Rail ANC are true wireless earbuds from Skullcandy. The kind people at Skullcandy sent us the True Black Rail ANC earbuds for review. These smokin’ Buds are designed to keep everything pure and simple. This allows for every day with its great simplicity. The earbuds are light and compact and come with many features that sell at the price of €119.99.
The packaging for these earbuds is very straightforward and slick. At the front of the box, it showcases an up-close image of the earbuds. The box has a solid white colour with accented pink to bring attention to the packaging. Rail ANC comes in a True Black colour with earbuds that have transparency through them. The box includes the following items: Rail ANC True Wireless Earbuds, ear gels that come in three different sizes (small, medium, and large), a 1-inch USB-C charging cable, a charging case, a user guide, and warranty information.
As for the design of the Rail ANC, the colours are kept simple and nice. The charging case features a split between a matte and shiny black that gives the design a sleek, clean look. The feel of the charging case is very smooth. The only issue that would arise from the matte black half of the case is that it can get scratched very easily. The earbuds designed for this set are unique to other earbuds by Skullcandy. The earbuds have a split where they have a solid black colour on the back with a transparent base on the inside. The transparent base is also visible from inside the charging case. This shows the wiring and the different parts within the earbud itself. The transparent base for the earbuds is a nice touch to add some variance, but I did not like the look from inside the charging case. There are bright blue lights that you can see and big orange bumpers from inside that do not fit so well with the design. Besides that, the earbuds and case are fairly easy to carry around and can fit into your pocket easily. The ear gels seem to be made out of tougher silicone, which helps the bud fit better into the ear. This set weighs around 49.8 g. Some of the other specifications for these earbuds are the following: The connection type is Bluetooth 5.2, 38 hours total battery, adjustable ANC, impedance is 32Ω±15%, voice control, media controls, the driver diameter is 12 mm, the THD is <3%, the sound pressure level is 97dB ± 3dB, IPX4, rapid charge, wireless charging case, Skull-iQ Smart feature, Spotify Tap, Tile finding technology, EQ Modes, Multipoint pairing, Personal Sound by MIMI and lastly the frequency response is 20Hz – 20KHz. The distance for Bluetooth before disconnection is roughly around 25 feet, which is great for when you leave your phone in one room and head over to do something else. In addition, these earbuds feature many new features compared to their other earbuds.
These earbuds feature ANC (active noise cancellation), which depletes the earbuds battery quicker than without usage. In our test for the battery life, each bud lasted up to 6 hours with ANC on and 8 hours without ANC on. The charging case provides a total of 26 hours of battery life. The battery power is not too bad even though the promised battery life is 38 hours. It is important to know that the battery life varies depending on the usage of ANC and volume levels. The indication for battery life is decent. Next to the USB port, there is an LED, which indicates the battery range. Red: 0-25%, Orange: 26-75%, and Green: 76-100%. With this range, it is difficult to know if the case is fully charged when taken off at the green light. Charging the entire case with earbuds after complete depletion takes around 2 hours, which is very promising for battery life usage. When charging the earbuds, the charging cable used was a different USB-C than the one provided. The reason for this is that the cable was too short, so using a different USB-C cable may vary the battery charging time. Bluetooth’s connection is very accessible when using a laptop, an Android phone and even an Apple iPad.
These earbuds come with a range of features, and most of these features are organised nicely into the Skull-iQ app. Through this app, you can activate various features and get updates efficiently. These earbuds come with the Tile Finding Technology, which is great if you ever end up losing your earbuds. The companion app for the Skullcandy Rail ANC earbuds is quite extensive and features Personal Sound by MIMI. This function measures your hearing and adjusts the EQ settings to optimise the sound to your liking. This was quite an interesting feature to test, but it did not seem one with great appeal as there are many EQ modes to come with on the app. Hands-Free Voice Control is where you can add settings to command your earbuds to do various tasks. One that we found quite fun was taking a picture where the earbud would take a picture after saying the command. There did seem to be a slight delay, but it was a fun feature to test out. Hands-free voice control is also an option that you can always turn off. Spotify Tap features work nicely where you can control commands for Spotify through the earbud. Lastly, multipoint pairing was a feature that interested me quite a bit. This feature allows you to pair the earbuds to two different devices at the same time. Multipoint pairing works smoothly, and when watching one video on one device and switching to another, it automatically pauses the video on the first device. This is quite an interesting feature to have on the earbuds. This way, you can interchange between devices without having to disconnect and reconnect. The control for the earbuds is my favourite thing, and having it on an app makes it so much more convenient and effective.
The sound quality for these higher-priced earbuds is very good. As the features have ANC, the sound quality is well isolated, and for the price, it does quite a good job. The active noise cancellation in the earbuds blocks out relatively loud and high-pitched noises to snug the sound in your ears. For testing the sound quality, we listened to a range of music genres.
Both with the ANC and without ANC, there was not much of a sound quality difference other than isolation. The Rail ANC have a clear and crisp sound to them. They seem to pick up instrumental and light-tuned music extremely well. There does seem to be a slight bass in the back, which interferes with the sound quality, but it is not that noticeable. The earbuds are quite loud and have a change in the sound quality depending on the song you listen to. Sometimes, more bass is amplified, and sometimes, the melodic instrumentals are amplified. Either way, with the usage of the ANC feature, the musical environment the Rail ANC play in your ear is encapsulating. I do like that there is no distortion to the sounds.
In addition to using them for listening to music, we also tested gaming and daily watching. For high-end games such as FPS, these earbuds are quite decent with the ANC. The ANC allows for some spatial audio that helps players when locating enemies. Mostly, all sound effects in the game come across clearly, which is also a plus. When it comes to watching movies/shows, the sound is extremely clear, and there seems to be no distortion in the noise at all. Personally, the sound quality for these earbuds is surprisingly good, and the various features that accompany the earbuds allow users to align the earbud sound quality to their liking.
So, you may or may not know of Skullcandy’s other true wireless earbuds called Push Active. We thought it would be fitting to compare those €89.99 earbuds to these Rail ANC buds that sell for €119.99.
The mic quality for these earbuds is not that great and does not seem to differ much from other Skullcandy earbuds. I believe the downside to most Skullcandy earbuds is their mics, as they heavily take in the background noise. The mic input also does not effectively pick up the user’s voice, making it difficult to answer calls when the earbuds are in use. The mic can be used to some extent, such as being indoors. If you try to use the mic anywhere with loads of background noise, it tends to muffle out the quality, which makes it difficult for the receiver to understand you.
When comparing the sound quality between the Rail ANC and the Burton Push earbuds, they are slightly similar to one another. The thing with the Rail ANC buds is that the addition of the active noise cancelling raises the price higher compared to the Push Actives. Both of them are compatible with the Skullcandy app, but the Rail ANC earbuds have many more features that users can mess around with to adjust to their liking.
For the Rail ANC, these earbuds are touch-controlled, and we found them to be a bit too touch-sensitive. Sometimes, even if you want to touch the earbud to adjust it, an accidental command happens, which can be a bit annoying. The touch control is very effective, though and has no noticeable delays. On the other hand, the Burton Push have button controls on the side of their earbud designs. We found that in comparison, even though the Rail ANC are slightly higher in price, they are worth it due to the sound quality and features it has.
I would say that the way the earbuds are designed and built is really well done. The only thing I would like is for there to be a longer charging cable. Also, if the mics were built a bit better so that they have better quality for input calls. Besides these, the Rail ANC earbuds are great for their price.
It does not stop there; the earbuds also have IPX4 resistance, so you do not need to worry about sweat destroying the buds. This means that the buds can be used even when working out, going on a jog, or just for daily use. You do not need to worry much about your earbuds getting wrecked that early on. Rail ANC True Wireless Earbuds have seamless touch controls, are easy to carry, and come with a companion app, which just makes their experience even better. The earbuds feature active noise cancellation, which is something everyone needs to tone out background noise. Rail ANC is a fantastic choice for anyone in need of reliable, high-quality earbuds. The combination of superb sound, comfortable fit, and convenient features make them a top contender in the market. Make sure you go out and buy yourself Skullcandy’s Rail ANCs!
Overall: 8.5/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
