There are a lot of earphones coming out of Sweden right now. There are brands like Urbanears, Urbanista, Happy Plugs, Sudio, Jays… the list just keeps on growing. There’s something about the Scandi scene that is making this Nordic country a regular center of excellence for cool earphone design.
Arguably, leading the pack right now is the excellent Urbanista company, a brand that has snuck up on the inside and is now grabbing a lot of attention with some cool and understated designs that all happen to sound pretty good as well. I’ve already reviewed Urbanista Paris and Athens earphones, now it’s London’s turn, the city that hardly sleeps and is filled with the cacophony of vibrant multiculturalism that’s turning out so much youthful music and art right now.
How appropriate, then, that the first pair of true wireless noise-canceling earphones from Urbanista is named for a city that’s both noisy and hectic. Where better to test out the noise-canceling capability of the Urbanista London than on the busy streets of London? Streets teeming with the roar of black cabs and rumble of double-decker buses?
The first thing you notice about these Apple AirPod lookalikes is their cool and understated style. Housed in a small charging case with four white LED power indicators on the front, the Urbanista London earpieces are presented lying on their sides when you flip open the top of the charging case. I love this laying-down arrangement as sometimes I really struggle to pinch slippery earpods out of their charging cases if they are vertically stored. Also, the charging case has a small button. I’ve never seen such a thing before, but I’m told it’s the reset button for the earphones. Sometimes Bluetooth earphones need resetting, and with many designs, the procedure involves a complicated series of button presses to return the device to factory settings.
Anders Andreen, the urbane CEO of Urbanista told me: “We decided to add a reset button to the London earphones as it makes things less complicated for the customer. Why make them call up a helpline to find out how to reset the earphones when all we had to do was add a button?” Anders is right, and I expect to see more reset buttons appearing on future earphone models.
Urbanista London earphones are available in Midnight Black, White Pearl, Rose Gold and Sapphire Blue. They feel well made and should withstand daily use. They can play for up to five hours with their noise-canceling feature turned on, plus there are another three full charges stored inside the slim charging case. I can’t remember the last time I listened to a pair of earphones for five hours straight, so I guess we can assume that you can use the London earphones for up to 25 hours before the charging case needs topping up. If you’re in a hurry, a quick burst charge of just 10 minutes will see the earphones play for up to an hour, that’s long enough for a quick trip to the gym. The case can be charged using the supplied USB-C cable or else any Qi charging mat will work fine as well.
The charging case is covered in a matt coating, except for the White Pearl version which sports a regular finish to avoid dirt. The charging case is slim enough to fit into the pocket of a pair of jeans without spoiling them, and it’s no larger than a slender box of matches. As soon as the case is opened up, the earphones begin searching for a Bluetooth signal. You only need to pair once and they’ll reconnect each time the case is opened. Likewise, as soon as you put the earphones back in and close the case, the Bluetooth disconnects.
I paired the earphones with my iPhone SE and was soon enjoying these comfortable earpieces. Urbanista includes a selection of different silicone ear tips and it’s important to get the right fit for the size of your ear to make an effective acoustic seal. This is vital for keeping out ambient noise and for getting a great bass. I prefer earpods that have silicone ear tips as I can’t seem to get on with the types that just perch outside the ear canal.
The sound is full, rich and superbly tuned. The bass is fat without being obese, while the treble is detailed and refined without a trace of brittleness or splash. The designers have managed to get the midrange spot on without any compression and positioned just right in the mix. I think it would be hard to find a better-sounding pair of earpods for the money.
Each earpiece has touch controls so there’s no need to physically click any buttons to turn up the volume, move to the next track or pause the music. A two-second press on the right earpiece turns on the noise-canceling function and a voice tells you when it is activated. Bearing in mind earphones can never cancel noise with the same efficiency as a full-sized pair of over-the-ear headphones, the Urbanista London manage to do a pretty good job of canceling continuous and irritating noises. They can also go quite loud which helps with canceling noise but be careful. Too much-prolonged exposure to high volume levels can be dangerous.
As well as the noise-canceling feature, Urbanista London also have an Ambient Sound Mode which allows some external noise to be relayed to you. This is a great safety feature for joggers as it helps to hear traffic. To activate Ambient Sound mode the user just needs to press on the left earpiece for two seconds. The touch controls can be used to call up Siri or Google Assistant. Another neat feature is the handy In-Ear Detection which automatically pauses sound when you take an earpiece out of your ear.
Urbanista London uses the latest Bluetooth version 5.0 and supports the SBC and AAC audio codecs, so they’re ideal for use with both iOS and Android devices. With a water-resistance rating of IPX4, they should shrug off drizzle, splashes and humidity, but don’t try taking them in the shower after a workout.
As well as two microphones for noise canceling, there are also two more microphones in each earpiece that are used for picking up the user’s voice when making phone calls or issuing commands to voice assistants. The microphones are noise canceling and they work really well, providing stereo-quality phone calls. As with all earpods, the microphones can occasionally pick up a bit of wind noise, but short of putting a sock over each earphone there’s not really than can be done about that other than to take shelter when making a call.
What you don’t get with Urbanista London is a smartphone app for doing things like updating the firmware, adjusting tone or customizing touch controls. Some earphone manufacturers offer such an app, and Anders Andreen tells me Urbanista is considering developing one but don’t buy these earphones on the strength of that comment… buy them because they sound really great.
Verdict: These cool earpods are the first noise-canceling model from Swedish company Urbanista. The noise-canceling function is fairly effective for earphones and should help dull the noise of traffic or a train during a commute. Urbanista London have a beautifully balanced sound and they offer noise-canceling for less than the cost of a regular pair of Apple’s AirPods. Buy the White Pearl pair and no one would even guess they weren’t AirPods. I really like the sound and I think the noise-canceling feature will come in very handy for focusing on the music in busy or noisy places. All in all, Urbanista London are a superb first pair of true wireless noise-canceling earphones from the Swedish company and well worth an audition. The company offers a 30-day money back guarantee so you can try them without risk.
Pricing: Urbanista London earphones are on sale now priced at £129 / $149 / €149 / ¥15,800 and include free shipping.
More info: www.urbanista.com
Key Features:
● Active noise canceling (ANC) feature
● Built-in ear detection sensors
● Ambient Sound Mode
● Wireless charging in one hour under any Qi-certified pad
● Slim matching charging case with four full charges
● 4 LEDs for displaying battery capacity
● 25 hours playtime: each playtime runs up to 5 hours
● IPX4 water resistance
● Bluetooth 5.0
● SBC and AAC audio codecs
● USB -C cable
● Silicone earbuds in various sizes
● Colors: Midnight Black, Rose Gold, White Pearl, Dark Sapphire
● Touch controls
● Voice control (Siri and Google Assistant)
● Stereo phone calls
● Full iOS, Android and Windows compatibility
