Urbanears Juno

Verdict

An all-round solid pair of affordable true wireless earbuds, the Urbanears Juno make a mark with their clear and detailed audio, comfortable fit, good wireless performance, and call quality. A better noise-cancellation performance and they would be up there with the best options below £100.

Introduction

The Urbanears Juno are part of a new breed of affordable earphones with noise-cancelling that look forward to being your go-to travel companions.

With Bluetooth Multipoint, a transparency mode, and app support, the Juno is set up for modern living at a price that’s pretty acceptable for what it’s offering.

The Boo Tip true wireless was much liked when reviewed in 2022, so does the Juno improve on it by bringing new features such as ANC into the fold? Here are my thoughts.

Design

• Comfy enough to wear
• Responsive touch controls
• Lightweight design

I had thought the Juno and Boo Tip were of the same design, but when comparing the two they’re actually very different – the Juno features a smaller stem and bigger housing. At the end of the day the results aren’t much different.

They’re slightly heavier (4.25g vs 3.8g), but that still makes them one of the lightest earbuds on the market. Like the Boo Tip, the Juno aren’t uncomfortable to wear, and they share a similar propensity to move a little during use but not as much.

The shape of the housing leads to a more snug fit, and though the use of recycled PC/ABS material for the casing does feel a little coarse, it’s not to the point of being too hard or uncomfortable to wear.

The capacitive touch controls are a) responsive and b) offer decent feedback, so you know once they’ve been pressed. Controls are mirrored on both sides, and operation can be customised within the Urbanears app.

Rated to IPX4, the buds are good enough to resist some splashes of water and sweat. The charging case is practically the same size as the Boo Tip, with the ‘smile’ on the front acting as a Bluetooth pairing button, an LED above showing the charge level and a USB-C port is underneath for charging. Charcoal Black, Dirty Tangerine and Raw (white) are the colour choices.

Features

• Good call quality
• ANC and Transparent mode
• App support

The Urbanears Juno feature noise-cancelling, joining a list of recent affordable true wireless earphones to add it. The performance is not the most powerful, with the focus on clearing out ambient sounds and background noise.

When using them on a train, the buds didn’t have a big impact on people’s voices, except to slightly reduce the volume.

I could still hear what people around me were saying – there’s an adjustment required with the volume to clear away other sounds. Using them on the Northern Line and I’d rate the noise-cancellation as good enough to hear audio, but the earphones’ ANC weren’t stripping away much of the wind noise. It’s just enough to make it bearable, but earbuds like the EarFun Air Pro 3, JBL Live Pro 2, and Lypertek Z5 all offer stronger noise-cancelling.

The Transparency mode I find to be acceptable enough. It did provide more awareness of my surroundings as I was able to hear a group of people on a train from across the carriage. It’s a clear performance, with none of the noisiness that affects other true wireless buds’ ambient modes.

With Bluetooth 5.2 onboard, the Urbanears Juno stream in SBC and AAC codecs. They support Bluetooth Multipoint too, so you could connect them to two devices at once. The Bluetooth performance I found to be very good over the few weeks I used them. There were no drops walking through Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square, and only a few drops at Waterloo station.

Urbanears claims six hours battery with noise-cancelling on (26 altogether with the charging case), and 36 hours if you turn the ANC off. Having performed a battery drain with a Spotify stream for an hour, six hours sounds about right. The earbuds dropped to 83 and 88%, which works to about 85% or six hours and change with playback.

The charging case only charges up to 90% (to help preserve the life of the earphones), and wireless charging is supported, though there doesn’t appear to be any room for fast charging.

Call quality is very good for the money. Clarity on both ends and pick-up of my voice was decent, and the Environmental Noise-Cancellation does its job in stopping most external sounds from being a distraction. One problem is the earbuds are affected by wind noise; the person on the other end reported that everything I said muddled together when it was windy.

Dive into the Urbanears app and you can swap through noise-cancelling modes, and check battery life. You can customise controls, switch between ‘Standard’, ‘Minimal’ (for simpler controls) or turn them off completely. There’s no means to create a custom EQ sound, but there’s a healthy selection of boosts and ‘cuts’ with the provided presets.

Sound Quality

• Clear, detailed, defined audio
• Lightweight bass performance
• Sounds best with ANC on

Around this price point you’ve got plenty of wireless earbuds. Some offer a smooth presentation (Lypertek), others warm (Jabra and EarFun). Urbanears offers a performance that’s clear, detailed but also not too showy either.

The best performance is had with noise-cancelling switched on. With it off, audio lacks weight and heft, and the soundstage is pitched with a smaller width. Given the Juno makes use of a 6mm driver and the Boo Tip a 10mm driver, it should be a formality that the Boo Tip sounds bigger and more spacious.

And even with ANC on that assumption turns out to be true, nor does the Juno dig into the bass with as much depth when listening to Benny Benassi and The Biz’s dance hit Satisfaction. But the track’s vocals and beats are crisper in tone, clearer and better defined on the Juno.

If you’re into bass the Juno doesn’t offer as much, but the crispness and clarity of its overall presentation holds appeal with David Bowie’s Fame. There’s more definition to the instruments with the track than there is with the Boo Tip, and the levels of clarity define Bowie’s voice better.

A listen to Phoebe Bridger’s Garden Song and the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage presents similar results, and despite the crispness of the midrange and high frequencies the Juno refrains from sounding sibilant.

As well as switching on the ANC to get a more ‘solid’ sound, turning up the volume can also bring more energy, heft, and dynamism. That’s not to say the Juno sounds bad at normal volume levels, but it does sound reserved.

With Manu Katché’s Keep on Trippin’ the cymbal crashes are treated with a nice crispness and decent kick to the drum hits. With GoGo Penguin’s Raven the Juno put in a sharp, clear, and bright performance with the treble but the bass lacks that heft and ‘thump’. Picking the ‘Bass Boost’ EQ doesn’t add as much weight as I had hoped.

If you’re into more EDM, Trance, or just bassy tracks in general, you’d be better served by the EarFun Air Pro 3 or even the Ugreen HiTune T3 (which is very bassy). For most other genres, the Juno puts in a steady, clear, and detailed performance.

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