Description
The Skullcandy Sesh ANC XT, model S2TEW-Q740 in True Black, is an active noise cancelling sealed earbud with a wirelessly charging case and Tile tracking built into both buds. It is a genuine brand product with a one year US warranty behind it, which distinguishes it from most of the sub thirty dollar segment. It is also carrying two of the worst specification conflicts in this catalog: three different battery totals and two different IP ratings, both appearing within the same listing. Neither can be resolved from the page, so both are named here rather than smoothed over.
The battery: 48, 32 or 16 hours
The product title advertises a 48 hour battery. A feature bullet is headed 32 Hours Battery and then breaks that down as 6 hours in the earbuds and 26 hours in the charging case with cancellation on. The specification block lists Battery Life as 16 Hours and Carrying Case Battery Capacity as 26 Hours, which is a duration entered into a field meant to hold a capacity in milliamp hours.
Three totals for one product. The bullet is the only one of the three that shows its working, and it is also the only one that separates bud runtime from case contribution, which is the split that actually matters. Six hours from the buds with cancellation running, and 26 hours held in the case, giving 32 hours combined. That is the reading we would plan around. The 48 hour figure in the title has no supporting breakdown anywhere on the page, and the 16 hour specification field matches nothing else.
Skullcandy also states a rapid charge of 10 minutes for 2 hours of play, and a full charging time of 1 hour. Six hours with cancellation enabled is a modest but honest figure, since cancellation draws power continuously and most manufacturers quote the runtime with it switched off. Skullcandy specifying with ANC on is to its credit.
The IP rating: IP67 or IP55
The product title claims IP67 waterproof. The sport bullet claims an IP55 rating for sweat, water and dust. These are very different ratings. IP67 means fully dust tight and able to survive immersion in one meter of fresh water for thirty minutes. IP55 means protected against dust ingress without being dust tight, and protected against low pressure water jets, which covers sweat and rain but not immersion. The specification field, unhelpfully, reads only Water Resistant.
Where a listing gives two ratings we take the lower. Treat this as an IP55 product: fine for sweat and rain during exercise, not for immersion, not for showering, not for swimming. It should not be described as waterproof on the strength of IP55, and the title’s IP67 claim is contradicted by the manufacturer’s own bullet. The usual limits apply regardless of which figure is correct. No IP rating covers seawater or pressurized water, the charging case is not covered by a bud rating, and seals degrade with age, heat and debris around the acoustic mesh.
Noise cancellation, and an overstated claim
Skullcandy describes a four microphone digital active cancellation system and contrasts it with the two microphone systems common in affordable cancelling products. That part is a fair competitive point, since a four microphone array can sample both outside and inside the ear canal, which is what allows a system to correct for a leaky seal.
The claim attached to it goes too far. The listing states that the system can detect and cancel noise in the full range of sounds you can hear. No active cancellation system does that, at any price. Cancellation works by generating an inverted waveform, and that only stays accurate for sounds whose wavelength is long relative to the distance between the microphone and your eardrum. In practice that means constant low frequency noise: aircraft cabin drone, engine and road rumble, ventilation, train noise. It works poorly on speech, keyboard clatter and sudden sounds, and it never makes an environment silent. No decibel reduction figure and no test standard are published here, which is normal for the category and is another reason to read the full range claim as marketing.
Cycling is on the use list, and should not be
The Recommended Uses field lists cycling, running, skateboarding, exercising and gaming. This is a sealed earbud with active noise cancellation and no transparency or ambient mode described anywhere on the listing. Combining a seal with electronic cancellation is close to the maximum isolation a consumer product delivers, and on a road it removes the sound of a vehicle approaching from behind, which is the single most useful safety input a cyclist has. We would not use this product for road cycling, road running or skateboarding in traffic. An open ear design from our open ear headphones category exists precisely for that use case. Gym, treadmill, commuting as a passenger and flights are where this belongs.
Connection, fit and what Tile adds
Bluetooth version is listed as 5.3. No codec is named anywhere on this listing, so SBC is the baseline assumption and nothing further can be inferred. AAC, aptX and LDAC do not appear, and no high resolution or lossless claim can be supported from this page. Multipoint is not claimed. No companion app is mentioned, which also means no equalizer and no way to adjust the cancellation level. Wear detection is not claimed. Compatibility is stated simply as iPhone, Android and Bluetooth devices.
Tile tracking is the standout feature and it is not common at this price. Each earbud can be located through the Tile app, which addresses the most common way earbuds are lost, one at a time and separately from the case. It requires downloading and activating the app.
Fit is handled with ear gel tips, and the sport bullet advises switching the tip size to suit your ear. What the listing never states is how many sizes are supplied. The Included Components field lists a user manual, the earbuds, a wireless charging case and Eartip, singular, with no count. On a sealed cancelling product the seal is doing double duty, producing the bass and determining how well cancellation performs, so tip sizing is a real specification. Confirm the count before buying.
The specification errors, and the alternatives
Product Dimensions are listed as 14.7 by 12.8 by 6.73 inches, which describes a shipping carton rather than a pair of earbuds and their case. Item weight appears as 63.5 grams and as 2.24 ounces, which agree with each other and describe the packaged product. The Batteries field states three lithium polymer batteries are required. No driver size, impedance or sensitivity figure is published, and the frequency range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz carries no tolerance, making it decorative. Country of origin is Vietnam. The customer sample is small at 73 ratings, averaging 4.4 out of 5, though the category placement of 186th in earbud and in ear headphones is strong.
Within Skullcandy, the non cancelling Sesh is the cheaper sibling, while the Grind and the Rail cover adjacent positions in the range. If cancellation is the reason you are shopping, the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC is the value benchmark and publishes considerably more of its specification, and more options sit in our wireless earbuds category.
Who should buy it, who should not
Buy it if you want cancellation from a named brand with a one year US warranty, and if Tile tracking on each individual earbud is worth something to you. The wireless charging case is a real convenience at this level, the rapid charge figure is useful, and quoting bud runtime with cancellation on rather than off is a more honest way to state it than most rivals manage.
Do not buy it on the strength of the 48 hour figure in the title, since Skullcandy’s own bullet says 32. Do not treat it as waterproof, since the two published ratings disagree and the lower one is IP55. Do not use it for road cycling or skateboarding in traffic despite the use case list. And do not expect an app, an equalizer, adjustable cancellation levels, multipoint or any named codec, because none of those appear on this page.
