Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins C5 In-Ear Headphones

Outstanding headphones. Switched from Bose to Bowers & Wilkins and what a difference! The B&W stay in your ear much better, and I've heard sounds in my music that I never heard either through stereo or Bose earphones. They also isolate outside noise very well. I used these during airplane travel and hardly heard any outside noise. I highly recommend these to anyone in the market for in-ear headphones.

I got these as a gift and I'm not very pleased with the product. Of course there are pros and cons which I will list, but if I had the option, I would seek another product in the same price range.

Pros:
-Great build quality. You can tell that it is made with the best quality materials. Very durable, and the cord is not prone to tangling. The main wires are insulated by a transparent hollow tube which adds to the design and feel.
-Decent audio quality. Everyone here who say the quality of the audio is bad probably don't have them fit right as I've experienced disappointing quality at first, but later figured out the optimal conformation to my ears.

Cons:
-The loop "one size fits all" concept is not a polished concept. It surely sounds cool and intuitive, but to this day I have either not worn them properly, or maybe my ears are just not normal.
-They are quite heavy and if you're thinking of using these while jogging, forget about it.
-If you don't have the patience to getting used to them, they will hurt your ears at first after prolonged use.

Overall, great look and quality, but just not worth the price tag...

Sound is relative..... I've tried many pairs and these are my favorite by far. At first I thought they had NO bass at all....then I changed the ear tips and the full spectrum came through....more bass than the bose ones and the separation etc... just wonderful.....

listen to floyd/zappa/beatles/guitar stuff...big band etc....
so far.... comfortable as well..... they are just really cool.

I just picked up a pair from my local Appple store yesterday. The quality is amazing and the design is sleek. Sound quality is amazing. The quality of sound is amazing, no matter what type of music you listen to. Definitely an A++ in my book!!! Theses are far mor superior to the Monster Beats in-ear earphones!!! If you can, pick up a pair of these, you won't be disappointed!!!

Let's be realistic here, these are mid-high end ear buds, not high-end. They cost $100-200 less than some of the others I tried in non-Apple store. For me they have better bass than most, not overwhelming but not boomy either. The highs are a bit tinny or sibilant but either I am getting used to sound or they are "breaking-in" and highs are becoming more subdued.

The case is small but the earphones fit and it fits in my front pocket, I wouldn't want a case any more than slightly bigger.

Fit is individualistic and as such you need to try for yourselves and ignore the more strident reviews. They fit me better than most and stay in my ears way, way better than most non-canal buds. For me the wire loops work and are very clever.

Downsides include mildly rough highs (though getting better and no longer noticed by me with higher bit rates), I wish the kit still included the adapters, particularly the right angle adapter. I bought some foam Comply tips that for me work much better than the included tips - they are more comfortable and sound much better. In fact I think B&W is making a mistake by not including this sort of tip with the earphones - their tips don't do their product complete justice. As someone else here mentioned, you may need bigger tips than you realize because these are not canal buds, you do not insert them so deeply into your ear.

All-in-all I really like these and if they are durable (I've only had for 2 weeks) I'd recommend that everyone not wanting to spend more than $200 give them a try.

Now at $180, it is fairly costly, however it is worth every penny. The audio quality for all genres of music is simply staggering. This is a headphone that has been carefully crafted to produce consistently excellent results. So don't be fooled by the Beats by Dre hype. Instead, pop down to your local Apple store or indeed the online store and get yourself a pair of these. You won't regret it.

These earbuds (1) fit well (2) stay in my ears and (3) sound great! After being disatisfied with four previous brands of expensive earbuds, I'm happy to say the B&W C5 earbuds excel in all 3 categories. I love them!

I did research & the sound is tremendous....big 3 things for me: sound, fits well in ear, & stays in ear while I'm active.
Sound--1-10: with 1 lowest & 10 most awesomeness: 9.7 awesome!!
Fits well in ear: 1-10 with 1 lowest & 10 most awesomeness: 5
Once you figure it out it's alright in there...not uncomfortable, but it's just awkward.
Stays in the ear while active: 1-10: with 1 lowest & 10 most awesomeness: 2. Unfortunately this reason is why I couldn't keep the earphones...if someone looked at me funny they would come out...that's exaggerating a smidge...but seriously if I was at the gym moving around: the earphones wouldn't stay in my ear....& for the price & the lack of "staying put in my ear while working out" ability: these won't be recommended...Sorry Bowers & Wilkins

After just having my C5's for just a couple of days and all I can say is awesome! These are my first expensive set of ear phones that I have ever bought, so I really don't have anything else to match them too. But I do have a set of Sony MDR-V6 headphones. In 1987, audio industry journalist Daniel Kumin wrote, "Throw away your loudspeakers. There is now what may be the most perfect transducer yet made by man. Recently I auditioned a pair of Sony MDR-V6 Studio Monitor headphones, then purchased them. There are not enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe the performance of these headphones. Listening to them with a good CD recording is like being in the center of a live performance."

But when comparing them to the B&W C5's, their is no comparision, the B&W's blow away the closed over the ear Sony Monitor Headphones. When listening to the different kinds of music that I have, everything from Bach and Mozart, to Sade, Harry Connick, Jr., Bush, Peral Jam, Depeche Mode, Gloria Estenfan, Hall and Oates, NKTOB, New Order, Madonna and Billy Joel, all the music sounds totally different than I have heard it before. The B&W's bring out all of the music and sounds that I have never heard before and made me stay up late one night til 2 in the morning, I started to go to bed around 10:30, listening to my music all over again. The bass is just about perfect, not over bearing but just right. The treble is perfectly matched as well. Nothing else really compares.

I once had the opportunity to listen to a pair of 800 Diamond series speakers from B&W at a place here in Houston called the Home Theater Store. It was a room with just the speakers, which cost over $20,000 a pair, and a couple of Macintosh amps sitting on the floor and a plush leather chair sitting in front of them. The salesman ask me what wanted to listen to from the choices that they had and lucky for me that had a copy of Sade's greatest hits CD, so I had heard the songs on that CD many times and knew what each song sounded like. After sitting in the chair, he asked me to close my eyes as he started playing the track off of the CD, which was "Cherish The Day". When the song started playing it actually felt as if Sade was standing in the room in fromt of me singing the song, that is how great those speakers sounded. That is how these Bowers and Wilkins C5's sound, the artist singing the music feels as if they are in the room with you giving you a private concert.

Should you have the means to buy these headphones, please do so, as they will probably be the last set you ever buy.