REVIEWED: Urbanista Night Runner Rio earphones
These wired earphones are tangle-free, comfortable when on the move … and easy to see in the dark
There are dozens of earphones designed for runners, but how many are actually comfortable during a jog? In our experience, very few; most move about in the ear, and worse, introduce a bassy buzz with every step you take – and that’s whether you run or walk. Not so the Urbanista Night Runner Rio earphones.
Neat design
Designed for fitness freaks, but with an excellent construction, the Urbanista Night Runner earphones actually come in two flavours; Rio (wired) and Boston (Bluetooth/wireless). We tried the former. First impressions are good; there’s a super-slim, flat and glow-in-the-dark reflective cable design that has both an in-line remote control (for altering volume – and are compatible with all Android, iOS and Windows devices) and a clip to keep them in place on a shirt or coat. There’s even a small Velcro loop for coiling together loose cables. Altogether, it’s a surprisingly neat design.
Secure fit
However, the Nightrunner Rio’s real breakthrough is the ultra-secure fit of its ear-tips. Called GoFit wings by the maker, Swedish company Urbanista, these silicon tips – which come sin four sizes in the box and are easy to swap-out – have a curved upper that sits in the ear. They don’t fall out, and nor to they totally plug-up your ear – the cause of that boomy effect when you walk or run with some earphones.
Sound quality
The sound quality is decent; we’re not talking ground-breaking sonics here, but dialogue is clear and bright while there’s just enough treble clarity, mid-range, low frequency sound for reasonably balanced music. The reflective design won’t appeal to all travellers – fitness freaks or not – but the tangle-free design alone is worth the relatively small outlay. Oh, and did we mention that Rio has IPX5 water resistance?