keanex
Keeper of The All-New Headphone Buyer's Guide
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
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Pros: Sturdy build, removable pads, removable cable, inline mic, controlled bass, lively upper mids, clean sound, spacious sound for a closed headphone, forgiving of mediocre recording.
Cons: Proprietary cable and pads, cable feels cheap, sub-bass is inconsistent, mid-blass bleeds.
Style: Closed circumaural
Tonal Balance: Warm with a bright edge
Accesories: 3.5mm cable with inline mic, 3.5mm cable, leather carrying pouch and 1/4’’ inch adaptor.
Listening Set-Up: Musicbee (WASAPI) -> Oppo HA-1
Cost at Time of Review: $400
Reviewing Process
I have burned in the P7 for at least 30 hours and also giving them at least 40 hours of headtime before forming a firm opinion on the sound*. I have used them mostly at home, but on quiet walks through my neighborhood as well. I feel that my experience with the P7 is enough to comment to the best of my ability. Even so, I recommend researching further before making a purchase and demoing when available.I would like to thank Bowers and Wilkins for the review sample. The review is written while connected to my Oppo HA-1, though I found they sounded very nice from my Sansa Clip Zip.
*I burn in headphones for peace of mind when reviewing, rather than for any proven reason. Please don’t think that this is necessary for enjoyment. I burn in my headphones by playing music through them while at work and nothing more.
Headphone Background
The P7 are currently Bowers and Wilkins’ flagship headphone, displacing the popular P5 model at the top spot. The P7 are the first circumaural headphones in the series and feature a removable cable, removable leather pads and a stylish modern design in addition to some thoughtful nuances as read about on the B&W P7 Technical Paper.Build & Fit
Build
The P7 feel incredibly sturdy with no visible weak spots in the structure at all, B&W have really put a lot of thought into the design and build quality of the frame. The headphones appear to be made mostly of metal and leather, with only a small portion made of plastic that is covered by leather. There are no creaks or weak points in the frame or housing to mention at all. The P7 feature removable cables as well as removable pads to preemptively account for the two most common points of failure on the headphone, though unfortunately they seem proprietary. The only component of the P7 that feels cheap is the cable, it simply doesn’t carry the quality that the rest of the package does in my opinion.
Fit
The P7 have semi-firm leather pads that completely surround my ear with a moderate force of clamp,enough to feel secure without causing discomfort. The pressure of wearing the P7 is mostly concentrated on the side of the head and kept to acceptable levels due to the plushness of the pads. Very little downwards force is exerted on top of my head. The headphone adjusts with ease and provides ample amount of isolation to use in public places.
Sound Quality
TL
RI absolutely love the sound of the P7, they are warm and lively with clarity and a presentation that gives the P7 musicality that I’ve not experienced since my Audio Technica Ad2000. The cons seem to be a lack of consistency with the sub-bass, overly warm mid-bass and a mildly distant mid-range. The sound is approachable and immediately enjoyable to my ears, doing so well with a wide variety of genres.
Bass
On the whole I find that the sub-bass of the P7 extends nicely to the lowest regions, but they are lacking in control and presence at times. The sub-bass shows slow decay times when listening to James Blake’s Limit to Your Love, while showing a lack of authority when listening to Jamie xx’s I’m New Here, acting more as a tease than anything. Conversely I’ve found myself immensely enjoying the thick sub-bass when listening to Feed Me’s Strange Behaviour as well as when listening to Bjork’s Hyperballad, both benefitting from the thickness of the sub-bass. I’m not sure what to make of the sub-bass, as I’m finding myself enjoying it immensely on certain tracks, while finding it lacking on other tracks with similar sub-bass qualities. What I can say is that the sub-bass lingers a bit and comes off a bit muddy, though nowhere near one-note. The P7 are certainly not basshead cans, but they do satisfy my bass needs on as many heavy bass tracks as they disappoint on. Take that for what you will.
The mid-bass finds itself punchy and energetic at it’s best while slightly slow and impeding at it’s worst. I find that the kick drum and toms tend to show the best of the mid-bass, often coming off as punchy, realistic and energetic, while bass guitars tend to come off as bloated and slow, often imposing on the mid-range. Some tracks benefit from this dynamic, but overall I find that many guitar or vocal driven tracks tend to lose their musicality due to the overbearing mid-bass. Much like the sub-bass, I find that the mid-bass is a mixed bag, either coming off as incredibly pleasing at times and disappointing at others.
Mids & Highs
The mids find themselves losing focus in the lower mid-range partially due to a slight dip in the frequency response, but compacted by the prominence of the mid-bass. When unencumbered by the mid-bass the mids find themselves rather clear with a slightly brighter than natural edge to them. The upper mids gain a bit of presence, adding a bit of energy to the mids while also acting to counterbalance the prominence of the mid-bass. The highs sound a tad compressed, but are nicely extended and rather clean, coming off only slightly nasally though not very sparkly or resolving.
In-fact the mids and highs are rather forgiving, sounding very good even with poorly mastered tracks. This makes them less than ideal for critical listening, but I find the mids and highs to have a musical and easy listening quality about them. The sound is quite easy to put on and enjoy.
Presentation
The P7 are closed isolating headphones and they sound as such. The sound is closer to a small club than an open air music venue. Soundstage width and depth leave something to be desired while instrument separation also feels a bit bunched. The imaging qualities of the P7 sit about average as well. Overall the sound is presented in a small scope which works well for some genres better than others
Overall
Despite me being somewhat harsh on the sound quality of the P7 in my review, I actually absolutely love these headphones. When reviewing a pair of headphones I try to listen as critically as possible, and I haven’t found the P7 very good for critical listening. What the P7 excel at is musicality. These are some seriously fantastic headphones to throw on and enjoy music instead of overanalyzing the mastering or recording properties of a track. I find the sound incredibly enjoyable through a large amount of genres, I greatly enjoy music with these on my head.To add to the highly enjoyable sound signature, the build quality and isolation makes these an excellent choice for portable use and I find them very sharp looking to boot. The P7 are an excellent choice for the person wanting a full-sized portable headphone that does not sacrifice sound quality.
Come see more photos here.
. After using it for 200+ hours, the mid bass no longer bleeds (still slightly pronounced) and it is very musical. I contemplated this one, NAD HP50 and Sennheiser Momentum over for a month and returned the other two. At this price range, I find these are the most "musical" headphones - one I wear and just about enjoy. Momentum, I felt had very pronounced and artificial mids (though sweet), disappointing highs, bloated bass and very disappointing sound stage. NAD HP50 has a very detailed lows, similar mids to P7 (slightly more pronounced than P7) but lost in treble to P7. Sound stage was more or less similar to P7 and both were very good for a closed head phone. However, I felt HP50 to have somewhat hollow/tinny sound and not a full-some sound as in P7 and overall enjoyment factor was much higher in P7. Certain frequency ranges were better resolved (lows and low-mids) and other frequency ranges are better resolved by P7 (highs, upper-mids) but overall P7 was a much better package (if the difference in price was not considered). Lastly, P7 scaled better with better gear than HP50.
