Urbanista Athens review: Well designed TWS earphones bass lovers will enjoy

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Techaeris Rated 9.1/10

True wireless headphones, earbuds, or earphones. Whatever term you decide to use, they’re all wire-free and minimal. TWS earphones have improved so much over the past few years it’s pretty incredible. I remember the first pair I reviewed and the problems they had in connecting. Well, earphones like the Urbanista Athens are the next generation of TWS, and they’ve overcome many issues.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

The Urbanista Athens are a pair of TWS earphones that the company designs in Sweden. If you like Swedish design, then Athens should be right up your alley. I happen to love my Swedish-designed Saab 9-3, and the Urbanista Athens certainly follows that Swede design aesthetic. But these TWS earphones sway a little towards the American side of the spectrum when it comes to sound.

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While these TWS earphones are well-built and look amazing, they’re tuned a bit more for bass lovers. That’s not a bad thing for bass lovers, but it certainly didn’t resonate with me. Read on for the full review of the Urbanista Athens TWS earphones.

Specifications

The Urbanista Athens has the following features and specifications:

  • Driver unit: 6mm
  • Bluetooth Version: 5.0
  • Charging Time: 1h
  • Total playtime: 25 h
  • Standby Time: 32h
  • Battery: 50mAh/earbud
  • 400mAh charging case
  • Working Range: 10m +
  • Mic Distance: 20cm
  • Frequency Range: 20Hz – 20KHz
  • RF Output Power: 7.70dBm
  • Impedance: 16Ω ± 15%
  • Sensibility: +/- 3dB at 1kHz
  • SNR: 80.891dB
  • Audio Codec: HSP, HFP, A2DP, AVRCP, APTX
  • IP67 waterproof rating
  • 8 hours per charge
  • Total Playtime: 32 hours
  • Slim charging case with 3 charges
  • Wireless charging
  • Stereo phone calls
  • Bluetooth version 5.0
  • Touch controls
  • Volume and music controls
  • Voice control (Siri, Google Now)
  • Compatible with Android and iOS
  • USB Type C
  • Colors:
    • Midnight Black

What’s In The Box

  • Urbanista Athens true-wireless earphones
  • Charging case
  • USB-C charging cable
  • 3 pairs of GoFits ear tips
  • Manuals and documentation
Urbanista Athens
The fit and noise isolation of these is excellent.

Design

There are two design elements to every pair of TWS earphones, the case and the earphones themselves. The Urbanista Athens case is fairly nondescript and minimal in design, a typical Swedish design attribute. It’s all black and has a nice matte finish which is a nice departure from glossy black. It’s also small and oval-shaped and has a USB-C port on the back. Overall, it’s a nicely designed case that small and light for easy portability.

The Urbanista Athens earphones are also matte black and IP67 rated. These TWS earphones are intended to take sweat and active users, and they can certainly do that. The buds themselves are small and have an interesting rounded triangle shape. I will say that the rubbery texture of these earphones does pick up lint and bits of dust. Even taking pictures before using them, it was impossible not to have dust on them.

The controls are housed on each earphone’s outer shell and are nice and clicky. I actually like clicky buttons rather than touch controls because I tend to have many accidental presses with touch controls.

The Urbanista Athens also has ear loops that tuck into the inside of the ear to help them sit in your ear better. Comfort-wise, these things are super comfortable, and they also fit in the ear very well. The super snug fit also adds to really great noise isolation. Of course, there is also IP67 for those of you who work out and sweat a lot.

Overall, the Urbanista Athens has that minimal yet functional design, which the Swedes are known for, and these are some of the nicer looking and comfortable TWS earphones I’ve used.

Urbanista Athens
They are super easy to use and setup.

Ease of Use

Pairing and using the Urbanista Athens is pretty straightforward. First, I would plug the case in and charge the case and earphones to 100%. Remove the earphones from the case, and they should pair to each other, and the right earphone LED will flash slowly. You can then go to Bluetooth settings and pair.

The controls are on the side of each earphone where the logo is and this is what actions you can perform with these controls:

  • TURN ON – Remove earphones from the charging case OR hold the (L) or
    (R) logo button for 2 seconds. The indicator light will flash white three times.
  • TURN OFF – Place earphones in the charging case OR hold the (L) or (R) logo button for 5 seconds. The indicator light will flash white three times.
  • PLAY – Press the logo on the left (L) earphone twice.
  • PAUSE – Press the logo on the left (L) earphone twice.
  • ADJUST THE VOLUME (+) – Press the logo on the right (R) earphone once.
  • ADJUST THE VOLUME (-) – Press the logo on the left (L) earphone once. NEXT TRACK – Hold the logo on the right (R) earphone for 2 seconds.
  • PREVIOUS TRACK – Hold the logo on the left (L) earphone for 2 seconds.
  • ANSWER A CALL – Press the logo on the left (L) or right (R) earphone twice.
  • END A CALL – Press the logo on the left (L) or right (R) earphone twice.
  • REJECT A CALL – Hold the logo on the left (L) or right (R) earphone for 2 seconds.
  • SIRI – Press the logo on the right (R) earphone twice.

You can also reset the Urbanista Athens by placing the earphones in the case and long-pressing both of them for 10-seconds until you see both LEDs flash 3-times.

Overall, these are super simple to use. Nothing out of the ordinary here, and actual physical, tactile response is much nicer than touch controls.

Sound

Alright, I’m not beating around the bush with this section. The Urbanista Athens are bass-heavy, no ifs and or buts about it; bass is king here. So if you have been following my audio reviews, you know that I prefer a more natural soundstage with maybe a tweak up in bass frequencies. That is not this. So for me, the Athens didn’t cut the mustard.

That being said, I do know that there are a ton of people who absolutely love and require bass to be the center of the soundstage. Our very own Jason Bouwmeester is one of these people; he loves the bass, he loves music with a lot of bass in it.

For these listeners, the Urbanista Athens is going to be right up your alley. I do want to be clear here. The Athens doesn’t muddy up the other frequencies like other bass heavy earphones. They do leave some space for the mids and highs to play in. But it is very evident that bass rules here.

As I mentioned before, the noise isolation on these earphones is excellent, so they do an excellent job of keeping that bass booming right in your head. Overall, I’m not a fan of bass-heavy audio gear, and while the Athens didn’t do it for me, I suspect that bass lovers will rejoice.

Athens TWS earphones
Bass lovers will enjoy these.

Reception/Call Quality

Not much to say here, the reception was rock solid, and the call quality was excellent thanks to the noise isolation these have.

Battery Life

Battery life on the Urbanista Athens is exceptional. 8-hours is the advertised battery life with 3-chargers in the case. I easily got 8-hours per charge on these which is really damn good for TWS earphones.

Price/Value

The Urbanista Athens is priced at US$129.99 but can be found on Amazon (as of this review) for US$79 with an extra 10% coupon. At the full retail price, I do think these earphones are worth the price if you know that you’re getting earphones that lean to the bass side of the spectrum.

Wrap Up

Simple wrap-up this time. Bass lovers who need IP67, great battery life and really nice Swedish design will love these. Honestly, even if you’re not a bass lover, I do think most people will be happy with these; I’m just a bit pickier when it comes to bass.

In some of our articles and especially in our reviews, you will find Amazon or other affiliate links. As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. Any other purchases you make through these links often result in a small amount being earned for the site and/or our writers. Techaeris often covers brand press releases. Doing this does not constitute an endorsement of any product or service by Techaeris. We provide the press release information for our audience to be informed and make their own decision on a purchase or not. Only our reviews are an endorsement or lack thereof. For more information, you can read our full disclaimer.

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