[bedlamite]

Quick fix

For those wearing your glasses at such an angle, surely you don't do this while wearing your cans in public?

I ended up removing my glasses when I bring the PXes out. Put 'em back on when I take the headphones off. I feel like such a schmuck but there really is no other way around it, short of getting another set of frames with thinner temples. Completely silly considerations to accomodate headphone listening, tbh. I hate myself for even going without spectacles during my daily commute, and to get a new pair of specs just to listen to the PXes properly? Come on, B&W.

 

[Tamas Bonis]

For those wearing your glasses at such an angle, surely you don't do this while wearing your cans in public?

I ended up removing my glasses when I bring the PXes out. Put 'em back on when I take the headphones off. I feel like such a schmuck but there really is no other way around it, short of getting another set of frames with thinner temples. Completely silly considerations to accomodate headphone listening, tbh. I hate myself for even going without spectacles during my daily commute, and to get a new pair of specs just to listen to the PXes properly? Come on, B&W.

Please see my posts from earlier. For me this was an unacceptable solution, I have posted this image mainly for fun. But time has solved the issue for me, now the memory foams got fully adjusted to my glasses arms, and I don't have any issues, any pain at all. Please note: this took around 4-5 weeks, and the pain got away from literally one minute to the other. No problems at all since. I have the b&ws for 7 months now, and wearing them for at least 3+ hours a day.

 

[bedlamite]

Ah ok. So I'll just keep wearing them out, then.

 

[Sonic Defender]

For those wearing your glasses at such an angle, surely you don't do this while wearing your cans in public?

I ended up removing my glasses when I bring the PXes out. Put 'em back on when I take the headphones off. I feel like such a schmuck but there really is no other way around it, short of getting another set of frames with thinner temples. Completely silly considerations to accomodate headphone listening, tbh. I hate myself for even going without spectacles during my daily commute, and to get a new pair of specs just to listen to the PXes properly? Come on, B&W.

Actually, yes I do that n public when needed. Why not? First off, people really don't care or notice other people that much anyway, they have their own lives and problems to deal with, and further, I am secure enough to not really care about the possible judgment of complete strangers who may happen to glance at me for a brief moment in time. That is one of the few really good things about aging and maturing, you quickly realize how little it matters what others may or may not think about you. You just do you and let them do them. Easy peazy.

 

[GienekWspanialy]

I've been using new Bowers & Wilkins PX for a few days. I noticed that they discharge rather quickly - I charged them fully before sleep and 6h later the app battery indicator showed 72%. I'm sure that they were not playing during my sleep. Today they were 10h since full charge and they still have 74% battery according to the app. I have until next Friday to return them to the store with full refund so I need to know how your PXs behave. Is it normal? Can I trust the battery indicator in the app?

 

[Sonic Defender]

I've been using new Bowers & Wilkins PX for a few days. I noticed that they discharge rather quickly - I charged them fully before sleep and 6h later the app battery indicator showed 72%. I'm sure that they were not playing during my sleep. Today they were 10h since full charge and they still have 74% battery according to the app. I have until next Friday to return them to the store with full refund so I need to know how your PXs behave. Is it normal? Can I trust the battery indicator in the app?

I wouldn't put too much stock in the app. What matters is how much power it actually has. Take a look at how long the app says you have. Then listen at your normal volume, keep track of the length of each session, don't charge the battery between sessions and when it runs out, or the app says it is about to run out, add the length of time up from all the sessions and compare.

 

[carlito000]

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.

As someone who had his QC35ii stolen recently I have found your post extremely useful. Thanks!!

 

[GienekWspanialy]

I wouldn't put too much stock in the app. What matters is how much power it actually has. Take a look at how long the app says you have. Then listen at your normal volume, keep track of the length of each session, don't charge the battery between sessions and when it runs out, or the app says it is about to run out, add the length of time up from all the sessions and compare.

Thanks for the reply! I did just that .Today I discharged them until they turned off. Turns out that I've had some bug that disabled the standby mode (app battery indicator works fine). Previously headphones stayed connected to my phone at all times, even without listening or keeping them on my head. Now they disconnect from the phone 2 minutes after pausing the music (as advertised).
This leads me to another question. Is there a way to make SBC the default codec? I found aptx and aptxHD to be quite unstable in city environment (works just fine in closed space, problem is probably due to my phone, OnePlus 3T, that has been reported to have below average BT signal strength). I know how to enable SBC, but the problem is that after headphones connect to the phone after the standby mode, they turn on aptx for a few seconds, than turn to SBC, play a jingle implying a codec change, and just than I can finally play some music. Can I do something about that?

 

[Sonic Defender]

Thanks for the reply! I did just that .Today I discharged them until they turned off. Turns out that I've had some bug that disabled the standby mode (app battery indicator works fine). Previously headphones stayed connected to my phone at all times, even without listening or keeping them on my head. Now they disconnect from the phone 2 minutes after pausing the music (as advertised).
This leads me to another question. Is there a way to make SBC the default codec? I found aptx and aptxHD to be quite unstable in city environment (works just fine in closed space, problem is probably due to my phone, OnePlus 3T, that has been reported to have below average BT signal strength). I know how to enable SBC, but the problem is that after headphones connect to the phone after the standby mode, they turn on aptx for a few seconds, than turn to SBC, play a jingle implying a codec change, and just than I can finally play some music. Can I do something about that?

Sorry mate, I wish I knew about the various workings of the transmissions and how environmental factors interact, but not something that I know anything about. Hopefully somebody else can help you out. When you do change your phone (we all do) I know that for instance my LG G6 was rock solid and stable connecting via aptx HD even in a city setting. Cheers.

 

[songoftime11]

Thanks for the reply! I did just that .Today I discharged them until they turned off. Turns out that I've had some bug that disabled the standby mode (app battery indicator works fine). Previously headphones stayed connected to my phone at all times, even without listening or keeping them on my head. Now they disconnect from the phone 2 minutes after pausing the music (as advertised).
This leads me to another question. Is there a way to make SBC the default codec? I found aptx and aptxHD to be quite unstable in city environment (works just fine in closed space, problem is probably due to my phone, OnePlus 3T, that has been reported to have below average BT signal strength). I know how to enable SBC, but the problem is that after headphones connect to the phone after the standby mode, they turn on aptx for a few seconds, than turn to SBC, play a jingle implying a codec change, and just than I can finally play some music. Can I do something about that?

Settings >> Developer Options >> Bluetooth audio codec

 

[carlove]

It might just be me, but if I use my PX with the OnePlus 5T (wired and wireless), if I put the volume halfway up the high notes of any song start to hurt/slightly pierce my ears. Like the cans can't handle the high notes ( or my ears ).

It sounds as if the music go over their pitch.

I've tried it with 20 different songs from all kinds of genres. The kbps of all the songs is 256kbps at least ( up to 800kbps)

Has anyone else gotten this? Are my pair off?

 

[songoftime11]

It might just be me, but if I use my PX with the OnePlus 5T (wired and wireless), if I put the volume halfway up the high notes of any song start to hurt/slightly pierce my ears. Like the cans can't handle the high notes ( or my ears ).

It sounds as if the music go over their pitch.

I've tried it with 20 different songs from all kinds of genres. The kbps of all the songs is 256kbps at least ( up to 800kbps)

Has anyone else gotten this? Are my pair off?

Don't have this problem with the op5, but I think I read somewhere that they used a worse built in DAC on the OP5T.

 

[ryanmatic]

It might just be me, but if I use my PX with the OnePlus 5T (wired and wireless), if I put the volume halfway up the high notes of any song start to hurt/slightly pierce my ears. Like the cans can't handle the high notes ( or my ears ).

Has anyone else gotten this? Are my pair off?

Definitely try replicating with another source, to rule out the phone (like songoftime11 said). Other than that, have you properly burned these headphones in? I recall the higher range settling down a bit the more I listened.

 

[Herman]

I use mine with an iPhone 6s and don’t have this problem.

 

[MrZoidberg]

Hey guys, I've tried to find a confirmation that PX uses internal DAC for AUX and it seems there are evidences of this, but B&W didn't confirm this as I see. I was going to use PX wireless in office and with Cambridge Audio DAC Magic Plus at home, but with AUX there is a floor noise which I can accept, but not double conversion is definitely not for me.