[Sonic Defender]

So my volume up button no longer functions. Warranty service is a 14-day turnaround plus shipping costs -- ouch!

Should be a straight exchange, I wouldn't settle for that. Where did you buy it?

 

[mikewired]

I am an AirPod user and like them for what they are, they sound good.and are quick and easy. They can also be hard to use when it’s noisy without cranking them up. For this reason I am revisiting noise cancelling headphones/earbuds. All the previous ones I have tried had good noise cancellation but average sound, these were both Bose over ear and in ear. I listen to a pair of Bowers and Wilkins 30 yr old DM 580 towers at home and they are superb. After doing some reading I went shopping and come home with a pair Sony Wh1000xmk2 and a pair of B&W PX. I start listening and swapping back and forth and more listening. In the end the PX sound superb with no noise cancelling on and still sound great with it on. The Sony’s do sound good but they are a little brighter and the bass is not as tight and accurate, actually they are just as not accurate altogether in all freq. I have some high freq rolloff in my hearing so I did like that the Sony's were a little brighter but its not worth it to lose the precision and accuracy. In my opinion the airpods sound better than the Sony's. I had hoped to utilize the Sony's built in eq to help with my high freq rolloff but they are getting returned. In the end the Sony's have a lot going for them but they don't pull you into the music like the PX's do!!! Yes the PX's are not as comfy at first, they are heavier, no hard case, hard to wear with certain glasses, but they sound terrific and you can't beat the smell of real leather.

 

[Burty]

And the PX's dont feel like a creaky egg carton

 

[cresny]

I bought it at Best Buy last November. It's now past the return date and is subject to B&W's policy, which is unfortunately not as I expected. In addition they reserve two days to respond to your communication. I'm disappointed and this will definitely influence my future buying decisions.

Anyway, since I'm traveling in two weeks I'm going to wait till I return to send them away. I was told 14 days, and that was further clarified to business days -- even more ouch!

 

[Sonic Defender]

I bought it at Best Buy last November. It's now past the return date and is subject to B&W's policy, which is unfortunately not as I expected. In addition they reserve two days to respond to your communication. I'm disappointed and this will definitely influence my future buying decisions.

Anyway, since I'm traveling in two weeks I'm going to wait till I return to send them away. I was told 14 days, and that was further clarified to business days -- even more ouch!

Still, a bit of a bummer, but I assume they pay the return shipping?

 

[archmind]

Hey all! I've been lurking here for a while and finally decided to drop a quick first post, partly to perhaps help someone who might find him/herself in similar situation, partly to share the conundrum with someone else.

TL;DR: Bose QC35 got stolen, cried a bit, ordered Sony WH-1000xM2 and the Bowers and Wilkins PX to see if I can find something that I like more. I'll most likely return the B&W PX **ONLY** because of the sub-optimal ANC.

The Sony: Thе first thing that strikes me as absolutely unacceptable is how incredibly cheap the materials feel on these. This combined with my extensive research on the "hinge-crack-of-doom" makes owning them seem like a really bleak and stressful experience. I mean the Bose QC-35s seemed to me as a bit plasticky, but man the Sony feels like something you'd win on a charity raffle at the office. Now that I have experienced the build quality of the PX I cannot swallow the hard pill that is the WH1000s. Sound-wise, they are okay to my ears. Inaccurate throughout pretty much the whole spectrum but I see why they have such widespread mainstream appeal. I listen to EDM mostly and the bass while having more energy and punch is rather muddy and overpowering. That's my opinion of course. I heard people praising them for their low-end, I just can't seem to quite agree with that. The fact that you cannot connect to and manage multiple bluetooth devices is hilarious. Not sure what the deal is with that, but having to disconnect from one device and connect to another seems medieval. The ANC, however (main reason I want wireless ANC headphones) is rather excellent. I might go as far as to say that to me the ANC is a tad bit better than the one on the QC35 (haven't tested the QC35-II so I'm not sure about that one). They are also more comfortable than the PXs. I wear glasses with relatively thick arms and I feel no discomfort whatsoever. I am willing to man up and completely ignore the comfort issue though so...

The B&W PX: Damn these are in all likelihood the most well-built wireless headphones I've seen. If it wasn't for the giant-a%$ logo slapped on the side of the cans I would have said the design on them is rather sexy as well. I never heard of a "burn-in period" before, however after a couple of days of listening these started sounding amazing. I am not a hardcore audiophile, I own a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (250 kOhm) which are known to have an above average soundstage and the PXs sound as good to my ears. Hands-down the best sounding wireless headphones I've experienced. The bass is a bit restrained, however I ended up appreciating the accuracy and definition of it much more then I appreciated the slightly less power produced by the Sony. A more than fair trade-off. As for mids and highs there is simply no comparison between the two IMO. The only downside these have at this point is that their ANC is just not up to snuff with the QC35s and the Bose. And since I often just walk or bike with only ANC on (without any music) this is the painful dealbreaker to me. Like... I am absolutely tearing myself apart here, I'll be an idiot to keep the Sony, however I can't live with the poor ANC performance on the PXs.

And here is my question to you: Do you think the quality of the ANC can be improved by future software updates? Is it even possible? I think the positioning and quality of the microphones, the passive noise-cancallation and the hardware are the major determinants to a good ANC. Not sure if you can algorithmically improve ANC. Would love to be proven wrong though. Also, I'm not familiar with B&W as a company, how determined do you think they'll be to push firmware updates on a regular basis? If there's any hope of ANC improving in the future, even if it's a long shot I'll gladly clutch onto that straw.

 

[mikewired]

Hey all! I've been lurking here for a while and finally decided to drop a quick first post, partly to perhaps help someone who might find him/herself in similar situation, partly to share the conundrum with someone else.

TL;DR: Bose QC35 got stolen, cried a bit, ordered Sony WH-1000xM2 and the Bowers and Wilkins PX to see if I can find something that I like more. I'll most likely return the B&W PX **ONLY** because of the sub-optimal ANC.

The Sony: Thе first thing that strikes me as absolutely unacceptable is how incredibly cheap the materials feel on these. This combined with my extensive research on the "hinge-crack-of-doom" makes owning them seem like a really bleak and stressful experience. I mean the Bose QC-35s seemed to me as a bit plasticky, but man the Sony feels like something you'd win on a charity raffle at the office. Now that I have experienced the build quality of the PX I cannot swallow the hard pill that is the WH1000s. Sound-wise, they are okay to my ears. Inaccurate throughout pretty much the whole spectrum but I see why they have such widespread mainstream appeal. I listen to EDM mostly and the bass while having more energy and punch is rather muddy and overpowering. That's my opinion of course. I heard people praising them for their low-end, I just can't seem to quite agree with that. The fact that you cannot connect to and manage multiple bluetooth devices is hilarious. Not sure what the deal is with that, but having to disconnect from one device and connect to another seems medieval. The ANC, however (main reason I want wireless ANC headphones) is rather excellent. I might go as far as to say that to me the ANC is a tad bit better than the one on the QC35 (haven't tested the QC35-II so I'm not sure about that one). They are also more comfortable than the PXs. I wear glasses with relatively thick arms and I feel no discomfort whatsoever. I am willing to man up and completely ignore the comfort issue though so...

The B&W PX: Damn these are in all likelihood the most well-built wireless headphones I've seen. If it wasn't for the giant-a%$ logo slapped on the side of the cans I would have said the design on them is rather sexy as well. I never heard of a "burn-in period" before, however after a couple of days of listening these started sounding amazing. I am not a hardcore audiophile, I own a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (250 kOhm) which are known to have an above average soundstage and the PXs sound as good to my ears. Hands-down the best sounding wireless headphones I've experienced. The bass is a bit restrained, however I ended up appreciating the accuracy and definition of it much more then I appreciated the slightly less power produced by the Sony. A more than fair trade-off. As for mids and highs there is simply no comparison between the two IMO. The only downside these have at this point is that their ANC is just not up to snuff with the QC35s and the Bose. And since I often just walk or bike with only ANC on (without any music) this is the painful dealbreaker to me. Like... I am absolutely tearing myself apart here, I'll be an idiot to keep the Sony, however I can't live with the poor ANC performance on the PXs.

And here is my question to you: Do you think the quality of the ANC can be improved by future software updates? Is it even possible? I think the positioning and quality of the microphones, the passive noise-cancallation and the hardware are the major determinants to a good ANC. Not sure if you can algorithmically improve ANC. Would love to be proven wrong though. Also, I'm not familiar with B&W as a company, how determined do you think they'll be to push firmware updates on a regular basis? If there's any hope of ANC improving in the future, even if it's a long shot I'll gladly clutch onto that straw.

After owning the PX's a few days, I have found the ANC to work just fine. You do loose some detail in the music the higher you turn it up the ANC, but its still sounds better to me than the Sony's even with ANC on. I have also come to realize that I don't notice/appreciate the small details missed in the music while walking or other activities. When I am sitting at home listening I just turn off ANC and wow.

 

[kismetsky]

Hey all! I've been lurking here for a while and finally decided to drop a quick first post, partly to perhaps help someone who might find him/herself in similar situation, partly to share the conundrum with someone else.

TL;DR: Bose QC35 got stolen, cried a bit, ordered Sony WH-1000xM2 and the Bowers and Wilkins PX to see if I can find something that I like more. I'll most likely return the B&W PX **ONLY** because of the sub-optimal ANC.

The Sony: Thе first thing that strikes me as absolutely unacceptable is how incredibly cheap the materials feel on these. This combined with my extensive research on the "hinge-crack-of-doom" makes owning them seem like a really bleak and stressful experience. I mean the Bose QC-35s seemed to me as a bit plasticky, but man the Sony feels like something you'd win on a charity raffle at the office. Now that I have experienced the build quality of the PX I cannot swallow the hard pill that is the WH1000s. Sound-wise, they are okay to my ears. Inaccurate throughout pretty much the whole spectrum but I see why they have such widespread mainstream appeal. I listen to EDM mostly and the bass while having more energy and punch is rather muddy and overpowering. That's my opinion of course. I heard people praising them for their low-end, I just can't seem to quite agree with that. The fact that you cannot connect to and manage multiple bluetooth devices is hilarious. Not sure what the deal is with that, but having to disconnect from one device and connect to another seems medieval. The ANC, however (main reason I want wireless ANC headphones) is rather excellent. I might go as far as to say that to me the ANC is a tad bit better than the one on the QC35 (haven't tested the QC35-II so I'm not sure about that one). They are also more comfortable than the PXs. I wear glasses with relatively thick arms and I feel no discomfort whatsoever. I am willing to man up and completely ignore the comfort issue though so...

The B&W PX: Damn these are in all likelihood the most well-built wireless headphones I've seen. If it wasn't for the giant-a%$ logo slapped on the side of the cans I would have said the design on them is rather sexy as well. I never heard of a "burn-in period" before, however after a couple of days of listening these started sounding amazing. I am not a hardcore audiophile, I own a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro (250 kOhm) which are known to have an above average soundstage and the PXs sound as good to my ears. Hands-down the best sounding wireless headphones I've experienced. The bass is a bit restrained, however I ended up appreciating the accuracy and definition of it much more then I appreciated the slightly less power produced by the Sony. A more than fair trade-off. As for mids and highs there is simply no comparison between the two IMO. The only downside these have at this point is that their ANC is just not up to snuff with the QC35s and the Bose. And since I often just walk or bike with only ANC on (without any music) this is the painful dealbreaker to me. Like... I am absolutely tearing myself apart here, I'll be an idiot to keep the Sony, however I can't live with the poor ANC performance on the PXs.

And here is my question to you: Do you think the quality of the ANC can be improved by future software updates? Is it even possible? I think the positioning and quality of the microphones, the passive noise-cancallation and the hardware are the major determinants to a good ANC. Not sure if you can algorithmically improve ANC. Would love to be proven wrong though. Also, I'm not familiar with B&W as a company, how determined do you think they'll be to push firmware updates on a regular basis? If there's any hope of ANC improving in the future, even if it's a long shot I'll gladly clutch onto that straw.

Try the PX with your glasses off. The bass hits harder and the ANC is 2x better for me with my glasses off. The seal makes such a big difference here that I'm looking for some new glasses with thin wire frames or just getting daily contacts.

 

[ducatiti]

Anyone has tried the PX on the gun range? Are they even allowed?

 

[AlwaysForward]

Anyone has tried the PX on the gun range? Are they even allowed?

Don’t even try that. Noise canceling is for low or sometimes high consistent noise. It’s not for accute noises like talking, clapping or gun shots. Stick with standard protocol.

 

[Jazz1]

Has anyone found a better carry case for the PX. I find it is too floppy, and that the material collects dust like a Swiffer dust wipe I don't want a thick hard case. Something along the lines of the construction of a P9 case. Of course the PX doesn't fold like the P9. BTW I'm now carrying both the PX and the P9 EDC. The P9 for my office, and the PX for the coffee shop. When will this headphone "sickness" end

 

[Jazz1]

Anyone has tried the PX on the gun range? Are they even allowed?

I haven't been on a gun range in many years, but I am pretty sure they would not be enough to protect your hearing. Whatcha planning Moon Dancing your way to a total bullseye

 

[ryanmatic]

Has anyone found a better carry case for the PX.

Agreed that the included one is too floppy (and too big, given how these headphones don’t lay completely flat). I use a simple drawstring bag: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01516Z5MU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_b-jQAbRGQ3C3T

I don’t really need much protection for the PX when they’re in my messenger bag, but this helps.

 

[Jazz1]

Agreed that the included one is too floppy (and too big, given how these headphones don’t lay completely flat). I use a simple drawstring bag: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01516Z5MU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_b-jQAbRGQ3C3T

I don’t really need much protection for the PX when they’re in my messenger bag, but this helps.

I'll give one a try. I use a variety of messenger bags and backpacks. Thanks!

 

[Beware116]

Was getting a major headache from the ANC. Removed my glasses and everything is right as rain. Luckily I'm due for an appointment, so I'll get something thinner framed this time.