[Beagle]

Quote:

Thanks guys! I of course encourage people to listen for themselves and make up their own mind

But I do think buying them without hearing them first (which is what I did) is a very big risk in this case.

 
I will try to guide the train back onto the track.
 
I was able to demo the P5 today at the local AudioShop (through Cambridge CD player and Music Hall amp). If Skylab does not mind, I am going to post two short reviews in this thread.
 
Review #1, the headphone lover's take:
 
The P5 looks really cool and is obviously well built and thought out. Nifty cable options, you can go inside the left driver and change cables. As far as the sound goes, initially it sounds rather congested and rolled off in the highs. Soundstage is no bigger than the inside of your head. Grados (w/flats) have a very upfront inside-the-head presentation. With the P5, vocals and centre-fill fundamentals seem like they are in your mouth. Bass is on the heavy side. Fans of the AD700, HD800, PS1000 and T1 will find these claustrophobic, especially with the sealed (closed) effect. These seal off outside noise similar to the Sony V6 and 7506. Not many flashy hi-fi sonic thrills here.
 
Review #2, the music lover's take:
 
As per above, initially the P5 sounded a bit bloated, dull and rolled off. However, after extended listening, the treble presence became obvious, the midrange showed balance and clarity and the bass remained a bit heavy. But music sounded rich, full and real. Bass had power. Everything was seamless. There was no etchiness or grain in the important upper midrange and treble. I know Norah Jones' Come Away With Me very well and it sounded as musical as I've heard it. The P5 seems to sound somewhere in between a good IE and a good supraural. Yeah, seamless. A nice small distortion-free hi-rez TV screen as opposed to a big grainy one. The power of live music in a 2000 seat venue with plush seats and wall to wall carpeting. I liked the sound, and realized that none of my current headphone inventory could give me this particular sound. So you know what that meant

 
I put down a deposit and will pick them up on Friday.

 

 

[Farnsworth]

Nice review Beagle. 
 
I'm glad you like them and i hope you enjoy them.

 

[rhythmdevils]

Was my pair broken?  I can't imagine someone hearing something so different from what I heard.  Beagle, they didn't sound shrill to you at all?  The pair I listened to was rolled off and shrill at the same time, and had a very uneven frequency response.  Honky might be a good word
 
I'm just surprised because I like a warm, lush presentation I mean I own EP Sextetts.  So in my case, it's certainly not a case of wanting more treble or something simple like that.

 

[Skylab]

I actually never found them shrill either - just a bit muddy and rolled-off, and lacking transparency.

 

[rhythmdevils]

well then I won't say anymore until I hear them again. 

 

[gorgonmusic]

Fantastic review... I could not have said it better....  The P5s are something very special
 
Quote:

 
I will try to guide the train back onto the track.
 
I was able to demo the P5 today at the local AudioShop (through Cambridge CD player and Music Hall amp). If Skylab does not mind, I am going to post two short reviews in this thread.
 
Review #1, the headphone lover's take:
 
The P5 looks really cool and is obviously well built and thought out. Nifty cable options, you can go inside the left driver and change cables. As far as the sound goes, initially it sounds rather congested and rolled off in the highs. Soundstage is no bigger than the inside of your head. Grados (w/flats) have a very upfront inside-the-head presentation. With the P5, vocals and centre-fill fundamentals seem like they are in your mouth. Bass is on the heavy side. Fans of the AD700, HD800, PS1000 and T1 will find these claustrophobic, especially with the sealed (closed) effect. These seal off outside noise similar to the Sony V6 and 7506. Not many flashy hi-fi sonic thrills here.
 
Review #2, the music lover's take:
 
As per above, initially the P5 sounded a bit bloated, dull and rolled off. However, after extended listening, the treble presence became obvious, the midrange showed balance and clarity and the bass remained a bit heavy. But music sounded rich, full and real. Bass had power. Everything was seamless. There was no etchiness or grain in the important upper midrange and treble. I know Norah Jones' Come Away With Me very well and it sounded as musical as I've heard it. The P5 seems to sound somewhere in between a good IE and a good supraural. Yeah, seamless. A nice small distortion-free hi-rez TV screen as opposed to a big grainy one. The power of live music in a 2000 seat venue with plush seats and wall to wall carpeting. I liked the sound, and realized that none of my current headphone inventory could give me this particular sound. So you know what that meant

 
I put down a deposit and will pick them up on Friday.

 

 

[Currawong]

The Apple Store here unfortunately doesn't have a demo pair.  I wonder if the amp is making a significant difference.  

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

The Apple Store here unfortunately doesn't have a demo pair.

The Apple online stores, however, do have a nice return policy 

.

 

[Ypoknons]

I don't know about Japan, but there are places in the world without return policies, at all. For example, Hong Kong still uses the late 19th century sales of goods ordinance copied from the UK, the UK in the 70's rewrote theirs and made it consumer friendly but we still haven't, so we have no such thing as return policy. I think the online apple HK store does have a return period, but they have no P5's either. 

 

[Skylab]

The Apple Store return policy charges a 10% fee of you open the box.  So my review cost me $30, plus shipping.

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

The Apple Store return policy charges a 10% fee if you open the box.  So my review cost me $30, plus shipping.

Ouch. I guess I was lucky to have not been charged anything at all. I did (and would still) have to do a search for the P5 in the Finnish Apple Store just to find them, which I find a bit strange. Perhaps they don't want to promote such an expensive pair of headphones too heavily before gathering some data about customer satisfaction rates with them.

 

[Skylab]

Just to clarify, I was referring to the ONLINE Apple Store.

 

[fella]

Quote:

Was my pair broken?  I can't imagine someone hearing something so different from what I heard.  Beagle, they didn't sound shrill to you at all?  The pair I listened to was rolled off and shrill at the same time, and had a very uneven frequency response.  Honky might be a good word
 
I'm just surprised because I like a warm, lush presentation I mean I own EP Sextetts.  So in my case, it's certainly not a case of wanting more treble or something simple like that.

 
what music were you listening to?
 
I will say this much, for intimate recordings like the nora jones that beagle mentioned- they shine.  Other genres you milage may vary at high volumes.  There is never distortion but there can eb a sense of shrillness.
 
1- Metal guitars- can be shrill at high volumes on these
2- Southern Rap (Outlast, UGK, T.I.) Snares and High-Hats, can be shrill.
 
In both these cases there's supposed to be a jarring shrillness in the music, but the p5 accentuates it beyond my capacity to enjoy.... until I lowered the volume.
 
This might be common to anyone hearing these genres for the first time on high end headphones as well (I was mostly armed with dead shows during my demo binge).  Most people who complain about these cans say they're too warm, not too shrill.
 
Most comments I read are on the same lines of (positive version) warm and musical and (negative version) colored and incacurate.

 

[Beagle]

Got them on Friday and have been doing sporadic listening (when I've actually gotten the chance to listen). I really had buyers remorse and while listening later in the evening, I was convinced I hated the P5 and had made a large mistake. I hated the sealed effect (still do actually) and felt really claustrophobic when I was using them. Music was all contained within a small space, and when a chorus or crescendo came in, it had no place to go and it was like stuffing that extra bunch of leaves into an already full garden-waste bag. So forget about turning up the volume. Bass was an amorphous indistinct blob. Going back to my other headphones, everything opened up and the music could now breathe again.
 
Two days later...
 
Now that I have somewhat adjusted to them (and have stopped comparing them to other headphones and instead started comparing them to real sounds and the tone of real voices and instruments) things have improved immensely.
 
I'll be back..

 

[gorgonmusic]

lol...this made me chukle
 
Quote:

 
 
Two days later...
 
Now that I have somewhat adjusted to them (and have stopped comparing them to other headphones and instead started comparing them to real sounds and the tone of real voices and instruments) things have improved immensely.
 
I'll be back..