Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile Headphones

Was at the Regent Street Apple Store today and tested out the Bowers and Wilkins P5, Dr. Dre Beats Studios and Solos, Bose quiet comfort 15 and Bose on-ear headphones on a variety of music, for example Dubstep, Drum N Bass, R'N'B, Rap, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Classical Music and even Glee.

Have to say, the P5s were very well made and felt very very comfortable but the audio lacked finesse. All my music is around 1000kbits/second encoded in Apple Lossless and the bass was poor, the highs were crackly and when the iPhone 3G could drive enough sound through the headphones (90% volume on iPhone) the sound was tinny, rather contrary to the “pure” sound that people are reporting. I could get the same quality audio from the in-ear headphones that came with my Sony Ericsson Walkman phone with added bass! Really am quite disappointed.

The Bose on-ear headphones produced equally as good mids and highs with more punchy bass and would get my thumbs up and for 100quid less, it’s an obvious choice! Be sure to test, but seriously don’t bother with the Bose QC15s, they are RUBBISH, great noise cancellation, no audio quality whatsoever!! The Solos and Studios break, so the Bose on-ears are the ones!

Probably like many others, the prospect of forking out nearly 300 notes on a set of headphones does chill me to the bone, so I did a lot of research and more importantly listening to many headphones.
I initially had my heart set on the Dr Dre Studio Beats after checking them out in the Apple Store Newcastle and almost bought them then and there but I am pleased I held my passion.
As much as I liked the Dre's I just could not get away from the fact that they are a little plasticy and then when when you read the reviews on many sites you notice just how many people are having trouble with them breaking... not good.
After really just stumbling across the B&Ws and how well they were being reviewed I thought I needed to audition them.
I am not new to the B&W brand as I have Hi-Fi speakers by them, so my expection was for them to perform well, so it was off to the Apple Store to compare these with the Dre's and the Bose with my iPod and my eclectic musical taste.
I tested all three with tracks by Radiohead, Muse, Jane's Addiction, Kanye, Lupe, Zero 7, David Gilmour and Joe Purdy so a right old bag full.
Out of the three the Bose fell first, the Noise Cancelling is superb but does put a little too much pressure on your eardrums for my liking plus out of all three they were the hardest for the iPod to drive and needed turning up high to get any decent sound level.
The B&W and Dre Studio Beats both are superb but in the end it came down to two main points, firstly the Dre's plastic feel and the poor reviews online backing this up but more importantly sound quality, I feel that the sound is boosted too much in the higher frequencies and once you lock onto this it is hard to ignore. They are very good but the B&W just pips it for me.
So after a long couple of weeks I have decided on the B&Ws. With these beauties there is not plastic just a great leather and metal build. They are very comfy and most importantly they SOUND FANTASTIC. Bass response is very good and the mids and highs are handled very well. Nothing feels forced and you dont need to give yourself a break after listening, you can actually relax while listening and hear the recording as it was intended.
So do yourself a favour and go and audition these and by all means the other brands and see what you think. These things have just breezed onto the scene without a hail of hype or premiership footballers wrapping them around their necks post match and for that demand a listen.
Whichever way you go all these Headphones are fantastic but the B&Ws are just a cut above.

Went along to the apple store in Newcastle to try these headphones after reading all the great reviews. To say i was disappointed would be an understatement, they just sounded way too tinny, poor bass sound and not that comfortable, i can not understand how these phones have had all these great reviews, very poor in my opinion, and i have tried many many various headphones.While i was in the apple store i tried a pair of Monster Beats by Dr Dre,, wow i was blown away instantly, mega bass sound realy comfy, the best sound i have ever heard from any phones, needless to say i bought them instantly, a zillion percent better than the B&Ws,,don,t be fooled try them out then try the monster beats you will be amazed by the difference in sound quality,,

I bought these headphones the day they came into my local Apple Store. Having heard the other Bowers & Wilkins systems, i knew that their headphones would sound good, but not this good!

Firstly they are very comfortable. Not as light as my HD-25 headphones, but then again, theres not 1 piece of plastic on them, mostly leather, metal and speaker cone. One big factor for me buying these was the fact they sit very tight against your head and don't sit out much. Plus i love the retro styling.

The sound these headphones produce is flat, smooth and detailed. I have burned my set in for over 50 hours now and they sound so warm and bass sounds like honey,lol. The detail and stereo image is bright, something my HD-25's lacked.

The iPhone support cable is brilliant and replaceable cables at ease is another plus (i can see people making custom cables at some point :-)

All in all, i love these. Yes they are expensive, but worth it. I have several sets of headphones around this price, but these are my everyday set now, and will be for a long time i think! Enjoy.....

absolute joy to my ears new to bower & wilkins and don't think ill ever go back to my old headphones an they where still about £100. they are so comfortable have even forget i have headphones on, and for the sound i'm hearing things i never new was there. definitely worth the investment.

bought these on a review in a paper i had seen have now had them for 3days they are brilliant
its like having a speaker on each ear the sound is so good nothing like headphones 5stars for the right side 5stars for the left 5stars for the middle ,after over 45 years playing and listening to music
these cans a worth every penny you spend on them go on spoil yourself you know your worth it

OK I have only actually had these beauties for a few hours now (the 1 - 2 weeks estimated delivery time was in fact a wonderfully short 3 days), but I am already totally hooked.

If what other reviews say is accurate and the phones need a few days to bed in properly, I am in line to be further amazed. Straight out of the box they sounded fantastic and now they are warmed up nicely the sound is nothing other than incredible.

I have never spent more than about £50 on headphones before and so these needed a lot of thought. Testing them on a noisy and very busy Saturday in my local Apple store showed me their strengths, but taking the time to lose myself in everything from Led Zeppelin and Soundgarden via Schostakovich and Schoenberg to Tubular Bells and Oxygene at home has shown me what I have been missing all this time!

Extremely comfy, sleek and elegant with 100% B&W quality through and through. Well worth the money!

I think that these headphones are the most comfortable ones that I have ever used. I have Bose headphones, but the Bowers & Wilkins beat them hands down.

After reading the other positive reviews I went to the Apple store to test them out and the reviews where right. What more can I say that the other reviewers have said, but they are BRILLIANT, worth every bit of the price. :-)

Bought the P5's this morning after about 20 mins auditioning them in the local Apple Store and I've spent a very interesting afternoon listening to them "open up".

Out of the box, they were very good if a little congested and "dull", but after about four hours of initial running in, they're beginning to come to life. The bass is deepening beyond belief and the treble and midrange are blossoming into something really special.

They deliver raw aggression and pace throughout The Prodigy's 'Omen' and 'Thunder' tracks from the Invaders Must Die album, yet there is a true delicacy to Rachel McShane's excellent No Man's Fool. Andre Previn's reference recordings of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris demonstrate the P5's ability to separate the various parts of the orchestra allowing you to track what they are all doing irrespective of their relative volumes.

To sum up, the P5's are an astonishing pair of headphones. Only 4 hours listening so far and they're bedding in beautifully, the brilliant thing is that with use, they're only going to get better. They're build like the proverbial brick outhouse so durability shouldn't be a problem, yet they are probably the most comfortable closed back headphones I've ever used.

Worth the £250??? Oh yes, no question!!! I'm one very happy bunny. :D