Urbanista is an ambitious small audio company hailing from Scandanavia and the Seattle is their newest pair of cans.
As a fairly new player to the audio world, Urbanista has been try to make for themselves with cheap and high quality cans. Their most expensive pair only costs £100, with most of their cans aimed at the typical consumer who wants something cheap and cheerful. Carrying on their trend of naming headphones after famous American cities, the Urbanista Seattle is the company’s latest example of this, coming in at £49.99.
Brownie points has to go towards the presentation, with a very nice box and attractive packaging. Inside the box, things are surprisingly sparse with no carry pouch or bag to be found. You get the cans themselves plus an audio cable.
Considering the inexpensive price tag, the design of the Urbanista Seattle headphones is stellar. Made completely in-house with high quality plastics and metal, they feel very premium. The design reminds us a bit of the AIAIAI TMA-2 which is no bad thing, considering they cost more than double the price. Each earpiece is shielded with a memory foam cover that as far as we can tell is non-removable, but the comfort is excellent. These things feel great to wear, with just enough clamping force to stay on the head but not enough that it becomes uncomfortable. They’re also fully adjustable and foldable, with a solid metal fitting that feels sturdy and strong. If you’re a DJ who likes to fold back an earpiece while mixing tracks, these should work pretty well.
On the cans themselves, you’ll find two audio jacks which can be used either for input or output. This gives you the ability to daisy-chain headphones from a single device, which is very convenient if you’re with friends and want to listen together. Equally, it also means that you can listen to them with the cable in either side, which is helpful for cable management. Talking of the cable, the fact it’s removable also means that it’s easily replaceable should it break, which removes a common point of failure and is another big plus point for the Seattle headphones.
Moving onto sound quality, which we’d sum up as very smooth. While they’re not the most exciting cans in the world, things are detailed and flat, with no unnecessary bumps in the frequency range. The treble never feels harsh and the bass has just enough power to enlighten the bottom end without becoming over-pronounced and boomy. The mid-range is clearly defined, which would help to make these a solid pair of cans for DJ-ing. The attack could perhaps be a bit tighter but at the same time, this would have an undesirable effect of making them harsh when listening for long periods. The stereo soundstage is also a little smaller than some other cans in the same price range but again, it’s by no means bad by any stretch. As they stand, these make a great pair of lounge headphones with which to zone out to without feeling ear strain and fatigue.
Fantastic build quality coupled with a smooth, detailed sound makes the Urbanista Seattle an attractive purchase for those needing an inexpensive and reliable pair of over-the-ear cans. They easily stand up to other headphones in the price range and have their own quirks, such as the dual audio jacks for daisy chaining headphones. A great set of headphones.
