As ANC earbuds start to flourish the market, we found ourselves with the Urbanista London. The Urbanista London is a true wireless earbuds with Active Noise Cancelling capabilities. It has a similar design to the AirPods Pro and Sudio Ett, where it has a stem sticking out of the earbuds.
The Urbanista London comes in 4 colors – Midnight Black, Rose Gold, Dark Sapphire, and White Pearl. The unit I have is the Midnight Black variant. The Urbanista London retails for USD$149, which translates to around S$205.
Unboxing
In the box, you will receive the following:
- Urbanista London earbuds
- Charging case
- Silicon ear tips x4 (XS, S, M, L)
- Charging cable
- User manual
Tech specs
| Driver | 10mm Dynamic driver |
| Frequency Response | 20 – 20,000 Hz |
| Sensitivity | 107 ± 3 dB at 1kHz |
| Impedance | 16 ohms ± 15% |
| Battery Life | 5 hours per full charge 20 hours in charging case (400mAh) |
| Weight | Earbuds: 4.6g |
| Bluetooth Version | 5.0 |
| Supported Codecs | AAC, SBC |
| Water Resistance | IPX4 |
Build quality and features
Let’s start with the charging case. It is made of plastic and has smooth matte finish with a sturdy hinge that closes with a magnetic clasp. The case is really slim, which is awesome for portability. It is even slimmer than the Jaybird Vista. There are four LED indicators on the case to display battery and charging status.
As for the buds, they are small and weigh a mere 4.6g each. Their design actually resembles the AirPods Pro in terms of the oval contoured edges to aid with fitting. The Urbanista London earbuds are rated IPX4 water resistance, meaning that it protects from splashing water, no matter the direction.
The Urbanista London is pretty well equipped with features that usually only premium models get. For instance, you get in-ear detection for auto play/pause. Wireless charging is also supported. Other than having ANC, you also have an ambient sound mode.
Ambient sound mode
The Ambient sound mode allows sounds from the external environment in. The effect is quite natural and the microphone is able to pickup quite a lot of detail without sounding overly processed.
Controls
The Urbanista London utilises mainly touch controls. You are able to control almost everything except skipping of tracks. As the touch surface is situated at the top of the stem, there has been occasional triggering of volumes when I’m simply trying to adjust the fit. It can get a little cumbersome at times, but I guess that is a compromise of having such a tiny earbud design.
Battery life
The Urbanista London case charges via USB-C and also supports wireless charging. The earbuds alone will last around 5 hours per full charge, with the case supplying additional 20 hours of play time. 5 hours is not the longest in 2020’s standard but it seems to be a norm for ANC earbuds, with the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC300TW and the Sudio Ett having similar battery life.
Fit
The fit of your Urbanista London is great. If you have tried the AirPods Pro before, the fit is very similar. It fits snug in your ear which is partly due to the oval design of the earbuds, which rest well along the grooves of my ear. As the earbuds are light and small, they also provide a comfortable fit and I can foresee myself wearing it for hours.
Urbanista has provided four sizes of silicon ear tips. I found the XL size to work the best for my ears it creates a good seal.
Connectivity and latency
Bluetooth 5.0 kept the connection stable. If you want to use just one earbud, you can either the left or right earbud. There is zero latency or lag from watching YouTube videos from the YouTube app on my iPhone 11.
Sound quality
The audio quality on the Urbanista London is an interesting one. If you were to listen to this with the ANC turned off, the audio has more emphasis on the bass, which gets crept into the midrange. This makes the midrange sound a little recessed, with highs coming off warm and supportive. Overall, it gives off a warm sound signature. However, this sound is changes substantially when ANC is turned on.
When ANC is turned on, it seems to push the mids and highs up, and clarity is also improved. However, the overall sound profile becomes a little “sucked in”, resulting a slightly reduced dynamic range. This is not uncommon as we have seen this effect on the 1More EHD9001TA. Bass is less boomy and now becomes tighter and more snappy. Sub-bass reverb does not seem to have any presence with ANC turned on. Midrange is clearer but does not sit too forward. Treble gets brighter and more transparent, well controlled such that it does not get too sibilant.
Overall, when ANC is turned on, the sound profile places less emphasis on bass and pushes out more from the mids and highs. It pushes the emphasis on the upper mid frequencies, and improves slightly the level of detail and clarity that the non-ANC sound lacked, but sacrificing bass in the process.
ANC performance
The ANC on the Urbanista London is surprisingly good. Of all the ANC earbuds I have tested so far, the Urbanista London seems to be the most adept at eliminating the low rumbling sounds. Even loud high-pitched whooshing sounds in the MRT underground tunnels seems to be reduced to a fair extent. There is not much cabin pressure effect, but I do feel it slightly after prolonged periods of listening with them.
One minor gripe is that I have is that you always have to turn on the ANC every time you use them as by default they are turned off.
Microphone quality
The microphone is pretty good on the Urbanista London, which is partly due to its stem design. I tested it with a loud TV playing the background to see if it is able to pick up my voice and the background noises. The Urbanista London is tries to pickup and isolate my voice, and snuff out the background noise as much as possible. At very noisy environments, my voice at times gets caught together with the background noise and gets dropped out at times. However, in most cases, the microphone feels quite reliable to use in various situations.
It would have been great if the Ambient Sound mode is automatically turned on when receiving a call.
Conclusion
The Urbanista London has plenty to offer in terms of features and also gives you active noise cancellation (ANC) for a price of just above S$200. It’s a pretty good deal considering most ANC earbuds in the market requires you to shell out at least S$250 or more.
The impressive ANC and comfortable fit should be strong enough factors to put the Urbanista London in your shortlist. Sound quality with the ANC turned on is generally enjoyable due to the fast hitting bass and bright treble, especially if your songs have lots of vocal work. Overall, the Urbanista London is an all-rounded package for a reliable pair of ANC earbuds for your daily use.