The Ubranista Phoenix earbuds offer endless battery power due to solar-powered charging but what is their sound quality?
Are you fed up with the earbuds that never run low on juice? Even equipped with a charging case when you don’t charge it, you’ll be destined to a world without music sadness. Wouldn’t it be wonderful that you could charge your headphones with no source of power?
Oh… Well, you could, as Urbanista has come up with the $149 Phoenix earbuds. They come with an charging case that you can charge using our closest star. They’re equipped with solar charging and are ready to make a difference.
In the Box
If you’ve ever opened a box of wireless earbuds that are brand new every now and then in your life, you’re likely to are aware of what’s inside the box that comes with the Urbanista Phoenix earbuds. You’ll find:
- A pair Urbanista Phoenix ‘buds
- Solar charging case
- Cable for charging USB Type C
- Lanyard to help carry the case
- Device literature
The contents are pretty standard apart from the lanyard which is very useful indeed.
Urbanista Phoenix Earbuds Unboxed
After taking the case open and you’re able to see the shape the earbuds and case will take. Let’s look around the two.
We looked at this Desert Rose color variant of the Phoenix Earbuds. These are what’s known as an edgy blush shade with a matte finish and both earbuds and the case are made from plastic.
When you consider the case first, it’s quite large in comparison to the majority of earbud cases that are available. The case has to be of this size (90 65 22 millimeters) for it to be able to fit powerfoyle’s solar panels its rear. The lid is hinged on the top that can be opened and reveals the earbuds.
The left of the display, you’ll find the battery and pairing indicator LED and one button that resets to turn off pairing. At the bottom on the bottom of this case, you will find a USB Type C port, which you could make use of to charge your case as well as the earbuds if there isn’t enough light available to recharge it using solar energy.
The earbuds themselves have the familiar shape too. The rounded earbuds fit into the ear, and features an earbud nozzle that holds the silicone ear tips that then fit within the canal of your ear. The stem is located to the left of the earbuds that is home to the control buttons and is adorned with an Urbanista logo. The lower part of the stem includes microphones for calling and the charging contact in gold.
On the inside of each earbud, there is an electronic sensor to trigger the in-ear detector. The design, therefore is simple and straightforward.
Urbanista Phoenix Technical Specifications
According to the saying, it is what’s inside that matters Let’s take a look at how the Phoenix Earbuds are spec’d.
Each earbud has an active driver with a diameter of 10mm (which Urbanista refers to as”a “moving coil”). The driver is low-impedance of 15 O which is a good thing since these headphones have wireless connectivity, and depend on their own batteries to provide power to the driver.
Sensitivity is stated as 97 dB. This is in the realm that hearing experts believe safe to expose your eardrums. Also, we offer a Frequency response of 20 Hz up to 20 KHz, which is considered to be standard. It is possible to hear the upper and lower ends of the frequency spectrum, however.
When it comes to supporting audio codes, there are two choices: SBC AAC and SBC. AAC. They are both what call “lossy” codes, i.e. the quality of sound will decrease when the headphones process the audio. For the majority of people the issue won’t be evident, and they are typically used for everyday use and not the audiophile’s choice.
Wireless earbuds will obviously utilize Bluetooth in order to communicate with the source device. In this instance I was using my phone as the device to connect to. The Phoenix buds run Bluetooth 5.2 which supports profiles such as the A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, and HSP Bluetooth profiles.
For additional features The headphones feature both active and passive noise cancellation. They also come with a transparent mode that you’ve probably heard of already. It’s basically the opposite of ANC which allows external sound to travel through the earbuds, so that it is possible to hear conversation the like.
The earbuds come with multi-point connectivity feature, which means they can be connected to many sources simultaneously. It’s not necessary to pair or unpair to stream music on your laptop, but remain connected to your phone to make calls, for instance.
The battery can last for eight hours using the earbuds. When the case is fully charged, you can get another 34 hours. This isn’t that significant when we take into consideration that you can charge cases while you’re walking outdoors. The charging process works using ambient light sources too and lightbulbs could be used to into the case to charge it.
The headphones also have been given an IPX4 rating, which means you’re able to wear them for exercise and your sweaty lugholes won’t harm the earbuds. It’s still recommended to dry your earbuds when you sweat heavily all over them, however.
Urbanista Pheonix Performance
The Urbanista Phoenix perform well as an everyday earbud. They’re not high-end however they’ll perform well for people who listen to music on a regular basis.
Comfort and Isolation
In the beginning, I’d like to make a note of caution here. As you’ll see by reading my FiiO review of the FW5 I’m generally not happy with headphones that are in-ear. I prefer over-ear because I have small ear canals (according an audiologist friend). So, wearing in-ear headphones can make me uncomfortable quite quickly.
I noticed it to be the case that Urbanista Pheonix earbuds were pretty comfortable even with the smallest tips. However, I was not too very long after that my ears began to scream at the thought of being stuffed with something that was not properly placed in them. I lasted less than an hour and half before having to get them removed. It’s not to say that everyone is going to experience the same like I did, since the ear shape is unique however, for comfort I had a hard time somewhat.
Isolation is excellent, but. The passive sound blocker from the ear tips functioned effectively together with the ANC to block the majority of external sounds out even in loud environments such as a busy highway with vehicles whizzing by, and even in a local café in the morning when it is crowded.
Connecting and Pairing the Urbanista Phoenix
When it comes to connecting to pair the Urbanista Phoenix earbuds to a source, it’s simply it’s a matter of removing the lid of the case, then going into the Bluetooth settings of the device you are using to connect them. It’s very easy and performs flawlessly, just as you’d think. Bluetooth range is approximately 10m if you are in a straight line.
I noticed that the connection broke when obstacles such as walls were in the way however this is not unusual. Within the range, the connection was stable with no artifacts interrupting the sound.
One thing I noticed was that the headphones were not pairing via one issue I did notice was pairing with the Urbanista Audio app. Even though the headphones and the source device being connected to each other through Bluetooth I was forced to close the app and re-open it to realize that the Phoenix headphones had already been paired with my phone. In other words, it will keep telling me to scan the headphones but would fail the process.
In control The Urbanista Phoenix Earbuds
Controlling the earbuds is a breeze because you have capacitive controls at the stems that connects each earbud. Simply double, or even triple tap to perform different actions. Double tapping either earbud will stop or play the music. Tap three times on the right earbud to skip forward songs, while the left one for a return. Long press the left bud to activate your voice assistant, and the right for transparency mode.
When calling, you make identical gestures. Double tapping on either the bud will be able to answer or end the call. Pressing for a long time will either reject the call.
There is also some control using Urbanista Audio. Urbanista Audio app. You can toggle to ANC as well as Transparency mode and switch among EQ presets. There’s no customizable EQ mode, however it is possible to have total control over the sound you’ll need an audio player with it’s own EQ controls. You can also set the Urbanista EQ setting in the mode of “balanced”.
The app informs you of the charging speed in milliamps if you place the case in direct sunlight or in a room with a light.
The charge for to Urbanista Phoenix Earbuds
The solar is charging very well outside and is even more efficient when it is in full sunlight. When I placed the case on the window’s ledge I could see approximately 1.5 milliamps per hour in the windows, even on a day that had broken clouds. In the sun, putting the case in direct sunlight produced about 10 times more an average. That’s fantastic and likely means you’d only need to plug in an electrical source to charge it.
The lighting in the dark is not as impressive. I had trouble getting any charge at all when I was holding the torch from another device just a few centimeters from the Powerfoyle panel. When I say very close, I’m talking about a couple of centimeters. This gives you an idea of how different that charging them in bright sunlight.
From a sustainability standpoint, solar power is great. I haven’t tried them for time enough to know the wear and tear the battery endures while you’re constantly charging it using the sun however, it is something to consider. It’s likely that constant charging will cause the battery to not be as durable as the conventionally charging headphones or earbuds.
Urbanista Phoenix Sound Quality
As a default feature, Urbanista has tuned the Phoenix headphones to emphasize the bass and low-treble and the upper Treble. The result is an v-shape. However, the mid-treble is pushed further back from the background. Overall, they have a decent sound stage with a decent image and a good the position of instruments.
They are great for everyday listening. can be used for listening to music in general. In the lower to mid-mid range the bass sound fairly punchy and with good quality. When I increased the volume I heard distortion that resulted in a bumpy bottom and high-pitched sound to things like kick drums.
Mids sound warm and inviting and warm, but they’re a little tinier due to the v-shaped tuning. Attack on instruments such as guitars and snares sounds good and there is no noises or acrid distortion due to the mid-range even at higher volume. The Phoenix is Phoenix an ideal choice for pop music as well as electronic music.
The top part is clear and evident but I noticed some fatigue in the treble sound when listening for longer durations. I’m very sensitive to sounds from the treble range however, so it could be a problem with my ear canal instead of the tune that the earbuds provide.
In general the general case, the Urbanista Phoenix buds offer well-rounded audio that will more than delight the casual listener. They’re great for everyday earbud, but they are most likely to disappoint the committed music enthusiast wanting.
Do I recommend this pair of Urbanista Phoenix Earbuds?
Like all headphones, an ideal choice will depend on what you’re seeking. If you are looking for an earbuds can be worn at the gym or even out for a stroll, they are a good choice with regard to solar-powered charging.
If you’re eco interested and want to be environmentally conscious, then the solar panel in the case is an excellent selling point since you could theoretically charge them without being near to a power source. I recommend Urbanista for this innovative way of charging.
If you’re more concerned about the sound quality of your earbuds however, the Phoenix earbuds aren’t the right choice the best choice for you. Audiophiles can purchase wireless IEMs at the same price that could provide sound that is closer to what they would expect. For the average consumer, there’s many things to love with these tiny IEMs.
