Urbanears Plattan Stereo Headphones Review

For some their most important sense is neither sight nor touch, but hearing. Music, speech, and your neighbor's complaints; sound is wonderful. Among the greatest advancements in sound play and musical manipulation: the headphones. How does a pair of Urbanears headphones live up to the legacy of past headphones as well as modern ones?

Each set of headphones is paired to a certain head and vice versa. Some people prefer earpieces- others adore full, cushion headsets. One main factor determines whether a person will love or hate a pair of headphones. It isn't sound quality, price, nor appearance. The answer? Comfort.

Urbanears are infamous for their high prices, but famous for their level of comfort. Putting on a pair of ocean-colored Urbanears Plattan on-ear headphones is a treat. They're an attractive shade of sea green- though come in a variety of colors. They happen to be light and cool to the touch- making them extremely comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. They may be costly, but they are very high quality headphones.

While comfort is the number one priority, price point isn't too far behind. Retailing at over $50, the UE Plattan can be a hard sale. Sure they feel nice on your ears, but won't my wallet be aching? The materials are top-notch with the cushion-covered ear-cups and soft cord being the definite winners of the package. Still, while impressive, it's hard to say it's a must-buy when compared to a $3 pair at your local electronics store.

The sound quality with Urbanears has always been highly complimented. You rarely get any background noise, nor do you find yourself struggling with volume control. The headphones are versatile- never a drop in quality. After usage with my Nintendo DS and Gameboy, its portable gaming performance was superb. Next my CD player and MP3 player showed similar results as portable music players. Finally, they shined just as much when used with my PC- a great substitute for my speakers.

The last notable feature is the headset function. Unfortunately the PS3 has no audio jack- limiting my potential testing of the feature. Fortunately my PC, as I mentioned, does support it. When in use on messengers as well as PC games, it performed nicely in speech recognition and return sound. You may find yourself disliking the at times awkward placement of the mic, but this is merely cosmetic- it works fine anyway. It is a shame that there's no USB support- but this isn't exactly a deal-breaker. Though the price tag just might be...