Phones that love the ears
Revel in the deep bass of the new Sennheiser Urbanite
If you’re looking for headphones guaranteed to boom out the bass with no loss of clarity on the higher pitches, the new on-ear headphones known as the Sennheiser Urbanite are for you.
They are durable too with premium stainless steel hinges and aluminium sliders for adjusting the ear cups to the headband.
Available in several stylish colours, you can even buy a pair to match your favourite outfit. We checked out the ones with the headband wrapped in a grey fabric that contrasted well with the dark blue cushion inside and the red walls of the cups and sliders.
The headphones have good sound sensitivity with only 18 ohms of impedance and a sound pressure level of 118 dB while their frequency response is 16 to 22,000 Hz. They also use the closed dynamic type of transducers.
The headphones come with a detachable 1.2-metre cable with an in-line 3-button remote control and integrated microphone. The remote control works with Apple iPod and iPhones and some smartphone models of Android OS from Samsung, LT, HTC and Sony.
Portable with foldable design, the Urbanite comes in a soft pouch for carrying them around.
I tested the phones with both my iPod and Android-Motorola RAZR smartphone. The remote control worked well with the iPod for increasing and decreasing volume, playing and pausing music and skipping to the next track or back to the previous track but didn’t work with the RAZR.
The headphones pumped out the bass while retaining music clarity and details of instruments.
The massive bass feature and clarity make these phones an excellent choice for listening to rock music. I enjoyed listening to AC/DC’s “Black Ice” album and especially liked the power of the bass guitar and bass drum contrasting with the high-pitched lead vocals, lead guitar, and hi-hats.
When I listened to Roger Waters’ The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, I could hear the ambient sounds used for enhancing the concept of the songs and again enjoyed the bassy sound.
Listening to The Eagles’ “Hotel California”, I could hear the details of all the instruments, including acoustic guitars, snare drums, hi-hats, and maracas.
I also used the headphones to listen to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” and thoroughly enjoyed the clarity of the guitars, bass, drums, percussion and vocals.
The headphones weigh about 260 grammes and are quite comfortable to wear for long periods.
Sennheiser Urbanite retails for Bt7,999.
Key specs
Impedance: 18 Ù
Connector: 3.5 mm low profile angled plug
Frequency response (microphone): 100–10000 Hz
Pick-up pattern: Omni-directional microphone
Frequency response (headphones): 16–22000 Hz
Sound pressure level (spl): 118 dB @ 1 kHz & 1 Vrms
THD, Total Harmonic Distortion: < 0.5 % (1 kHz, 100 dB)
Ear coupling: Supra-aural
Cable length: 1.2 m
Transducer principle: Dynamic, closed
Weight: 260g
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