Urbanista Miami vs Urbanista New York: Which Urbanista Should You Pick?

Welcome to my Urbanista Miami vs Urbanista New York Review. 

In this review, I’ll help you enjoy your music and let you decide for yourself.

I’ll be honest – if you don’t use the right headphone, you will not enjoy your music. This is a gross oversimplification, but I think it will be very useful.

Get Urbanista Miami if you want a high sound quality with noise cancellation, long-lasting battery life and long connection range. While get Urbanista New York if you want lightweight, compact size, good sound quality with noise cancellation and budget-friendly. 

Features	Miami	New York
Active Noise Cancellation	Yes	Yes
Battery Life (with ANC)	50 hours (40 hours)	25 hours (16 hours)
Bluetooth Technology	5.0	4.1
Case Included	Yes, Hard Shell	Yes, Soft Case
Ambient Sound Mode	Yes	No
Microphone Built-In	Yes	Yes
Cable System	USB-C	Micro-USB
On-Ear Detection	Yes	No
Rating
Price

Urbanista

The Urbanista brand was formed in 2010, from Scandinavian roots, more specifically Stockholm, Sweden.  The company is dedicated to headphones in almost all shapes and sizes.  From in-ear to over-ear to speakers, they have a product for every type of listener.  Their mission is to honor the urban lifestyle by creating products with design at the forefront, without sacrificing quality.

Urbanista Miami

The Miami style line emphasizes a very sleek and streamlined aesthetic that has a matte finish with a minimalist design.  It has features that most headphones at that price point will also have, like noise cancellation and a microphone.

What makes the Miami unique in comparison to the New York are a main few different things.  For one, you are given cool color options with a Miami vibe – like Teal Green and Ruby Red.  Another is the Ambient Sound mode that gives you transparency to hear your surroundings.  And then a longer battery life, higher end Bluetooth, and hard shell carrying case.

Specifications:

• Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
• Battery Life of 50 hours on a full charge, with ANC on it’s still at 40 hours.
• Over-ear fitting with adjustable headband
• Hardshell carry case included
• Bluetooth 5.0 technology
• Microphone built-in
• Ambient Sound mode
• Completely wireless

Pros:

• Comes in fresh, uniquely Miami colors
• Has an ambient sound mode that allows for transparent hearing to surrounding environment
• Bluetooth 5.0 technology gives better connection and range
• Longer battery life of an amazing 50 hours on full charge

Cons:

• Higher price point as compared to the New York line
• Does not offer a foldable headband construction

The Urbanista Miami line has separated itself from the New York line by way of a few more desirable features that may make or break your purchase decision.  With the added price, you get more flexibility and what this writer calls “forgetability.”

Forgetability meaning that once you get used to the feature, it’s so helpful that you forget it’s part of the design until you use a unit that doesn’t have it.

Urbanista New York

Where the Miami line is priced a bit higher with a few more features, the New York line gives you a more reasonable price point with a whole host of valuable options still attached.  The New York still offers many valuable options such as ANC, Bluetooth 4.1, built-in microphone, etc.  Just because you pay a little less, you will still get a lot with this set.

Specifications:

• Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
• Battery Life of 25 hours on a full charge, with ANC on it’s at 16 hours
• Over-ear fitting, with adjustable headband
• Softshell carry case included
• Bluetooth 4.1 technology
• Microphone built-in
• Completely wireless

Pros:

• Lower price point, more affordable than the Miami line
• Lightweight softshell case offers more compact sizing while traveling
• Lighter overall weight
• Offers a foldable headband construction

Cons:

• Shorter battery life of 25 hours on full charge
• Bluetooth 4.1 technology allows for shorter Bluetooth range from transmission device

Clearly, the New York line still offers solid attributes that will more than get the job done for a wireless headphone.  While build quality and other superfluous options may be sacrificed a bit, you gain ease of mind on the purchase point.

Features Face to Face

When comparing two products from the same brand, you always must take into account the pricing system that the company was going for.  Meaning, by offering products at different prices, they had to make choices and sacrifices on each level.  Each is a quality product, but with different choices made on their offerings.  Let’s check them out.

Battery Life

Features of each will vary, but battery life is one of those facets that everyone will gravitate towards. 

The Miami line has a stronghold on this category due to its generous 50 hours of sustained playtime on a full charge.  The caveat is that with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) on, it goes down slightly to 40 hours of sustained playback on a full charge.  Still a very robust amount.

The New York line is no slouch though, as it offers 25 hours of continuous playtime on a full charge.  And with ANC on, it goes down to 16 hours of continuous playback.  Still a very respectable number.

That said, the clear cut winner for this category is the Miami line with the cornucopia of battery life.

Winner: Miami

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Bluetooth Technology

Bluetooth technology is a bit mysterious, since most do not know how the tech works, but definitely know when it does not work.

With the Urbanista Miami line, you get state-of-the-art Bluetooth 5.0 built into the unit.  Which means higher fidelity from source signal to speaker output, and a longer range from source signal to speaker.

With the Urbanista New York series, you get one step down – the Bluetooth 4.1 technology.  It was state-of-the-art not long ago, so it is not as if you’re receiving something that doesn’t work.  This just means that the range that the Bluetooth will reach is a bit shorter.  Something only a few will really need for their own setup.

The winner in this category is state-of-the-art, longer-range – aka the Miami.

Winner: Miami

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Color and Design

Often, people will buy headphones for the aesthetic – the style – more than the actual performance of said headphones.  Nothing wrong with that, everyone’s style is their own – so do you how you do.

These two headphones do not have issues with actual performance, both work well in that regard.  But the styling and design are different between the two.

The Miami line has a minimalist design style with a matte finish for a smooth look.  For colors, it offers the standard black and white, but with bonus Ruby Red and Teal Green options as well – reminiscent of the Miami Vice colors popular from decades ago through today.

The New York line also utilizes a minimalist style that reminds you of IKEA, but where the adjustment happens on the outside, more visible in general.  The matte finishing is present in this line, and the colors available are white and black.

If you are a subjective fan of that stereotypical Miami color scheme, there is an obvious winner here.  Especially since black and white options are available in both models.  The design of the headphones is a toss up, coming down to personal preference.

We think the winner, due to more color options available, is the Urbanista Miami line.

Winner: Miami

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Wearing Fit and Portability

The fit of the headphones is very important for long-term satisfaction.  When you wear them for many hours at a time over a long period of time, you want a pair that fit well.  Not only that, but you want them to last, especially if you like them a lot.

The Miami line has an adjustable headband, and it comes with a hardshell case.

The New York line also has an adjustable headband, with a soft case included.  To go with the soft case, the headphones are foldable just above the ears, so it ends up being much more compact overall.

Where the Miami has more overall protection, the New York has a more compact size.  We see an even trade-off there that just really depends on the care level that the individual owner will provide.  The wearing fit seems to be quite even too.

We had a hard time awarding a winner in this category, since both are very useful depending on the circumstances.

Winner: Tie

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Sound Augmentation Features

Sound augmentation appears to be an extra detail compared to just simple sound reproduction.  This is true in essence, but when you use it in real world situations, having the augmentation features really help with safety and clarity.

Both the Miami and New York lines offer Active Noise Cancellation, so that’s a wash.  A very helpful asset indeed.

The Miami line offers an Ambient Sound mode, which gives you transparency to hear your surroundings while the audio is playing.  This is very useful to keep you safe on city streets, or just in general you want to feel a part of the environment rather than separate from it.

Thanks to the useful Ambient Sound mode attribute, we will award the Miami a win in this category.

Winner: Miami

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Stand Out Features

Both headphones are very similar, with just a few characteristics difference, as we noted already so far.  We should note the features that stick out to make sure you know what really separates the two, besides the obvious price point.  Ultimately, the compact size of the New York vs the robust build of the Miami comprises the main talking points.

Compact size of the New York: means that the features that stand out for this model make it highly portable, perfect for those on the go.

• The design folds in just above the ear.
• This pair comes with a soft case, where the folded headphones fit snugly
• It has a lighter weight of 234 grams without the packaging
• The compact size makes a big difference when trying to pack light or pack tight for trips on the road

Robust build of the Miami: means that certain features are made slightly higher-end, or include features that the New York does not offer

• Ambient Sound mode gives you transparency to hear your actual surroundings
• It comes with Bluetooth 5.0 technology for wider range
• Battery life comes in at a whopping 50 hours on full charge (40 hours with ANC on)
• It includes unique colors that the New York does not
• Comes with a hardshell case for better protection

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Final Thoughts

Get the Urbanista Miami headphones if:

• You need transparency options to hear your surroundings
• You want a hardshell case to protect your pair from damage
• You desire uniquely Miami colors for a high fashion styling
• You need a wider Bluetooth range between your device and the headphones
• You need a battery life that will last days between charges

Get the Urbanista New York headphones if:

• You need compact size for your headphones to travel small
• You need a lighter pair to travel lighter, or be easier on your head and ears
• You want to save some money, and don’t need the extra features