B&W P5 Headphones: An Unboxing of the Bowers & Wilkins P5 Headphones - Page 45

Hi, Today I've bought the P5 and they feel and sound gread. I'm comparing them (not burned in) with my second pair of headphones AKG 242HD. The P5 fits better and they sound better. It's my subjective oppinion. I'd like to warn all the future buyers of the P5 that they are overpriced in the Apple stores. I live near Italy where I visited a B&W reseller and the price is 199,00EUR. It's 100EUR less than in the Apple stores. Bye

I tried the B&W P5s for a little while thanks to Apple's two week return policy. I was really hoping that B&W's first foray into the headphone world would be really good. I mean after all this is a speaker company that oozes quality at every price level (the B&W 685s I use at home come to mind here). At first I was impressed with some of the sound quality. However I found some of the exact same issues that some of the more knowledgeable posters have posted here. So the P5s were returned and yesterday I picked up a set of Denon AH-D 5000s for about the same price.

I will say this about the P5s it seems to me that B&W wanted to put out a headphone that would have great build quality and had the performance of say a N805 bookshelf speaker. However somewhere down they line and possibly facing some budget constraints they decided that it would be better to keep the asthetics at the cost of sound quality.  Which is really too bad as B&W could have been on to something. Now that being said we should remember that this is B&Ws first foray into to the world of headphones and they might be able to right these wrongs when they decide to release their next generation of headphones. 

The P5's were meant to be a portable headphone and not a flagship. For the intended purpose I think they are a very good alternative to the Bose and the Beats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG POPPA 

The P5's were meant to be a portable headphone and not a flagship. For the intended purpose I think they are a very good alternative to the Bose and the Beats.

After having listened to some bose headphones, I can now say that being a very good alternative to a Bose isn't that difficult to achieve.

I did enjoy quite a lot the P5, but as StupidN00bie said I think they sacrficed audio quality for build quality, since one can find headphones as good as those for half the price (Shure SRH840 come to mind).

Quote:

Originally Posted by BIG POPPA 

The P5's were meant to be a portable headphone and not a flagship. For the intended purpose I think they are a very good alternative to the Bose and the Beats.

I'll agree to that. When I had the P5s it wasn't like I hated every single minute with them. I thought they were pretty good when I was working on my laptop. I can also see to an extent on why B&W wants to put a little more cash into build quality as they do want to capture the segment that is held by Bose. After all if B&W can get someone buying their headphones then they (B&W) can get those consumers interested in their speaker offerings. I'm even going to go so far as to say that to those of us that are not audiophiles would actually enjoy owning they are getting their money's worth when compared to Bose or Beats.

why shouldn't a thing made of leather, memory foam and metal be more expensive than something made of plastic?  It makes sense.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by fella 

why shouldn't a thing made of leather, memory foam and metal be more expensive than something made of plastic?  It makes sense.  

It technically should be but how much does it really cost for the manufacturer to make it?

UM3X: 345. They are the smallest IEMs I have ever seen/owned. Look at a couple of pictures and see for yourself.

M40: ~140. The internals in each ear phone make up more than the total materials used to make a whole pair of UM3Xs.

Why do the UM3Xs cost more? They sound a lot better. Plus they're a lot smaller. 

I own them ... lol  if you had been reading at all you would know that.....  i am listening to them now playing "anuhea  - Rumours"...   And they sound crystal clear to me..
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorgonmusic 

 

I find them to sound well balanced and crystal clear..  funny ho how different ears and brains interpret things so differently... ESW9s are ugly looking and to bright sounding..  you would look odd walking around in public with ESW9s.. like a lost DJ of sorts..  P5s look sophisticated and refined
 

I have and found that for long periods or listening they are fatiguing
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by feverfive 

Yeah....it's obvious he's never even heard the ESW9.  

Lol, ESW9s ugly, and fatiguing. Guess YMMV

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Spade 

It technically should be but how much does it really cost for the manufacturer to make it?

 

UM3X: 345. They are the smallest IEMs I have ever seen/owned. Look at a couple of pictures and see for yourself.

M40: ~140. The internals in each ear phone make up more than the total materials used to make a whole pair of UM3Xs.

 

Why do the UM3Xs cost more? They sound a lot better. Plus they're a lot smaller. 

Smaller would indicate more expensive to produce, wouldn't it?  I don't know much about iems, can't stick stuff in my ears just can't.  That;s why I'm the target market for portable headphones like the p5s :)
 

^ Yep, that's why portable amps give less improvement in increase in SQ compared to desktop amps for their price. 

The only reason I go for portable use is because I want to have great sound with me wherever I go. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Spade 

It technically should be but how much does it really cost for the manufacturer to make it?

 

UM3X: 345. They are the smallest IEMs I have ever seen/owned. Look at a couple of pictures and see for yourself.

M40: ~140. The internals in each ear phone make up more than the total materials used to make a whole pair of UM3Xs.

 

Why do the UM3Xs cost more? They sound a lot better. Plus they're a lot smaller. 

Because of lower tolerances mostly.

My brief thoughts on these 'phones  (dealer's demos, no idea on burn-in):

I finally got a chance to listen to these properly.  On first glance, the build quality is fantastic.  Very supple pads.  I do find the fit to be comfortable, but not secure.  It's likely that I would have to adjust the headphones many times during the course of a day's mobile use to make sure the earpieces still sit over my ears.  The sound is much better when the fit is good.

The highs are detailed and extended, if not slightly etched.  I don't feel the it's well intergrated with the rest of the spectrum and certain jumped out at me on some occaisions.  The midrange is generally on the warm side the lacking transparency found on high-end headphones.  The bass is tight... ish; bass extension is OK, but all-in-al I would've wanted a bit more bass prominence.  A good fit is necessary for good bass.  Soundstage is reasonably spacious but there's not much in terms of height.  I forgot to listen critically for soundstage accuracy and hall/room ambience cues.  In general I would've wanted a bit more refinement and micro-details.  I had to turn up the headphones to really hear all the fine nuances in the music.  Great headphones sound spectacular at low volumes and I'm afraid the P5 isn't one of them.  That said I might be asking a bit much since B&W never marketed these as reference class headphones.

This is a closed-back headphone relying on passive noise-isolation.  I must say the noise isolation was decent, but perhaps not as great as more humble headphones like the DT770 and dare I say the Bose Triports (or whatever they're called nowadays).  Sound leakage might be an issue too, but it isn't too offensive.

For the price, yeah you'll be able to find better sounding headphones/earphones for the money, but the whole product oozes class and actually sounds decent.  I would recommend an audition to make sure the fit is good before purchasing.

The bottom line:  Decent effort from B&W.  Natural sounding, classy-looking headphones that are also enjoyable to listen to.  Might get a pair myself.

I was actually quite interested when I saw that B&W had jumped into the headphone segment of the audiophile world. Needless to say, I found my way here and started reading the thread, in its entirety.

First of all I'd like to thank gorgonmusic for your fanboyism, it really did make me keep on reading the thread, in hopes of less biased opinions.

Secondly I'd like to thank Skylab for an excellent review, as always! Also you have yet to let me down in any of the advice you've given me, directly or indirectly (most recently regarding tubes for my EF2A). It's people like you who make head-fi the best place on all of the internets regarding this particular subject!

Finally, just for funs, I'd like to hear what you think of them in comparison to the ESW10, seeing as there has been a lot of speculation and, seemingly unfounded "opinions" on the subject.

Cheers!