[CluelessAudio]

What DAC players are you all using with the P7 Wireless??

I need to by a new player asap....Fiio, A&K Jr, etc????

None, I use none with my P9s too. I tried the Dragonfly Red with my Macbook Pro but it made zero difference. I guess macs have good dacs/amps. Saves me £170.

 

[Balleratt]

MacBook Air/iPhone 7 + P7w over BT.

Thats how I roll

 

[aut0maticdan]

  Tyll just knocked of the Momentum 2s in his Wall of Fame, and put these in place. I definitely feel a bit more comfortable since I did not get a chance to audition the M2s when I bought the P7Ws. He calls them a "right in the middle" headphone in terms of its sound, being close to neutral with a midbass emphasis.

 
I see he had a positive review, but I'm not seeing any such change on the Wall of Fame at this time.

 

[crimscrem]

Has anyone bought the wire with mic from B&W and can confirm that one can make and receive phone calls through that wire? 

I've had these now for about 2 weeks. They were quite uncomfortable when I first got them. I would now say they are neutral. Not comfortable, but not uncomfortable. I was comparing them with the NAD Viso HP50 (which just didn't fit my head) and the PSB M4U 1 (which I found the most comfortable). My wife, smaller head, thought the P7s were by far the most comfortable. The other two have gone back, and I'm keeping and enjoying these P7 Wireless headphones. The Bluetooth is incredibly convenient. 

 

 

[Delirius]

  Hi!
I just bought the P7 yesterday. I had Momentum Wireless (AE) before and I wanted something better, different, and more bespoke
 
If I can offer my humble opinion and comparison
 
Positives:
 
1) Extremely well made, love the look, love the feel
2) Great sound, love the crisp highs (especially compared to Sennheisers). Bass is a bit overpowering at times but it doesn't compromise the rest of the sound at all. They feel much flatter compared to the Momentums except for the bass.
3) Phenomenal bluetooth reception. Momentums were already great, but the P7 have maybe twice the range. Audio dropouts don't happen until the very end of range while Momentum were cutting out ocassionaly when I was walking around my appartment.
4) Much more comfortable. They sit on the head more confidently and the earcups are actually able to go around my ears. Momentums made my ears hurt when I wore them for longer periods of time because my ears were rubbing the inside. I also listened to them until I fell asleep yesterday and when I woke up it was not because it felt uncomfortable.
5) (For me) a bit better bluetooth control. Momentums are probably a bit more sophisticated (voice feedback is great). but I like how P7s only connect to the primary device automatically and I can connect whatever second device I want. Since I use headphones with one computer, 2 iPhones and an iPad, it's usually a real PITA to connect what I am actually using - it means disconnecting whatever was connected and manually connecting the right device (since only 2 can be connected at the same time). I think the way P7 do this makes a lot of sense, although someone with only 2 devices might find the Momentum way more convenient.
 
Negatives:
 
1) (Is this normal??) Hiss/noise when the bluetooth stream si active but nothing is playing. I think it's even worse than ANC noise on the Momentums and it's extremely distracting. You can forgive the Momentums because "it's the price you pay for ANC", and you get used to it after a while. But on the P7 it's intermittent since the stream goes idle after a while, then something kicks the audio stream in and it starts hissing only to stop a few seconds later. Annoying as hell. I just tried it with a cable from my old Macbook, and there's no audible hissing (I can hear the click after ~10 after audio is finished when it puts the output to sleep, but no hiss!). DAC in the headphones should blow the one in my Macbook out of the water.
Is this normal or is my piece faulty? This is my absolutely biggest problem with the headphones and something I'm not sure I can live with.
2) Wired connection. What's wrong with an external connector? How is this more convenient? I used to switch from wireless to wire from time to time. But on the P7 it's just too inconvenient, and if I were to do that daily I recon it would mechanically break in a year. I don't suspect them wanting to sell us cables, but it's just stupid.
3) The case. It's great quality and all, but just a bit too small even for the heaphones alone. Don't even think about putting anything else in here - like cables.
4) Automatic power off after 10 minutes. What the... Who thought that was a good idea? At least it doesn't take long to turn the headphones back on, but why should I have to do that 10 times a day? What's wrong with just staying on? Luckily, one can cheat by having some audio paused in the background, but then it comes back to 1) - constant hissing.
5) Some audio problems on my Mac, related to AAC. For example when playing a movie with VLC and then playing a song in iTunes, the audio from VLC switches off when iTunes isn't playing anymore. Reconnecting fixes this. A second problem with VLC - if headphones disconnect (like... after having something paused for 10 minutes!) the audio desyncs.
But I guess both of these problems have more to do with something on MacOS+AAC than the headphones themselves (never had there problems with Momentums though, but those use aptX)
 
I can't comment on battery life yet. My iPhone claims "100%" after ~8 hours, so that's a clear lie, but guesstimating from how long I charged them after use I don't think 17 hours is unrealistic. I actually play something only about 70% of the time when wearing them at work, though.
 
In the end: Yes. these headphones are somewhat superior to the Momentums, but some of the annoyances might be too much. I still have 13 days to return them if I want, and I'm actually considering that, which is sad because they are great in so many things. Some of these problems could be fixed with a firmware update (like the auto power off nonsense) or possibly controlled from (supposedly coming?) iOS app. But the background noise...! I don't know whether I can endure that. This was one of the reasons I wanted something without ANC or where it can be disabled.
Can someone please confirm whether this happens on all of them? Or is my piece faulty?

I experience exactly the same positive and negative experience as you with my pair of B&W P7 Wireless. I wish B&W would announce that they were working with some kind of firmware update that could possible solve the negatives.

 

[headitaly]

I experience exactly the same positive and negative experience as you with my pair of B&W P7 Wireless. I wish B&W would announce that they were working with some kind of firmware update that could possible solve the negatives.

i own, but I can not call myself 100% happy. is beautiful, quality, great sound. is functional, but .... something wrong ... the soundstage seems a bit sacrificed than p7 wired, as well as the low, rumbling to disturb the scene, they are very heavy, and tighten the long run. earpad are tight .... but the stereo projection is rich, defined, three-dimensional, Fine ...

 

[redogfizbal]

I experience exactly the same positive and negative experience as you with my pair of B&W P7 Wireless. I wish B&W would announce that they were working with some kind of firmware update that could possible solve the negatives.

Mine have a silent background, no noise at all when not playing.

 

[Delirius]

Mine have a silent background, no noise at all when not playing.

Maybe you have a batch that's working fine, because I even read a review saying that there are some "amplifier sound" in the background when using bluetooth so I thought it was a general fault with the headphones.
The sad part is that several people in this thread have the same problem and noone that's reporting of replace or update that helped them.

 

[audioxxx]

I don't believe there's a faulty batch in the wild, it's just that some people are more sensitive to hiss, and background noise. The other feature that these p7w have is they mute the background unless a sound is being played, so it's during silent parts within songs is where the hiss will be detected.

I hear it sometimes, and it's not really an issue for me personally, it's part of AptX, as I have heard the same hiss but at different volume levels, on all my Bluetooth AptX gear.

 

[headitaly]

some more and some less, all electronic equipment produce white noise, except for those where there is express intention of making it undetectable (anc). now some feel do, others do not. for example in my mercedes I hear creaks when I walk on irregularities. My father and a friend of mine who also have them a mercedes say no. I also tried them, and also they do crunches. depends on how much one is careful, as give weight at the problem

 

[Delirius]

I don't believe there's a faulty batch in the wild, it's just that some people are more sensitive to hiss, and background noise. The other feature that these p7w have is they mute the background unless a sound is being played, so it's during silent parts within songs is where the hiss will be detected.

I hear it sometimes, and it's not really an issue for me personally, it's part of AptX, as I have heard the same hiss but at different volume levels, on all my Bluetooth AptX gear.

Yes, there are probably people that don't even hear it. How ever once you hear it you can no longer ignore it in music with silent parts or when watching a movie. I believe the gain is set to high on the inbuilt amplifier as the hiss is there on lowest volume and honestly even at lowest volume there's plenty of volume.

 

[audioxxx]

Yes, there are probably people that don't even hear it. How ever once you hear it you can no longer ignore it in music with silent parts or when watching a movie. I believe the gain is set to high on the inbuilt amplifier as the hiss is there on lowest volume and honestly even at lowest volume there's plenty of volume.

I agree, it's set a touch to high, which helps the sound in many other ways. I plugged it in for while, but the cable gets in the way all the time and if your going for a walk it's great to be be cable free.

There is a possibility the gain could be adjusted in a future firmware update, but it may kill that great sound. And if that was the case I'd keep the sound as is. But if it is too much for some, there's always the plug in the box, which scales really well, the better the gear is the better it sounds.

And after owning the wired version for 2.5 years.I believe these wireless plugged in sound better, and is an overall improvment. Apart from the added plastic, and the room has been restricted in the earcups. P7 wireless version 2, will fix a lot of these problems to, and will have AptXHD, looking in my crystal ball.

 

[sound22]

I see he had a positive review, but I'm not seeing any such change on the Wall of Fame at this time.

I didn't check the wall of fame for it, but he clearly stated in his video review that the p7ws are replacing the m2 in the wall of fame while also saying that the p7w might not stay for long Wof too since the competition in that particular market is high.

 

[Techfixation]

The hiss you can hear is the headphone amp, I've tested over 20 pairs of the very best Bluetooth headphones and they all have it to some degree or other.

Many headphones hide it by switching off the amp when they can't detect a signal meaning the only time it can be heard is when it's being masked by the audio. The hiss will only then become apparent during quiet parts of a song or just after a song finishes or as the headphones are turned on.

I use Bluetooth headphones a lot for watching movies and the hiss becomes very apparent and quite distracting during spoken parts. This is one of the main reasons I've spent so long looking for the right pair!

One solution is to reduce the volume on the headphones and increase the source volume but this can create audio clipping (distortion) especially in the bass, however I find the P7 wireless cope very well with a lower volume and the hiss can be reduced to about a quarter. With the volume reduced they have one of the lowest levels of hiss I've experienced. The Onkyo H500BT's are also very good as are the majority of Sony's with the Sony XB950BT's having the least hiss out of all the headphones I've tried!

With my Bluetooth transmitter (Avantree Priva II) connected to my TV the P7's are always detecting a source and the hiss can always be heard whether any audio is playing or not. When connected to my iPhone the hiss can only be detected once a song starts but is hard to hear through the music.

If I have the P7's connected to the Priva II and start with the volume on max, I can then with each press of the volume - button reduce the hiss gradually until around half way when the hiss level can't be reduced any further. If I get any distortion then I can gradually up the volume until I find the right balance between headphone and source volume.

It's also worth mentioning that all songs/movies will have some sort of background hiss produced during their original recording, this shouldn't be confused with the headphone hiss. Some recordings are far worse than others, especially many older recordings.

Hope this helps!

 

[headitaly]

The hiss you can hear is the headphone amp, I've tested over 20 pairs of the very best Bluetooth headphones and they all have it to some degree or other.

Many headphones hide it by switching off the amp when they can't detect a signal meaning the only time it can be heard is when it's being masked by the audio. The hiss will only then become apparent during quiet parts of a song or just after a song finishes or as the headphones are turned on.

I use Bluetooth headphones a lot for watching movies and the hiss becomes very apparent and quite distracting during spoken parts. This is one of the main reasons I've spent so long looking for the right pair!

One solution is to reduce the volume on the headphones and increase the source volume but this can create audio clipping (distortion) especially in the bass, however I find the P7 wireless cope very well with a lower volume and the hiss can be reduced to about a quarter. With the volume reduced they have one of the lowest levels of hiss I've experienced. The Onkyo H500BT's are also very good as are the majority of Sony's with the Sony XB950BT's having the least hiss out of all the headphones I've tried!

With my Bluetooth transmitter (Avantree Priva II) connected to my TV the P7's are always detecting a source and the hiss can always be heard whether any audio is playing or not. When connected to my iPhone the hiss can only be detected once a song starts but is hard to hear through the music.

If I have the P7's connected to the Priva II and start with the volume on max, I can then with each press of the volume - button reduce the hiss gradually until around half way when the hiss level can't be reduced any further. If I get any distortion then I can gradually up the volume until I find the right balance between headphone and source volume.

It's also worth mentioning that all songs/movies will have some sort of background hiss produced during their original recording, this shouldn't be confused with the headphone hiss. Some recordings are far worse than others, especially many older recordings.

Hope this helps!

hello, I saw that you know the Sony XB950BT, I use headphones not only for music but also for watching movies, so I appreciate the "colorful headphones" that slightly emphasize the sounds, creating an atmosphere with movie effect. in this case, we consider the Sony exceeding p7w? do you have any model to advise more than p7w? Thanks a lot for the answer!

Ps
bose can be a viable solution? soundtrue ae2 wired or qc35 for example