TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY: Skullcandy Dime Wireless Earbuds – Does More Equal Better?

Time for some more Travel Technology – this time focusing on the SkullCandy Dime Wireless Earbuds. 

And we’ll ask an important question – does spending £5 extra on branded earbuds make a big difference?

So, splashing out the cash then.

What can I say? Airport pricing at work again when it comes to buying stuff in a pinch. But it does show little you have to pay for branded products, with these setting me back £25.

But as usual, the question remains if they’re any good.

SkullCandy tends to tune their listening products to be much more “bass-heavy” than anything.

These come in a mixture of colours – your author went for the blue ones and teal. Because… why not? Yes, it’s a vain attempt so I don’t lose them again. We’ll see how long that lasts.

In terms of rated battery life:

• Earphones: 3.5 hours in earbud
• Case: 8.5 hours

These won’t win awards for long-haul flights (and the Apple product is nearer 5 hours of life), but then you have to factor these earphones 1/6th the cost of AirPods.

Unboxing time

In the box we have:

• The in-ear headphones
• Instructions
• Charging cable and ear tips

In the box.

Unboxed

Let’s flip the earphone case open.

Well, those look like wireless earbuds. No particular flair, but they look like… wireless earbuds with stalks on them.

The instructions are accessed via a QR code. This is a good idea as it reduces paper waste. The downside is if the QR Code isn’t readable easily, it’s a pain up the whatsit.

This took more than it should have to access the QR Code. 

As usual, you have to peel away the protective layer between the earbuds and the case, so they can charge.

And we come to my first gripe. Micro USB Charging. Whilst Skullcandy give you a double-sided Micro USB Charger (so you can use the A-Side either way round, it is still Micro USB in the device end.

Micro USB? Really? 

This is the connector that’s famous for breaking more often than not.

On a product that’s available in 2022, I expect to see Micro USB at the very bottom end of the stack product stack on no-name brands, and ideally – not at all with the bigger brands.

And with those travellers trying to head towards the single charging cable lifestyle, it is going to mean another cable to carry.

It took a few attempts to get it charging – it certainly didn’t like the USB outputs in the Cathay Pacific Lounge. I resorted to jump-starting the battery case on my Anker Power Bank – which finally brought the earphones it to life. If I’m honest, I’ve switched to a normal MicroUSB cable for day-to-day charging as the supplied one wasn’t what I would call “good”.

The buds out – not the contact points. 

Once there was a bit of charge, I was able to pair without issue. As these are generic as heck, I had to pair them via the Bluetooth menu on my iPhone. Your device may vary where things are.

Comfort and Fit

With three sets of tips (small, medium and large), I tried the basic medium tips. These had a passable noise isolation seal from the off (better than the Flying Tiger ones I use).

I’ve used them without audio to block out noise and they do a passable job (I don’t expect noise cancellation at this price). Although I have noticed the earbuds get a bit looser over time.

If I’m out and about, I vary between one earphone embedded or both. One in, one out gives me a lot more situational awareness, as these do not have a Transparency Mode on them. The headphones support solo mode – which means they can be used with just one earphone in.

Battery Life

I did a run-down test of these and three and a half hours seems about right when pulling them fresh out of the charging case. Perfect for a short-haul flight – not for a long-haul segment.

The charging case performed reasonably enough to up the battery when I used it more than a few times in a day. At least there are charging LEDs on the buds and the back of the case

Controls

The earbuds have button touch controls – and if you like confusing control schemas, you are in for a treat.

Can you memorise all that? You’re not the only one. This doesn’t help when the buttons are not capacitive – they require physical touch and push, meaning you are pushing the earbuds into your ear to interact with them

Probably the only control I used in anger was the tap to pause and tap to answer – even then I felt like I was pushing way too hard into the ear to press the button.

This is where capacitative buttons help. I almost miss the cable dangling around the back of my neck, with a physical controller.

But even then, those aren’t exactly 100% reliable.

Range

The headphones are rated for use around 10 meters away from the device as these operate on Bluetooth 5.0. This seemed accurate as I left the case and phone at my desk at one of the offices I work at, whilst getting a drink or pottering around in a comms cabinet.

Things like walls will get in the way of the signal – so be warned if you love leaving your device a fair distance away from your earbuds.

Audio tests

I’ve assembled a YouTube playlist of some of the tracks I test with – namely, then you can compare them with your headphones or audio device. It’s an eclectic mix – mostly actually lives on my iPhone for straight transfer to the audio device

We’ll kick off with Noisestorm’s Crab Rave, as that’s a tradition. The bass boosts through here nicely, however, the highs are tinny.

Moving onto Keiino’s Spirit in the Sky, the bass is fine, but trebles and voices had signs of clipping – indicating not great performance.  This performance is mirrored in The KLF’s “Justified and Ancient”, where the vocals were a lot higher than usual, to the point of clipping, whilst the bass was acceptable.

Going to an orchestral track such as “Ball” from the film Plunkett & Maclane, I found that I had to drive these at around 70% volume, with the highs missing a lot, whilst the strings struggled and the bass guitar just thudded through.

Audio separation is as expected, with the earbuds delivering stereo sound, using The Beatles Elenor Rigby (Which has Paul McCarthy’s vocals in the right ear/channel), whilst Propellerhead’s version of “On Her Majesties Secret Service” delivers left to right audio as expected, with thumping bass.

Let’s close up on Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds (with Liam Neason and Gary Barlow).

This is an orchestral and electronic/musical rock style track and the SkullCandy Dimes suffer here. Liam Nesson’s voice was echoy, whilst the electronic elements of the track suffered at the expense of the bass.

Recording Quality/Call Quality

As usual, your mileage will vary with the joy of Bluetooth. On the few calls I tested with people (both video and voice), the audio quality was clear enough to be heard, with minimal cancelling.

They’re passable if you’re desperate – but look around 

I’ve been daily-driving these since I managed to lose my last set of headphones from Tiger (which is why I buy at the bottom end of the market – and why I’ll never own a pair of AirPods. I can guarantee I will lose them in a week, never to be found).

As airport headphones, they’re reasonable enough quality. They’re a simple set of wireless earbuds, that allow you to listen, intact with you. They’ll take calls, they’ll play music and if you’re on a train or a coach, block out the annoying noise around you.

They’re not going to blow you away with their simplicity of setup, tight OS integration or some of the niceties that other headphones have.

And if you love bass, you’ll love them. If you have any other tastes, expect the mids and highs to suffer, especially when you try to drive them at higher volumes.

Three things let the Skullcandy Dimes down, however

• The control schema can only be invented by a sadist
• The controls themselves not being capacitive (which makes a difference when trying to control things)
• The charging option – Micro USB is unacceptable these days, especially on a branded product (especially when no-name products can add USB-C in without even thinking about it.

And at £25, I’m looking for a little more finesse compared to a £20 product, or even a £6 product (which I expect to be awful).

If you’re stuck at an airport and need earbuds to keep you sane on a flight, for £25, they’re passable. If you’re going to be using them in the medium term, the compromises may be too many for those who want to enjoy music.

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