Technophobe Review by Asian Dragon Magazine is a series of reviews by a pair of “technophobes” whose simultaneous love and hate for technology brought them closer to the digital world. Technophobe Review aims to talk about and publish reviews of different gadgets and accessories so a rather technologically-challenged person can understand and appreciate the device. If you can’t decipher what 4 GB of RAM means for your phone or how a 3 MP, f/2.0, 28mm, laser autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash would mean for your camera phone, here at Technophobe Review, we break it down for you so it’s more layman-friendly and easier to understand.
This week, we will be taking a closer look at the Urbanears Sumpan earphones.
First thing’s first, the Urbanears Sumpan is beautiful and eye-catching. It is minimalistic in design but the vibrant colors that the Sumpan comes in make the earphones stand out. We were able to get our hands on Urbanears Sumpan Malibu but it also comes in other colors: Caribbean (blue green), Camelia (peach), Black, White, Indigo, Dark Grey, Sea Grey (dull lavender) and Bonfire Orange.
On top of its beautiful aesthetics and lightweight built is the overall functionality of the Urbanears Sumpan’s design. The Sumpan has several unique features making it one of the most travel-friendly and ergonomic earphones in its price range.
The Urbanears Sumpan aims to give you earphones that are more or less tangle-free. The material of the cable is more tangle resistant than most rubber cables, with its textured but smooth material. Urbanears Sumpan also managed to address the issue of tangled cables with its Urbanears patent-pending CableLoop.
Since not everyone bothers to purchase special accessories or cases for their earphones, the Sumpan lets you store your earphones safely and less messily. The CableLoop is a built-in rubber cable tie seamlessly attached to the headphone jack. Roll the earphones like you would normally do, wrap the tie around the cord, and push the jack right through the hole located at the other end of the tie. This way, the cables are not cluttered on your bag and do not get tangled during travel. When done correctly, it would looks something like this:
For avid earphone users, Urbanears Sumpan is also a great choice. There are people who would usually hang their earphones across their shoulders for easy access when they need to plug or unplug. However, it is easy for the earphones to slide off and fall. Sumpan has devised a hook-up feature so that it’s easy to plug or unplug your earphones throughout the day. The earbuds are designed to hook up with each other so it creates a necklace of sorts. With the earbuds interlocked behind the neck, the rest of the cable slides down the shoulders and towards the torso, plugged right to the device on your pocket.
In terms of audio quality, the Urbanears Sumpan delivers just as well. Typically, earbuds do not deliver the best isolation of sound since it could not completely cover the ear canal. But while earplugs deliver the best sound experience, there are people who do not feel comfortable with clogging the ear canal with a rubber object. The Sumpan is able to solve this with its unique earbuds, designed to direct the sound to the ear canal without feeling overly clogged. These earbuds are easy to wash and easy to change, too, since a purchase of the Urbanears Sumpan comes with a pair of earbuds.
We tested the audio of the Sumpan and were pleasantly surprised. The lower pitches and basses were great, although the higher pitches fell just a teeny bit short.
In fact, while writing this review, I forgot to remove the Sumpan from my ears even though I was not listening to music. My iPhone suddenly rang (my ringtone is the usual iPhone ringtone) and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the tone. The crispness of the sound was great and it didn’t feel like it was coming from earphones at all (in a really good way).
Overall, for a good P1,650, the Urbanears Sumpan is a great buy. You can grab your own Urbanears Sumpan from any Digital Walker outlet nationwide.
