In my first three days with the C5s, I've found them to be really engaging to listen to, and they've brought to mind something that's always been a driver for me in sound systems of any sort, from those in my ear canals to those that I have in my home and studio. A lot of speakers and headphones (and the components play a large part in this in the room or house size systems) are wonderfully accurate and have a lovely sound stage, just like if you were attending a concert. A few, however, sound like you're in the orchestra, fourth row center, or standing between the piano, the bass player, and the tenor sax. As someone who made a living playing music - orchestras, big bands, and occasional gigs in rock and roll horn sections, I've always gone for that "in the music" sound.
I've never been much of a headphone fan other than by necessity, because most of them have been concert-viewer kind of sound, but when a friend snapped a set of Ultrasone 780s on me, I bought a set the next day. There's an immediacy and "in the music" feel to them that is probably a sign of engineered sound signature and probably quantitatively measured inaccuracy, but still, really engaging. I think the C5s have that same character of being in the music instead of in front of it, at least from three days of listening. It was striking enough that I broke out my binaural recordings to see what they'd sound like, and the C5s did them better justice than anything else I've used to listen. I startled to things behind me a couple of times that were actually in the recording... never happened before.
All this is odd to me as I've always felt B&W speakers had a concert viewer feel to them more than immersion. Having listened to a couple of the different 800D series speakers for several hours (wish I could afford them, but at least my local shop is fine with my dropping by with music to listen) - they're immersive in a way I don't associate with B&W, and maybe that's what the C5s are going for.
My fault. 
