[Zephyr619]

I was wondering what the rep of urbanears was around here, are they good headphones? Are they well priced? I don't really see much talk about them on the internet, so I figured you guys were the ones to know.

 

[JamesMcProgger]

reputation is not good.
 
all their headphones are made by a company named Zounds, same as the Marshall Major and Minor. and similar models from other companies, like Colouds.
I have the Marshall Major and it suppose to be a better version of the Urbanears platan, and the Major is quite bad, should be priced 40$ yet it costs almost 100.  never tried the platans.

 

[Eric_C]

^ Agreed, I tried the Marshall Major and was severely underwhelmed. A real shame because those look and feel nice.
The Urbanear Plattans are priced at ~USD 80 where I live, and for that price you could certainly do better. Try searching the forums for that price.

 

[ljokerl]

I've tried the Major, Plattan, and the third sister headphone - the Coloud Color. Major > Plattan > Color just as the price indicates but all three would need to be a lot cheaper to be even mildly attractive. The Plattan and Coloud both have better bass depth than the Marshall but otherwise sound pretty poor in comparison, and the Major isn't that great to start with. Even if they were half as expensive I still wouldn't buy them because of the uncomfortable, highly rigid structure.

 

[Eric_C]

A more interesting discussion would be around the Marshall Minor/Urbanears Medis.

 

[ClieOS]

Marshall Minor is okay for $60, but you can certainly find better sounding earbuds for that price.

 

[Zephyr619]

What about the Medis?

 

[Eric_C]

The Medis look identical to the Minors.

 
Given that Urbanears headphones < Marshall headphones, one can assume Medis < Minors.

 

[ClieOS]

Forgot where but someone told me the Minor sounds just a little better than Medis.

 

[hdela]

I came back to this old thread looking for some more inforamtion about Urbanears. I can't resist replying.
 
I think the Urbanears Medis are treated unfair (I pick these because I own them and choose them after a long, long search for portable headphones). They just don't stand a chance of forums like this or reviewers' sites because they look fancy. They are dismissed as 'do not sound good' without further mention of why. 
 
I disagree.
 
I have a pile of buds and IEM and these are the first that provide a good, open, wide sound. After all the cramped stages, finally a set of buds of this type that sets the music free. Highs are well defined and spacey, mids are strong and the bass is present and well defined. True, it's not a pumping base you can get from IEM or full size closed cans, but at least, the bass is not pumped up or hidden in the back.
 
Them "not sounding good" dismissal baffles me. A lot of the IEM's I spent the same or more on do truly not sound as good. To my surprise a lot of them do not come close to what they are described like in reviews here; the Sennheiser CX300II for instance should sound 'fantastic' with 'incredble' bass. I hear no bass in them. The Medis has plenty of bass.
 
I think Urbanears (or Zounds apparently) deserve more credit for what they accomplished in these headphones. These are open, not-in-the-ear phones. To dismiss them without any further notice as "bad sound" is just plain short-sighted.
 
I wish a true headphone-heads forum as this would also be open tor admit that some of the fashion phones actually sound good, but this is not even taken into consideration. If cansdo not look like medical appliances they're suspicious. Please, drop the prejudices to what looks good and has a nice package.
 
Lesson learned for me: do not follow the reviews on how cans sound. Take them as reference point but go for your own judgement.

 

[kookoo]

get your hands on the JVC S500 for $40 it's cheaper and better than the urban ears on ear model and yes i have heard them

 

[hdela]

Thank you for your suggestion, Kookoo, but that's a full-size headphone. I have a Sennheiser Momentum for that. Unfortunately my age and profession do not allow me to commute, work or walk with such a full size headphone so I need a small bud-thing...

 

[egosumlux]

Get the inexpensive Phillips SHE3590, The panny's RP-HJE120 or 125. If you have a little more money I suggest the brainwavz M1 or the Fischer Audio Eterna. If you want a good enough set for jogging I suggest the mee electronics M6 and if you'd like to spend yet a little more a good all-rounder could be the the Vsonic VSD1 or the GR06. all of them could be a better alternative to the medis.

 

[2015071]

I actually have the Urbanears portable headphones. And it's broken 2 times (one with the wire, and one with the plug). The sound is bassed, and that's it. Surprisingly, it has decent isolation, due to the clamping force on it. It cost about $50 but still, NOT RECOMMEND. Either way, I landed onto the MDR-1R, which, is  good pair of headphones. Sadly through, one of my friends always took it from me, and appreciate it.