Hi all, newly registered member here. I was going back and forth between qc35 (on close out), qc35 MK2, 1000x (approaching close out) and 1000xm2 (almost ordered but the 1st batch available in the UK sold out before I pulled the trigger), then the PX's appeared. I ordered a set within an hour of the email landing!
I've a bit of previous with b&w with 601, 602 and LCR600 (S1, S2 and S3!) as my old av system, but none of their headphones. Indeed, those I tried briefly (either p3/5/7) were horrendously uncomfortable to my mind. The only other non basic phones I've had are Sennheiser RS180s. The only ANC phones I've tried are qc35 and 1000x but only in an airport departure lounge electrical shop. I do have a reasonable hifi setup (squeezebox, m2tech DAC/battery PSU, old Japanese 100W dual mono amp, Leema Xero speakers with BK400 sub) and prefer my reproduction lean and tight.
Anyhoo, I'm now on day 3 with the PXs, and here are my thoughts. This thread contains some very good info, well at least info that I agree with, and some not. The auto stop/start: it's remarkable and works exactly as advertised... sitting at my desk in the office. When moving around, or nudging to readjust the phones, it's a little to eager to get involved, even with the sensitivity turned down. I've turned it off completely for now. The app, works well but it's also a bit hit and miss, sometimes taking 30secs to connect (despite music playing at the time as previously stated), or requiring a restart of the app, not making the requested change etc. It's not a big problem really, probably most noticeable because of playing with new toy syndrome. Comfort I can't fault, I'm perfectly happy with them, the main thing being that my ears don't overheat quickly like they do with the RS180s. Which I guess only leaves the ANC and sound quality...
ANC: I haven't really got a basis to compare other than the afore mentioned playing in airport departure lounges. My feeling would be that they're not as isolating as Bose/Sony across the whole spectrum, but at continuous low frequency they do a really good job. I wore them out in my Caterham 7 the other night, which has a 98db (@5k rpm) side exit exhaust on it 0.5m from my ear and they cut that and the open top noise out exceptionally well. With all that I've read and experienced, I do wonder whether there's an amount of tuning to it all. Bose/Sony isolate better because their ANC is stronger, but this compromises their sound. The PXs sound better as the ANC has a lighter touch focused on 3 different sources of noise/situations. So flight is focused on low frequency drone, but in doing so this does indeed close the sound in. Office is much lighter ANC, and as such I can't hear much of a difference in sound quality between Office and off completely. The voice pass thing is scarily effective in Office and City, but to my ear makes little difference in Flight.
As for sound, I think balanced is the best descriptor. Everything is well judged without anything appearing particularly sparkling, or lacking. I think it's the kind of sound that takes a while to appreciate, but if you swap back to something less balanced it'll be immediately found wanting. I do miss some of the speed and clarity of the leading and trailing edges of notes that I get on my hifi but I presume that's not a fair comparison. The PX's do make the grade in my book as an audiofile product, whereas the times I've tried the qc35s I've found them to have good sound but lacking depth of capability in soundstage, space etc. So for me, with my preferences, and my specific use cases, I'm very happy, especially considering their beautiful design and build. I am however a bit desperate to properly try some back to back testing with qc35 and 1000xm2s to confirm or otherwise my present thoughts!
Hope this helps.
