[ryanmatic]

That is super cool to hear. I think I’ll have to pick up a pair when they become available! I still really like the original edition ones despite their weirdness, most of which it sounds like they’ve addressed with this new color variant.

 

[greentea76]

yes, I miss a little their original super relaxing sound perfect for late evening listening

 

[Shinoke]

Absolutely. M3 > px7 except in battery life

Err, nope.

I returned the M3 and will be keeping the PX7 Carbon Edition

M3s have poor ANC, very poor battery life, and for me had a poor fit and slid down when I bent my head down.

Also the earcups are only suitable for small or medium size ears.

The earpads are nice, genuine leather.

Build is nice but the buttons etc. are better on the B&W I think.

The metal hinge sliders aren't a great design I think and a finger/skin trap - I cut my skin taking them off in one hand - got caught in the hinge.

I found the bass fatiguing and not rich and warm like the PX7

Perhaps some will find the PX7 bass bloated - I would describe it as blooming, rich, enveloping.
It doesn't take away from detail and separation, but with electronic and bassy music can be very rich and present.

Not so with the M3 I found.

M3 did have a more consistent sound though and no recessed vocal issues.

PX7 space grey I did notice recessed vocals sometimes, but other times rock sounded great.

Generally they need some volume to sound good I think.

I didn't notice any difference between the carbons and the space greys when trying one track, but will listen to the carbons more.

As for physical differences, the carbons use a softer black nylon material. This actually looks cheaper than the grey material on the space greys. But the grey material won't age as well I think. Also the carbons look smarter. I quite like the chamfered shiny edge on the earcup metal plates too.

I still wish the earcups were larger.

Would be awesome if they sold larger leather earpads that come out a bit or come in less. May look less elegant but would be good for long ears like mine

The Aonic 50 review very poorly on Amazon - loads of issues it seems.
They also seem heavy and less travel friendly.
Poorer ANC, but importantly they have the smallest earcups of the lot.
So only for midget ears it seems.

Not tried them but pointless for me as they have less ear space than the M3s apparently, which have less the PX7

The PX7 are only just okay in ear space for me, and still not ideal.

I believe the Bose QC35 have even more space, no idea about the N700. But Bose lack loads of features, look cheaply made (at least the QCs) and sound thin and crap in my experience.

PX7 FTW

 

[Shinoke]

There are a handful of the silver PX7s on Amazon Spain at the moment as new for 171 euros until the end of tomorrow. The discount is added when you go to pay. Seems like a pretty good deal. Was enough to persuade me to give them a try.

Oops, missed this. Didn't seem to get new notifications for this thread. That's only a touch over £150! Very nice.

Well if the Carbons sound better I'm happy with those new for £220. Still feels like a bargain given the space grey etc. were going for over £100 more for a lot of the year and the previous lowest price was around £260

 

[GregBe]

Not sure that I need a change in the PX7 sound signature. I'm enjoying them, as is, but if v1.2 sounds better, I wonder if the space grey will get the update at some point. From everything I've read, it's identical hardware. Should be doable.

 

[Plugman40]

I did ask Bowers who said that v1.2 is the same as v1.1 and is just to show this is new model. Now that a full working pair I do think these are slightly different tuned to the px7s space greys. The bass is still deep but better defined and the mids sound more forward. Its hard as I sold the Space Greys a couple of months back so could be just new toy effect. Interestingly I had one of the first batch of px7s and they definitely didn't sound right very muddy and inconsistent.

 

[Plugman40]

I do think v1.2 does indicate more than just a colour variant. They didn't do this on the original two colours so why start now? I suspect that if we do another upgrade these will jump to v1.4 and the space greys, silvers will goto v1.3. I believe 1B085 must be the build were the originals 1B082?

 

[X1787X]

PX7 Carbon definitely different sound signature with firmware 1.2 than original px7. Still plenty of bass but very bright now (brighter than Shure Aonic 50). Vocals seem correct now, that was my biggest painpoint with original px7. Overall mix of instrument and voice sometimes more enjoyable than Shure Aonic 50 - better balance than vocal-forward SA 50. Bassy, Bright, better balanced regarding instruments/voices mix - especially rock genres benefit from this tuning of PX7 Carbon

Interesting. I remember reading about how the carbon edition design changes the sound, so the engineers had to retune the driver to make it sound like the original px7

 

[greentea76]

Yes they retain full-body sound of original px7 but did they achieve to sound as close as they could or identically? To my ear even two of the same headphones doesn't sound identically if eg. one is completely new and other played for couple of months. I cannot do A/B tests as I sold original px7 couple of weeks ago but I can remember eg. Supertramp were completely unlistenable to my ear on original px7 and now they are OK. Some female voices when they sang lower tones it sounded to me simply false now they are OK. Sometimes I had a feeling it is hard to discern specific singer's voices well known to my ear when listened through other headphones, now all the voices are perfectly believable on carbons. But maybe I only wish and believe that carbons sound better

 

[alchemical]

I had to return my first set of Carbons due to a clicking/chinking sound on the right-hand cup when turning my head, even opening my mouth. It’s the same issue I had with my first Space Grey pair some time ago, which thankfully didn’t recur in the replacement set. So far so good with the Carbon replacements too.

 

[Plugman40]

I had to return my first set of Carbons due to a clicking/chinking sound on the right-hand cup when turning my head, even opening my mouth. It’s the same issue I had with my first Space Grey pair some time ago, which thankfully didn’t recur in the replacement set. So far so good with the Carbon replacements too.

Good to know I am not alone. My replacement pair seem fine though. On sound quality I would say these are the best I have had. The 1st pair of Space Greys sounded very dull and muddled on some tracks as well as having a battery issue. They were in the first batch of builds. The next pair I purchased just prior to UK lockdown and seemed much better and more consistent I sold these for the Carbons. The first pair ear cup was snapped off and hanging by the wire. Second pair clicked on left hand side. Third pair fine. So out of 5 pairs only two have worked as they should. Hardly good.

 

[Plugman40]

Personally I would like to see them develop a PX9 version in Carbon. They could include:-
Leather earcups and headband
LDAC as well as all the other codecs
A case that was black carbon
Total by pass of the internal dac/amp so they could be used as quality wired cans
Superior mic for phonecalls
A rocker switch for play pause track fwd/bck
Would this sell at say £549

Any thoughts?

 

[WilcoRoger]

Passive mode - definitely a missing feature, would be welcome
Mic - currently it's next to useless, so also welcome
LDAC - couldn't care less, even my Sony DAPs output aptX-HD, so I'm good
case - nice to have, but of marginal interest
Leather - I think the current one is a nice diversion from mainstream

At the price point you suggest, I would definitely NOT be buying

 

[Plugman40]

The only reason I say LDAC is that Samsung phones only output Aptx not aptxhd been like that for years in the UK. In essence I can't detect much difference between them all other than SBC.

 

[LDude]

Personally I would like to see them develop a PX9 version in Carbon. They could include:-

... and "Ambient pass-through" button.