The market is filled with Bluetooth headphones in the $100 price range, but there are few standouts. Kinivo's Urbn, at $99.99, manages to carve out a little spot for itself with its sleek, alluring design and a focus on bass. Simply put, the Urbn's bass-forward sound will make low frequency fiends smile, but will send anyone looking for an accurate sound signature running in horror. But if the mega-bass sound is your thing, these headphones deliver it distortion-free in an easily portable, stylish design.

Design
Available in black, red, or gray models, the Urbn's matte plastic surface has a clean, modern look. Other than modestly sized logos for Kinivo and NFC, the surface is unadorned. Supra-aural (on-ear) earcups swivel at their connection points to the headband—this movement, combined with ample on-ear and headband padding, make for a secure, comfortable fit.  

All of the headphone's controls are located on the front and back sides of the headband, near the right earcup. The discrete buttons and switches blend in well against their black plastic backdrop—there's a power/pairing switch, volume buttons (these work in conjunction with your device's master volume levels), as well as a play/pause button and controls for track navigation. The pinhole microphone is also located on the right side of the headband—the play/pause button does double-duty for call management.

The included micro USB charging cable connects near the right earcup, as does the 3.5mm audio cable for passive, wired listening. The cable, when connected, immediately kills the Bluetooth connection and puts the Urbn in passive mode to save battery life. The inclusion of this cable is a plus, though some will lament the absence of an inline remote control, making it impossible to field calls when in passive mode. A zip-up protective pouch is included—the headphones fold down at hinges to fit inside, and the resulting profile is compact enough for easily stowing away in a tote or carry-on.

Kinivo rates the Urbn's battery life at roughly 20 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels.

Performance and Conclusions
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the Urbn delivers a powerful low frequency response. At top, unwise listening levels, the bass doesn't distort, and at more moderate levels, there's still a powerful sense of deep bass in the mix.

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Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with less in the way of extreme bass, gives us a better sense of the Urbn's overall sound signature. Does the Urbn invent bass when it isn't in the mix? Indeed. Fans of the mega-bass sound will be pleased, while purists will recoil—something as innocent as a drum tap on this track sounds like Godzilla stomping on a city street. Curiously, Callahan's baritone vocals don't seem overly boosted in the low-mids. In fact, they sound rather crisp, with some solid presence in the high-mids that also helps the guitar strumming stand out. So the heavy bass boosting is happening in the very lowest bass frequencies and then tapers off before it can turn the richness of Callahan's voice into a muddy mess.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop gets just enough high-mid presence to retain some sense of its sharp attack, but most of its energy seems rooted in the lower frequencies, where its sustain is given a substantial boost. This low-end thud is then outdone by more intense boosting in the deepest lows—the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat have a robust presence that steals the focus of the mix. The vocals on this track aren't overpowered by the lows—they're clear and crisp—but the bass presence does present a bit of a distraction, skewing the balance notably in the direction of the lows.  

One annoyance: The Urbn can pick up interference from the device it's connected to. With an iPhone 6s, for instance, this can happen when the volume is set low—if idle, you won't hear much, but if you're scrolling around on your device and the music isn't loud enough to block it out, you might hear some digital noise in the background. This isn't necessarily a deal breaker, and even moderate volumes will overpower these quiet sounds, but it's not a typical issue with most Bluetooth headphones.

At $100, the Kinivo Urbn will appeal to bass lovers on a moderate budget, but even they should know there are plenty of other enticing options in this crowded field. If you like the idea of a bass-forward Bluetooth headphone pair, but want a better sense of balance between lows and highs, you have a plethora of options in this price range. We are fans of the Urbanears Active Hellas and the pricier Skullcandy Grind Wireless. If you're looking to spend less money, the Skullcandy Uproar Wireless and the Creative Sound Blaster Jam are both bargains at half the price.