Urbanears Active Reimers Android Edition Review! A Sports Centric Earphones On A Budget That Sounds Great!

Over the past few years Urbanears is slowly building their reputation as makers of stylish yet decent sounding audio products. This 2016, we had a chance to try their sports centric earbuds that promises powerful sound, durable build and comfortable design without the high price tag. Meet Urbanears Active Reimers Android Edition and let's find out in this review if they were successful in that claim.

Urbanears Active Reimers Android Edition Review! 

Disclaimer: This review unit was seeded by Digits Trading Corporation for an honest review

Urbanears Active Reimers Android Edtition Specs

Driver Unit: 15.4 mm handmade dynamic drivers
Impedance: 32 Ohm
Sensitivity: 115 dB
Frequency response: 20 - 20 KHz
Maximum Input Power: 5 mW
Connector: 3.5 mm dual channel plug
Cable: 1.3 m reflective cables
Others: Splash resistant
Price: 2,150 Pesos

Unboxing / Accessories

The packaging

The Reimers comes in a simple small box with most of the information needed. There are some confusion in its printing that indicated different driver sizes from 10 mm to 14.3 mm, but upon checking their website it actually indicates a larger 15.4 mm one.

Inclusions inside

Going to what you can see inside, you'll be greeted by the Active Reimers immediately, a small piece of paper with to other Urbanears product printed and 3 sizes of eartips with earclick solution for best fit.

That package maybe good for most, but I would like it better if Urbanears included a small carrying pouch and added normal eartips with larger bores.

Note: Note there are two versions of the Active Reimers, one for Android and the other one is for iOS devices.

Build Quality / Design

A look at its body

As expected from a sports earphones, we got a well built earphones here. The body is made out of a combination of stainless metal and plastic. The metal filter is also well made compared to cheaper cloth alternatives and the rubberized reflective cables isn't that thick but feels durable which doesn't have memory wire sickness.

A close view to the reflective cables

Two clips in the y-spltter region
The other clip can also work as a cinch if needed

Here's the microphone part

The gold plated 3.5 mm jack with good strain relief

So far our only criticism in its build is the inconsistencies in the strain relief department. There's actually a good one located in the jack, but they failed to put flexes on the earphone part and the y-splitter.

Going to the design, we were pleased with the way this set looks. It comes in a large semi in ear monitor form that's minimalist, pretty stylish and comes with good functions.

Speaking of those functions, it's resistant to sweat and has reflective cables that could be a safety feature in dark areas. It's also easy to arrange thanks to its two clips that could also function as a shirt clip. The 3 button mic part is also easy to locate due to its color coding. Lastly, there are vents that might improve the sound of this semi-iem.

Overall, this is great enough and designed well to keep up with your workouts.

Comfort / Isolation

At first, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to fit this set, but after sometime I was able to master the technique and the soft silicon tips was fairly comfortable. Like I said earlier, I would just like it better if there are more sizes to fit more ears. Anyway, it's good enough to comfortably wear for hours, not itchy at all and actually feels soft.

In terms of isolation, I never expected this to isolate well and I was wrong. It can decently, isolate enough as long as you snug it properly in your ears. It's actually good enough not to hear the person talking next to you.

However, it won't still isolate that much compared to traditional in ear monitors. I think that they made that on purpose to keep you alert and safe while running on the streets.

Sound Quality

To be honest, I usually don't have high hopes with sports centric sets. Often those sets sound too muddy, overly bassy and congested. At best, you'll have to spend a little bit more to experience good sound just like what we heard from the Bluebuds X. On a budget, the best I heard before was the Mee M6 which still lacks details to my liking.

That perception changed when I tried to plug the Active Reimers by Urbanears on my ears. The large 15.4 mm drivers was properly tuned for my workout taste in a bassy sound signature, but not in a bad way at all. The texture was decent, pretty fast and accurate considering the price. I was also surprised that sub-bass is present and there's even extension when needed. There's some decay in the bass region as well that could make you fall in love when listening to tracks with smooth soothing bass.

If you think that the bass region will overwhelm the rest of the spectrum, you're wrong. The Reimers was able to ensure that the mids remains clear, close to analytical and great for both male and female vocals.

If it has some weakness, it's in the highs region. It doesn't extend too well and there are times that it goes peaky. It's also not as detailed as we wanted, but for most it should sound just fine.

Soundstage is a little close to being 3D like as well due to its very large drivers. It was like listening in-front of concert hall like scene with a little bit more sound on top of your head.

Lastly, this in ear monitor is very easy to drive and not picky to multiple sources. Using just my Huawei G8, I just needed 60% volume to get loud enough tunes. With the FiiO X5 and Lenovo Yoga 500 30% of the volume is already very loud.

I didn't try to max the volume out to prevent my ears from hurting, but distortion was minimal even when I try to crank it up.

To sum it up, even with some understandable weaknesses, the Active Reimers sound fantastic for its purpose.

Note 1: The microphone quality was decently clear in my opinion too
Note 2: If you can workout with wired earphones, this sounds better than most sub-5k Bluetooth earphones we tested.

Pros - Bassy yet clear sound, very wide soundstage, durable build, easy to arrange
Cons - Hard to fit at first, few eartips sizes, not that detailed highs

Verdict

The Active Reimers deserves some attention! It's unexpected, but Urbanears nailed with earphones. It's earphones with above average build quality, good sound and stylish look without the need of shelling out that much cash. Good enough to be a bang per buck contender in its purpose.

GIZ Rating: 4.25/5 Stars