Urbanista 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.
I could listen anywhere. This would really make my life easier
Travel a lot – so always looking for a charging plug Smile
My headphone experience will be improved by the self charging headphones, no more down time.
Self charging is awesome .. when your on the go no need to be concerned about battery going dead
The wireless feature would be a game changer for me!
Self charging headphones is a game changer to unlimited use and worry free battery charging so you can enjoy quality music anywhere & anytime.
owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience because the noise cancellation feature allows me to enjoy all the music has to offer.
Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience because I wouldn’t have to listen to a failing battery.
Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would save me from being argued with my son !
Great for the gym and commuting.
Having solar-powered headphones would change my life! I’m typically using headphones while outside doing yardwork and if they are solar-powered, I feel I would always get great sound and not worry about the battery life!
Great for using in the gym and outside doing yard work without worrying about running out of power.
With many life long bodily injuries, I have been reduced to just walking. So, these solar charged Urbanista LA solar powered headphones would be incredible, as they will be self charging while I am out and about getting my exercise in.
no cable means the cat couldn’t chew it…
I use my headphones outside a lot–I wouldn’t have to worry about battery life with these!
Self charging headphones would be amazing, as I would always be ready to walk the dogs!
Self-charging headphones never have a dead battery
never having to look for the cable
Don’t have to worry about charging them.
Given quality sound well knowing it’s environmentally a better choice as well.
It would improve my ability to hear my zoom virtual meetings.
I often use headphones to listen to zoom meetings fitness classes and audiobooks I also use them to take phone calls in the car Having self-charging headphones would make it possible to get through a whole days worth of meetings without having to switch to another pair while charging
I need a pair of headphones to listen to audiobooks while walking.
It would improve my experience because they look so comfortable.
Would improve my listening experience by not needing to worry about charging the headphones anymore
These would be great when I’m listening to music in the backyard.
Self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience by allowing me to never worry about whether they’re charged up for use.
I wear headphones when running on my treadmill so wireless would be a game changer
Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience as I wouldn’t have keep track of a charger & could enjoy my music on camping trips.
won’t hear the cat whining for her food!
Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would help me out by never having to worry about whether they are charged or not, no planning ahead! Also, it’s one less thing to have a cord attached go. Everything seems to always need a cord!
Currently we have two headphones, but only one charger! Often one person is running out of charge.
Self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience by allowing me to never worry about whether I have plugged them in to charge or not.
More listening time
More listening time without having to charge
Like most I find myself forgetting to charge my headphones and not having to worry about no power when I want them makes my life better.
Owning one means infinite listening anywhere and everywhere.
Comfort
More time listening, less time charging.
It would be so cool and not having to constantly worry about them being charged or not or remembering to bring the charging cable!
Don’t have to remember to charge. Just grab them and go.
Great for listening to music at the beach and not worry about losing charge.
These would be great for me! I’m always forgetting to charge my headphones and them I’m stuck without them all day. With these charging themselves it wouldn’t ever be a problem.
I wouldn’t have to remember charging my headphones every day…no more finding out halfway through my day I have no battery life.
Unlimited hours to listen to my favorite songs without worrying about my battery going out which I hate whenever I go somewhere and on the way back the battery is already dead.
50 hours without need for recharging would be game changer. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost audio right in the middle of a epic game battle due to a dead battery. Not to mention always forgetting to plug it in to recharge.
A pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience because I don’t need to worry about the battery.
No need for a charge cable.
It would improve my experience because I lose every cable ever.
Self-charging would really help me as a I have a long commute and batteries are always an issue! Thanks for the chance.
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