Urbanista is a young fresh brand from my beloved Sweden with an interesting catalogue of products. Bikes, grocery bags and headphones share the same home. For some reason they have chosen to name their headphones after cities outside Sweden, and thus the first out of the gate is the London. I am not certain that the design has anything to do with the actual city, but it does give it a hint of sophistication. I have tried the white Fluffy Cloud design, and I can say that in real life it does have one thing in common with London. The rubberized parts of the product dirty easily, and it is easy to draw parallels with inner city smog.
As in-ear headphones go the Urbanista London has an own distinctive look. The housing is angled, and has a large rear shield. I am not sure that having a rectangular shield is such a good thing considering that it catches wind when running or riding a bike. On the upside it looks cool with a large plaques with the Urbanista logo.
I have tried a few angled earphones, and they usually fare really good. For comfort, and fit the London are really good. The long angled tip goes quite deep inside the ear canal, and gets good grip. The back of the housing rest against the inside of the ear giving it stability even when out running, or doing chin-ups in the gym. It doesn’t look to be that comfortable, and that is the big surprise to me. As usual you get an assortment of ear buds in small, medium and large size.
The sound that comes out of the London is clear with a good bass. The bass is not close to the warmth of Bose, or B&W, and not comparable to the power of Beats by Dr Dre. They are not comparable in price to any of those brands either, as the London costs a mere fraction of for example the B&W C5. You get really good value for your money if you are looking for a set of in-ear headphones that is perfectly suited for contemporary bass heavy music. For those looking for a more balanced experience these will not be a perfect choice.
The cord is a flat in the style that Monster Cable, and Jays uses for their in-ear headphones. It is lightweight, and not prone to tangle. After the fork to the earphones the dual cords are thinner, and I can’t help but associate it to tape worm. That is just me though, and it doesn’t affect my rating. The cord is of perfect length for use with a mobile phone at just over a meter. For use with a computer it might be short depending on your setup.
The biggest issue I have had with the London is the fact that the large lumpy microphone doesn’t initially work as advertised. The first calls I made, and received all sounded wacky, distorted and full of digital interference. I was ready to chuck it in the river when I got an important call out riding my bike in the rain. I had to stop, remove my gloves, fish out the phone, remove the London, and then continue the call with a confused sales representative for my ISP. Not cool at all. With time however something seems to have adjusted within the London, and it now works quite well as a headset. It still behaves a bit irrationally from time to time. Using them with my MacBook Pro can either be great pausing the music, or at others just opening an extra flood of sound by pressing the microphone button. Something is weird with the components of the microphone, and I can only pray that I got a bad sample. If you have had similar problems with your product please leave a message in the comments.
The London is beautifully packaged, and it feels almost as luxurious as Beats by Dr Dre and B&W in that regards. A cuff link box that holds the earphones looks marvellous but isn’t as good or practical to store them in. As a gift these certainly looks way more expensive than the $69 price tag. A VIP-card for registering the product is also included, and that gives it flair of exclusivity. An extension for use with some phones is also included.
With a competitive price the Urbanista London sweeps in as a contender in the below $100 segment. Good sound with a pronounced bass combined with comfortable design makes it a winner. The cheap looking microphone that lacks volume controls, and that had some initial glitches for me is the clear negative of this product. In the end it is easy to recommend the London to anyone looking for a competent set of in-ear phones.
Final Rating
London at Urbanista.com $69.00
