Personal audio brand Urbanista has been on a solar kick over the past couple of years, putting out headphones, true wireless earbuds, anda portable speakerwith power-generating panels from Exeger built right into them. With CES 2024 around the corner, both Exeger and Urbanista are back for a second round with next-genLos Angeles noise-canceling over-earsandPhoenix earbuds.
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Integrated solar cell substrate technology
Plenty is riding for both companies on the new headphones. Exeger is attempting to build investor confidence in consumer solar technology. Urbanista, meanwhile, wants to build upon its reputation as a still-young accessories manufacturer obsessed with design, good sound, and cities; the latter is driving its product naming conventions, with theMiami ANC headphonesbeing an example we reviewed.
As with their original versions, Urbanista has integrated Exeger’s PowerFoyle solar cell substrate technology into the Los Angeles headphones' headband and the Phoenix earbuds' charging case. If those surfaces see any light, they will charge the devices. It’s more challenging to say whether the Phoenix’s charging case will see as much sun as the headband of the Los Angeles, but that’s the approach Urbanista has chosen.
The Vergereports that the second-gen PowerFoyle material has been incorporated into the later production runs of the Los Angeles and Phoenix, so there shouldn’t be much difference in performance on the new hardware from that factor alone.
Oddly enough, changes in the design of the Los Angeles mean it will lose 20 hours of battery life, dropping to 60 hours - supposedly, this and a few other tweaks will help make them more comfortable to wear, as well as keep them ahead of the competition with most other comparable devices offering between 30 and 40 hours of battery life. Two features in high demand are here, and those are a 3.5mm audio jack and Bluetooth multipoint support.
The Phoenix earbuds will still last for eight hours a cycle, and their charging case will provide four full power cycles as they did before. They also have bumped their IP rating from X4 to 54 with dust protection in the mix.
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Pricing and release date
The best news out of all of this is that both will sell for $20 less than their predecessors - the Los Angeles will go for $179 while the Phoenix is tagged at $129. That said, it’ll be a while before you can take that to the bank. Urbanista is still in the development stage of both products and won’t be selling these until the middle of the year at the earliest.
