[jthomp72]

Higher quality as in headphones or stereo that is beyond what the Bathys or the PX8 can deliver quality wise.

No amount of higher quality is gonna save some masters. Sam Cooke live at the Harlem Shake Club is so badly mastered that it’s a finite and small difference between the nicest headphones in the world and the Px8

 

[Soundizer]

They decided not to license aptX HD due to different reasons on the Bathys. I think there is an extra license fee if you want aptX adaptive to fall back to aptX HD. It is a shame since aptX HD has support on a lot more devices and is what you get on most daps (only know of a few that have adaptive and they all cost more than the Bathys). Since I mostly use my walkman when on the go it is another plus in favor of the PX8.

I agree.

Another thing is that it is better to have actual AptX HD then AptX HD supported via AptX Adaptive , because backwards compatibility is lower bit rate then directly supporting AptX HD.

I hope that makes sense.

Its all explained in the chart here attached.

 

[Maukey]

Thank you and great review article.

One thing that puzzles me is that you described your preferences as not too sharp due to treble sensitivity. I am the same. However you didn’t find the ML5909 to be too sharp as others describe and even the Bathys can be often.

Not sure I'm following you on this. I stated, and I quote:

"2) My preferred sound signature tends to lean toward a punchy, vibrant bass with some impact. Not overly done or loose/sloppy, but definitely present. I'm not sensitive to highs, so I don't mind a little elevation/sparkle up top if it's not overly done or harsh. My ears have a tendency to be more sensitive to harsh upper mids as opposed to highs. I can appreciate a warm/dark or neutral headphone as long as the tonality is tasteful to my ears."

Did I state treble sensitivity in another post? If I did, pardon me, the scotch may have been talking

 

[Soundizer]

Not sure I'm following you on this. I stated, and I quote:

"2) My preferred sound signature tends to lean toward a punchy, vibrant bass with some impact. Not overly done or loose/sloppy, but definitely present. I'm not sensitive to highs, so I don't mind a little elevation/sparkle up top if it's not overly done or harsh. My ears have a tendency to be more sensitive to harsh upper mids as opposed to highs. I can appreciate a warm/dark or neutral headphone as long as the tonality is tasteful to my ears."

Did I state treble sensitivity in another post? If I did, pardon me, the scotch may have been talking

Apologies I misunderstood. I read it again. Excellent post.

 

[nunomeneses]

Your brain adapts to a point where someone used to AAC files, spotify etc. can find it strange to listen to proper CD resolution files. In those cases they have gotten so used to the artifacts in lossy files that they find it to be "wrong" when the artifacts are missing.

A lot of my listening is done on lossless and at higher quality than either the PX8 or the Bathys is able to provide, even when they are in DAC mode. Not being used to the artifacts means that they are quite noticeable when they appear. Same thing when you are used to hearing things in a song (harmonics, treble details etc.) it is easy to notice when they are missing.

You are assuming you are more experienced in sound than me and assuming that I don’t hear lossless and that I don’t know what is sound outside Bluetooth….

Which is pretty funny when yesterday I had to do a concert professionally…

I assume we just hear differently once more

 

[Denkmal]

You are assuming you are more experienced in sound than me and assuming that I don’t hear lossless and that I don’t know what is sound outside Bluetooth….

Which is pretty funny when yesterday I had to do a concert professionally…

I assume we just hear differently once more

On a general note, how do you think your hearing has been impacted by you "doing concert(s) professionally"?
My brother plays in a band and he can barely tell the difference between PX8 and Koss Porta Pro....

 

[nunomeneses]

On a general note, how do you think your hearing has been impacted by you "doing concert(s) professionally"?
My brother plays in a band and he can barely tell the difference between PX8 and Koss Porta Pro....

On general note is very different being an audio technician and a musician. Pretty different. I don’t judge the performance or the music itself but the how you receive the sound and what I can do best for that to happen. So that being said , there are cases where you have musicians with great hearing and bad hearing technicians as audiophiles. We are all different…

Edit: And when I wrote about my profession it was only to provide some knowledge about what im used to hear about real life sound of instruments, human voices… I have no intention of finding myself better that others just because my opinion is different.

 

[Radiorog]

I think after Xmas I will pick-up a PX8 so I'll get to join in on the sound impressions side of things. But not to be too much of a Negative Nelly, but I have read from at least two members who acknowledge brain acclimation, but also make the claim that mechanical burn-in happens for a fact. What evidence do you people have of that? Have you mechanically and metallurgically disassembled and tested the driver before and after or are you just assuming these changes happen because somebody somewhere else introduced the idea and sounded really convincing? Or does it just seem to be so common sense that it just has to happen?

I am always shocked at how certain people can be of phenomena that would be so very, very nuanced and almost impossible to quantify in any reliable or meaningful way. And even if there were some kind of infinitesimal change in material or mechanical system such as is being proposed, for it to reach audibility would be a major issue, let alone to result in the changes typically described by people like "... the bass really setlled in ... the treble became much more even ..." Those are absolutely huge changes, not small, if they become audible you are now making a very significant claim, which transitively means you are suggesting that these designs are so flawed that the engineers couldn't even make a headphone system that didn't become critically altered in a few hundred hours of use.

I am not so arrogant as to say I know for a fact that these things could never occur, but people have no proof, they just make unsubstantiated claims. That isn't evidence at all, it is simply opinion. Fine, everyone has opinions, I do, probably too many of them, no problem, but at least be clear when you make claims that you accept the limits of your knowledge and if you haven't tested your headphone the way you would need to determine if substantial mechanical burn-in occurred, then limit your claim to not be presenting facts, but rather opinion.

On the flip side we have mountains and mountains of scientific inquiry into the adaptability of our sensory brain so that explanation has been scientifically vetted.

From my own experience with 2 sets of Px7, i can happily say that burn in os real, and if you dont dont believe me, then thats fine. My experience was with the Px7 carbon edition, (which is tuned differently to the px7 non carbon). For the first few days of listening to music things were pretty terrible. The massive amounts of siblance in so.e tracks was spellbinding. This wasnt just siblance where things might sou d a tiny bit harsh, but siblance so strong that the words actually became inaudible in the cacophony of of what sounded like a thousand miniature tamborines being smashed together. I wrote down track after track describing how and where the cans sounded terrible with the odea of posting results on a forum. After a couple of weeks, i noticed the siblance had compmetely disappeared. I still dislike the sound of these cans u til you really tuen them up, when they sound good, but mostly they are a con. So burn in here was real.
I also have experience with a Rel tx7 subwoofer where when i first bought it i thought it was faulty as the anount of bass coming out at lower volumes was almost zero. After a few days warming in the bass clearly became way more abundant (as mentioned in Rel literature) and over the nontha the bass has got ever more tuneful and apparent.
I literally dont need graphs and the like to tell me what was there clear as day. I simply don't have the time or interest.
For me, i know burn in is real.

 

[cresny]

I picked up px8 yesterday. For the last few years it's been all TWS for me, so these are a much bigger sound. Coming from TWS at first they sounded a bit boomy, with recessed vocals, but then the details kicked in, and I don't think I've had them off for more than a few hours since. And they're making me listen to prog rock for like the first time in years. I guess that's the closest I will get to classical

 

[Soundizer]

From my own experience with 2 sets of Px7, i can happily say that burn in os real, and if you dont dont believe me, then thats fine. My experience was with the Px7 carbon edition, (which is tuned differently to the px7 non carbon). For the first few days of listening to music things were pretty terrible. The massive amounts of siblance in so.e tracks was spellbinding. This wasnt just siblance where things might sou d a tiny bit harsh, but siblance so strong that the words actually became inaudible in the cacophony of of what sounded like a thousand miniature tamborines being smashed together. I wrote down track after track describing how and where the cans sounded terrible with the odea of posting results on a forum. After a couple of weeks, i noticed the siblance had compmetely disappeared. I still dislike the sound of these cans u til you really tuen them up, when they sound good, but mostly they are a con. So burn in here was real.
I also have experience with a Rel tx7 subwoofer where when i first bought it i thought it was faulty as the anount of bass coming out at lower volumes was almost zero. After a few days warming in the bass clearly became way more abundant (as mentioned in Rel literature) and over the nontha the bass has got ever more tuneful and apparent.
I literally dont need graphs and the like to tell me what was there clear as day. I simply don't have the time or interest.
For me, i know burn in is real.

Not sure I understood. I agree on the burn in change. You don’t like the PX8 at just low volumes or not at all?

 

[Sonic Defender]

From my own experience with 2 sets of Px7, i can happily say that burn in os real, and if you dont dont believe me, then thats fine. My experience was with the Px7 carbon edition, (which is tuned differently to the px7 non carbon). For the first few days of listening to music things were pretty terrible. The massive amounts of siblance in so.e tracks was spellbinding. This wasnt just siblance where things might sou d a tiny bit harsh, but siblance so strong that the words actually became inaudible in the cacophony of of what sounded like a thousand miniature tamborines being smashed together. I wrote down track after track describing how and where the cans sounded terrible with the odea of posting results on a forum. After a couple of weeks, i noticed the siblance had compmetely disappeared. I still dislike the sound of these cans u til you really tuen them up, when they sound good, but mostly they are a con. So burn in here was real.
I also have experience with a Rel tx7 subwoofer where when i first bought it i thought it was faulty as the anount of bass coming out at lower volumes was almost zero. After a few days warming in the bass clearly became way more abundant (as mentioned in Rel literature) and over the nontha the bass has got ever more tuneful and apparent.
I literally dont need graphs and the like to tell me what was there clear as day. I simply don't have the time or interest.
For me, i know burn in is real.

Whatever floats your boat as they say.

 

[JoePR31]

Not sure I understood. I agree on the burn in change. You don’t like the PX8 at just low volumes or not at all?

He wasn't talking about the PX8. His post was about the PX7.

 

[John2023]

I am wondering if anyone has had issues with the wear sensors. I love my Px8's and doubt I will return them because of this issue, as I rarely use this feature anyway. But I have noticed that the wear sensors, even on high, are very temperamental. If I lift one earpiece, usually nothing happens and the music continues, but on some ocassions, the music will stop, but then when I put the earpiece back on my ear, the music does not start unless I hit the multifunction pause button. I have tried various things, including turning on the headphones while off my head and waiting before putting them on and trying them without my glasses, none of which seems to make a difference. So in summary, it seems that wear sensors are working very intermittently and sound doesn't return when I put earpiece back on. If I take off the headphones altogether, the sound does stop and then when I put them back on, music does not start again unless I hit the multifunction pause button.
I may contact B&W about this, but really may just live with it unless everyone on here has no issues at all.
Thanks!

I have the same issues with my Px8. Among other issues which you have described, the same issue happens to my Px8, the sound doesn't return when I put the earpiece back on. But if I press hard for some seconds the lower part of the earpiece towards my ears and hold them in that way for a while, the sound returns for some seconds and then it turn off again by itself. I can also get back the sound by hitting the multifunction pause button, but it can pause and stop the sound without any intervention from my side, while I have the earpiece on my head. I do not experience these issues when I have the wear sensor off. I have informed my retailer in Sweden about these issues and I have been promissed to get my earpiece replaced with a new one. I am not so optimistic that the new one will not have the same issues.
P.S. I have also a pair of Px7, and I do not recall that I ever experienced any issue with the wear sensor with Px7. It still functions with no issues.

 

[Denkmal]

I have the same issues with my Px8. Among other issues which you have described, the same issue happens to my Px8, the sound doesn't return when I put the earpiece back on. But if I press hard for some seconds the lower part of the earpiece towards my ears and hold them in that way for a while, the sound returns for some seconds and then it turn off again by itself. I can also get back the sound by hitting the multifunction pause button, but it can pause and stop the sound without any intervention from my side, while I have the earpiece on my head. I do not experience these issues when I have the wear sensor off. I have informed my retailer in Sweden about these issues and I have been promissed to get my earpiece replaced with a new one. I am not so optimistic that the new one will not have the same issues.
P.S. I have also a pair of Px7, and I do not recall that I ever experienced any issue with the wear sensor with Px7. It still functions with no issues.

I have the exact same issues. Swedish distributor HifiKlubben said: ”there will probably be a firmware update soon…”

Dont think there is much point in exchanging for a different headphone though.

 

[Womaz]

Can you disable the wear sensors ?
I am not that bothered about this feature