The Skullcandy Stomp is the newest kid on the block, but does it’s sound performance live up to expectations? In this review, our editors put this speaker to the test to find out.
Our first impressions of the Skullcandy Stomp wireless Bluetooth speaker is that it looks much larger than expected straight out of the box. This speaker is quite sizeable and has a dimension of 6.5 x 9.72 x 14.8” and is much larger than the JBL Charge 5 or Xtreme 3 speaker. The Skullcandy Stomp speaker is capable of delivering up to 35W of output power (25W from the 5.25” woofer, 10W from the 2.25” tweeter) and has a loud sound pressure level of up to 99dB.
The Skullcandy Stomp’s power is roughly comparable to the JBL Charge 5’s 40W output (30W RMS for the woofer and 10W RMS for the tweeter), although the Charge 5 speaker arguably delivers slightly more power and bass performance than the Skullcandy Stomp.
Sound Performance
When it comes to sound performance, one of the things that we noticed is that you cannot control the Skullcandy Stomp speakers using an app and they need to be controlled directly on the speaker itself. Compared with the JBL Charge 5, we felt that the sound performance of the Skullcandy Stomp speaker was decent but not as thumping as the JBL Charge 5 – we did expect a lot more volume output and better bass with a speaker of this size. You can play this speaker for up to 12 hours while listening to music although the battery life gets reduced if you use the lighting effects.
Having said that, we did like the fact that this speaker is built robustly and is also IPX7 waterproof which makes it perfect for outdoor use – it can even be submerged underwater to a depth of 1 meter without any issues (although we don’t recommend submerging the speaker in water). The speaker also comes with a USB-C charging for quick charging which is a nice added touch. One of the things that we liked about the Skullcandy Stomp is that it supports multi-link feature which allows you to link additional Skullcandy speakers together with the multi-link feature for a much wider listening field and soundstage. The Stomp speaker also comes with an LED light bar and strobing light that syncs to the beat of the music which makes it just more entertaining and fun to listen to.
The Skullcandy Stomp speaker can deliver pretty good and decent bass that makes EDM or rock music sound punchy – the highs and midranges are present and well-defined, and you can hear vocals in the music clearly without any distortion at high volume levels. Although the Skullcandy Stomp does not deliver as much volume or deep lows as the JBL Charge 5, it delivers roughly the same volume (35W vs 40W of the Charge 5 speaker and can push out some decent beats that sound nice to listen to especially if you enjoy rock and rock music. The bass isn’t as deep as the JBL Charge 5 speaker, but it still packs a punch and we really liked the large form factor that this speaker has.
The Skullcandy Stomp Bluetooth speaker comes with a built-in battery that delivers up to 12 hours of battery life on a single charge; it supports both USB-C and USB-A charging output so that you mobile devices can also stay fully charged through the night. We also liked the fact that this speaker comes with an integrated carry handle which makes it easy to carry the speaker around with you.
Design and Specs
The Skullcandy Stomp is essentially a full-frequency speaker that delivers really nice highs, powerful midranges and deep punchy bass response. We really enjoyed the strobing LED light effects that the Skullcandy Stomp speaker delivers which makes it really fun to listen to – furthermore, the Skullcandy Stomp speaker is pretty large and can be angled easily for you to blast music through the night. This speaker looks really sleek and comes with strobing LED lights which make it great for parties and outdoor parties.
We would say that the biggest difference between the Skullcandy Stomp and the JBL Charge 5 is that the Skullcandy Stomp speaker is a much larger speaker and is much better at projecting audio due to its large size – otherwise it’s a really nice and decent speaker to bring around for parties and events. The JBL Charge 5, by contrast, seems designed for rugged outdoor adventures and is more portable than the Skullcandy Stomp speaker which looks like its designed for blasting music for parties and events rather than be constantly carried around.
The Verdict?
We wouldn’t deny that that the Skullcandy Stomp speakers are pretty decent speakers from Skullcandy that work great as party speakers. They deliver reasonably loud 35W of output power with decent bass performance, and the speaker is much larger than we expected and can be used to blast audio during parties and events. Although the Skullcandy Stomp is larger than the JBL Charge 5, we still felt that compared to the JBL Charge 5, the Skullcandy Stomp speakers did not perform as loud or deliver as much bass as we had hoped. It’s still a decent speaker though, and we really liked the IPX7 waterproof rating of this speakers which makes it highly versatile and allows you to take the speaker anywhere outdoors.
That being said, the lack of any in-app customization options and EQ settings may be quite off putting, and you need to manually adjust the speaker’s EQ on the speaker itself which can be a little hassle. This makes the JBL Charge 5 speaker somewhat more attractive due to its built-in functionality and EQ app feature, although we did like the larger and more sleek design of the Skullcandy Stomp Bluetooth speaker with its LED lighting that syncs to the beat of the music.