Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile Headphones

Good product. Great sound quality, its comfortable, it very good. Except the fact that its $300.00! Who pays that much for headphones??? Why not just save up for an iPad if you have that much money to waste.

10 of 318 people found this useful

I own many sets of in ear, and on ear cans.. AKG, Shure SE530's , etc etc etc... I have the P5's and they are my FAVORITE to listen to, to wear for lengthy periods.. and musically FANTASTIC for the $300.00
made beautifully, work with Iphone mic, Volume and track remote... just really really nice.
here is a tip.. if you listen in the store... you will NOT NOT get the best results from these cans.. you MUST listen on a direct Ipod connection, preferably LOSSLESS tracks.. to really appreciate the musicality of these astounding phones..
I LOVE EM!!

11 of 14 people found this useful

I am not an audiophile, but just a bloke who listens to variety of music (Beatles, Oasis, Classical, Folk, Electronic, etc.). My main music device is my iphone 3G and my MacBook Pro. I initially was looking for active noise canceling headphones. However, having listened to Bose QC 15 bunch of times and then listening to the B & W P5 bunch of times, I choose B & W P5. My reason was that it cut out enough noise via passive method, but delivered much better sound. Bose QC 15 definitely has better noise canceling. However, Bose QC 15's sound is very tinny in my ears. Honestly, try them both out at the Apple Store. B & W P5 sounds so much better! Just my two cents.

8 of 9 people found this useful

B & W has done it again! I owned Dr. Dre Beats, Bose QC2's and QC15's. I am a very picky about the sound of my music playback. The Beats, were cheaply made and have tons of base and lack mids. The Bose, well, noise canceling distorts the playback in my opinion. Now bring on the B & W's. The sound is perfection, plenty of bass, without sacrificing mids and highs. I absolutely love these cans. The craftsmanship make you feel like you are getting more than your $300 out of these. The Beats, seem cheap and do not travel well. The case is horrible on them and I had a heck of a time with storage while traveling. Not so with the P5's. I finally was able to use them on a flight. I watched a movie on my Ipad, and listened to some music. They really did a great job of blocking out engine noise. I really did not miss the noise canceling. I was very happy with the sound while flying. Nearly as good as the Bose. One other point, while listening at home at a nice volume. They do not "bleed" sound. Meaning you cannot hear very much outside the cans thus disturbing others around you. I hope this helps. These are absolutely 5 stars in every way!!!! You will not regret buying these cans. Enjoy!!!

27 of 31 people found this useful

Sound: Absolutely fantastic.

Aesthetics: Pleasing.

Mobility: Not good for moving around too much, but excellent at home.

Wearability: As every on-ear headphone, they can become uncomfortable after 2+ hours.

Overall, these are fantastic headphones, but don't plan on wearing them for more than 3 hours... they are likely to become uncomfortable, even with the fancy squishy pads.

13 of 18 people found this useful

These are decent headphones and the leather pads are very comfortable, but the branding is meretricious and the price is outrageous. I have B&W speakers; the sound from these is not in the same league. Obviously you can't expect speaker sound from headphones, but I've heard better sound from cans 1/3 the price of these.

24 of 89 people found this useful

So I decided to spend the money even though im a college student on nice pair of headphones and OMG its was well spent. After listening to a sample file from B&W and some of my own music I can tell you this, you began to pick up on sounds in which you've never heard through headphones when listening to music. Very well balanced and nice overall music sound quality some of the best I've ever heard from headphones. having experienced B&W I can tell you this its going to make you want to reimport all your music in a lossless format. In which I well be doing in fact. Overall design is beautiful and very well built. if your debating on weather to get these stop it and just get these trust me!

4 of 6 people found this useful

Went in to the local Apple Store twice to try these out, just to make sure I really wanted to invest in these, after the second try, i walked out the door with them. They make lossy music on an iPod or Mac sound incredible
These are by far the best sounding headphones I've encountered. Clean, rich, full sound, nothing overpower the other. No thumpa thumpa bass overpowering the other sounds. Some headphone are too bass heavy, and some like the Bose have a very fake sound, these sound clean. pure and realistic. They are incredibly comfortable, can wear these for hours and not notice they are on. Good at isolating outside sounds. They are compact, yet seem sturdy. What are you waiting for? Go out try them out, you will end up buying them.

3 of 5 people found this useful

I have been in dire need for a new pair of headphones ever since my Apple earbuds started peeling and the wires began loosening. I wanted to get a decent pair of headphones, but I wasn't sure I wanted in earbuds again. They have always become very uncomfortable after extended periods of use. I also wanted a pair of headphones that would work not only with my iPhone 3GS, but also my iPad. That's when I found the B&W P5's.

After doing some research on Apple's site and reading other online reviews, the P5's made it to a short list. However, I was distressed to learn from Apple's website that the headphones weren't listed as being compatible with the iPad. After a quick research of the iPad specs and the P5 specs, I determined they would, indeed work. Just to be sure, I called Apple and was pleased to find that they would indeed be compatible. The Apple rep said it was most likely due to the relative newness of the P5's and the iPad.

The P5's arrived today and they are simply impeccable! The leather and brushed steel is completely sexy and quite modern yet with a tasteful flair of retro. The leather these cans are wrapped in is absolutely buttery soft. It is apparent from the moment you remove these headphones from the box that these are indeed special. Without a doubt, these are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn. The memory foam in the ear cups has been been neither uncomfortable or hot now after wearing them for over an hour and a half.

Arguably more important than comfort is the sound quality of the P5's. Believe everything you've read on these reviews. Initially, I wasn't looking to spend more than $125 for my headphones, but I'm glad I spent the extra money to get this set. I've thrown everything at them from my iTunes library. Everything from Beastie Boys to the Doors and these have handled them with great ease. The sound is just unbelievably clean, crisp and vibrant. The bass isn't overpowering or artificially thunderous. It's precisely as it was intended to be heard when it was recorded. The highs are just soaring and sweet. The full spectrum of my music can now be fully appreciated. Since there is a glaring difference between songs with a bit rate of 128 kbps and 256 kbps, I guess I'll spend the weekend importing my CDs into iTunes again, but this time with Apple Lossless!

The P5s arrived with the cord installed that contained the remote for operating iTunes and for making phone calls from the iPhone. I tried making a phone call with the mic and found the sound to be far superior to the mic on the standard issue Apple cans. The party I called said they couldn't even tell I was on the headset. The sound was perfect. The only thing that was a little off with the mic was that I couldn't really hear myself in my headphones very loudly if at all. I haven't read the instructions yet, so perhaps there is something I need to adjust, but even if there is no input into the headset from the mic, I had no trouble carrying on a conversation and that's a trade-off I'd be willing to accept to have such an exceptional pair of headphones.

While these aren't noise cancelling, they do an outstanding job of reducing ambient noise. I can see that these will be the perfect headphones to wear on my long car trips with the family when I don't care to listen to music in the car, but would rather watch a movie on my iPad. I won't have to crank the volume up to an uncomfortable or dangerous level in order to drown out the background noise. It's a very sequestered and peacefully isolated feeling inside the velvety smooth leather lining of these P5's!

I can not recommend these highly enough!

9 of 12 people found this useful