Sennheiser Urbanite XL Wireless: Bigger and better

Good looks, decent performance and a long-lasting battery define this pair of wireless headphones

The Sennheiser Urbanite XL Wireless is a well-designed over-the-ear pair of wireless headphones, which, along with its 'urbane' design, offers great sound quality. With many brands coming up with wireless headphones, Sennheiser has tried to up the ante by providing touch controls on the earcup itself.

This pair of headphones is slightly different from the Urbanite line in terms of size and performance.

Available only in black and white, the Urbanite XL Wireless has metal hinges which are sturdy and folds into a compact form which makes carrying them around easier.

The headphones come with the option of near-field communication (NFC) tap-to-pair along with the usual Bluetooth pairing. It can also be used as a wired headphone which has dual microphones.

The most interesting feature of the pair is the touch control. One can tap the side of the right cup to pause or play music. Double tap the earcup and the track advances while swiping up and down controls the volume. The flip side is that the touch controls are too sensitive, which means they might interfere with music playback in case you touch them accidentally, especially when you're trying to adjust the headphones.

Unlike the Momentum series, this pair does not feature noise cancellation; it has sound isolation instead, which seems to work well with this pair. On a full charge, the headphones are good to go for 25 hours of wireless music playback.

While listening to music, the headphones seemed to perform well with most tracks. However, when moved to heavy metal or hard rock tracks, the sound becomes a bit brash. That said, the headphones perform better in wired mode and one prevents accidentally activating the touch controls.

Another problem some might face is that the headphones could become uncomfortable after prolonged use. This is definitely a big disadvantage for people whose sole purpose is to listen to music at length.

All in all, the headphones have more good points than bad ones; at Rs 24,990, it's a good buy when one considers that it comes with a two -year of warranty.

If you're looking for a pair of wireless headphones which not only looks good but also provides you with decent performance and long-lasting battery life, the Urbanite XL Wireless headphones are the ones to go for.