There’s no question that wireless earbuds are commoditized to a great extent. It is difficult for the average person to tell the difference between one pair and another. My job here was to find those contrasts, so when I come across a pair that offers something different, I pay attention.
A concept is a 50-50 proposition because it can be intriguing and successful or intriguing and failing. Urbanista’s choice to put solar charging in the Phoenix earbuds is a great idea, as it gives the case something to do when idle.
Urbanista Phoenix: Pricing and Availability
Urbanista launched Phoenix in August 2022 and is still widely available in both retail and online stores. They’re steady at $149, but if you track them down, chances are you’ll find a deal somewhere else at some point.
Urbanista Phoenix: What’s Good
Admittedly, if the Phoenix didn’t come with a solar charging case, I’m not sure I would have reviewed it. Sure you might have tried them, but whether they were worth writing was another matter. Where else can you find earbud cases that absorb light and charge the battery?
Not only is the idea itself sound, but it made me wonder why no one had come up with it. Earphone cases have his dual purpose of protecting the earphones and charging the respective batteries. When you take out the earbuds, the case can be left untouched. It’s worth noting that Phoenix changed that.
Ridiculously, I removed the Phoenix from the original phone I tested when pairing it with another model I was testing. It doesn’t show how it works. Either way, swiping left from the app’s main screen reveals information about the case and its battery. If you go one more page, you’ll see a historical graph showing how much solar power contributed to the power of the entire case.
The information is useful and well presented, but I didn’t like that the app forced me to remove the earbuds and put them in the case (with the lid open) every time I wanted to actually see those numbers. You can’t do that when you first open the lid and plug it in, as it forces a weird sequence of taking the earbuds out, putting them back in, and waiting for the app to display the information. Urbanista has not fixed this.
Once you’ve removed your Phoenix earbuds, they should be comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. Nothing stands out in the design, but Urbanista deserves credit for creating a build that does a good job of staying in place. I rarely need to mess around with them, which is convenient.
The earbuds come with three sizes of eartips, so you can find the best fit and seal. I’m not sure the Phoenix would be the best choice for smaller ears due to the thicker base that rests on the concha of the ear. It always confuses me because when manufacturers do this the words appear upside down on the left. Urbanista is just the latest to do that for some reason.
As for sound, Phoenix’s sound profile is standard, neither outstanding nor regressive. The default sound signature tries to balance everything down to a level where the bass is clearly audible, with enough highs and mids to make the music sound good. By “good,” I’d say “good enough,” as the balance doesn’t come across as a sonic revelation.
It wasn’t what I expected, but there is a lot of competition in this price range and I’ve personally heard other earphones that sound great at this level. The app does have EQ, but it’s limited by a small selection of presets. Customizable stuff could have been squeezed further out of them.
I think the same situation applies to Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Transparency mode. The ANC has no problem blocking out most of the low frequency noise, but it doesn’t match what other pairs can do for a similar cost. Attenuate them (attenuate some frequencies more than others). So you can hear hints of what is humming around you. It can’t cut high frequency sounds, but for the price it doesn’t surprise me. I prefer listening to music with ANC on. This is to give a little kick across the audio spectrum to improve the sound natively.
Transparency is great overall, as you can pipe in sounds around you to hear what’s around you, or chat with someone if you want. We’ve wisely incorporated a wear sensor that pauses playback. When you put it back on, playback resumes. You can turn off this setting in the app if you prefer.
Multipoint support on these earbuds is also great, allowing you to pair and connect two devices at the same time. In terms of call quality, the results were average, and we found the quiet settings to work well, although busy environments presented greater challenges.
The battery life holds up to all of this, and assuming you keep the volume around the default 50% level, you can get up to 8 hours of playback on a single charge. The case provides 3 extra charges and you can always charge the case via USB-C when there is not enough sun or light.
Urbanista Phoenix: What’s not good
We can’t blame Urbanista for making the case this big, but it’s noticeably bigger than other cases these days. Still, the thin design makes it easy to pocket, so at least there’s that. This was necessary so that the charge could be obtained from the light source at any time.
The onboard touch controls are pretty standard, but a single tap does nothing. Double tap either side to play/pause or answer/end a call. Triple tap left to repeat a track, tap right to skip. Long press the left side to wake up your phone’s voice assistant, long press the right side to switch between normal, ANC and transparent modes. Only the latter two can be adjusted in the app, but the only additional options are volume down (left) or volume up (right).
The IPX4 rating is fine, but I don’t think it’s sturdy enough to handle heavy sweats and intense workouts. If you go that route, you should be careful to wipe them down and make sure they are clean and dry before putting them back in the case.
Urbanista Phoenix: Competition
As I said earlier, the competition in this area and at this price point is tough, as evidenced by the best wireless earbuds already available. A good example is the Jabra Elite 5, which is sometimes discounted to a similar price. You may lose solar charging, but you get a similar design and comfortable fit with the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4. It also features more detailed controls in the Soundcore app.
Even the 1More Evo is worth a look as an equal pair. They offer better sound than Phoenix and support Hi-Res audio. This is a plus if you’re looking for a sonic boom.
Urbanista Phoenix: Should You Buy It?
You should buy this…
- You like the idea of a solar charging case.
- I want something comfortable.
- You care about battery life.
- It doesn’t matter if it’s a big case.
It’s better not to buy this kind of person…
- You want better sound quality.
- I prefer custom EQ.
- I want something more sturdy.
- You can expect better ANC performance.
As the first kick in the proverbial can, I think Urbanista is on to something. That being said, the Phoenix never overwhelms anyone with how good it performs, and puts in a performance that could be lost in the competition.
I expect the next generation of these earphones to improve in many key areas.
Urbanista Phoenix offers something new in the form of a solar charging case. The novelty is interesting, but the overall performance of the earbuds doesn’t necessarily stand out from the pack.
