Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones Review

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Sennheiser’s Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones offer great balanced sound, but they’re priced in a bracket where you’ve got a lot of choices already.
The last time I assessed a pair of Sennheiser headphones was with the genuinely excellent but undeniably pricey Sennheiser Momentum headphones. The Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones play in a slightly lower price bracket, with a typical Australian price of $399 or thereabouts. There’s also a lower-priced option that drop the “XL” branding for around $299.

On the plus side

That’s still in premium headphone price territory, so the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones have to do some serious work to justify their price point. As with other over the ear full headphones, there’s an element of noise cancellation due to them covering your ears entirely, but no active noise cancellation to speak of.
The supplied connection cable includes an inline remote and microphone, as well as a twistable connector at the headphone that locks the cable in place, which is a very nice touch.

Twist the cable in once, and then it won't come out again. Very neat work.
Twist the cable in once, and then it won’t come out again. Very neat work.

I’m not as big a fan of the remote itself, largely because the placement around 12cm down the cable means that it sits very close to your face. That’s good for straight quick microphone pickup, but a lower placement could have achieved the same thing without having a solid chunk of plastic dangling just under your chin.
Sennheiser’s particular forte is in selling itself as a premium sound brand, and here I have very few complaints with the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones at all. There’s been a tendency towards super-heavy bass settings — thankyou, Dr Dre — in recent headphones that doesn’t suit every style of music. Approaching the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones and their promise of “massive bass”, I had a sense of trepidation, as while bass has its place, it should not be the be-all and end-all of headphones that could be used with many musical styles.
With a nod to the style crowd, the Sennheiser Urbanite XL headphones come in a variety of colours.
With a nod to the style crowd, the Sennheiser Urbanite XL headphones come in a variety of colours.

Thankfully the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones proved to be very well balanced headphones across a variety of musical styles. There is a slight accentuation towards bass tones, but not so much as to take away crisp musical tones where they’re present.
The other general issue that over the ear headphones such as the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones present is comfort, and here they score well. With extended music sessions while I’ve worked for the past week, I’ve generally not had any issues with heat, sweating or pressure from the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones. That’s pretty much the ideal, at least until somebody invents zero gravity headphones. Get onto that, Sennheiser.

On the minus side

Sennheiser promotes the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones as being portable, because they fold down in the centre to stow away. That’s only true up to a point, because they’re still genuinely large headphones no matter what. It’s a decent effort, and at least the folding hinges are solid so they should survive a few knocks in a bag or suitcase, but you’ll still have to surrender a fair amount of space to them.

They do fold up, and the hinges are good, but this is still a solid lump of headphone to carry around.
They do fold up, and the hinges are good, but this is still a solid lump of headphone to carry around.

The pricing of the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones is also somewhat problematic. I don’t have a particular issue with the sound that the Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones put out, but at $399 you’re almost embarrassed with riches when it comes to choice and feature sets.
You could go for full Bluetooth Wireless and get the Plantronics Backbeat Pro for a little less, for example. You could go the style route and pick up a pair of Beats headphones if you primarily listen to bass-heavy music. There are choices at this price point, in other words.
There’s also a touch of the Australia tax in these particular cans, with the same headphones selling in the US for around $US250, which should, even with tax taken into consideration, lead to a price point more around $330-$350. The Sennheiser Urbanite XL On-Ear Headphones compete reasonably well at their price point, but being just cabled headphones at that price point might not cut it any more.

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