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Skullcandy Indy ANC and Dime in the test: Small in-ear buttons and ANC stems for 40 and 120 euros

For 40 euros, the Skullcandy Dime are small, inexpensive, wireless in-ears that are too imprecise when it comes to the heights. The Indy ANC should offer a lot for 120 euros, but none of the properties are really convincing. Both headphones have a tough time against the numerous competitors.

Table of contents

  1. 1 Small in-ear buttons and ANC -Stem for 40 and 120 euros
    1. Technical data and functions of the Indy ANC and Dime
    2. Touch or buttons for operation
    3. Indy ANC with app, Dime without
    4. Comfortable to wear with and without ear wings
  2. 2 sound, ANC, telephony, latency and conclusion
    1. sound of the Indy ANC and Dime
    2. The active noise suppression of the Indy ANC
    3. Good transparency mode with the Indy ANC
    4. Telephony with background noise
    5. No abnormalities in latency
    6. Conclusion

Skullcandy now offers a variety of different wireless in-ear headphones. The Skullcandy Indy ANC should be the model of choice for around 120 euros if active noise cancellation is used. For just under 40 euros, on the other hand, the Skullcandy Dime are entry-level models that do without extras, but are particularly compact and thus primarily appeal to first-time buyers who occasionally listen to music on the go.

For 120 euros, the buyer of the Skullcandy Indy ANC receives, in addition to the earphones and the wireless charging case, a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, two different sized ear wings and three different sized ear tips. Brief instructions explain pairing via Bluetooth and operation.

Skullcandy Indy ANC

The Skullcandy Dime, which costs only 40 euros, includes the earphones and the charging case, a micro-USB charging cable and three different sized ear tips. A quick guide is also included. The Dime are available in the four color variants Dark Blue/Green, Light Gray/Blue, Dark Gray and True Black.

Skullcandy Dime

While the Skullcandy Dime with recess in the Lids are reminiscent of the Scendo Snapods with MagSafe for the iPhone 12 (test) and the Yobybo Card20 (test), since they are designed as small buttons with a flat, short style, the Indy ANC are still in the design of the series, for example is used in the Indy Fuel (test).

Technical data and functions of the Indy ANC and Dime

Bluetooth 5.0 with and without AAC

Both wireless in-ear headphones use Bluetooth 5.0 for the wireless connection to the smartphone. The Dime only uses SBC as the audio codec, the Indy ANC also offer AAC. Both headphones therefore do not support an HD codec.

“Bluetooth Multi-Connect” also had to be dispensed with in both test subjects. As a result, only one terminal device can be connected wirelessly to the headphones at a time. If another device is to be connected, the active connection must first be interrupted before the in-ears can be paired again.

Twice as large Driver in the Indy ANC

The dynamic drivers in the Indy ANC measure 12 mm in diameter, in the Dime they are only half as large at 6 mm. While the frequency response of both models is identical with 20 Hz to 20 kHz, the impedance of the Indy ANC with 32 ohms is twice as high as that of the Dime.

For the Indy ANC gives Skullcandy a maximum sound pressure level of 103 dB, for the Dime this information is missing.

  1. Skullcandy Indy ANC

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Skullcandy Indy ANC

Big differences also in the battery life

Larger differences appear in the battery life. While the small Skullcandy Dime should last up to 3.5 hours on one charge, Skullcandy promises up to 9 hours with the Indy ANC and up to 5 hours with ANC.

In conjunction with the charging case, the Dime should allow up to 12 hours of music playback, while the Indy ANC should be able to play up to 32 hours if ANC is not used and up to 19 hours if ANC is permanently activated.

Only the Skullcandy Indy ANC also offer a quick charge function, which allows music to be played for 2 hours without ANC or 1.5 hours with ANC after 10 minutes of charging.

  1. Skullcandy Dime

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Skullcandy Dime
In the test, a battery charge of the Skullcandy Dime lasted 3:40 hours at medium volume. The playback time promised was also achieved with the Indy ANC. With ANC 5:15 hours and without ANC 9:20 hours were possible.

Wireless charging and micro-USB meet

The differences continue with the charging cases of both earphones. Because while the copy of the Dime can only be charged via the outdated Micro-USB, the Indy ANC can choose from both USB-C and wireless charging. With dimensions of 21.4 × 62.2 × 38.9 mm and a weight of only 25 g for the Dime and 27.6 × 63.0 × 55.5 mm and 53 g for the Indy ANC, the differences are evident The design and battery life are also noticeable here. A lanyard is integrated into the Dime's charging case. In contrast to the Indy ANC, the Dime's charging case cannot be opened with one hand, as the lid clicks into place – force is required even with two hands. With the Indy ANC, however, little play is planned for the ear wings when the charging case is closed. If these slip on the earphones, the lid can hang when closing.

  1. Skullcandy Indy ANC

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Skullcandy Indy ANC
Skullcandy Dime
The charging of the dime in the charging case is completed after just under an hour, the Indy ANC need around 1.5 hours for this. With the charging case, on the other hand, it is the Indy ANC, which is fully charged after around 1.5 hours via USB-C, while the case of the Dime takes over 3 hours via micro-USB.

Skullcandy Dime Scendo Snapods Skullcandy Indy ANC Skullcandy Indy Fuel Marshall Mode II Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Apple AirPods Pro Bluetooth standard: 5.0 5.2 5.0 5.1 5.0 Audio codecs: SBC SBC, AAC, aptX SBC, AAC SBC SBC, AAC, aptX SBC, AAC, SSC SBC, AAC operation: touch buttons Battery life of the earphones: 3.5 h 5.0 h 9.0/5.0 (ANC) h 6.0 h 5.0 h 8.0/5.0 (ANC ) h 5.0/4.5 (ANC) h battery life with charging case: 12 h 45 h 32 h 30 h 25 h 28 h 24 h Wireless charging: – Yes ANC: – Yes – Yes Single use: Yes IP certification: IPX4 IPX5 IPX4 IP55 IPX5 IPX7 IPX4 Weight per earphone/only charging case: 4.0/25.0 g 3.8/43.0 g 6.0/53.0 g 5.5/48.0 g 5.0/35.0 g 6.3/45.0 g 5.5/46.0 g USB charging connection: Micro-USB USB-C Lightning Dimensions charging case: 21.4 × 62.2 × 38.9 mm 16.0 × 58.0 × 69.0 mm 27.6 × 63.0 × 55.5 mm 55.3 × 62.7 × 27.6 mm 27.4 × 69.6 × 36.9 mm 50.0 × 50, 2 × 27.8 mm 45.2 × 60.6 × 21.7 mm Price: from 40 € 69 $ from 93 € from 99 € 179 € from 135 € from 189 €

IPX4 for both in-ear headphones

The earphones of both models are protected against splash water according to IPX4 and can therefore also be worn in rain or sweaty sports.

ANC and transparency mode for the Indy ANC

Only the Indy ANC offer active noise suppression and an additional transparency mode. The dime has to do without both functions. The same applies to the app connection, which is also discussed in more detail below. The fact that the earphones can also be used individually applies to both models.

Touch or buttons for operation

Keys of the dime let the earphones slip

With the Dime, Skullcandy relies on a button on the outside of both earphones for operation. A single press on either earbud starts or pauses playback or accepts an incoming call. Pressing the button on the left earbud twice will decrease the volume. It can be increased on the right earbud. If the button is held down for around one second, you skip one track on the right and one track back on the left. In order to start the voice assistant of the connected smartphone, the button of one of the earphones has to be pressed three times.

If the button is pressed for about 4 seconds, the earphones can be switched off without a charging case become. To switch it on, it is sufficient to press it for around 2 seconds. A longer press otherwise activates the pairing via Bluetooth.

  1. Skullcandy Dime

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Skullcandy Dime
Skullcandy Dime

On the Dime, Skullcandy manages to make all functions accessible via them despite the largely identical assignment of both earphones, so that the smartphone does not have to be taken out of the pocket to control the playback in everyday life. However, the position of the button in the middle of the style is not optimal, as the focus of the dime is not in the ear. The button is slightly below the piece of dime that sits in the auricle. If you press the button, you inevitably always pry something on the earphones. Since a comparatively large amount of pressure has to be applied to trigger the button, this is not optimal. The dime would actually have benefited from touch if the button had been placed at this point.

Touch with the Indy ANC with too many options

With the Indy ANC, operation is implemented via touch, but the gestures are different from those of the Dime buttons. You have to tap twice to start or pause playback, which is unusual. The one-time tap, which is normally assigned this function, is assigned to the Indy ANC with the volume adjustment – louder on the right, quieter on the left. You also have to tap one of the earbuds twice to answer a call. If the touch surface is held down for two seconds, you can jump one title forward (right) or one title back (left). Triple tap activates the voice assistant.

To switch through the three preset equalizer modes, the touch surface of an earphone has to be tapped twice and then held for two seconds. To toggle between ANC, transparency mode and normal mode, tap once and then hold for two seconds. The user always knows which mode has been activated via an announcement.

  1. Skullcandy Indy ANC

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Skullcandy Indy ANC
Skullcandy Indy ANC

To turn off the earbuds outside of the charging case, hold them down for six seconds. To switch them on, however, they have to be held down for four seconds.

The possibilities to control the functions of the Indy ANC are thus diverse, but in everyday life too cumbersome and error-prone. The user not only finds it difficult to remember the exact control functions, but the assignment also takes getting used to. Even with the intervals between typing, the user first has to get used to the times in order to trigger the correct action. In this respect, the operation is not completely convincing in practice and requires a sure instinct.

No automatic pause and resume

Functions that automatically pause and resume music playback when one or both earphones are taken out of the ear are not offered by either model.

Indy ANC with app, Dime without

As mentioned earlier, only the Indy ANC are supported by the Skullcandy app, which is available for Android and iOS. It offers options for selecting one of the three equalizer presets (Music, Movie and Podcast). The transparency mode and the ANC can also be switched on or off via the app. However, it is not possible to adjust the intensity via the app. In addition, the battery level of the earphones is displayed – in the test, however, it was only 97 percent directly after removal from the charging case. The firmware version of the Indy ANC is displayed in the app, but an update does not seem possible.

Skullcandy -App with Indy ANC

  1. Skullcandy app with Indy ANC

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Skullcandy app with Indy ANC
Skullcandy app with Indy ANC
Skullcandy app with Indy ANC
Skullcandy-App with Indy ANC
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Skullcandy app with Indy ANC
Skullcandy app with Indy ANC
Skullcandy App with Indy ANC
Skullcandy app with Indy ANC

Hearing profiles with hearing test

An individual hearing profile can be created via the “Personal Audio” item, for which a short hearing test must be carried out. Skullcandy again uses the technology of the Swedish company Audiodo. Profiles that have already been created with another Skullcandy headphones and saved in the app can also be used with the Indy ANC. You can switch between several created profiles in the app at any time. They are activated on the headphones so that they remain active even when the headphones are used with other end devices.

Tile tracker in the Indy ANC

The charging case of the Indy ANC is equipped with a tile tracker and after registration via the Tile app an attempt can be made to find the charging case via the Bluetooth network .

Comfortable wearing with and without ear wings

The Indy ANC rely on the design of the Indy Fuel, so they use large ear wings that can be exchanged independently of the ear tips, which allows good adaptation to the individual ear. Thanks to the ear wings, the Indy ANC sit securely in the ear and can therefore also be worn during sports. The fact that the earphones are not pushed deep into the ear canal, but seal it at the entrance, has a positive effect on the wearing comfort. So the Indy ANC can be worn safely and comfortably at the same time. Due to their design, they can only be used to a very limited extent with bicycle helmets, the long style bothers the tether.

  1. Skullcandy Indy ANC

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Skullcandy Indy ANC
Small buttons are comfortable to wear

With the Dime, the fit depends more on how well they fit into the wearer's ears and whether the silicone attachments supplied are the right size. This can differ depending on the side. Once the right size has been found, the dime will also sit comfortably in the ear without developing any pressure. With the tester, they could be used without any problems even while jogging, but they do not sit as well all the time as the last tested Marshall Mode II (test), which do not have to be readjusted once while running. Due to their smaller design, the Dime can be used more flexibly in everyday life than the Indy ANC.

  1. Skullcandy Dime

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Skullcandy Dime
.candfigure Dime p class = “p text-width”> On the next page: sound, ANC, telephony, latency and conclusion

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