Is it just me or do the PXs sound a little "boxy"? This is after 20 hours of pink noise as well as about 5 days of music listening for a couple of hours each day.
I'm comparing them to my previous P7s which are also closed. Same source, which is my laptop via 3.5mm cable, listening to FLACs or at least 320k mp3s. By boxy I just mean it sort of has this hollowish sound. Maybe it's just the different sound signature?
I guess I'm using the wrong word. The weight is there but it just seems like there is some emphasis around the mids. Like imagine your voice talking through a tube. It has that kinda resonance.
I received my pair of B&W PX yesterday. It came with latest firmware. Here are my initial impressions:
First thing is first, the Sound Quality: Out of the box, it sounded so bad as almost everyone in this thread said. I tested PX (ANC always off) with my LG V20 which has APT-X HD for bluetooth connection and a good internal QUAD DAC/AMP for wired conneciton. With a side by side comparison against my P7W with the same source and same songs (Extreme Quality Spotify, Flac files and some HD sound files) PX sounded exactly like djsubtronic wrote above. I totally agree "tube effect" description. I understood what he was experiencing as I'm experiencing same, but I'll try to use different wording: PX sounds like it had a virtualizaion effect that most equalizer apps (ie Equalizer Pro or Equalizer FX on Android) have. It is an active sound processing filter which I don't like. I think PX sound lacks some clarity, especially mids sound like shadowed. PX has less bass than P7W. You can't feel the fun that P7W delivers with PX.
Now I started to burn-in process with pink/brown/white noises I found
in this post. I'll return PX and keep P7W if sound doesn't change enough after burn in.
I'll report after-burn in results on weekend.
Bluetooth Floor Noise: P7W bluetooth floor noise was disturbing me on silent parts of songs. This is really reduced on PX, close to an amount hard to nice even by sensitive ears.
Wired Floor Noise: Unfortunately PX has a wired floor noise which P7W doesn't have at all. But the amount is not much. I can say it's less than half of bluetooth floor noise of P7W and it's not disturbing.
Look: I prefer P7W as I found rectangular earcups and full leather headband are more stylish. But this is completely a personal preference.
Comfort: I prefer P7W as I felt more room for ear inside earcups
. Rectangular earcups also provides better fixing on head with P7W. But PX has softer earcup padding and pressure on ears are lighter, too.
While commuting PX lost its position over my ears lots of time. P7W had no such a problem. I think PX is a little bit loosy.
Bluetooth + APTX HD: I had no connection problems. I had longer range with V20 (APTX HD), shorter range with usb dongle for PC (APT-X). Both distances are more than enough for me.
Wear Sensors: Works as advertised. I had no problem with wear sensors, no accidental play pauses, etc.
ANC: PX blocked most of the bus engine noise while commuting. So It does its job even if it's not the best ANC headphone.
Compared ANC for PX vs Beats Studio Wireless, side by side on my office with a colleague. The hiss sound of ANC was stronger on Beats. Both filtered low frequencies well but Beats filtered more high frequency sound.
Android App: As reported previously others, initial connection takes some time like 5-8 seconds. Once connection is established it works perfectly. I would love to see an equalizer option here in this App.
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Edit after 10 hours of burn in:
- "Tube effect" seems to be lowered. There is a clear improvement here. But it is still there and my PX still need some serious burn in. But I like the first results.
- Bass is not as strong as out of the box status. Bass dymanics and punchiness decreased. I previously said PX had better bass dynamics and punchier bass than P7W. Now roles changed.
- During commuting PX lost its position over my ears lots of time. P7W had no such a problem.
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Edit after 25 hours of burn in:
- Nothing changed much. "Tube effect" is still there
I still prefer P7W sound by a big margin.
- PX blocked most of the bus engine noise while commuting. So It does its job even if it's not the best ANC headphone.
- Compared ANC for PX vs Beats Studio Wireless, side by side on my office with a colleague. The hiss sound of ANC was stronger on Beats. Both filtered low frequencies well but Beats filtered more high frequency sound.
- While commuting PX lost its position over my ears lots of time. P7W had no such a problem. I think PX is a little bit loosy.
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Edit after 55 hours of burn in :
- Nothing changed much. "Tube effect" is still there
I still prefer P7W sound more by a big margin.
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CONCLUSION:
I started return process for PX on Amazon.
I really tried to like PX, I've ignored negative comments and decided to buy and experience myself. I passed through all burn in process as recommended. After all burn in trials, there wans't "huge" improvement. There was some but not enough to change my mind. I still prefer P7W sound. P7W has a mildly V shaped frequency response which is funnier while PX has less bass and treble dynamics. PX also has some kind of tube effect on sound which I really hated.
P7W has a great PRAT* feeling that PX doesn't have and I think this tube effect blocks it in PX. (*PRAT: Pace Rhythm and Timing. It means the toe tapability factor of the music.)
