On the left earcup, thereРІР‚в„ўs a USB-C port for when the sunРІР‚в„ўs rays arenРІР‚в„ўt enough to keep these headphones charged, but unfortunately, thereРІР‚в„ўs no 3.5mm jack for wired connections. It would also have been nice for there to be a dedicated shortcut to put the headphones into pairing mode rather than having to manually disconnect from a previous device first.

You can learn to live with them, but just a little more spacing would make that pause button much easier to feel with your finger in a pinch. ItРІР‚в„ўs a sensible selection of buttons I just wish the volume controls werenРІР‚в„ўt so stupidly close together. On the left, thereРІР‚в„ўs a customizable shortcut button that responds to either a short or long-press to toggle noise cancellation, transparency mode, or a voice assistant. On the right earcup, thereРІР‚в„ўs a trio of buttons for volume up, down, and a middle playback control button that also turns the headphones on and off. Their controls will look familiar to anyone whoРІР‚в„ўs used a pair of wireless headphones in the past five years. I could see these headphones lasting for months without needing a chargeР”Р„part from the solar cell-equipped headband, the Los Angeles look and function like a typical pair of wireless noise-canceling headphones. The beauty of the Los Angeles headphones is that you donРІР‚в„ўt really have to think about it, and obsessing over leaving them to charge in the sun feels like itРІР‚в„ўs missing the point. IРІР‚в„ўm sure you could get into the habit of leaving them on a sunny windowsill, positioned so that the headband was pointing directly at the sun to maximize the benefit, but if youРІР‚в„ўre going to make that effort, then you might as well plug them in. The times when I saw the headphones gaining the most power from solar charging were when they were sitting unused in the sun. It was less common for me to see the headphones actually gaining power as I used them, but this did happen when I used them in direct sunlight (as you can see from the screenshot above). In my experience using them on cloudy fall days in the UK, I generally saw UrbanistaРІР‚в„ўs app reporting either minimal power drain or else adding an almost equal amount of power to the amount being consumed. But as a baseline, listening to them in a pitch-black room with ANC off should get you 80 hours of listening. How effective this parachute ends up being will differ a lot depending on whether you use them to listen to music inside at your desk or on the subway or whether you wear them while out and about in a sunnier part of the world. I think the benefit most people will get from the Los Angeles solar charging is as a metaphorical parachute, slowing the battery drain so you donРІР‚в„ўt have to recharge them so often. ThereРІР‚в„ўs a lot of fun to be had messing around with the app, seeing what impact turning ANC on and off has on battery drain or how much solar power you can gain from putting the headphones in the most direct sunlight you can find. But if you want to get a more in-depth idea of whatРІР‚в„ўs going on under the hood, UrbanistaРІР‚в„ўs companion app offers a great interface that shows the headphonesРІР‚в„ў power draw versus its solar charging.

TheyРІР‚в„ўll automatically charge regardless of whether youРІР‚в„ўre wearing them and listening to music or whether theyРІР‚в„ўre turned off (although software caps their solar charging at 90 percent to protect the battery). Screenshot: UrbanistaР”Р‡or the most part, the headphonesРІР‚в„ў solar charging capabilities arenРІР‚в„ўt something you need to actively think about.

Here the headphones were being used in direct sunlight, playing music with ANC on, and gaining power. UrbanistaРІР‚в„ўs app shows exactly how much power is being gained and lost. ItРІР‚в„ўs an enticing idea, one that has the potential to remove an item from the list of devices people have to charge on a regular basis, but can it live up to the expectations? And even if it does, are these $199 (Р’Р€169 / РІвЂљВ¬199) solar-powered headphones worth keeping charged in the first place?

Urbanista reckons the average listener should be able to go months without having to charge them up. Although the design is almost identical to the companyРІР‚в„ўs existing Miami headphones, a layer of PowerFoyle solar cells on the headband allows them to continuously suck up solar energy when exposed to light. Urbanista isnРІР‚в„ўt the first company to attempt to make good on this idea - JBL announced a pair of its own in 2019 that it was subsequently forced to delay due to the pandemic - but its Los Angeles are the first solar-powered headphones to have actually made it to market. The battery life of wireless models has improved a lot over the years, but itРІР‚в„ўs still far from perfect, and those wide headbands provide the perfect surface for a sheet of solar cells to provide continuous charging. Solar-powered headphones are a tantalizing prospect.

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