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.
The solar charging would be so great when I am camping this summer and the noise canceling would be great when in crowds.
The Bluetooth means no more wires getting absolutely tangled at the dog park anymore. Not to mention being mostly self charging. I’m always forgetting to charge things and it would be so nice to not get overwhelmed at the dog park!
I would love these because I wouldn’t ever be caught with dead earphones when I go on my podcast walks!
The Active Noise Cancelling feature would be so helpful when I use travelling and I also love the solar powered battery. This is such a unique invention.
Self-charging would be amazing for long afternoon naps listening to relaxing music in the sun during the summer.
No more battery replacements! Saving money and waste.
Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience while I keep the household quiet early in the morning
Having a set of self-charging speakers would eliminate the need for batteries and downtime due to charging. You would be charging them up every time you would use them!
While the family sleeps I have to work on music tracks. Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would enhance the mobility in my studio and longevity by which I can stay quiet late at night.
Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience as I love to listen to music at the beach all day.
A pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience by allowing me to have long listening sessions.
I need noise canceling headphones DESPERATELY, as I’m being bombarded with lots of unwanted noise.
A pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience by allowing me to have longer listening session that with the hearphones I am currently using !:)
The noize cancelling option would be great when I’m on a meeting or online class and kids are around me..lol
Good Sound Quality and should be comfortable to wear those.
A pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience by providing a long period of listening time.
Being solar powered would make life easier by eliminating having to charge the headphones.
Self charging headphones would make my listening experience better because I wouldn’t be interrupted by low battery and needing to stop and charge the headphones. As a mom with younger kids, I have many other things to think about besides plugging in headphones to charge!
Sound quality and self-charging
having these two features would make my walks so much more pleasurable. thanks
It would be great to not be interrupted by dead batteries while listening to music or podcasts.
It would allow me to never worry about my battery life and just enjoy the music
self charging is a pretty cool feature.
Owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience as their would be no down time when I couldn’t use them, unless I had to go live in a nuclear bunker with no lights.
Active noise cancellation is the best feature.
The solar powered charging would be great when travelling.
The self-charging feature is a game changer
The self charging feature is great for outdoor activities, also the Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and Ambient Sound Mode is a great feature to have.
These sound like the most amazing headphones. The self-charging feature is incredible as my wireless headphones are always dying without warning and at the most inconvenient times.
Anything would improve my listening experience, as i don’t have a pair of headphones.
That would be perfect for being in the yard doing some repair and maintenance this summer.
always forget to charge it when its needed most.
The solar power would certainly change my life. I can use them longer as long as I have them in the light and they are easy to recharge if I use them at night.
I always forget to charge my headphones. I would leave these near a window and they would be continually charged. Bonus.
The self charging is an absolutely amazing feature to have
Self charging headphones would really come in handy when u using it and not having to worry about the battery life
no worries about having to charge, being self charging would be convenient and the sound quality and volume would be great as i am hard of hearing would definitely amplify my experience 😉
I have done a lot of traveling in tropical areas and there is a huge use for solar power in some countries as it can be hard to find power in some remote areas. Outdoor exercise enthusiasts are growing rapidly every day and modern technology integration of solar power is a necessity and a perk in its own rights. I think these headphones are fantastic and a stepping stone into the already incoming future of portable audio and sound.
Self charging headphones would be great for camping
My ultimate listening experience is to have great bass!
The solar charging would make you have to not worry about charging or carrying around the charger.
The solar powered charging would eliminate having to charge up the headphones.
I value a comfortable fit and incredibly rich sound…the self charging is a game changer!
The self charging feature would improve the listening experience by not being concerned about them going dead while out for some fun.
The solar-charing is really impressive. I wouldn’t have to worry about finding out my headphones r dead when I needed music the most
Owning a pair of good quality headphones that cancelled all the annoying static and were wireless would make the listening experience a pleasure !
owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve your listening experience by me not really having to worry about charging while on the lake or in the bush doing bushy things….and being comfortable to wear is a must!
owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience while I keep the household quiet late at night
owning a pair of self-charging headphones would improve my listening experience whether at the ice shack, bush camp or the beach
The self charging would be great on long hikes
Noise cancelling and self charging is GREAT. Thank you
These would be so convenient as I am working Full Time from home as well as dealing with a 14 month toddler at the same time. I always forget to charge my headphones!
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