Urbanears Luma review: cool and functional true wireless earbuds

In this Urbanears Luma review, I'll take you through everything you need to know about these true wireless earbuds including their design, build, battery life, sound quality and ultimately, whether they're worth buying or not.

Combining affordability with style, the Urbanears Luma headphones were named after an area in Sweden and its light bulb factory. The culturally significant architecture of the building complex influenced the simple, sleek design of these earbuds, by focusing on the core purpose and function of the product and letting that lead the way. 

Although not the top choice in T3’s guide to the best budget wireless earbuds, if you are looking for a cheaper alternative to the classic Apple AirPods, these take the same one-size-fits-all approach and won't break the bank. 

Urbanears Luma review: price and availability

The Urbanears Luma are truly affordable true wireless headphones, you can pick up a pair now for $99.99 / £59.99 / AU$159 from Amazon. To see the most recent pricing and retailers, take a look at the widgets.  

Urbanears Luma review: features

Sitting at the top end of their range of true wireless earbuds, the Urbanears Luma come with a charging case providing an extra four full charges, significantly more than the cheaper alternatives offered by the brand. They don't come with fitted silicone tips, opting for a one-size-fits-all style of earbud instead. 

Other features to note are the wear-detection which pauses the music when you take one out, the IPX4 splash resistance and dual microphones on each earbud. 

Urbanears Luma review: design, build and battery life

The Urbanears Luma earbuds are available in black, white, violet, maroon and teal green, which was the colourway I checked out - it’s a really great choice of trendy, interesting colours for those looking for something a bit different. Very stripped back in terms of design, they’re made from a matte plastic that is only interrupted by the small LED light on the inside, tiny magnets and the Urbanears logo along the stem. The grainy moulded plastic makes them feel less premium than other earbuds, but they are a more affordable option so that is kind of expected. Small in size, each earbud measures just 16.5 x 41.55 x 17 mm. Two dual microphones are placed on each bud, giving you clean, clear calls that filter your voice well enough to prevent surrounding noise from being a distraction.

Without having different sized fittings, the earbuds didn’t feel as secure as other pairs of in-ear headphones. For instance, they fell out a few times during workouts so I wouldn’t recommend them for activities like running. They are IPX4 splash-resistant though so will survive a bit of sweat if you do choose to use them for exercise. Equally, if you get caught in light rain you won’t need to worry, however they won’t withstand being submerged in water or battered by heavy rain. 

Using the touch controls towards the top of the stem, you can pause or play your music by tapping twice, skip through tracks tapping thrice, or call upon your smartphone’s voice assistant with a long press. There aren't volume controls, you'll need to reach for your phone for that. Although largely reliable, there were times the controls didn’t register my touch, or registered a touch when I hadn't meant it to. 

Alongside the earbuds is a matching square charging case, it has a shiny braided handle to carry it, placed on the top right corner. The case, like the earbuds, keeps thing very simple. It's lightweight and doesn't have any buttons, there is a USB-C charging port and LED light on the inside to indicate battery status. The lid of the case and hinge feel a bit flimsy, I would worry they could break if you were too forceful with it. Also in the box, they come with a USB-C charging cable and quick start guide.

When it came to battery life, the Urbanears Luma were quite standard with a total of 25 hours including the case. The earbuds themselves will last about five hours of music from a single charge, which is good enough, but far from the best. That means you get an extra four charges from the case. From empty, they'll take less than two hours to fully recharge meaning you'll be able to get a good amount of juice relatively quickly. 

Connecting to your smartphone using Bluetooth 5.0 is as easy as with any other pair of headphones. However, if I left my phone on a table and wandered away from it with the headphones in, sometimes the connection dropped out. Although this would of course happen with any Bluetooth device, I only needed to be a few metres away which was quite disappointing.  

Urbanears Luma review: sound quality

The sound quality from the Urbanears Luma earbuds was well-balanced with very crisp, detailed highs. The low end won't knock you sideways yet still manages to get across enough depth in bass-heavy music. Despite not having manual equaliser settings to adjust the sound to your preferences, I was quite impressed with them after listening to a variety of genres and podcasts.

Without the snug fit provided by ear tips, the audio does change depending on the way you fit them and will vary depending on your ears too - you may even find the sound is slightly different from ear to ear. Because noise-cancellation and noise isolation aren't possible with this style of headphone, they did let in a bit of noise that could distract you from the music. 

Audiophiles won’t be 100% convinced by them but for more casual listening, the sound was overall quite good, especially considering the very reasonable price.

One great feature they do have is the wear-detection, playing the music when you put them in and pausing it when you take them out, or if one falls out. You won’t miss a beat and you’ll be more likely to notice if you lose one when you’re out and about. 

Urbanears Luma review: verdict  

If you prefer headphones without fiddly ear tips, but don’t want to splash out on an expensive pair of Apple AirPods, these could definitely worth considering. They don’t feel anywhere near as premium but they do have similar battery life and come in a better variety of colours. 

Perfect for someone looking for a good-looking pair of true wireless earbuds on a budget, the Urbanears Luma are a decent sounding pair of headphones that will satisfy most people’s needs for listening on the go - be it for pop, rock or even for listening to a podcast here and there.  Granted, you can find better-sounding headphones, but rarely for this amount of money.

Urbanears Luma review: also consider 

If you would rather have the perfect in-ear fit and need earbuds that will last a little longer on a single charge, take a look at the Huawei Freebuds 4i.

Or, if you’re on the hunt for some earbuds that will be suitable for workouts, the Beats Powerbeats Pro sit at the top of T3’s guide to the best running headphones. 

• These are the best noise cancelling headphones