We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-10-04 · 8 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a headset that keeps you heard and your ears covered during noisy campus jobs, choose Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset; if you need a lightweight pair for music and calls between classes, choose Skullcandy Ink'd+ In-Ear Earbuds. I'm framing this whole comparison around noise isolating headphones for college students, because that's the real decision point here — one of these is a radio accessory built for loud environments, and the other is a pocketable music earbud. They both claim "Sound Isolation," but they go about it in completely different ways.
• Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset — biggest strength: over-ear earmuffs with a boom mic and push-to-talk, built to keep two-way radio chatter clear when everything around you is loud.
• Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset — biggest trade-off: it's a wired Kenwood 2-pin headset, so it only works with compatible walkie-talkies and won't connect to a phone, laptop or any Motorola or Midland radio.
• Skullcandy Ink'd+ In-Ear Earbuds — biggest strength: a tiny wired 3.5 mm earbud with an inline mic and call/track control, with S and M ear gels for a noise-isolating in-ear seal.
• Skullcandy Ink'd+ In-Ear Earbuds — biggest trade-off: no radio compatibility, no boom mic, and the isolation depends entirely on how well the ear gels seal in your ears.
• Who each pick is for: pick the Retevis if you're running a walkie-talkie on a campus event, film shoot or game-day crew; pick the Ink'd+ if you want cheap, simple earbuds for lectures, the bus and the gym.
The Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset is, first and foremost, a communications tool. It's an over-ear headset with a flexible headband, soft padded ear cushions and a 270-degree rotatable boom mic that you swing down to your mouth and leave there. The mic boom can be positioned for either the left or right ear, which matters more than people expect when you're wearing it for a full shift. The point of the design is simple: put a mic where your voice actually is, and cover your ears so you can still hear the radio over the noise around you.
The core feature set is all about noisy environments. There's a push-to-talk button on the headset itself, so you don't have to fumble for the radio on your belt. There's also VOX support, which lets the headset transmit hands-free once you enable VOX on both the headset and the walkie-talkie. Retevis lists mowing the lawn, camera teams, church production, film making, sports events, football games and campus calls as the intended uses — that list tells you exactly who this is for. If you're a college student working event security, running audio on a student film, or coordinating a club tournament, this is the kind of gear that keeps both hands free and both ears covered.
Skullcandy Ink'd+ In-Ear Earbuds: Who It's For
The Skullcandy Ink'd+ is the opposite kind of product: small, wired, and designed for everyday listening. It's an in-ear earbud with a rounded earpiece shape and an ABS housing, and it ships with small and medium ear gels plus a user guide. The "noise isolating fit" claim comes from those ear gels — when they seal properly in your ear canal, they physically block outside sound, which is the same basic principle behind any passive noise isolating headphone.
Functionally, it's a 3.5 mm wired earbud with a built-in microphone and call/track control, so you can answer a call or skip a song without pulling out your phone. The drivers are dynamic with a 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency range and 16 ohm impedance, which is a low-impedance, easy-to-drive spec — the kind of thing that plays fine straight out of a laptop headphone jack or a phone dongle without any amp. It's a music-first product, and the theme listed is literally "Music."
Where it fits a college student's life: between classes, on the campus bus, in the library, at the gym, on a run. It's the pair you keep coiled in a pocket. The isolation is genuinely useful in a dorm or a noisy study space, because a good seal cuts a lot of background chatter without any electronics involved.
The honest limitations: this is not a radio headset, so it can't talk to a walkie-talkie. There's no boom mic — just an inline mic on the cable, which is fine for phone calls but not for a production crew. And because isolation depends on the ear gel seal, fit is everything; if the S or M gels don't sit right in your ears, you lose most of the noise blocking. If you need to hear your surroundings for safety, that same seal is a downside. And if you're shopping for waterproof kids headphones for college students or volume limiting sleep headphones for college students, this isn't that product either — it's a general-purpose wired earbud, not a specialty one.
• Best for two-way radio communication → Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset. It has the PTT button, the boom mic and the Kenwood 2-pin plug.
• Best for music and phone calls → Skullcandy Ink'd+ In-Ear Earbuds. Inline mic plus call and track control, wired 3.5 mm.
• Best for loud, hands-busy environments → Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset. Over-ear earmuffs plus a mic you don't have to hold.
• Best for portability → Skullcandy Ink'd+ In-Earbuds. It weighs almost nothing and lives in a pocket.
• Best for hands-free talking without pressing a button → Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset, if you enable VOX on both the headset and the radio.
• Best for use with a phone or laptop → Skullcandy Ink'd+ In-Ear Earbuds. The 3.5 mm jack is the universal one; the Retevis plug is not.
• Best for a team already on Motorola or Midland radios → neither. The Retevis explicitly won't work with those brands, and the Ink'd+ has no radio capability at all.
• Best for a student film, event crew or campus job → Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset. That's the use case its feature list is written for.
For a college student, my pick depends entirely on the job. If you're working a campus event, a student film set, a sports crew or anything where you're coordinating with other people over radios, I'd buy the Retevis Walkie Talkie Headset — the boom mic, PTT button and over-ear coverage are exactly what that scenario needs, and no earbud can substitute for them. If your actual need is music, podcasts and calls between classes, I'd buy the Skullcandy Ink'd+ In-Ear Earbuds instead, because it's lighter, cheaper to replace and built for exactly that. In my opinion, most students shopping for "noise isolating" gear are really looking for the Ink'd+; only buy the Retevis if you already own a compatible walkie-talkie. Either way, check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since that's the one thing that can tip a close call.
how to noise cancelling headphones work
Strictly speaking, neither of these is active noise cancelling — both list "Sound Isolation," which is passive. The Skullcandy Ink'd+ blocks sound by sealing an ear gel in your ear canal; the Retevis blocks it by covering your whole ear with padded around-ear cushions. You get physical blocking, not electronic cancellation.
how to use noise cancelling headphones
For the Ink'd+, push in the ear gel until it seals — that seal is what does the work, so try both the small and medium gels. For the Retevis, adjust the flexible headband, rotate the mic boom to your mouth, and use the PTT button or enable VOX on both the headset and the walkie-talkie. Note that VOX needs to be switched on at both ends to function.
how to test noise cancelling headphones
Play something at a low, comfortable volume, then cup your hands over your ears or stand near a noisy source like a fan or running water. With the Ink'd+, if outside sound drops sharply you've got a good seal; if it doesn't, swap the ear gel size. With the Retevis, the around-ear cushion should noticeably muffle the room — and you can verify the mic side by running a radio check with a partner.
Only in the sense that both claim sound isolation. The Retevis is a wired Kenwood 2-pin radio headset for crews and noisy jobs; the Skullcandy is a 3.5 mm music earbud. If you want gaming headphones for college students or a headset for online lectures, the Retevis won't connect to your devices — that's the deciding factor for most people.
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