I got these as part of a private tour, and have finally rounded up my thoughts. I lost some track specific notes, but this should do nicely. Enjoy! And goodbye, Urbanites! I'll link this to another review thread I have going.
Sennheiser Urbanite
Comfort and Ergonomics: A. This headband material is incredible – a silicone bubble of air over a steel headband means fitting comfort that’s easy to clean, and great durability. I can’t stop touching it. The denim looks stunning and classy! The pads are the best I’ve felt besides the Audeze vegan pads – which only win because they are plusher. I might even prefer the texture of the Urbanites! I can wear these longer than most, which is a strange thing to say for on-ears. All the silicone feels great – the cable is of very high quality and matches the silicone used in the side black supports that carry the signal from left to right. I’m a big fan of locking mechanisms – it’s a shame more people don’t use this standard. Same with 45 degree angled plugs – this is a 90. If there aren’t patents covering the locking mechanism – more companies should use this instead of a standard 3.5mm and then they could also get into the cable business. The remote works for the mic, and kinda works for pause/play/skip. Volume control doesn’t work. My only gripe is that the headband doesn’t grapple onto more of the head, because it has to arc out to hold the cups. So I’m not really sure how fixed that can get, though I need to try the V-Moda XS before I comment too much
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Bass: B. Deep, full subbass that can shake your head. Listening to Illegal Bass was so much fun! You could actually feel the housing move on your head if you put your hand to it. Good thing the stiff chassis can handle it – these things can push out some air on bass heavy tracks! Mild distortion occurs, but it can still go lower and louder than most others, so you really never notice. I could only notice in comparison to my LCD-2.2F’s. The kick is not punchy – which is my biggest gripe about these cans, and is what caps the rating at a ‘B’. There’s no obvious hump, though the subbass gets through to my head better than any other can – kinda how I
remembered the pre-Fazor LCD-2.2’s (memory ain't perfect... and you never talk down your first love
). The bass gets out of the way when it needs to – it can sound nearly anemic on some tracks with no subbass due to the lack of punch. I find that those kinds of songs are intentionally mixed without bass kick, so I think it’s actually a really neat thing at the end of the day. Very verstatile, despite being aimed at a Beats crowd. ... I think the slightly warm sounding midbass gives this mental impression as well. I’ve never heard a Sennheiser without warm midbass – and this one has it, despite not having the hump usually attributed to this warmth. There’s mild perceived bloat due to the lack of punch, but still pretty good texture, and I don’t feel they ever lose control like X1’s do, and even HE-400’s due to the excess punch. Subbass suffers the most in that regard. I’m used to planars though, so I’m spoiled.
Mids: B+. Vocals are very clear, and things in the upper mids have fantastic tonality (strange, because of the dip I’ll mention). Trumpets, and some brighter, smooth guitar sounds are among the best I’ve heard from a can in this range. Even some acoustic music, like pianos, can hold up well, which I wouldn’t’ve expected from a modernly-tuned can. Anything else suffers from a mild lack on energy due to the dip at 2-5+kHz (meant to help with low quality files – of which I purged from my library long ago J). This also sucks out from snare drums a bit too much on some tracks, making metal snares sound wood, and wood ones sound a tad flat. Brushes can lack some grit that I now feel comes from this range. Thankfully, these cans are great at displaying room queues. Portishead’s classic, Roads, lacks vocal energy, but you can hear every nuance of Beth’s voice in the room. I hear more clarity and detail and tonality in these than I do in Phillips X1’s, which many say have great mids. I find them veiled, boring, and cloudy, on a nice day. With some EQ, you can spring some life into these cans by lifting the 2k mark 6 dB or so, up to 5k+ or so.
Treble: B-. Due to the low treble recession, cymbals lack some cut, as this range is where a lot of cymbals’ attack comes from initially. Extension is great, and upper treble holds on very well. On some tracks, these cans almost feel slightly V-shaped, after brain burn in. Treble sounds similar to the XPT100’s for quality and speed. Some smaller details in dance tracks like shakers or trangles or whatnot can be a bit too far back in the image.
Soundstage/Imaging: C. Very much an in-your-head soundstage – as most on-ears sound, being closed of course too. Imaging was okay enough for some competitive CS:GO, but I kinda had to stretch my brain out to put all the cues together to really pinpoint footsteps and shots in the already cramped stage. I personally don’t mind a cramped stage – the non-Fazor LCD-2 had the best, most natural soundstage I’ve ever heard, and most music I listen to is a private, intimate experience… but I think most would find these cramped, and there are times when I wish the sound could open up more. For modern music, I think these are the least of worries, especially in a portable setting, where you’re isolated and, if you’re anything like me, lost in your own world.
Strengths: Full bass, clear mids, probably the best build quality/design of any can I’ve ever held. Portable, fun, and stylish.
Weaknesses: A bit too conservative in trying to hide low bitrate files from your ears via the 2-5k+ dip. Cramped stage & imaging, though those are low-priorities for how I see most using these cans. Perhaps a bit too much focus on bass than the full drum kit… both are needed for a perfect modern, danceable sound.
Scalability (amping): These are quite sensitive – they picked up noise from my noisy NFB-28 at low volumes. But, that means even a lowly phone can get them loud and push out plenty of bass with little problem. A clean DAC can do wonders for these cans in getting bass control and better separation in the upper mids. A portable amp like the C5 with its low bass boost could be thunderous for these guys. I’m guessing the popular E12 could be too noisy.
Summary: B. Overall, Sennheiser I think hit all the important things they needed too, while setting a clear HIGH bar for build quality. I think these cans will stand the test of time (sonically and physically), and I hope they cause quite a stir. Try to hear them if you need a portable can, they’re quite addicting! A fun can with full bass
ability, mids that leave no wanting, easy on the ears treble, and an overall solid package made letting go of these hard for me to do!
