[carlove]

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.

Will do.

I bought it secondhand. But it came with a repairbill from one week ago. The seller stated that he got new cans from B&W. Seeing how the charger-cable still had the plastic on and how it still smells new, I think it hasn't been burned in yet. Hoping for the OnePlus being an ass, but haven't had this with the SE535 ear-buds.

 

[carlove]

I got my PXes plugged into my laptop as we speak.

The high-pitched sound is gone. It's night and day, really. It's like an EQ is active on my phone. Maybe it's Apple Music.

One more thing, though. I hear hissing in wired mode, does anyone know why this is? Even some cracking during music.
Is this normal? No hiss in wireless-mode, though.

Edit: Audio cracking is only with the OnePlus, so far. But the hiss isn't there with the OnePlus. Interesting stuff.
Edit 2: Cracking is with all my devices... And the noise crack/distortion is at random, that worries me.

 

[songoftime11]

Try checking on settings >> audio&vibration >> audio tuner.
The hissing on wired mode is a known problem, I use the alsa mixer on Ubuntu to weaken it.

 

[ryanmatic]

Yeah, there's some hiss in wired mode, but it depends a bit on the source (eg. Dragonfly Red is really bad, but Dragonfly Black is fine).

Also FYI, it's the same hiss that was present in the P7 Wireless, but flipped (those headphones had hiss when in wireless mode, but no hiss when plugged in).

 

[DDDYKI]

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?

I know everyone will have a different impression, but I did this to try and improve the situation with my Galaxy S9+ and Senn Momentum 2s. No luck there, SBC still kept dropping outside. My Bose SoundSports are rock solid, and since they're SBC and using less bandwidth, I assumed this would work with the Momentums. No dice.

 

[Closingracer]

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.

I own or have owned all 3. I live in NYC and take the train and the PX are isolate good enough you don't need ANC really. The sonys have the best ANC but the few times I have used ANC it did the job . I am actually surprised how much I love the sound from the PX considering my favorite wireless headphone was the V moda crossfade 2 wireless because of the base in this price range

 

[coop3r]

Got mine PX today. First impressions were mixed - it felt amazing without wires (switching from Sony MDR-7506), but comfort and sound were on the lower end. Having read about these issues, I expected so.

I've listened to some of my favorite albums via Spotify (EDM, rock, jazz in extreme quality) with ANC off. The sound was muffled and muddy, especially after Sony. Then I decided to give it a try with AIMP music player (I own Samsung S7). After listening to a few albums in FLAC (Weval, Jamie Woon, Onuka), I noticed no major difference. But then I played a bit with AIMP's equalizer and the results were astounding - with Soft preset applied I can say that PX is not far from Sony's sound - actually, I cannot see any noticeable difference (Rock preset also sounds really good). The bass and voices are clear, punchy and pronounced, the mud is gone. For the first time after hours of listening I really start enjoying the experience.

The problem is that I mostly listen via Spotify, but the hope is that the sound will get closer to AIMP's with EQ after few weeks of burn in. If I get the same sound, then I can say that I am totally happy with the purchase. Oh, and hopefully the comfort will improve with time as well.

 

[tgd4815]

My PX has randomly died today. Not really sure how to proceed. If I plug it in via USB it'll light up green, as if it's charged. When I turn it on, I get a pale blue/white light. It's lighter than the blue you usually get, but more blue than the standby light you sometimes get. It doesn't flash; it just stays lit, forever. Sliding down on the power button will instantly turn it off, with no red light flashing. Resetting with a pin in the pinhole makes no difference. I plugged it in to the PC and it's recognised as an audio device, but when I play nothing can be heard. Trying to connect it to the firmware update software on Windows asks me to turn the headphones on, even though they are on. Anyone had anything like this happen?

 

[carlove]

My PX has randomly died today. Not really sure how to proceed. If I plug it in via USB it'll light up green, as if it's charged. When I turn it on, I get a pale blue/white light. It's lighter than the blue you usually get, but more blue than the standby light you sometimes get. It doesn't flash; it just stays lit, forever. Sliding down on the power button will instantly turn it off, with no red light flashing. Resetting with a pin in the pinhole makes no difference. I plugged it in to the PC and it's recognised as an audio device, but when I play nothing can be heard. Trying to connect it to the firmware update software on Windows asks me to turn the headphones on, even though they are on. Anyone had anything like this happen?

Sounds like battery failure to me. You will probably have to send it in for repairs.

 

[jjwa]

No In my case bitperfect and upsample have no influence on whether or not there is an actual audiosignal on the PX.
But I am working with an LG V30 / MQA-compatible beta version of UAPP to help the Dev to iron out some issues. I will at least take this along in my conversations with him

I have an LG V30, B&W PX, Tidal and UAPP. And while the sound over bluetooth is a lot better than anything I've had before, the LG V30's Quad DAC sound over 3.5mm jack cable sounds really good .

But have you been able to use the LG V30's Quad DAC over USB-C, instead of the DAC of the B&W PX?

I would be very curious to hear some of your experiences, tweaks and favorite settings/apps/combinations with the PX+V30 combination .

 

[AlwaysForward]

By far my favorite setting is "office" ANC mode with the vocal passthrough turned off. It just opens up the soundscape so much!

I think I prefer it to having anc off. Kinda surprised by what it does and I haven't seen people talk about it here so I wanted to share. Give it a go!

 

[viperxp]

I have a couple of questions to the owners.

1. How is the max volume of those phones, say comparing to the QC35? I am asking because when I compared Bose to Sony Bose were much louder, and it's not mentioned in reviews.
2. How is the SQ when using in internal DAC mode (USB only connection to the PC) vs using it with some decent DAC?
3. What is the best case scenario for SQ with those phones, connectivity wise. I mean wireless APT-X HD or Internal DAC to PC/Phone or 3.5 cable to seme decent source?

At start I wanted the Sony's, but found that the SQ is not as I thought, and the earcups are shallow and uncomfortable. Then I wanted the Bose, but found that the high frequencies are very rolled off, and on live music, such as Metallica S&M the highs are completely ruined, and they sound better in passive mode. But then I read about the PX and they seem to be a good contender to the role of my next headphones ...

 

[carlove]

I have a couple of questions to the owners.

1. How is the max volume of those phones, say comparing to the QC35? I am asking because when I compared Bose to Sony Bose were much louder, and it's not mentioned in reviews.
...

To me they're insanely loud. I usually turn the headphones up to 30-40% (depending on the song). I use an OnePlus 5T.

 

[kismetsky]

I have a couple of questions to the owners.

1. How is the max volume of those phones, say comparing to the QC35? I am asking because when I compared Bose to Sony Bose were much louder, and it's not mentioned in reviews.
2. How is the SQ when using in internal DAC mode (USB only connection to the PC) vs using it with some decent DAC?
3. What is the best case scenario for SQ with those phones, connectivity wise. I mean wireless APT-X HD or Internal DAC to PC/Phone or 3.5 cable to seme decent source?

At start I wanted the Sony's, but found that the SQ is not as I thought, and the earcups are shallow and uncomfortable. Then I wanted the Bose, but found that the high frequencies are very rolled off, and on live music, such as Metallica S&M the highs are completely ruined, and they sound better in passive mode. But then I read about the PX and they seem to be a good contender to the role of my next headphones ...

Max volume is louder than I'd ever want to subject my ears to.

Here's my experience in the various connection modes:
apt-X - good quality, rolled off lower bass and upper treble, normal soundstage, high convenience
apt-X HD - great quality, fuller sound, normal soundstage, high convenience
USB-C - great quality with better bass extension, normal soundstage, low convenience - either tethered to desktop or constantly draining portable audio player's battery (it always tries to charge via USB-C)
wired 3.5mm auxiliary - best quality, best bass and treble extension, best soundstage (SQ is all dependent on source DAC), has an audible hiss in quiet listening environments, medium convenience since it won't drain a DAP's battery trying to charge but still has a cord to deal with

A majority of my listening is in apt-x HD as the wireless convenience far outweighs the slight bump in SQ with the USB-C connection. The 3.5mm wired connection sounds great but the hiss bugs me too much on the quieter more intimate tracks.

The earcups on the PX are deeper and have more space inside, but they are much firmer and can take time to get used to/break in.

 

[viperxp]

Max volume is louder than I'd ever want to subject my ears to.

Here's my experience in the various connection modes:
apt-X - good quality, rolled off lower bass and upper treble, normal soundstage, high convenience
apt-X HD - great quality, fuller sound, normal soundstage, high convenience
USB-C - great quality with better bass extension, normal soundstage, low convenience - either tethered to desktop or constantly draining portable audio player's battery (it always tries to charge via USB-C)
wired 3.5mm auxiliary - best quality, best bass and treble extension, best soundstage (SQ is all dependent on source DAC), has an audible hiss in quiet listening environments, medium convenience since it won't drain a DAP's battery trying to charge but still has a cord to deal with

A majority of my listening is in apt-x HD as the wireless convenience far outweighs the slight bump in SQ with the USB-C connection. The 3.5mm wired connection sounds great but the hiss bugs me too much on the quieter more intimate tracks.

The earcups on the PX are deeper and have more space inside, but they are much firmer and can take time to get used to/break in.

Thanks for the detailed answer to my query.

Another question if I might ... How is the sound compared to say .... ATH-M50X ? I have those but don't like them at all, because of the very V shaped sound, and lack of midrange (all subjective). The only music that shines in ATH-M50X (for me) is Rihanna ...