[Sonic Defender]

   
I got a response from Bowers and Wilkins about their battery.
 
Here's the response:
 
+++++++++++++
 
Thank you for your email regarding the Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless.
 
The P7 Wireless Headphones are designed to last 300 full charge cycles. If there was a problem with the battery within the 2-year warranty we could replace them for you!
 
Kind regards,
 
Joseph H.

I would be most interested in knowing if it was even possible to change the battery. I suspect it would be possible, but require some technical skill and basic service equipment.

 

[kdbur]

I'll be short and sweet...........................These cans are too warm, I would have much preferred a full sized P5 wireless similar to the way Ultrasone released a full sized edition M....................The P5 wireless IMO are much better sounding to my ears but the flat pads are truly terrible and make them unwearable for more than 20 mins......................shame really cos for me they sound great for what I want for a commuting headphone.

 

[Bern2]

  I'll be short and sweet...........................These cans are too warm, I would have much preferred a full sized P5 wireless similar to the way Ultrasone released a full sized edition M....................The P5 wireless IMO are much better sounding to my ears but the flat pads are truly terrible and make them unwearable for more than 20 mins......................shame really cos for me they sound great for what I want for a commuting headphone.

Is there such a thing as the perfect headphone?  
 
Bern

 

[kdbur]

  Is there such a thing as the perfect headphone?  
 
Bern

​No.............................but there are headphones with pads which don't inflict real pain on your ears................have you tried the P5 pads?..........they are an awful design....................if B&W used the same pad design as Ultrasone edition M they would be fine but those flat P5 pads are 'torture devices'!......as I said, it is a shame because they sound great.
 
I was going to say the P7 wireless are 'too warm' ....in my opinion........ but I think they are too warm, full stop.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  I'll be short and sweet...........................These cans are too warm, I would have much preferred a full sized P5 wireless similar to the way Ultrasone released a full sized edition M....................The P5 wireless IMO are much better sounding to my ears but the flat pads are truly terrible and make them unwearable for more than 20 mins......................shame really cos for me they sound great for what I want for a commuting headphone.

Really? I listened to the P5 wireless the day I bought the P7 and I found the P5 congested sounding, much less soundstage. I think the P7 is easily the best wireless I have owned, and just as easily the best portable I have tried. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

 

[Bern2]

 
​No.............................but there are headphones with pads which don't inflict real pain on your ears................have you tried the P5 pads?..........they are an awful design....................if B&W used the same pad design as Ultrasone edition M they would be fine but those flat P5 pads are 'torture devices'!

Have not tried the P5.  I agree with your assessment of the P7...but in my case it seems to be working out lovely as most of my music collection is from the early and mid 80's cd releases and the low end enhancement actually is a big benefit.  I was using the Sony MDR-1abts..and while they were super comfortable...they just didn't satisfy sonically.  
 
Bern

 

[HotIce]

 
I was going to say the P7 wireless are 'too warm' ....in my opinion........ but I think they are too warm, full stop.

 
There really isn't any "full stop" when it comes to personal taste.

 

[Bern2]

   I think the P7 is easily the best wireless I have owned, and just as easily the best portable I have tried.

I've been getting "lost" in the music (listening late at night before bed)....they are a treat IMO.  
 
Bern

 

[kelly200269]

'Fraid not.
That's in reply to the perfect headphone. Nada.

 

[kelly200269]

 
​No.............................but there are headphones with pads which don't inflict real pain on your ears................have you tried the P5 pads?..........they are an awful design....................if B&W used the same pad design as Ultrasone edition M they would be fine but those flat P5 pads are 'torture devices'!......as I said, it is a shame because they sound great.
 
I was going to say the P7 wireless are 'too warm' ....in my opinion........ but I think they are too warm, full stop.

OK, so whatever you are using on a daily basis, be it P5's or whatever, is absolutely rubbish. Period. Full-stop.OK?
I think you get the picture...

 

[kdbur]

  Have not tried the P5.  I agree with your assessment of the P7...but in my case it seems to be working out lovely as most of my music collection is from the early and mid 80's cd releases and the low end enhancement actually is a big benefit.  I was using the Sony MDR-1abts..and while they were super comfortable...they just didn't satisfy sonically.  
 
Bern

​I agree, the MDR-1abt didn't do it for me either and sounded pretty 'soulless'.
 
I wish Audeze and Oppo et al would get off their audiophile 'high horse' and release APTx wireless headphones...............They seem to want to get into the 'mobile' market but refuse to truly accept what 'mobile' means these days....................My distaste for the excessive P7 warmth aside, B&W really have nailed the Bluetooth quality issue with their wireless cans, they sound remarkably similar to when they are cabled. 

 

[kdbur]

 
OK, so whatever you are using on a daily basis, be it P5's or whatever, is absolutely rubbish. Period. Full-stop.OK?
I think you get the picture...

​I really do not want to come across as a 'troll' on this thread and if anything I am a B&W 'fanboy' and I use their wireless speakers, PC speakers, subwoofer and the P5 wireless( till I can't take the pain from the pads anymore, as I like the sound) but I feel perfectly entitled to say the P7 wireless is an 'unfinished' product and 'defective'. I know from my own experience 'wrong' can sound 'right' to people based on their taste but 'wrong' is still 'wrong' and the excessive warmth of the P7 wireless is wrong............................................I'll shut up now!

 

[Sonic Defender]

 
​I really do not want to come across as a 'troll' on this thread and if anything I am a B&W 'fanboy' and I use their wireless speakers, PC speakers, subwoofer and the P5 wireless( till I can't take the pain from the pads anymore, as I like the sound) but I feel perfectly entitled to say the P7 wireless is an 'unfinished' product and 'defective'. I know from my own experience 'wrong' can sound 'right' to people based on their taste but 'wrong' is still 'wrong' and the excessive warmth of the P7 wireless is wrong............................................I'll shut up now!

So who exactly decides what the baseline for right is? If it is the flat and neutral definition, well, colour me bored. I think there is no wrong or right, period. I couldn't care less if the most renowned, most experienced god of recording engineers told me neutral was the correct baseline, I would ignore that person in favour of what I like. You are perfectly valid in your preferences.

 

[kdbur]

  So who exactly decides what the baseline for right is? If it is the flat and neutral definition, well, colour me bored. I think there is no wrong or right, period. I couldn't care less if the most renowned, most experienced god of recording engineers told me neutral was the correct baseline, I would ignore that person in favour of what I like. You are perfectly valid in your preferences.

​I think the 'baseline' for 'right' in a mobile headphone is one which can sound good with multiple genre's where you can switch genres without being 'offended' by the sound coming out of the headphones.
 
I read all your posts and find them excellent commentary but if my memory serves me right I think you said the P9 which achieves the same 'feat' of excessive warmth as the P7 wireless, was not good for bass heavy tracks....................now what the heck is this all about?.......A 'bassy' portable headphone which isn't suitable for bass heavy tracks? I appreciate you also said the P7 was a bit better in this regard than the P9 but the excessive warmth issue is still there.
 
I am all for good bass, slamming bass, rumble, the lot but the warmth coming out of the P7 is truly awful and it ruins the headphone   'What Hi Fi' put it this way.....''The deep bass beats are generous, perhaps a touch overly so''....................this is a very kind way of saying there is something badly wrong but then go on to say there is ''nothing of note'' wrong with it............ and this is what is getting me here and with other reviews of the P7 wireless...... no one is making an issue of this glaring, fatal flaw of excessive warmth with the P7 wireless........... Whether users like it, is not the issue here...............At worst, reviewers are ignoring this issue and at best they are sidestepping it and that is wrong and a disservice to readers.

 

[Sonic Defender]

@kdbur, perhaps I have simply grown used to the P7 quickly, but you are correct I actually do like it, even with bassy music which is mostly what I listen to these days it seems. I think the P7 plays out differently as I use it as a portable, on the noisy bus, standing waiting for the bus with traffic whizzing by. In those circumstances, extra bass is appreciated to compete with the environmental noise. The P9 for me is not even remotely a portable headphone so the bass boost at times was distracting, and served little purpose. My belief is that a portable benefits from a properly done bass boost, and for me the P7 nails it. Certainly it isn't reference bass, but it doesn't need to be, nor has it been marketed as such unless I'm missing something. Excessive warmth is a personal criteria as opposed to definitive standard so I just leave it at that. I love the P7, warm and all, I love it. Nope, not perfect, but for my needs it is perfect. I also dial the bass back modestly via a parametric EQ adjustment in Neutron.