There are plenty of noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones, but only a few have respectable audio and deliver quality noise cancellation.
Fewer still offer ANC (active noise cancellation) and cost less than $200.
So, it's fair to wonder if the $179.99 Skullcandy Venue falls into that revered set.
The good news is the ANC provides above-average noise cancellation.
The bad news is it suffers from issues common to lower-budget ANC, like audible hiss and an influence on audio performance when activated.
But if you're looking for bass-forward, wireless, sub-$200 headphones with good-enough ANC, the Venue is a solid option.
Honest, Objective Reviews
Daxdi.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
Design
Always clever and stylish with its product design, Skullcandy keeps things simple and (mostly) unmarked with the Venue.
The two external ambient mics (for the ANC), however, have tiny Xs that could just as easily be featureless design flourishes.
Available in all-black or white with crimson highlights, the Venue has a matte plastic build with a detented headband for precise ear-to-ear fit.
The Venue's circumaural earcups are heavily padded and block out a modest amount of ambient noise passively.
They're also quite comfortable, as is the padded underside of the headband.
The left earcup houses the Power button and ANC button, as well as status LEDs that keep you apprised of battery life.
On the right earcup, there are three buttons: a central multifunction button for playback/call management/voice assistance, and plus/minus buttons for volume adjustments and track navigation.
We're never fans of seeing these two functions combined on the same buttons—it's far too easy to accidentally skip a track when you only mean to adjust the volume.
The bottom panel of the right earcup also houses the connection ports for the included audio and charging cables.
The onboard voice mic, located on the side panel of the right earcup, works in both wired and wireless modes—the included audio cable has no inline remote or mic.
You can also use the ANC in wired mode as well as wirelessly.
Don't assume that plugging the cable in automatically kills both the Bluetooth connection and ANC—it only unpairs the headphones.
So if you're plugging the cable in to preserve battery life, make sure you disable ANC, or you'll be draining the battery regardless.
This also means that if the battery is completely dead, the headphones work in passive mode—the difference in audio performance between wired passive mode and Bluetooth mode is negligible.
The mic offers average intelligibility—using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could understand every word recorded, but the audio was thin and slightly distorted, and the mic sounded far away.
This is typical of most Bluetooth headphone mics.
In addition to the aforementioned audio cable, the Venue ships with a micro USB-to-USB charging cable and a flat, zip-up hard shell case—the earcups swivel to flatten and fit inside.
Unlike much of the wireless ANC competition, the Venue has no app to control its levels, which isn't surprising at this price.
However, you can pair the Venue with the Tile app, which allows you to easily locate your headphones if you lose them.
Skullcandy estimates the Venue's battery life to be about 24 hours when using both ANC and Bluetooth, or 40 hours when using ANC only with the included audio cable.
Your results, however, will vary with your volume levels.
Performance
Pressing the ANC button once activates the feature, after which pressing and holding turns it off.
Pressing the button once while the ANC is activated puts the headphones in monitor mode, which allows some outside noise in.
Operating this button can be a tad confusing at first, and sometimes it's hard to tell whether you're in monitor mode or the ANC is simply deactivated, but the ambient mics do a solid job of allowing you to hear everything without removing your headphones.
In monitor mode, you should be able to hear the sound of your fingers rubbing together right outside the ambient mics.
In regular ANC mode, the Venue does a solid job of eliminating noise.
For instance, rub your fingers together near the mics while the ANC is on, and you'll barely be able to hear them.
The whir of our AC unit was tamped down dramatically by the ANC, and the mics also do a decent job of eliminating low frequency rumble as you'll hear on planes.
Those are the positives.
The bad news is, like most budget-friendly ANC models, the Venue's circuitry also adds in some noticeable high frequency hiss.
This is common, and the hiss isn't unpleasant—think faint tape hiss—but it's the mark of less-than-effective ANC.
Regardless, for less than $200, the ANC's basic performance here is notably better than we'd expected.
Unfortunately, there's another hallmark of budget ANC at play here: The ANC changes the sound signature of the drivers when activated.
Neither listening mode sounds bad, really, but there's a subtle difference in bass and high-mid response in regular Bluetooth and Bluetooth/ANC modes.
Is this a dealbreaker? Not if you're not a purist and you're trying to save money.
If there is a dealbreaker here, it may be the actual sound signature of the Venue, which is quite bass-forward, regardless of the ANC.
If that's your thing, the bass depth here won't disappoint you, but if you're looking for an accurate sound signature, the lows here are dialed up quite a bit.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Venue delivers powerful low frequency response matched with crisp high-mids.
This track sounds as it should, for the most part, through the Venue—it's tracks that lack deep bass that sound a bit off.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Venue's general sound signature.
The drums on this track pack some serious bass punch—more so than they need to.
Callahan's baritone vocals have a powerful richness to them, and they receive plenty of crisp treble edge to keep them for sounding muddled.
The highs are also quite sculpted—the tape hiss in the background is brought forward on this track.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence to accentuate its attack, and the vinyl crackle is also brought forward from the background.
The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with subwoofer-like depth that will appeal to bass lovers.
As sculpted as the sound signature is, it's fairly balanced, but it isn't an accurate portrayal of the actual mix with how dramatically the Venue dials up the lows and highs.
This means that orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary sound a tad unnatural, with the lower register instrumentation boosted too much, and the higher register brass, strings, and vocals coming through a bit crisper and brighter than usual.
Conclusions
Sonically, the Venue sounds like many Skullcandy headphones we've tested—heavy on the bass, sculpted in the highs.
It's a sound signature that works fairly well for many music genres, but it's not for purists.
As for the ANC, we were pleasantly surprised—it eliminates some ambient sounds rather effectively.
Is there added hiss? Yes.
Does it affect the audio when the ANC is activated? Yes.
Neither of those is ideal, but are tolerable below the $200 line.
If you're looking for top-notch ANC in a wireless pair, the Bose QuietComfort 35 II remains the standard, but it costs almost $200 more.
We're also fans of the Marshall Mid ANC and the wireless, but in-ear, Bose QuietControl 30.
Under $200, the Libratone Q Adapt Lightning ($99.00 at Amazon) delivers solid ANC in a wired in-ear model.
For the price, the Venue gets solid marks for its better-than-average ANC and powerful audio performance.
If you're looking for decent ANC in a wireless headphone pair that can bring the bass, the Venue may be it.
The Bottom Line
The wireless, bass-forward Skullcandy Venue headphones offer surprisingly decent noise cancellation for a relatively low price.
