Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless

[andrenb]

I use a Parrot Zik 2.0 as my daily driver, which has great sound and good noise cancelling. I use it to listen to a lot of audiobooks at work and the noise cancelling is great for tuning out the AC and small talk of my colleagues.

How do you find the noise isolation on these in that regard? And have any of you tried using it as a handsfree outside, with some wind noise or in other noisey enviroments and can tell if they do a good job at keeping your voice clear when your on the phone?

 

[Bananas Ananas]

P5 Wireless noise isolation is pretty good, but you can definitely hear outside noises when you're not playing any music, or in your case audiobooks. I doubt these are able to match the isolation you have with Parrot Zik 2.0.
 
I have an AC vent on top of my desk and while I'm listening to music the noise doesn't bother my listening experience. However, I also have some loud washing machine and dryer in next room against the wall, and I have to keep volume pretty loud (around 75%) to get completely rid of their noise.
 
I do not know how well does these headphones perform as a handsfree since I never tried that, but again you won't be as isolated as with Parrot Zik 2.0.
 
If you mainly use headphones for audiobooks then I would just keep what you have and be happy. P5 Wireless are great headphones and probably sound better than Zik, but the difference won't be significant with audiobooks while you also lose some isolation.

 

[andrenb]

Thank you for the great response.

The thing that's been drawing me towards the P5 Wireless is the much better (quoted) battey life and that I've listened to some wired P5's before and I liked the sound when listening to music.

But you're probably right that for my daily use at work with lots of audiobooks streaming I'll enjoy the isolation of the Zik's more. The P5 Wireless just look so good though

Edit:
I found out a shop nearby had them in stock and on display. So I swung by on my way home from work and I enjoyed the sound very much but as predicted I just don´t see me giving up the noise cancellation I get from the Zik´s anytime soon. But great headphones!

 

[twister6]

You gotta keep in mind, P5 is on-ear design, not Over-ear.  With on-ear and comfortable clamping force (not squeezing your head) you can not expect a top isolation.  The same with noise leakage.  Was sitting on the couch listening to some music, and my wife commented she can hear the beat.  She couldn't hear the exact song I was listening, but some sound was leaking out.
 
Personally, this is how I prefer because I like to be aware of surrounding, yet still keep the outside noise attenuated.  If you need total sound isolation and the best noise canceling, Bose QC25 probably among the best (but not the sound quality).

 

[andrenb]

I know, I just really like the styling and sound of the P5´s. I already own Bose QC15 and my girlfriend has a pair of QC25´s but I find the Parrot Zik 2.0 better when it comes to blocking out voices (which is the main thing I want to block out at work) while the Bose´s are better at hiding the rumbling from planes, trains etc.

 

[twister6]

Just posted my full review of P5 Wireless: http://www.head-fi.org/products/bowers-wilkins-p5-wireless-headphone-black/reviews/13602

 

[AlanChi607]

It would appear that the Bluetooth version is v4.1, as stated on the B&W website. They made a mistake previously and it showed v3.0. They have corrected it now, so it should support the latest version of Bluetooth.
Do tell me how the P5 Wireless is as a headphone, the design is certainly very sleek and maintains the same design philosophy from the P5 Series 2.
Soundwise it should sound pretty close to the P5 Series 2, as they use the same 40mm suspended diaphragm drivers. Whether the built-in bluetooth antenna in the P5 Wireless is good or not, I wouldn't know.
Upon asking the B&W team on Twitter about the use of DSP/amplication in P5 Wireless, they said that the sound of the P5 Wireless should sound the same as P5 Series 2 when using the cable provided and plugging it into the headphone jack. This, for starters, is pretty impressive, as other Bluetooth headphones (e.g. Bose Soundlink On-ear) make heavy use of DSP when processing the bluetooth signals, making it sound completely different when you plug it in with a cable.
I hope the P5 Wireless is worth every single penny since I am very poor and cannot afford it. Please let me know how you find the P5 Wireless, so I can at least look at the pictures of the headphone and pretend I'm owning it. *sigh*

 

[chailee80]

 
It would appear that the Bluetooth version is v4.1, as stated on the B&W website. They made a mistake previously and it showed v3.0. They have corrected it now, so it should support the latest version of Bluetooth.
Do tell me how the P5 Wireless is as a headphone, the design is certainly very sleek and maintains the same design philosophy from the P5 Series 2.
Soundwise it should sound pretty close to the P5 Series 2, as they use the same 40mm suspended diaphragm drivers. Whether the built-in bluetooth antenna in the P5 Wireless is good or not, I wouldn't know.
Upon asking the B&W team on Twitter about the use of DSP/amplication in P5 Wireless, they said that the sound of the P5 Wireless should sound the same as P5 Series 2 when using the cable provided and plugging it into the headphone jack. This, for starters, is pretty impressive, as other Bluetooth headphones (e.g. Bose Soundlink On-ear) make heavy use of DSP when processing the bluetooth signals, making it sound completely different when you plug it in with a cable.
I hope the P5 Wireless is worth every single penny since I am very poor and cannot afford it. Please let me know how you find the P5 Wireless, so I can at least look at the pictures of the headphone and pretend I'm owning it. *sigh*

Yep it sounds the same as the series 2 wired version to my ears. I could not tell the difference between using it wired or wireless, b&w has done a very good job when it comes to build and sound quality. The wireless connection has been very reliable with very few drop outs or interference. The only time i have issues is if i put my phone in my left pants pocket and then also have my hands in my pockets covering the phone. My only gripe is i wish they'd made them slightly larger to accomodate big heads.

 

[LFC_SL]

Know not everyone requires the feature but wonder if there will be a P7 wireless with ANC, what with the bigger space to work with

 

[AlanChi607]

Know not everyone requires the feature but wonder if there will be a P7 wireless with ANC, what with the bigger space to work with

From Bowers & Wilkins account on Twitter (https://twitter.com/BowersWilkins/status/624515388202586112):

 we won't be releasing a P7 wireless in the near future, so if you want wireless the P5's are the way to go

I guess P5 Wireless will indeed be the way to go...sadly I can't afford them.

 

[AlanChi607]

I guess Bowers & Wilkins would never try an ANC headset, it's too much of a fuss and messes with the philosophy of "true sound".

 

[Bananas Ananas]

This is pretty much just what I really appreciate in P5 Wireless. They just sound great without any extras.

 

[tourneur]

I'm really interested in these but the're outside my budget at the moment.  Do B&W headphones drop in price after some time or not until a successor comes out?

 

[Bananas Ananas]

I'm really interested in these but the're outside my budget at the moment.  Do B&W headphones drop in price after some time or not until a successor comes out?

Usually price on B&W products tend not to decrease by much if any. However, recertified units are probably available after some time passes by.

 

[mclaugh]

Someone mentioned that it came without a remote cable- do the remote buttons on the set work when it's wired? If not, has anyone tried connecting an older remote cable to the P5 Wireless?  Just curious, thanks.