At the beginning of the year, I reviewed the Urbanears Plattan. I didn’t give the stylish headphones the most supporting of comments. Speaking of comments, a host of people weren’t thrilled with my geography and linguistic skills. The parent of a host of headphone companies told me that they had updated the Plattans and wanted to see if I wanted to hear the improvements. Anyways, after the jump… my thoughts.

Out of the Box

I looked over some of the pictures from my last review (including some that didn’t make it on the review) and what I found was much of the same. Urbanears packs their products in a unique box with the headphones in one compartment, the additional cables (Nokia and neutral stereo) in another and the final compartment for the manual.

Design

I went back into the closet of headphones and pulled out the white pair I had gotten from CES. What I saw was what I sort of expected after spending five minutes with the purple (err, aubergine) pair. The headphones are pretty much identical in design. Same matte finish on the cups, same cloth style headband, same cable length, same “zound plug.” Perhaps it’s just because my old Plattans were white? Perhaps it’s because something changed? What l can say after using the new ones on and off for a month or so: the new ones are in much better condition than the older model. While the older one had stitches coming out of the headband, the new one looks like they did a month ago. I don’t think that I really used the Plattans much after the review, so I feel comfortable saying that at least build quality-wise, there was some improvement.

Comfort

Perhaps my head changed shape over the past year? Actually no. The older model still requires adjustment pretty regularly even with minimal head movement. However, I went jogging with the new model and they stayed on about as good as any other over the earphone will. Furthermore, the Plattan’s lightweight nature makes them pretty comfortable. In case you’re keeping score, improvement in that category.

Mic

Just like the original Plattans, the newer version features a mic around ten or so inches from the left cup. The mic doesn’t add any features (like volume control), but it does house a play/pause button. It’s perhaps my largest gripe with the new version of the Plattans. The sound quality is what you would expect, although I found the mic to be extremely directional, which isn’t the greatest. Still, if that’s my largest complaint…

Sound

At one point these were up for the award of worst headphone ever reviewed on this site. There have been plenty of others that have been far worse than the first version of the Plattans, but this time it’s all about the sound from the Plattans. I can confirm that the vocals of Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” (fortunately) don’t sound at all like Mr Hudson’s voice on “White Lies.”

Lows

I referred to this last time as, “problem number one” – that’s no longer the case. On a relatively unimpressive reproduction of the Long Beach Dub Allstars’ “Sunny Hours” – there are times in which the warm bass breaks through just enough to add the depth needed to propel the headphones beyond mediocrity. And on songs where the headphone’s shine… it’s the bass. Don’t get me wrong, Urbanears didn’t change the science of sound, but as far as the Plattans go, the multitude of subtle changes have created a brand new headphone. Kanye West’s “Stronger”, not only shows a hidden depth absent on many headphones, but the newer model display a soundstage in the low-end that wasn’t imaginable from the first representation.

Mids

As anyone that has followed my headphone reviews (if anyone actually cares) – one of the staples of a review is Lil Wayne’s “A Milli.” I mainly use it to test the control of the bass, so you might wonder why it’s being mentioned in this category of the review. The answer is pretty simple. Because just over the bass that causes the cups to literally vibrate on the ears is a clean representation of Dwayne Carter’s voice and all of the echo and the other punchy sounds from what I presume was a Roland drum machine. Whereas the older model makes this song sound like a muddled instrumental, the newer model shines. Time after time, vocals, guitars, claps and other sounds were represented with newfound accuracy in the midrange. There were times in which they got pushed a bit too much, but for the most part the mids were clean and smooth.

Highs

As Wyclef throws all of the artificial sounds he can from the Platinum Sound Studios’ library, the Plattans handle the tests from “Slumdog Millionaire” well. The highs remained clean and pleasurable, which is a far cry from the former version of the Plattans. At one point I found myself lost listening to The Beatles’ Revolver and without any complaints. No artificialness, an accurate soundstage (which isn’t easy on that album… seriously whoever was at the board, nevermind) and most importantly enjoyable sound. Whether it was the vocal extensions on “And Your Bird Can Sing” or the brass on “Got to Get You Into My Life” – I was amazed by the improvement.

In the End

It’s not all butterflies and roses. At times songs sound a bit dry. Eminem’s “Going Through Changes” represented a few songs that sounded a bit over-exaggerated. However, it’s not the first version of the Plattans. Even on songs where the bass is perhaps a bit too warm, like The Clash’s “Jimmy Jazz” – the rest of the sound spectrum is clear, decently accurate and complimenting. The perennial favorite for the price range and features that has been reviewed on this site is the eskuché Control… and to be honest, they might go back in the closet. If you can find the updated version of the Plattans around $50, you’re going to be hard pressed to find a pair of over the ear headphones with mic that are going to provide more enjoyable sound quality for the price. They Plattans will run you $75 with shipping directly from Urbanears, but plenty of places have them at $50. I don’t care if these were made in Sweden or Senegal, they’re getting four stars from me.

P.S. I’m unsure if the first model I got was defective. Perhaps my hearing just changed drastically. There are a lot of things I cannot explain as to why the sound changed so drastically. After listening to the original version and the one sent to me there are definitive things that I was capable of picking up. All I can say in the end is that with one version of the Plattan, I’m not satisfied; another version I am.