Urbanista Los Angeles HeadphonesUrbanista may not be a brand you’re familiar with, but this Sweden-founded company has crafted stylish and well-performing headphones and speakers since 2010. Mixing great industrial design with promises of good performance, they’ve carved out a good niche in the market. Their model names evoke cities of the world—Miami, Stockholm, Seoul, Paris—and their Los Angeles set continues this trend. The Urbanista Los Angeles solar-powered headphones are their top-of-the-line over-the-ear headphones, and they have a feature that may well change the way you think about Bluetooth headphones entirely.

Specifications of Urbanista Los Angeles headphones

  • Over-ear solar-powered headphones deliver a comfortable fit, perfect for long-wearing comfort while you listen
  • Solar-powered design uses Exeger Powerfoyle solar cell material so your headphones are charging whenever they’re exposed to light both indoors or out
  • Bluetooth 5.0 technology connects wirelessly to your Android or iOS device for complete freedom of movement
  • Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and Ambient Sound Mode allow you to tune out the world around you or stay aware of your surroundings, all with the touch of a button
  • 40mm drivers deliver an incredibly rich sound so all your music comes through the way it was intended
  • Built-in microphone enables hands-free calling and provides access to Siri or Google Assistant
  • On-ear detection pauses your music when you take off the headphones and resumes it when you put them back on

For an idea of how on-ear headphones with active noise cancelling work, you can take a look at the headphone buying guide and the true wireless headphone buying guide.

Unboxing Urbanista Los Angeles headphones

The Urbanista Los Angeles model comes in a solid cardboard box. Within a dense, rubbery carrying case are the headphones, weighing in at a not-insignificant 420g. With beefy 40mm drivers, the smooth exterior and relatively thick headband means they’re a bit heavier than some of their competition, though that allows much more punch than wimpier models.

Solar-powered unlimited listening

With old-school wired headphones, one never had to worry about a charge dissipating mid-flight or just when you were in the middle of a long listening session as you do with most wireless headsets. The unique functionality of the Urbanista Los Angeles puts that to rest. Borrowing from the company Exeger’s “Powerflyte” technology, the Urbanista Los Angeles has a photovoltaic strip that runs on the outside of the headband. Essentially, it’s a solar panel to charge your battery; and, it works with just about any light source—not just outdoors in the sun.

While a conventional USB-C charging port is there to fully juice the unit, over several weeks of listening I didn’t have to refill up the headphones even once. There’s something truly liberating gained from freeing the worry about having a low charge on your headphones when you head out, and I expect this kind of hybrid power solution to become a must-have addition to similar models from competing companies.

Even without the charging, you get 50 hours or so with noise cancellation on, and some 80 hours with it off—without ever seeing light. Essentially, you could very easily go years without ever plugging these things in if you leave them out in light between listening sessions.

Sound quality of Urbanista Los Angeles

An evolution of sorts from Urbanista’s Miami model of headphones, the Los Angeles has a distinct musical signature, emphasizing bass and high treble more so than other, more “neutral” headphones might. This is a conscious decision, of course, and those who listen to hip-hop, EDM or any other thumping music where low bass is too often anemic during personal playback will be extremely pleased. The bass is pumped up but rarely distorted or bloated, even at higher volume, making it simply a preferred equalization that caters to bassheads.

Obviously when one frequency is amplified, others become more muted, and it’s here that the mid-range suffers a bit. If you primarily listen to acoustic music, or full-range productions like classical, there may be different options to consider. Still, for regular listening, the sound was sculpted yet not exhausting, and certainly was at times fun to hear frequencies usually buried in the mix allowed to thump out and bring attention to themselves.

Noise cancellation, app settings, and more

While the right earcup on the Urbanista Los Angeles has the usual buttons for play/pause and track up/down, the left cup has both the USB-charger (the loneliest port on any wireless headphones in history, I bet), as well as a function button that can be tweaked with the Urbanista app available for iOs and Android. The app doesn’t really do much—you can’t, for example, tune the EQ to taste to tame some of that bottom heaviness—but it does present a large graphic that shows the charging status and weather patterns, almost gamifying how they work for gleaning power even while listening.

You can set the button to control noise cancellation or switch to voice assistant for your mobile device, depending on preference. As someone who likes to be able to quickly and easily disable cancellation options that’s my usual preference, and I’m pleased to see that’s the default.

The noise cancellation, as per usual, does tweak the sound even further, though it does do the job it’s meant to do and cuts out most extraneous outside sounds. That said, the beefy earpads and built-in noise insulation on the headphones themselves do a decent enough job of at least attenuating what’s taking place outside your head, diminishing the need to activate it save for some pretty extreme situations. It’s not the best noise cancelling solution I’ve heard, but it’s certainly good enough.

A few quirks of Urbanista Los Angeles

There’s so much to love about these headphones that it seems picky to point out its quirks, but there are some things keeping them from being perfect. First, there’s the absence of a minijack input. Yes, I’m a broken record here, but the fact remains that in order to truly get the most out of these fine drivers, a wired solution would do wonders. Secondly, there are still plenty of places where wired is necessary (in-flight entertainment sessions, for one). Having a wired option would immediately bump these to the top of any list to consider, and they’re already pretty far up that selection.

While the earpads are thick and comfortable, after a while the weight does get a bit fatiguing, perhaps due in part to the added circuitry for charging via the band. I went several hours at a time without issue, but there are certainly more svelte options that still deliver on the audio front.

Final thoughts on Urbanista Los Angeles solar-powered headphones

It’s so rare when you have a product that comes along and helps redefine the entire segment of on-ear headphones, and in many ways the Urbanista Los Angeles solar-powered headphones speaks to a future where our electronic devices won’t be tethered to charging stations nearly as often as they are now.

With big sound, an innovative construction and great looks, the Urbanista Los Angeles are a pretty sweet set of headphones. While my losing battle to demand all high-end models include a wireless option continues unabated, this is (nearly) trumped by the near-infinite charge capabilities of this model.

For those wanting a bit of cutting edge tech, especially if you’re craving some more bass in your life, the Urbanista Los Angeles are absolutely worth picking up as your main set of headphones. You can find them right now on Best Buy.

Jason Gorber
Jason Gorber
https://thatshelf.com
Jason Gorber, M.A., is a film, technology, and media journalist and member of the Toronto Film Critics Association. He is the managing editor and chief film critic at That Shelf and a regular contributor to POV Magazine, SlashFilm, and CBC Radio. Jason has been a Tomatometer-approved critic for over 20 years, is an avid collector of music, movies, LEGO and many other aesthetic and technical treats.
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403 COMMENTS

  2. Solar charging is amazing so now I can use these headphones when I’m outside all day without worrying about running out of batteries

  4. Self charging headphones would make a huge difference in my use of them; I wouldn’t have to worry about always charging them. We love to camp, so they could be used all weekend long and I wouldn’t have to worry about them.

  5. owning a pair of these self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience due to the fact they emphasize bass and high treble

  9. As I almost live outdoors in the summer, with the recharge and built in mic, I’d never have to take them off.

  10. Being able to switch between Active Noise Cancelling and Ambient Sound Mode sounds like a great feature that will improve my listening experience a great deal.

  14. Love that the self-charging headphones are a little more environmentally friendly and energy efficient!

  15. These headphones have a lot of great features. I would most enjoy the Active Noise Cancelling and the On-ear detection. I think they would be useful when working on my laptop, and helping to drown out the noise my children make.

  17. Very important to me —-I like that these headphones have a hybrid option for charging (either solar powered or plugged-in). I always forget to charge mine

  20. Self charging. How innovative. We don’t have access to power often at the cottage, so this would really improve my ability to listen to music!!

  21. The solar power is a brilliant idea.

    I like the combination of Active Noise Cancelling and Ambient Sound Mode.

  22. Well don’t laugh but my experience would be improved just by this headset being wireless for me :).

  25. Wow! So many incredible features. Solar powered -no more “plugging in” (unless I want that alternative). And the “beefy” ear pads look so very comfortable.

  26. My listening experience would be improved by these headphones due to the fact they would last longer with the charging going on all the time in the light.

  27. By self charging, my listening experience would improve because I would not need to stop and take off my headphones to charge them up when the battery starts getting low! Amazing.

  28. I like that these headphones have a hybrid option for charging (either solar powered or plugged-in). It virtually removes the worry about having enough charge to start the day off before leaving the house!

    This also might mean I don’t have to lug around a powerbank for it.

  29. By being self-charging, these headphones would always be ready to go. I appreciate that they are solar charged.

  31. Definitely would improve my listening experience because I wouldn’t have to worrying about charging all the time.

  34. These sound (no pun intended) amazing for peace of mind when it comes to charging. Ideal for all outdoor excursions!

  35. Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience by ensuring that I’d never run out of power or when I am off-grid camping

  37. A pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience because I could be outside gardening or walking all day and then go inside and relax watching a movie without the battery dying midway through.

  38. Solar powered headphones would improve my listening experience as I could use them at our off grid property without needing to charge them using the bit of solar power generation we have.

  42. Self-Charging headphones would be great for me to ensure my headphones never run out of power, which is great because I use them well over 8 hours a day

  43. To not have to worry about recharging headphones would be very helpful especially when I am outside and not near an electricity source.

  44. The solar-powered charging capability would give me the freedom to not have to think about re-charging them so often.

  45. Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience by ensuring that I’d never run out of power without having to remember to plug them in to charge.

  46. I love that I wouldn’t have to worry about battery life, especially because of how often I am travelling!

  48. Ambient Sound Mode would be perfect for me when there are others around and I want to listen to music and not hear any other noises!

  50. Self charging batteries would be handy so I can always be able to use the headphones when I want

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