How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want an open-ear headset that keeps your ears tuned to traffic, trail and training partners while you take calls, choose YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone; if you need over-ear active noise canceling with marathon battery life for flights, offices and long commutes, choose Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise.
• YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone — biggest strength: true bone conduction with an open-ear fit, so nothing plugs your ear canal and you stay aware of everything around you, plus a boom mic that swings up to 220 degrees for call work.
• YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone — biggest trade-off: 8 hours per charge is modest next to the Skullcandy, and bone conduction sound simply doesn't isolate you from the world — that's the point, but it cuts both ways.
• Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise — biggest strength: active noise canceling with up to 60 hours of playback (ANC off), Rapid Charge, and a flat-folding frame that's built for travel.
• Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise — biggest trade-off: it's an on-ear design that seals you off from your surroundings, and the app-driven features (Stay-Aware, Personal Sound by Mimi) only pay off if you actually install the app.
• Who each pick is for: the YouthWhisper is the one for runners, cyclists, warehouse and outdoor workers, and anyone who lives on voice calls; the Skullcandy is for flyers, commuters and office workers who want to shut the world out.
The YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone is a headset first and a music device second. It uses a bone conduction driver that vibrates through your temporal bone to reach the inner ear, so your ear canal stays completely open. In practice that means you hear your podcast and the car behind you at the same time. For anyone who has ever pulled an earbud out at a crosswalk to check for traffic, that's a genuinely different way to listen.
The call side is where this thing is clearly over-engineered for a cheap headset. There are dual CVC8.0 and ENC noise-canceling microphones, and a boom mic that adjusts through 220 degrees, so you can park it near your mouth instead of hoping a tiny dot on your cheek picks up your voice. It also supports multi-point pairing over Bluetooth 5.2, which is the feature remote workers actually feel: laptop and phone connected at once, no re-pairing every time a meeting starts. The frame is soft silicone over a bendable titanium headband, and at 34 grams it's light enough that ear fatigue shouldn't be the reason you take it off. The IP55 rating covers sweat, rain and hose-down-level splashes, which lines up with running, riding, hiking and gym use.
The package is also more complete than the headline suggests: you get the bone conduction headset plus TWS earbuds, sponge earplugs, and a USB-C charging cable. That pairing is smart — the headset for awareness, the earbuds for when you want to block sound the old-fashioned way.
Who should skip it? Anyone who wants to disappear into music on a plane. The open-ear design leaks both ways, the frequency range starts at 201 Hz so deep bass isn't the story, and 8 hours per charge with 480 hours standby means a daily charging habit. If your priority is silence, this is the wrong tool.
The Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise is the opposite philosophy: on-ear cups, active noise canceling, and a spec sheet built around long sessions. The headline number is up to 60 hours of battery with ANC off, and Rapid Charge gets you 4 hours of listening from a 10-minute top-up. For a frequent flyer or someone who forgets to charge until the airport, that's the spec that matters most.
The ANC here is the real deal, and Skullcandy layers a Stay-Aware mode on top of it, adjustable in the app so you decide how much of the outside world leaks in. That's a useful middle ground between full cancelation and pulling the headphones off to hear a gate announcement. The app also carries Personal Sound by Mimi and an EQ, plus the three hearing modes — so a lot of this headphone's personality lives in software you have to go get.
Physically it's an on-ear model in a Realtree APX black/orange finish over metal and plastic, and it folds flat and collapses for packing. Sweat and water resistance is rated IPX4, which covers workouts and drizzle but not a soaking. There's an included 3.5mm AUX cable, so you can go wired on a plane seatback or a dead-battery emergency — a nice fallback that the YouthWhisper simply doesn't offer. Bluetooth here is version 5, one step behind the YouthWhisper's 5.2, and the driver is a conventional dynamic unit with a 20Hz–20kHz range and 32 ohm impedance.
Who should skip it? Runners and cyclists who need to hear traffic. On-ear cups plus ANC is the exact opposite of situational awareness. And if you hate companion apps, you're paying for features you won't use.
• Best for staying aware of your surroundings → YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone. Open-ear bone conduction leaves your canal clear; the Skullcandy is designed to do the reverse.
• Best for battery life → Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise. Up to 60 hours with ANC off versus 8 hours per charge on the YouthWhisper, plus a 10-minute-to-4-hours Rapid Charge.
• Best for phone calls and meetings → YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone. Dual CVC8.0/ENC mics, a 220-degree adjustable boom mic, multi-point pairing and Bluetooth 5.2 make it the more deliberate call tool.
• Best for flights, trains and open-plan offices → Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise. Active noise canceling plus adjustable Stay-Aware is built for exactly those environments.
• Best for running, cycling, hiking and gym work → YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone. IP55, 34 grams, silicone and titanium, and an open design that keeps you alert.
• Best for travel packing → Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise. Flat-folding, collapsible, with a 3.5mm AUX cable as a wired backup.
• Best for people who want one device for calls and workouts → YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone. It even ships with spare TWS earbuds and earplugs for the times you want isolation.
• Best for tinkerers → Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise. EQ, Personal Sound by Mimi and adjustable Stay-Aware levels all run through the app.
In my opinion, the Skullcandy Icon ANC Noise is the better buy for most people, because up to 60 hours of battery, genuine active noise canceling, a folding travel frame and an AUX fallback cover more of daily life than an 8-hour open-ear headset does. I'd pick the YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone without hesitation if my day is built around running, riding, calls and needing to hear what's happening around me — it's a specialist, and it's excellent at that job. Buy the Skullcandy to escape noise. Buy the YouthWhisper to stay in the world while you work out or talk. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since these two sit in very different budget tiers.
For running, yes — in my view it's the clear pick. It's IP55 rated, weighs 34 grams, uses a bendable titanium headband, and the open-ear design means you still hear traffic and other people. The Skullcandy is IPX4 and on-ear, so it seals sound in.
Skullcandy rates it at up to 60 hours with ANC off, with a 50-hour figure listed for the battery spec, so expect less with cancelation running. Either way it's dramatically longer than the YouthWhisper's 8 hours per charge. Rapid Charge adds 4 hours from a 10-minute top-up.
Yes. The YouthWhisper leans into it with dual CVC8.0/ENC microphones and a 220-degree boom mic, so it's the stronger call headset. The Skullcandy has a microphone too, and works well for casual calls, but it's aimed more at listening than at meeting-grade voice pickup.
That depends on your use case more than the number on the page. If you need noise canceling and long battery, the Skullcandy earns its keep. If you need awareness, workout durability and a serious mic, the YouthWhisper does. Compare the current prices on Amazon for both before deciding.
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