A few years ago, true wireless headphones were considered fancy, but these days, they’re becoming increasingly common. Pretty much every company offers true wireless headphones — but most of the really good models are still relatively expensive. Urbanista thinks it has it has the fix to that, with the new Urbanista Athens true wireless headphones.
But while most of the competition is much more expensive, there are still a few decent options under $100 out there, namely from companies like JLab Audio. Can the Urbanista Athens headphones compete? We put them to the test to find out.
Design
The Urbanista Athens true wireless headphones are relatively sleek and stylish, including the charging case, which is small and easily pocketable.
The earbuds themselves are small a circular, with a small fit wing on each to ensure that they stay firmly in your ears. There’s also a button on each bud, and while the button is pretty easy to press, pressing it will mean having to push the earbuds deeper into your ears — which can get uncomfortable.
The charging case is built with the same rubberized material as the earbuds, and it’s pretty easy to use. The earbuds slot into the case magnetically, and while you do sometimes need to move them around to fit them in the case properly, when you close the lid they should align properly. On the back of the case, you’ll get a USB-C charging port.
In the box, apart from the headphones themselves, you’ll get second pair of fit wings that are slightly smaller, and a band to replace the fit wings if you won’t want to use them. You’ll also get a total of three pairs of ear tips.
Comfort
The Urbanista Athens headphones are relatively comfortable, though you will want to experiment a little with the ear tips and fit wings to make sure that you get the best fit. The fit wings are definitely helpful in ensuring that the headphones stay in your ears, however they’re still not necessarily the best choice for sports — instead, we would recommend buds with an ear hook, like the Beats PowerBeats Pro.
The headphones are small and light enough to be relatively comfortable, and while they’re not quite as comfortable as the ultra lightweight Pixel Buds, we were still able to wear them for hours on end without issue.
Sound
The headphones may be cheap, but you’ll still want something that sounds good — and thankfully, for the price, these headphones sound great.
Let’s start with the bass response, which is by far the most pronounced frequency range on offer. Kick drums punch through the mix with a heavy thud, while bass guitars are powerful and strong. We would argue that the bass response is a little much at times — and while it’s helpful for kicking you into gear at the gym, if you just want to listen to your favorite music, you may get a little distracted by the bass.
The mids are pretty well-tuned. You’ll get relatively warm low mids that carry over the heavy bass response — and the result is that at times they can get a little muddy. It’s not a huge issue, and the muddiness isn’t constant. The high mids are a little scaled back, but they still sound good.
The highs on these headphones sound great, but they’re unfortunately overshadowed by the lows. With a scaled back bass response, the clarity and detail would have been a little more emphasized.
There’s no noise cancellation on these headphones, but at this price range you wouldn’t expect there to be. Thankfully, the noise isolation is pretty good, and cuts out much of the outside noise.
Performance
The Urbanista Athens headphones connect to your listening device through Bluetooth 5.0, and we found that they retained a good connection throughout testing.
The headphones have a battery life of 8 hours, which is pretty impressive for true wireless headphones. The charging case extends that battery life even more, offering an additional 24 hours, and bringing the total battery life to 32 hours. That’s quite good, and means that you should only rarely need to charge the headphones.
Conclusions
The Urbanista Athens true wireless headphones have a lot to offer. They’re relatively well-designed, and sound pretty good, despite the fact that the bass response is a little over the top.
But are they the best for the price? Well, that depends on the price in question. From the Urbanista website, the headphones are available for $130, which in our view, is a little steep. From Amazon, you can currently get them for $75, which is a lot more reasonable. If you’re looking for a great pair of true wireless headphones under $150, then it’s worth considering the JLab Audio Epic Air Sport headphones.
Still, these headphones are’t bad at all, and because of their good sound quality, we’re awarding them the Headphone Review Bronze Medal.
| Store | Price |
|---|---|
 |
$74.25 |
| Urbanista | $129.99 |
| Frequency response | 20Hz – 20kHz | Active noise cancellation | No |
| Driver size | 6mm | Noise attenuation | Unknown |
| Driver type | Dynamic | On-ear controls | Yes |
| Design | Closed | Microphone | Yes |
| Sensitivity | 3dB | Eartip material | Silicone |
| Rated impedance | 16Ω | Magnet material | Unknown |
| Total harmonic distortion | Unknown | Water resistance | IP67 |
| Rated input power | Unknown | Battery life | 8 Hours (+24 Hours) |
| Maximum input power | Unknown | Wireless distance | 10m (33ft) |
| Wireless connection | Bluetooth 5.0 | Cable length | N/A |
| Wired connection | No | Case type | Charging case |
| Detachable cable | N/A | In-the-box |
|
| Weight | Unknown | Colors | Black |