Sennheiser Urbanite XL Over-Ear Headphones - Galaxy - Black

PROS1. Urbanite XL arrive in a stylish black box (Pictures 1, 2, and 3 below). Aesthetics are pleasing, with a touch of unassuming luxury.2. The headphones themselves boast an elegant and sturdy design. The white and black accents look great and the materials used are pleasant to the touch—especially the white inner lining of the headband (Picture 4 below).3. Urbanite XL feel very light and are comparatively comfortable to wear over medium long periods of time. The clumping force is neither too strong, nor too weak. The cups slide up and down the headband (Pictures 8, 9, 10 and 11 below), so they should be a good fit for heads of all sizes.4. You can remove the ear pads (which are made of memory foam and are very soft) to clean or exchange them for new ones.5. Urbanite XL fold nicely (Picture 7 below) for easy storage.6. A flat, rubber-coated (and therefore tangle-free) multifunctional cable is included with your purchase (Picture 6 below). (1) There is an inline mic for making phone calls, as well as a volume control. Being able to increase and decrease the volume, pause and restart music, as well as accept and end phone calls without taking the phone out of your pocket is very convenient. (2) The jack that attaches to the left cup has a locking feature to keep the cable securely in place. (3) The end that goes into your player is angled to make for a trouble-free connection.7. The impedance of 18 Ω means that you do not need a dedicated amp to drive these headphones and they will sound as intended even when connected to your phone.8. There is a pouch included in the package (Picture 5 below).CONS1. Urbanite XL are made of plastic with the only metal elements being the hinges and their covering plates, bearing the Sennheiser logo (Picture 10 below). Plastic is always prone to scratches, and will crack and/or break if the headphones are not handled with care.2. Misleading marketing. Sennheiser has opted to include the abbreviation “XL” in this model’s name (implying that they are extra-large), and has further reinforced the notion by marketing them as “Over-Ear Headphones” (which means that your ears should fit completely into the pads’ openings). But the truth of the matter is that the outer diameter of the pads is 8.2 cm (Picture 14 below) and the diameter of the opening, where your ears should fit, is just 4,5 cm (Picture 15 below). Unfortunately, no adult human being on planet Earth has ears so small. Average-sized male ears are about 7 cm long, so Sennheiser is completely wrong here. True over-ear headphones, like Philips Fidelio X2 (see the visual comparison in Pictures 16 and 17 below), are much bigger, with the openings being both wider and longer. This is important, because true over-ear headphones have pads big enough to completely fit your ears inside and comfort is superior, as there is no pressure on your ears. Despite what Sennheiser will have you believe, Urbanite XL sit on your ears and press on them, which means that after a while they are bound to feel uncomfortable. If you look at Picture 18 below, you will see that they are only slightly larger than Skullcandy’s Hesh 2.0 headphones which have rather smallish on-ear cups and are a good fit for my 11-year-old son. They also cost… just £20.3. Problematic ear pad mechanics. (1) Detaching the ear pads is easy (you just have to pull gently to take them off), but putting them back on is an exercise in patience. A rubber cuff needs to be inserted into a narrow 360° crack along the rim of the cup. (There are, in principle, more elegant solutions to attach removable ear pads, which other headphone makers have implemented. Philips X2 use a system of three protruding elements to be inserted in three holes on the backside of the ear pads, which works much better.) (2) The memory foam of the pads is a dust and dirt magnet. This is not the best option for “tough companion” headphones (as Sennheiser calls them).4. A short cable with a tricky locking mechanism and stereo jacks of different sizes. (1) The cable is just 1.2 m long (Picture 13 below), which is good enough if you are only going to use the Urbanite XL with your smartphone. If, however, you plug the headphones in your desktop computer, you may find out that you need a replacement cable. (2) The inclusion of a locking mechanism (to secure the cable to the cup) is generally a good idea (and other makers, like Audio-Technica, have implemented it successfully), but Sennheiser’s design makes it very tricky to fit the jack into the recessed port in the left cup (Picture 12 below). You have to carefully insert and rotate the jack, until it fits. Sometimes it will on your first try. When the fit is not good, however, sound is lost in either the left or the right cup. This is not an isolated issue, as others have reported it as well. When you try to detach the cable, rotating it back and pulling it out is actually quite difficult and on more than one occasion I was afraid I would lose my patience and break the headphones. (3) Although the cable is described as “replaceable”, it will be difficult to find a replacement, as the jack that goes into the left cup is 2.5 mm wide, while the one to attach to your player is 3.5 mm wide. Further, the recessed jack port in the left cup by virtue of its limited accessibility would rule out most cables produced by other makers. Why would Sennheiser do that? They are probably making sure that if you need a longer/spare cable, they will be the only seller on the market to cater to your needs.5. Good but not great audio quality. My biggest gripe about the Urbanite XL is their adequate, but somewhat underwhelming sound quality. If you have high expectations, because of Sennheiser’s name, you will be left wanting. They have good bass, which could be tighter. Mids and highs represent an adequate audio picture and the overall presentation is good or acceptable, depending on your basis of comparison. The problem is that they sound like £70-80 headphones and lack the justification for a £119.99 price tag. There are better made and superior sounding headphones at that price level.6. The supplied pouch is made of thin grey fabric that offers very basic protection. It is flimsy and creases easily. In fact, it comes out all wrinkled right out of the box (Picture 5 below). For the price, Sennheiser should have provided a case of hard plastic, or, at the very least, a better looking and sturdier pouch.7. At the time of writing of this review, Urbanite XL were sold at £119.99, which is too much for what they offer in terms of sound quality, materials used, and overall presentation. At £70 or £80 they should be worth it.8. Dr. Fritz Sennheiser, the company’s founder, originally started his “Laboratorium Wennebostel” in Germany. However, since then production must have been relocated to China (Picture 2 below), so if you were hoping to buy German-made headphones, think again.CONCLUSIONThe production of Urbanite XL means that Sennheiser wants part of the success that Beats have achieved in recent years (mostly on the strength of their looks and genius marketing campaign than on the quality of their sound). Aesthetically, the design of Urbanite XL is pleasing, however the good (but not great) audio quality, the oddly designed locking mechanism and stereo jacks of different sizes, as well as the inflated price undermine the overall presentation.Urbanite XL are not true over-ear headphones (Pictures 16 and 17 below represent a comparison with the excellent Philips Fidelio X2). Urbanite XL sit on your ears instead of around them (as Sennheiser claims) and the “XL” abbreviation in their name is misleading, as they are in essence medium sized on-ear headphones.If you need better quality headphones (sturdier and, most importantly, better sounding) at a comparable price I would recommend the Audio-Technica ATH-M50X. They are currently sold at £125.00 on amazon, but not long ago the price was much lower (£87.66 on November 24, 2015) and chances are, their price will go down again at some point in the future. You can use the services of one of the numerous sites tracking amazon prices to be automatically notified when that happens.If you are willing to pay a bit more, I strongly recommend the Philips Fidelio X2, which until recently cost just £169 and may soon be offered at that price level again. They beat both the Urbanite XL and Audio-Technica ATH-M50X, when it comes to comfort, and edge out the Audio-Technica on sound quality.Concerning Urbanite XL, I am afraid that at £119.99, their most prominent premium feature is their price.Still, if you have only used cheaper headphones in the past, you may be pleasantly surprised by what Urbanite XL has to offer. That said, I would only recommend buying them, if at the time of purchase their price has fallen considerably under the £119.99 mark.Good luck and thank you for reading my review! It has taken me a long time to research the product and write this review, so if you find it helpful, please, vote for it.

Have been a big advocate of Sennheiser for a number years and still own my HD555 as they are still going strong, although I replaced them with a new gaming headset recently (Game Zero) as I wanted an integrated mic. Anyway I digress, the Urbanite XL aren't a bad pair of Headphones but I feel they just lack the punch and clarity that I'm used to with my other headsets (I'm considering a headphone amp to see if that will provide a healthy boost). These being a closed cup design is probably one of the main reasons for this, I suspect. As all my other sets are open cup, as these offer a better soundstage for me. However they were a knee jerk purchase for a long flight to Australia for use with the inflight entertainment so they served that purpose well. They also helped block out copious amounts of snoring and crying babies. (I never sleep on planes).Since my return from holiday they have been relegated to listening to music at work on my imac.The actual product is well stylised and is very well made, with the ability to swap out the cable for a longer and better quality offering.Obviously one of the selling points is the inline control and compatibility for use with an iphone or other mobile devices.The ear padding is a nice feature and adds to help keep your sound from bleeding out and the outside world seeping in. Though they are definitely not sound isolators, at least at medium listening volume. They do a good enough job though. The ear pads can also get quite warm after a bit of use (depending on the individual) on a hot summers day it can be enough to bother you (especially in the place where I work, No A/C!)The weight of the phones might be an issue for some, especially if you aren't used to headsets and have come from earbuds. However over time you get used to them.Overall a good product well designed and perfect for travel due to them folding up and stowing neatly in a lovely silky headphone bag.I knocked a star off just because of the sound quality compared to other Senny cans I own. Maybe that is wrong but they just don't screamthe same quality in that regard. I'm no audiophile either so this is based purely on my personal preference. Music is such a personal thing as is the selection of earphones.

You tired of plasticy headphones that break just after a couple months of travelling? You want to be able to drop them? You want to be able to give them to your toddler whiel they're throwing a fit making them bounce off 5 different walls?Well These headphones I can confirm have succeeded in every single one of these departments for the past 8 years...And they still sound good, do they sound amazing? No... Good for money definately.And even more of a bonus they look really nice too.They aren't too heavy and they stay on the head reasonably well too.