Just came back from auditioning the PXes at my local B&W showroom. I couldn't test them out as well as I would have liked, as the salesman was adamant on demoing them through the app on his iPhone (AAC, not aptX HD :\) and just wouldn't leave my side, but from what I heard, B&W may have a winner here. Quick thoughts below:
- These are very well built, but you'd expect that, coming from B&W. The P7Ws were built like tanks but you'd sometimes feel like you were wearing one on your head. The PXes look sleek with ballistic nylon and matte headband posts, these materials might even handle wear and tear better than the P7s
- Clamping force on the P7s was pretty awful until you broke them in, no such worries with the PXes...yet. Headband feels good, but I'm still not sure about the earcups. If you look at product shots you'll see the earcups are almost overly sculpted? They don't seem very plush and I could feel that. Perhaps I've been spoilt by the earcups on the QC35s and the B&O H9s, but this may be a potential pain point here. Not a dealbreaker by any means, perhaps they just need to be broken in like the headband on the P7s did.
- You can control ANC and motion controls through the app, all I wanted from it was the option to turn off motion controls from there lol, and it's definitely there. For the privacy freaks, you can probably configure your cans in here to your liking, then uninstall the app and be done with that.
- ANC seems to be decent? The aforementioned salesman was blabbering in my ear about the PX'es features and I could not hear him at all, so yay, I guess. That said, they don't block off sound as well as the Sony WH-1000XM2s. If I had to give a ballpark figure,the PX's ANC is probably about 70% as effective as the market leaders (Bose, Sony). A good first effort.
- Now, sound. I forgot to test for loudness but these aren't as punchy as the P7Ws. IMO, a very good thing. The PX is a much better sonically balanced can, while it's still got a fun sound signature, the bass is more restrained which lets the mids come to the fore. A really pleasant sounding headphone.
I really didn't have much of a listening session with these puppies, but I've heard enough to ascertain that these are very different indeed from the P7Ws. The ANC is competent, it's built of hardier materials, and it's not as aggressive sounding as the P7W. The PXes are on backorder till December in my parts (!), but I've put in the order for one. What I've heard has definitely sold me.