True wireless headphones are no longer rare and interesting. Gone are the days when having true wireless headphones meant you were on the cutting edge. These days, headphone companies have to actually offer value and quality to entice customers. The Urbanista Athens had a lot to offer, and did quite well in our review. But Urbanista offers other true wireless headphones too — the Urbanista London headphones.
But do the Urbanista London headphones actually offer good value for money, or should you look elsewhere? With noise cancellation, a modern design, and so on, on paper, they should be a great option. To find out if they actually are, we put them to the test.
Design
Let’s get something out of the way right away. The Urbanista London true wireless headphones look like the Apple AirPods Pro with a black paint job — though they are also available in white and rose gold. There are a few tweaks to the design, but the overall shape is very much the same.
Questions about copycat designs aside, the fact that the headphones look like the AirPods Pro headphones isn’t necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, the headphones look quite good. The arm isn’t too long, so the headphones are still subtle, but not necessarily as subtle as some other options.
On the top of each bud, where the Urbanista logo is placed, there’s a touch surface, which can be used to control playback, volume, connectivity, and so on. There is a bit of a learning curve involved with the controls, but once you get used to it, you’ll be able to easily control your audio relatively easily.
The build quality of the headphones is pretty good, and while they’re largely built out of plastic, it’s a strong rubberized plastic that ensures that they should be able to withstand most of the abuse that you can throw at them.
The charging case is rubberized too, and it charges through a USB-C port on the back. Unfortunately, placing the buds in the case isn’t as easy as it is with other headphones. They don’t immediately snap into place, and while they should fall into place when you close the lid, it still feels a little like a guessing game. The charging case also supports wireless charging, which is a nice touch.
In the box, apart from the headphones and charging case, you’ll get a USB-C charging cable and a selection of four ear tips, including the ones that come pre-installed on the headphones. It’s a decent selection of accessories, and pretty much everything you’ll need.
Comfort
The fact that the Urbanista London headphones are shaped like AirPods Pro also plays into their comfort level. The headphones create a good seal in your ear canal, and are relatively comfortable during use — meaning that you can use them for a matter of hours before they start to get uncomfortable.
Generally, it’s worth experimenting with the different ear tip sizes to find the right size for your needs. Once you do, the headphones should stay firmly in your ears, and while they’re not necessarily the best choice for sports use as they may fall out, in the majority of other situations they’ll work perfectly fine.
Sound
The sound quality on the Urbanista London true wireless headphones is very bass-heavy, and if you’re looking for a pair of headphones that prioritize bass over other areas of the frequency spectrum, you might quite like these.
Bass response is heavy and thick, with kick drums easily punching through a mix and bass guitars sounding smooth. At times, the bass can sound a little muddy, but not overly so.
The mids continue on from the bass, with relatively heavy and warm low mids, and slightly laid back high mids comparatively. The result is that at times vocals can start to feel a little lost in the mix.
The worst aspect of the frequency range is the high end, which simply isn’t as clear or as detailed as we would have liked. There are some high frequencies to speak of, but again, don’t expect to really hear the sizzle of cymbals.
These headphones come equipped with noise cancellation, which is pretty nice for a pair of headphones in this price range. The noise cancellation here does indeed block out some noise, but it’s definitely not on the same level as headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones or Bose’s options.
Performance
The Urbanista London headphones connect to your listening device through Bluetooth 5.0, and they retained a good connection during my testing. Unfortunately, the headphones don’t come with Bluetooth multipoint, so you can only connect them to one device.
The battery life on the headphones comes in at 5 hours, which is fine, but not great. The charging case will get you an additional four charges, bringing the total listening time to 25 hours. Again, it’s not bad, but not groundbreaking.
Conclusions
The Urbanista London headphones have a lot to offer — but they’re not perfect. The design may be an AirPods Pro copy, but they still look great, plus they offer a solid amount of bass and they’re relatively comfortable. But the lack of high-end response and somewhat middling battery life does hold them back.
If you’re looking for solid noise-cancelling true wireless buds in this price range, then there are other options out there — like the Edifier TWS NB headphones. Still, those headphones don’t look as nice as these, and don’t offer a bass-heavy sound like the Urbanista London headphones.
Because of their nice design and solid feature-set, we’re awarding these headphones the Headphone Review Bronze Medal.
| Store | Price |
|---|---|
 |
$149 |
| Urbanista | $149 |
| Frequency response | Unknown | Active noise cancellation | Yes |
| Driver size | Unknown | Noise attenuation | Unknown |
| Driver type | Dynamic | On-ear controls | Yes |
| Design | Closed | Microphone | Yes |
| Sensitivity | Unknown | Eartip material | Gel |
| Rated impedance | Unknown | Magnet material | Unknown |
| Total harmonic distortion | Unknown | Water resistance | IPX4 |
| Rated input power | Unknown | Battery life | 5 Hours (+25 Hours) |
| Maximum input power | Unknown | Wireless distance | 10m (33ft) |
| Wireless connection | Bluetooth | Cable length | N/A |
| Wired connection | No | Case type | Charging case |
| Detachable cable | N/A | In-the-box |
|
| Weight | Unknown | Colors | Black, White, Rose Gold |