There are few technology markets that are as competitive as the market for affordable wireless earbuds. It’s mostly smaller manufacturers from China who are trying to develop a usable product for the average western customer. But technology giants from the Far East such as Xiaomi or Huawei have long since recognized that there is actually always a demand for such products. A small exception to this pattern is Urbanista.
The company from Stockholm, Sweden has been dealing with audio products such as headphones and speakers since 2010. Her target group clearly includes young people in particular. The devices come in hip designs and chic colors. It is no coincidence that they are always named after cities all over the world.
We tested one of these products: the Urbanista Seoul are small and relatively inconspicuous in-ear headphones that are said to have a lot going for them. These should be the perfect headphones, especially for people who want to gamble on the go. This test shows whether this is true and what you should pay attention to when buying.
Design and comfort
We initially described the design of the Urbanista Seoul as inconspicuous. Because that’s what it is: We know the look with the small head, which is plugged into the ear together with the silicone attachment, and the shorter stem, not only from Apple’s excellent Airpods Pro (test report), but also from many other TWS headphones. But while other manufacturers sometimes experiment with unusual materials such as shiny metal, Urbanista remains relatively sober with the Seouls and relies on matt plastic.
But just because the design is inconspicuous doesn’t mean that we think it’s bad. On the contrary: the look of the headphones and the processing quality are appealing. The uniform plastic body is only interrupted by a microphone hole and the Urbanista logo, which looks suspiciously similar to the logo of a well-known music recognition service. The silicone tips, which come in three different sizes, are color-coordinated with the color of the headphones. The charging case is also satisfactory: it is very light, compact and about as voluminous as the case of the Airpods Pro 2. This means that it fits in any trouser pocket.
The Urbanista lettering is stamped on the top. At the front we find the four status LEDs that show how much battery life is left in the case and whether the headphones are currently charging. On the back there is only the USB-C connection, with which the charging case can be charged. We were also satisfied with the wearing comfort. The buds never fell out of our ears when running or jumping, but we couldn’t forget them because of the ubiquitous silicone tips. The advantage is that the individual earbuds are extremely light at only 4 grams each. Incidentally, the entire package with case weighs 42 grams. Fits.
equipment and service
In addition to the earplugs and the case, the scope of delivery only included a short USB-C cable and the three pairs of silicone attachments. The headphones are set up wonderfully quickly and without an app – simply open them and connect them to your smartphone. The app can then also be installed afterwards: The Urbanista Audio app is available free of charge for Android and iOS devices in the respective app stores. However, the app does not offer that many customization options.
Although it is stylishly designed, it only allows the user a few functions. In the app you can see the battery status, switch between normal and gaming mode (more on that in a moment). On top of that, you can set how the touch surfaces on the two plugs react to a long press and whether they should switch off automatically after 30 minutes of non-use. You can choose to trigger the voice assistant, switch to gaming mode or change the volume by pressing and holding the touch sensors. You can also choose between five equalizer presets – all in all, that’s not enough to significantly improve your audio experience.
Technology and battery power
Although the app is a bit spartan, Urbanista Seouls isn’t lacking in technology. A clear advantage, which is not very common, especially in this price range, is the possibility of wireless charging of the headphones. The plugs are powered by a smaller driver with a diameter of 10 millimeters. A special gaming mode should reduce the latency of the headphones, i.e. the time that the audio signal needs from the end device to the plug, to 70 milliseconds. In everyday life, however, we could not determine any difference between the gaming and normal mode, even in game situations.
Bluetooth 5.2 and the noise-cancelling microphones are also the biggest technical highlights of the Urbanista Seouls. What you will look for in vain on this model are features such as active noise cancellation, more advanced audio codecs such as aptX or automatic music pausing when the earphones are removed. But for the price, that’s okay. The battery life was also stable: According to the manufacturer, the headphones last around eight hours with one charge, with the case it should be 32 hours. In the test, we got pretty close to these values. However, we noticed one thing: the touch sensors did not work quite as reliably in everyday use as is the case with some competing models. Sometimes inputs were simply not recognized, sometimes the headphones simply need a few seconds before they react.
sound quality
After extensive listening to various music genres, songs and podcasts, we find it difficult to classify the sound quality of the Urbanista Seoul as successful. It is also not convincing in view of the comparatively low price and does not provide a nice listening experience. In general, when we listened, we found that the gaming headphones are made for what they are advertised for: gaming. We couldn’t find any problems in this area either: After a few rounds of PUBG Mobile, it quickly became apparent that these headphones are ideal for gaming.
Music fans won’t get their money’s worth here. Many headphones made for the mass market have a so-called V-shaped sound. This means that the basses and trebles in particular are emphasized in the sound output. With these headphones, this pattern is again much more extreme: the deep, but not exactly clean basses cover the rest of what is happening on the virtual sound stage in various situations. Sounds that are in the middle frequency range are enveloped by the heavy bass and therefore appear further away.
At Pink Floyds Comfortably Numb not only shows that the singer’s voice is suppressed by the rest of the action. The high notes in the background – including the snares – are neglected and sound tinny. The following applies to the entire frequency range above the bass: The individual tones do not sound clean or soft, but rather sound rough, dirty and spongy. From minute 4:30, the use of the electric guitar makes it clear that different sound patterns that occur simultaneously mean that everything flows into one another and becomes simply uncomfortable for the listener, especially at higher volumes.
No matter which song we play, there is always a very clearly perceptible background noise when the music is playing. Sure – the headphones are by no means unusable, and there are definitely worse-sounding examples. But for a few euros more you get a much better sound quality from other manufacturers. In genres such as hip-hop, the headphones can only score because there is usually not much to be heard in the background apart from the singer’s voice. The Urbanista Seouls always get loud: We liked a volume of about 40 percent.
Preis
The Urbanista Seoul have an RRP of 89.99 euros. Some of them are already available for 69 euros, for example at Proshop. They are offered in four different colors: black, blue, dark purple and white.
Conclusion
With reviews like this one, it’s always important to keep some expectations in mind. The advantages and disadvantages of the headphones shown must always be weighed against how much they cost and for what purpose they are advertised in the first place. The fact is: Anyone who buys the Urbanista Seoul solely for the purpose of gaming will be perfectly happy. Because the headphones are really useful in gaming situations, even outside of such situations they offer a stable battery life, top workmanship and high-end features such as Bluetooth 5.2.
Outside of the main advertising aspect, things are a bit more complicated. Because headphones at this price should also offer a stable listening experience for music – but that’s just not the case here. For those who are looking for TWS earbuds with good sound quality and don’t want to spend more than 100 euros, we can particularly recommend the new Nothing (ear) Stick, which we also recently tested. We are also currently testing the successor model to Nothing. The Huawei Freebuds SE, which were only recently released and tested by us, are even cheaper, and they benefit above all from a beautiful, light design.