[Sonic Defender]

Good on you for being so dignified with your mistake. We will all benefit from this info going forward. I've been following your posts for a while and have always found your comments to be truthful and authentic.

Thank you, I appreciate that as I do always try to stay as factual as possible in a largely subjective hobby! I have always believed if you make a mistake, owning up to it is the only course of action.

 

[larzy]

Not much news on the free cable.- I asked a few days ago, and got a standard reply:
 
The P9 Lightning cable is currently in development. If you have registered your P9's you will be sent a cable when available.
 
​Wasn't it delayed til In the middle of 2017 instead of early 2017?
 
Right now I'm testing the Sony MDR-Z7 against my P9's...

 

[Sonic Defender]

 
The integrated amp and DAC are only in play when using the wireless connection, yes?  Otherwise I'd expect it all to be coming analog and amplified from the source, yes?
 
I'm looking forward to the Lightning/DAC for my P9s.

That is correct, when Bluetooth is utilized all conversion and amplification happen with the integrated chipset used in the P7.
 
Edit: I wonder about all conversion happening with the chipset? For certain all amplification, but I guess depending on what is meant by conversion, some may still take place on the transport device. For instance, I wonder with say an Android phone where audio is typically routed through the SRC if that still happens with the Bluetooth? I actually don't know quite enough about how audio streams get handled when being handed off to Bluetooth for transmission.

 

[grizzlybeast]

Same driver as the P7?

 

[Syvere]

  So I kept digging and definitely one of the support people we were talking to was incorrect. Remember how I suggested to you that the person in the UK you spoke with could have been wrong, well he wasn't! It turns out that the support person I spoke with, and at length I might add, was wrong. So I forced them to contact the UK support to get things clarified for me as I don't like having misinformation either. So when I was speaking with the US support guy just now I asked him how he could have been that wrong. He went on at length in our previous call about the all new design in the wireless version. Hard to believe that somebody in dedicated headphone support for them could be so clueless.
 
So there you have it, I'm not afraid to eat crow in public (although it does taste a little nasty) and admit that I had incorrect information. I still don't feel foolish as you should be able to count on the information you get from the company itself, but be that as it may, it was incorrect information. Apparently in the US office a few of the support team may have been passing along this false information so at the least our discussion here has resulted in them learning something and the misinformation will stop here (or so I hope).
 
The headphones do indeed sound different due to the integrated amp and DAC and perhaps the new cushions, but there certainly won't be any sound differences from the driver design. Cheers.

 
Great to have a confirmation from you as well! No worries mate. You seem like a genuinely nice guy! Glad that this thing is now settled! Also don't be too hard on yourself. You only relied on the information that was provided to you just like I did. In the end it was the US support who was wrong.
 
 

  Thank you, I appreciate that as I do always try to stay as factual as possible in a largely subjective hobby! I have always believed if you make a mistake, owning up to it is the only course of action.

This is the attitude we need to see more on these forums! Thank you for being sincere! And I apologize if I offended you in any way previously. Like you, I just want stay as factual as possible. I think it benefits the whole community in the end!
Hopefully this information is helpful to any new buyers!
 

 
The integrated amp and DAC are only in play when using the wireless connection, yes?  Otherwise I'd expect it all to be coming analog and amplified from the source, yes?
 
I'm looking forward to the Lightning/DAC for my P9s.

 
Yes, they only function while in wireless mode. That's why the wired mode should sound the same as the wired version apart from any differences the cushions might cause.
 

 
I wonder about all conversion happening with the chipset? For certain all amplification, but I guess depending on what is meant by conversion, some may still take place on the transport device. For instance, I wonder with say an Android phone where audio is typically routed through the SRC if that still happens with the Bluetooth? I actually don't know quite enough about how audio streams get handled when being handed off to Bluetooth for transmission.

 
In passive wired mode the electronics in the headphone are bypassed and digital to analog conversion is made by the source device. In bluetooth mode the sound signal is send digitally and amplification and conversion is made by the receiving end, the headphones, and then fed to the drivers. Due to the nature of digital signal the amplification is done after conversion to analog signal. Digital signal for bluetooth can also be signal amplified but that doesn't affect the sound rather than the distance the transmission can be sent ie. you get more powerful signal. This is one of the reasons Apple's W1 chipset carries over a longer distance; they use more powerful signal transmission.
 

Same driver as the P7?

 
The P7 Wireless and original P7 share the same drivers, yes. P9 has new, different drivers.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Same driver as the P7?

Apparently. I think the confusion, which even exists outside of this community if you read the review I linked about a page back, was that the new driver design seems like it might have been in relation to the P5, but I'm guessing there.

 

[grizzlybeast]

Dang it I am confused now. One says yes and the other says no

 

[grizzlybeast]

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Headphones/Wired-Headphones/Wired-Headphones/P9.html
 
new driver

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
Great to have a confirmation from you as well! No worries mate. You seem like a genuinely nice guy! Glad that this thing is now settled! Also don't be too hard on yourself. You only relied on the information that was provided to you just like I did. In the end it was the US support who was wrong.
 
 
This is the attitude we need to see more on these forums! Thank you for being sincere! And I apologize if I offended you in any way previously. Like you, I just want stay as factual as possible. I think it benefits the whole community in the end!
Hopefully this information is helpful to any new buyers!
 
 
Yes, they only function while in wireless mode. That's why the wired mode should sound the same as the wired version apart from any differences the cushions might cause.
 
 
In passive wired mode the electronics in the headphone are bypassed and digital to analog conversion is made by the source device. In bluetooth mode the sound signal is send digitally and amplification and conversion is made by the receiving end, the headphones, and then fed to the drivers. Due to the nature of digital signal the amplification is done after conversion to analog signal. Digital signal for bluetooth can also be signal amplified but that doesn't affect the sound rather than the distance the transmission can be sent ie. you get more powerful signal. This is one of the reasons Apple's W1 chipset carries over a longer distance; they use more powerful signal transmission.
 

No worries and I am glad I didn't offend you or the community greatly. At least we were able to get things figured out without too much acrimony. I am still not sure where with say an Android phone the digital stream that the Bluetooth transmitter works to send to the receiving device originates. Could the Android audio processing not still deal with it at all? I suspect if it does it might be rather passively, or perhaps not at all. I would really like to learn about this in detail so perhaps I'll spend some time researching this. Cheers.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Dang it I am confused now. One says yes and the other says no

We are discussing a difference in drivers between the original P7 wired and the P7 wireless version.

 

[Syvere]

  Dang it I am confused now. One says yes and the other says no

Yeah, like Sonic Defender said we were discussing P7 and P7W. They have the same drivers inside.
 
The P9 has a different driver.

 

[Syvere]

  No worries and I am glad I didn't offend you or the community greatly. At least we were able to get things figured out without too much acrimony. I am still not sure where with say an Android phone the digital stream that the Bluetooth transmitter works to send to the receiving device originates. Could the Android audio processing not still deal with it at all? I suspect if it does it might be rather passively, or perhaps not at all. I would really like to learn about this in detail so perhaps I'll spend some time researching this. Cheers.

Oh, you mean like if the android device affects/processes the sound before transmitting it over bluetooth? I guess it does since EQ works with bluetooth as well.
I don't know the specifics either, sorry.

 

[jmills8]

Two reviews mentioned the P7W sounds different then the P7 Non W. From my experience both used wired to Hugo theres a difference.

 

[scarfacegt]

http://www.soundandvision.com/content/bowers-wilkins-p9-signature-headphones#I4PpH148fUQrZVxT.97

 

[brokenhat]

Two reviews mentioned the P7W sounds different then the P7 Non W. From my experience both used wited to Hugo thetes a difference.

There is absolutely a difference and the P7W is absolutely better, I can't believe anyone who has them both to compare at the same time can disagree.