Bowers & Wilkins P7 - over the ear headphones
Jan 24, 2014 at 3:49 PM Post #886 of 1,506
I bought these last Friday night and after running them for a few days while connected to either the built in amp on the Parasound Zdac or the Lyr I've gotta say that I'm very, very pleased. I don't own another pair of closed back can's as I've never been very impressed with the ones I've heard, but I love these...Hell they even sound nice with my Clip Zip and FiiO E11. After being use to the weight of the HE-400 and 500's these seem light and well worth the money. 


Glad to hear you're happy! How many hours have you put on them? How would you compare them to your other cans as far as sound quality? What areas do they not hang as well?

Also, have you come to a conclusion yet regarding the better source setup for them in your opinion? I'm sure the Lyr is great! They are pretty impressive straight out of a phone or the clip though!!
 
Jan 24, 2014 at 4:29 PM Post #887 of 1,506
I will give that a go, seems like a simple enough solution, was just worried about them sliding off my head. Still curious to see if anyone else feels this pain or whether I just have an extra sensitive head.


I typically have the band slightly forward with other headphones. That's how I was using these, just based on passed experience. However, I was tinkering with the fit the other day, particularly because I have to wear them as on-ears, when I discovered that moving the band back farther (probably to more normal placement for most people), the pressure was not only less, but my huge ears actually now fit inside the earcups. :eek:

Not only did that help alleviate the pressure of pinning my ears against my skull, but the band fits better now too.
 
Jan 24, 2014 at 4:47 PM Post #888 of 1,506
I haven't gone back and forth from the P7 to the HE-400's (priced the same) yet since when I've had time to listen this week I've wanted to listen to my new P7's. The Lyr is probably overkill as these aren't hard to drive, and it has a ton of gain BUT they sound sweet went driven by the Lyr that's for sure...I've yet to have the volume above 10 o'clock. The P7's sound great from the Zdac's amp as well...I'll probably try them with my DAC1's amp this weekend. I'm willing to bet that they'd sound stellar with the Schiit Audio Modi and Magni stack as well.
 
As I was buying these I was thinking that they'd probably be returned since they'd probably sound very poor when compared to either the HE-400 or 500 BUT they do give you the added flexibility of using them as a portable headphone (and easier to drive) though I doubt I'll ever wear these outside the house or office. Well, once I'd played music through them for a few days (without listening to them beyond setting the volume level) I find them very impressive but I have to admit that I do have a bias for B&W gear. The speakers I use in my office system are most often a pair of B&W 805's or at times their CDM-1NT's. I have a lot faith in B&W when it comes to R&D, and I like that they manufactured their own drivers for the P7's, and they resemble speaker drivers rather than the typical Mylar headphone driver. Maybe that doesn't matter but it appears they got it "it" right nonetheless. 
 
The P7's sound sweet to me, they image better than closed back can's that I've heard in the past, especially when driven by a good/decent DAC and headphone amp. My wife listened to them right out of the box (she couldn't care less about headphones) and the first thing she said (much to my surprise) was that she was hearing things from her music (her iPod/her music) that she'd never heard before and that it sounded like the music extended beyond the headphones. Its a rare thing when a non-audiophile/nutcase enjoys your new purchase so much that they want the same item for themselves. Now she wants a pair to take to work with her.  
 
I've heard some say that the P7's sound bright, others say that the bass is loose, but I've yet to hear any of those issues...its possible I will once I've used them more with my Clip Zip. To me, to my ears (obviously you may find them to sound different) they sound like a nicely balanced, very detailed yet without any harshness in the treble with a very open and airy sound. I'm keeping mine. I've already registered them and have already started downloading 24 bit FLAC albums from Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound (they give you 3 free months). I've already downloaded about 5.5 GB (9 full albums) of music from their site...the site is worth a look and listen, and they add a couple albums each month. 
 
I'll report back once I've heard the same albums back to back with both the P7's and the HE-400s'. 
 
P.S
I should point out that another member told me that by simply plugging his P7's into the Lyr it blew up his headphones (with the volume all the way down and no music playing) . It is a VERY powerful amp, but I contacted Schiit Audio and inquired about using it with the P7's and they said that I "may" hear  "some" tube noise, but other than that I should be perfectly fine as long as I'm careful with the volume control (ya gotta be careful with the Lyr all the time with most headphones). The very first time I plugged the B&W's into the Lyr I was getting a bit of noise in the right channel but I moved the tube just a hair and it went silent and from then on it sounded great with zero noise floor problems at all. I do buy what I've heard regarding the P7's sounding better when used with better gear. They seem to scale very well. 
 
Sorry for any typo's...I typed this very quickly before calling it a day. I'l fix anything I screwed up later this evening...hopefully "some" of this made sense.
Take care.   
 
Jan 24, 2014 at 11:49 PM Post #889 of 1,506
Very good feedback! I've got roughly 80 hours on mine through all sorts of different sources. They have really settled down quite nicely. I'll listen to A LOT of music in an average day. It seems like lately if I hear high frequency harshness it's when paired with the continental v2 and streaming 320 Kbps electronic music off of spotify (i.e. I think it's a source material/signal issue, and not the P7s problem.)

I really want to like the continental with the P7. I definitely hear glimpses of tubey goodness with the pairing. However, channel imbalance is all too noticeable, and there's just too much gain I'm afraid. I really never take it past 12:00. Before the P7s had decent time through them, the continental actually caused some distortion in the left driver on 3 different occasions, with different source material each time.

Additionally, from what I understand about pairing ultra efficient cans with higher impedance sources, it can fairly significantly effect the frequency response. I think this is why I find the harsh upper mid/high frequency harshness at times. Is there any sort of additional gear to place in line, or modifications I could make to the continental to address any of this?

Have you noticed anything similar with the Lyr? I'm not familiar with its output impedance... Is it variable?

So far I'm very pleased with the P7 paired with the original CLAS and RSA Shadow.

When I'm home I've had great luck with the Scarlett 2i4.

The microstreamer is ok by itself. Just quite noticeably not as open as the CLAS and Shadow pairing.

Interestingly, I paired the microstreamers line out to the shadow and it wasn't a bad combination. Pretty fun sounding!

I'm having a lot of fun trying different sources with these things! Is the reason why they scale really well because of their high sensitivity and efficiency? On one hand this makes a lot of sense to me, as it seems like highly efficient and sensitive cans would be quite transparent, thus showing differences in various sources. However, on the other hand most everything I read on these forums says that high impedance cans are by their nature very sensitive to a good source, for example the Sennheiser HD 650s. Can anyone possibly explain any of this to me?

Also, very interested to read your comparisons with the HE-400s when you get around to it!
 
Jan 25, 2014 at 2:48 AM Post #890 of 1,506
I've had my pair of  B&W P7's for about 2 weeks now and am very satisfied with the sound.  
Very efficient phones with tight bass, wide sound stage and extremely clear separation.  
I had been using Westone 4's and AT M50's for gaming.  I love the M50's for playing on the net but for serious listening these headphones are such an improvement over the P5's you must hear the difference.  
 
The build is outstanding - like nothing I have seen before.  The downside is the expense but you get more than you pay for.  Best Buy allows you to hook up your own player so "take a listen" 
 
jhv  
basshead.gif
 
 
Jan 26, 2014 at 5:21 PM Post #891 of 1,506
For all those that commented about the headband discomfort issues, I am now using them with a more extended headband and it has fixed my issue. The cans are staying put which makes this a feasible solution. Sliding the headband forward or backward didn't do it for me.
 
Jan 26, 2014 at 7:35 PM Post #892 of 1,506
Same fix for me. I added right at a quarter inch to where they "should" be and now there's no discomfort. I would have thought that doing this would have added undue stress to my ears/head, but interestingly, it doesn't at all.

Great headphones.
 
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:23 PM Post #894 of 1,506
These have grown on me each daily use. It's the least I thought I would like, but went ahead and bought a pair. So glad I did, as they are keepers. :)
 
Jan 30, 2014 at 12:00 PM Post #895 of 1,506
I'm thinking of getting a pair of these soon. I know the build quality is fantastic but wanted to know if there have been any surprises in terms of manufacturing defects or durability issues. Thanks!
 
Jan 30, 2014 at 1:27 PM Post #897 of 1,506
The P7 uses real leather, so "imperfections" in the leather are part of the package...


While I acknowledge that leather is a natural product that is not a reason to accept imperfections in a headphone at that price. Moreover I have not seen any imperfect leather or stitching in the dozen or so pairs I have handled. If you have found imperfections then you have the right to reject.

By the way I did find some scratches in one chrome insert that fits in the headband. It looked like someone's hand had slipped when inserting the two metal rods into the headband. I returned that pair. I have worn the pair I bought a month ago nearly every day and they are still perfect. Additionally I have not noticed any wear and tear on shop demonstration models.
 
Jan 31, 2014 at 8:37 AM Post #898 of 1,506
Hmm. Never underestimate the need for the blooming obvious in headphone manuals. How have we managed with deck chairs without instructions for decades?


Not too blooming obvious. I have now kept these at home as they wobble off my head with the headband extended. I take my Momentums on the road instead
 
Jan 31, 2014 at 1:11 PM Post #899 of 1,506
See, 
I you were all Norwegian, your square head would prevent the wobble off effect.   Seriously, confine the behavior that 
causes "wobble off" and just stop doing it.
 
We have a logic all our own....   
wink_face.gif

 
jhv
 
p.s. I am still completely and utterly in love with these cans - built for low amplification they really deliver.  I am surprised how 
well they sound on my old Sansa Fuse.
 

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