers, which is not always the case with cheaper over-ears.

The headband has enough padding and doesn’t create a hotspot on the top of the head, at least for me. Weight-wise, at around 290g, they’re not ultra-light but they don’t feel heavy either. After a few minutes, I pretty much forgot they were there. The only time I noticed them was after very long sessions in a warm room: the faux leather pads do get a bit warm, but that’s standard for this type of material. I wouldn’t call them breathable, but they’re fine for normal indoor use and commuting.

One thing I liked is the wear detection. When you take them off, the music pauses automatically, and it resumes when you put them back on. It sounds like a small detail, but in daily use it’s actually convenient. I didn’t have issues with it triggering randomly or failing to detect, which can happen on some cheaper models. So from a comfort plus usability point of view, it’s pretty well executed.

If you wear glasses, clamping force is always a concern. With my medium-thick frames, I felt some pressure after 2–3 hours, but it wasn’t painful, more like a mild reminder that I had something on my head. Compared to my Sony WH-1000XM4, I’d say comfort is slightly behind but still very good for long-term use. For working from home, long flights, or binge-watching sessions, I’d be happy to use these all day, especially given how stable they feel without digging into your skull.

Build quality is a mix of plastic, metal, faux leather, and silicone. In the hand, they feel more solid than cheap budget headphones, but not as tank-like as some high-end studio models. The headband adjustment feels smooth with clear clicks, and there’s no obvious creaking when you twist the earcups a bit. The visible metal parts and the coiled wires give the impression that some thought went into durability, not just looks. Over two weeks, I tossed them in a backpack, used the case for a couple of trips, and didn’t baby them. No scratches or loose parts so far.

The folding mechanism and hinges are usually where headphones die first. On the Aviator 900, the hinges feel reasonably sturdy, but they’re still mostly plastic around the joints. Time will tell how they hold up after a year of daily folding and unfolding. Based on the feel, I’d say they’re better than low-end models but not indestructible. If you’re rough with your gear, I’d strongly recommend always using the included protective case when throwing them in a bag. That alone will probably double their lifespan.

The ear pads are faux leather and feel soft now, but like any faux leather, they’ll probably wear and flake after a couple of years, especially if you sweat a lot. I couldn’t find clear info on how easy it is to get replacement pads specifically for this model. That’s something to keep in mind if you plan to keep them long term. The water resistance rating is only “water resistant,” not fully sweatproof or waterproof, so I wouldn’t use them for intense workouts. Light rain and a bit of sweat from walking are fine, but I wouldn’t push it.

Overall, durability seems decent for normal use: commuting, office, travel, occasional gaming. I wouldn’t hand them to a kid or treat them like a beater pair, but for an adult who uses the case and doesn’t sit on them, they should last. The 1‑year manufacturer warranty is standard. Nothing in my short test screamed “this will break in a month,” but also nothing felt bulletproof. It’s right in the middle: solid enough if you take basic care.

Let’s start with the sound. Out of the box, the Aviator 900 ANC has a bass-forward, consumer-friendly tuning. The low end is tight and punchy, especially with the Music EQ preset in the app. It’s strong but not completely out of control, so you still get clear vocals and decent detail in the highs. If you listen to hip-hop, pop, EDM, or modern rock, they sound pretty good. For acoustic, jazz, or classical, they’re fine but you can tell they’re not aiming for a flat or studio-style response. One Amazon reviewer mentioned wanting more warmth; I kind of agree. The mids are clear but a bit lean, so some tracks feel slightly cold compared to something like Sony or Sennheiser.

The THX Spatial Audio with head tracking is fun for movies and games. In a couple of Netflix shows and some FPS gaming, the directional cues were clear, and the sense of space was more immersive than standard stereo. But for regular music, I didn’t love it. It can make tracks sound a bit processed, and sometimes vocals feel like they’re pushed away from your head. I mostly left Spatial Audio off for music and only toggled it on for movies or gaming sessions where I wanted that surround-style effect.

ANC performance is solid, but not top-tier. Compared directly to Sony WH‑1000XM5 (borrowed from a friend), the Sony still cancels more low-frequency rumble and background chatter. But the Aviator 900 is not far behind, and for commuting, office noise, or a noisy café, it does the job. The adaptive ANC feature in the app actually lowered the ANC strength for me, similar to what one Amazon reviewer said. I ended up turning adaptive ANC off and just using standard ANC mode for maximum noise reduction. That gave me more consistent results and fewer weird shifts in noise level.

Now the annoying part: the software bugs. The Skullcandy app is required if you want to use THX Spatial Audio, Mimi hearing test, and custom EQ. On my Android phone, pairing was fine, but when I started playing with custom EQ sliders, I hit some crackling and one hard glitch where the sound turned into loud digital noise until I powered the headphones off and on again. This matches the Amazon review describing a screeching bug when moving EQ sliders in THX mode. It didn’t happen every time, but it’s there. Also, multipoint can be finicky: sometimes it reconnects to both phone and laptop smoothly, sometimes it needs a manual nudge. So performance is good on the hardware side, but the app still feels a bit unfinished.

On paper, the Skullcandy Aviator 900 ANC are meant to be a kind of all-rounder: daily commute, office, gaming, and travel. They’re wireless over-ear headphones with Bluetooth 5.3, support for multipoint (so you can connect to your phone and laptop at the same time), and they also have a 3.5 mm jack plus a removable AUX cable in the box. That’s handy if you still use wired connections on planes or with a PC or console. The box also includes a USB‑C charging cable, a protective case, and the usual paperwork. Nothing fancy, but you’re not forced to buy extra accessories just to carry them around.

The big feature list is: Adaptive ANC, THX Spatial Audio with head tracking, Personal Sound by Mimi (hearing test that adjusts EQ), wear detection (pause when you take them off), and up to 60 hours of battery life with ANC off. There’s also rapid charge: around 10 minutes of charging for roughly 4 hours of listening. In daily use, that fast charge feature is actually more useful than the 60-hour claim, because I usually forget to charge until the last minute. The headphones are rated water resistant, so they can handle a bit of sweat or light rain, but I wouldn’t use them as gym-only headphones.

Skullcandy pushes the THX Spatial Audio and head tracking a lot. It’s basically a surround-style effect where sound feels like it’s coming from around you, and the head tracking makes the soundstage feel anchored in front of you when you turn your head. It’s fun for movies and some games, less so for everyday music. For music I mostly left it off because it sometimes made tracks sound a bit artificial or too processed, especially older recordings.

Overall, the feature set is pretty loaded for this price range. The problem is that the more you dig into the app and features, the more likely you are to hit a bug or a weird behavior. If you just pair them, choose a simple EQ preset, turn ANC on, and leave it, they behave well. Once you start playing with custom EQ sliders, spatial audio, and adaptive ANC at the same time, the software side feels a bit rough, which matches some of the Amazon reviews mentioning bugs and connection quirks.