B&W P5 Headphones: An Unboxing of the Bowers & Wilkins P5 Headphones - Page 8

...and how much they leak too.

They are really beautiful , but so far I see no reason to get away from my ANC7. Such critical first listening impressions as to be found here are seldom at headfi, where every new product tends to get boosted to be the best thing since the invention of fire.

Sounds like those of us auditioning these in the Apple stores (whenever they arrive) need to be careful with initial impression if these do require or improve with a significant # of hours for burn in.

If these headphones are just hitting stores (either recently or in the coming weeks) they might not have very many hours on them by the time people audition them.

Over enough time they will obviously get burnt in but when initially put out on the sales floor they might only be getting little <1 minute auditions here and there throughout the day.

^ That won't be an issue for me. I will judge the phone as I hear it. I don't give any credence to the notion of "burn-in".

Im going to take a trip to my local Apple store here in London and try these out.

For £250 these need to very comfortable with exceptional SQ before I even think about purchasing them

I too am thinking about pre-ordering in the US since they would be returnable. I just am not sure if I should wait though as my local dealer (a custom audio installer) has typically given me 10% off B&W stuff.

FWIW I recently had a B&W MT10 system that I sold and "cross-graded" to the new B&W Panorama sound bar that I just absolutely love (I live in a mid-rise condo and dont have a lot of space).

For one I like their recent trends of mini-speakers and decent "prosumer" gear. I realize the stuff I am buying is nothing to a B&W805 but their designs are pleasing in my life/home, the quality has always been outstanding, and the sound impressive.

I think this new wave of B&W prosumer gear is a real offering what Bose markets themselves to be.

My audition was for 45 minutes in an Apple Store. It was just after they had opened and I was very much left to my own devices. To answer again some of the questions raised so far -

They are good at isolating you from outside sound, but not as good as The Bose Quietcomforts which make outside sound virtually disappear. That is due to the P5s being on ear as opposed to around ear as well as there being NR.

I found that they leak high frequencies, but overall they leak less sound than other closed backed cans such as the Denon AH D1001 and Goldring NS1000.

They are more neutral than the Denon AH D1001 and Dr Dre Beats, both of which I find to have too much bass emphasis.

You cannot listen to them without the pads on. I cannot see how they could be modified either without making them worse.

The pads are very comfortable and even though they do not look it with there little holes, the sound out of them fills the ear like any other on or around ear headphone.

I guess you never got a new pair of Beyer custom DT880/600s. Garbage out of the box. Different headphones 20 hours later.

With the full iPhone 3GS remote, it is more than just marketing.

Indeed with the two included cables, they will and properly.

...especially if it's expensive.

I am in absolute agreement with you here. If every new iteration of headphone or audio equipment is leagues ahead of that released before, it seems we would have reached audio nirvana. "The closest thing to real music" should have been reached by now. To say anything critical is akin to sin and you are to be tarred and feathered. This is the reason I am against audiophile magazines. I am afraid that the impending headphone quarterly will be the same. Critical voices will be silenced. There are advertising dollars to be raised.

Im waiting until my local store has these B&W phones....i cant wait to hear them! They look nice.

Do you think these are aimed at the same quality level as the Audio Technica ES10 / ESW10 (supposedly roughly equivalent in terms of SQ level, ie top of the portable range, though with a different sound signature), or closer to the ESW9 / HD25 / SRH840 (supposedly a notch below the previous ones) ?

EDIT : Sorry, I did not see Spectre's post.

Anyway, the design's very nice and actually reminds me a lot of the older Panasonics.

Ditto, also wondering how they stand against any of the known smallish/closed back designs:

At the $100 Level:
Sennheiser HD-280, Sony MDR-7506, Shure SRH-440

At the $200+ Level:
Beyerdynamic DT 250, HD-380, Shure SRH840, Sony MDR-7509HD

Given the price I would expect the P5's to perform like a $200 headphone, I suppose I personally could chalk up $50-$100 of the price to design/appointments/comfort. My current closed/unamped/semi portable/isolating headphone is the $100 MDR-7506 so I am looking for a gain in sound quality as well as comfort/aesthetics.

Thanks for the fotos, Jude.

What I'm really wondering is if these will have a similar sound to B&W's speaker line. I've had several monitors from this great company (DM302, I think; CDM1SE and N805), all of which sounded pretty fantastic to my ears, especially the N805's.

From what little I've gathered so far, that doesn't seem to be the case, as the description of their sound doesn't mesh with my recollection of their speaker line. Hopefully, some burn-in and equipment choices will bring them closer to the speaker line. If they get there...watch out!