Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile Headphones

I don't own very expensive Hi-Fi systems or headphones but i think my ears have heard enough of them to give the B&W P5s a fair review.

Sound, the most honest thing i can say is, they would sound brilliant for some but leaves others wanting more. They are not up their with the high-end nor are they down there with the group that uses brand to market themselves(you know who they are). The highs, mids and lows come in together nicely, but it depends on the content your listening to, if you like instrumentals and vocals, these would be good enough to satisfy my taste(my taste is not easy to satisfy) and more if you're the average listener, and they give enough detail too. But lets say you are from the younger generation, with all the new sounds from more recent artists, you may find yourself wanting more, as these content requires a bit more in the lower end and the P5s don't deliver enough. Not that they don't have it, it's just not enough, and for the price we're paying,I would prefer the P5s to be a bit more of an all rounder, just because people listen to a lot of music and the genres are too diverse. Hit 2 birds with 1 stone. It's hard to be done, but they are B&W, they're one of the best. P5s will never be spacious sounding enough, because they are not real speakers and they are not open-backed, so the sound will just go straight to your brains. But in the case of the P5s, it's not too bad. Sound isolation is good enough, i still can hear outside noise but not enough to bother me, they won't leak unless you turn on your music too laud.

Design and quality. They look great and feel great, PERIOD. AWESOMENESS

Comfort. If you have regular sized head and ears, they will sit on your head nicely.

Final thoughts. They sound and look great.

Advise? Try to audition one, and make your decision from there. Do not buy something if you can't have a listen 1st. Do not depend on other people's advise, let your ears and heart do it for you. One thing is true with sound and to a lot of other things, "to each, their own".

Hope you'll find my advice helpful.

And of course the sound will sound better if you used it with a dedicated sound system and a lossless source. This is a no brainer.

I've enjoyed owning many different pairs of Sennheiser headphones over the years, but, I've always been partial to B&W's. Bought a pair of floor standing B&W's over 30 years ago and still enjoy listening to them on a daily basis. When I heard they were producing their first pair of headphones I had to go and give them a listen. I wasn't disappointed. Clear, crisp sound emanates from these beauties and that's all I hear-no white noise! And they truly are a work of art. They're expensive but worth every penny. Nicest headphones I've ever listend to.

My headphones of choice for the past 3 years were the wildly popular Sennheiser 555. I decided i wanted to try something new. Something without an amp, smaller, closed headphone, and amazing sound!

I Because I didn't want to make a mistake and buy a pair of headphones online relying only through reading reviews, I decided to check out the Apple Store and do some demoing of headphones there. I ended up buying the Bose On Ear's. While I am aware of the Bose hate, I was impressed by the power that came out of such a small headphone. So i bought it . Needless to say, Bose lived up to their "live sound" signature, because no matter what i played was excessive with bass. It worked well on harder songs, or hip hop, but when i played a mellow song, the bass would drowned out everything. Sounded muddy. I returned it to buy the Bose Around Ear. While these definitely had more clarity, and very comfortable, but they had very little low end, very bright and hollow sounding. My 555's sounded better. Back to the drawing board..

Enter the Bowers and Wilkins P5'S

I came across these gorgeous headphones. The P5's are made out of aluminum, metal, and authentic sheep leather. These scream class. They can scream anything but do they scream good sound? Lets just say, when I listen to music with the P5's they transport me into a wooden cottage in the woods listening to music plugged into a turn table. They sound very warm, almost the warmth you would get from beautiful vintage analog.Sounds very full, not hollow. Its hard to put into words. I am definitely not an audiophile, the bass these provide are not the over exaggerated bass you would get from Dr Dre's Beats or the On Ear Bose but provide a very audible punchy bass. Authentic natural sound all around. These are the only headphones I have listened to that sounds like the headphones are adapting to the music, rather than the music adapting to the headphones. Meaning that the headphones generally stay out of the way, and you get to hear the music as is. Not with extra bass, or power boost or what ever else headphones usually EQ into its signature sound. Its hard to believe that when I play Nick Drake, these are the same headphones that just blasted me out of the room playing Meshuggah. They adapt that well. No amp needed on these, just plug and play! The sound isolation on the P5's are quite good, you don't hear much of the outside world. The built in iPod volume works as advertised. Because they are on the ear designed, they did take a bit of adjusting for me because my Senn's were around the ears. Because they are on ears they employ a closed design.

Rating these headphones I give them a solid 4 out of 5.

Why not a 5 out of 5? Well lets just say I will be using these for many years as my headphones of choice, they are seriously a work of modern art. I love the industrial design, I love the size, I love the warm sound, I love that they sound this good without any amplification. I am going to be a real and say there is more than likely better headphones out there, ones that sound better or do something specifically better than the P5's. Personally I do wish they were more comfortable, but I think I feel that way because I am not used to on the ear type of headphone. However when you look at the sound, size, design, and price the P5's are unmatched.. For that reason is why I rate them a very solid 4 out of 5.

I spent ages searching for a decent pair of headphones & it soon dawned on me that I maybe paying in excess of £150. At first I was reluctant to part with so much. Yeah you can notice the difference between a £10 pair from your local electrical store & a pair costing 10 times as much but I find it utterly ridiculous that anyone can genuinely hear a difference between say, a £100 pair and a £1000 pair so I really think anyone claiming otherwise is full of... well, you know.

I been extremely happy with the Monster Tour's ive been using for about a year now so i figured my first stop should be either the Monster Solo's or Studio's... The sound quality of both was great & just what Ild expected, but I quickly discovered the build of both felt pretty flimsy & after a bit more research I found a lot of horror stories from people saying theirs had snapped &/or fallen apart shockingly quickly. So between this, the fact the Studios require batteries & are so big they make you look like Princess Leia, I soon ruled these out.

Next I happened to stumble across the Bang & Olufsen Form 2's, while browsing through their store & at first glance they seemed ideal. Beautiful design, not too obtrusive & amazing sound quality. The price was also a surprise… £130! Unfortunately I did have a couple of gripes; the ear pads are rough & really not very durable (oh & the replacements will cost you £30). Secondly they didn't have an inline remote/mic. Not the end of the world I grant you, but as im looking for something to pair up with my iPhone & MacBook it was a major flaw.

So finally I got to the B&W P5's. I adore their Zeppelin iPod player so I was expecting big things from these. Straight from the off I knew I had a winner. With real leather & brushed metal the build quality was not only the best looking (by far) but massively superior to anything Ild ever picked up. Also, they seemed to have thought of everything. The ear pads are not just incredibly comfy but magnetic so if (for reasons that I cant fathom, given the quality) you have to replace one, it couldn't be easier. Plus, if you've ever been like me and plagued with cables/jacks wearing and snapping through vigourous use and your sound cutting in & out as a result, you'll be happy to know the they are easily replaceable. So off to a good start, but I really put these to the test while on a trans Atlantic flight & Ive got to say for about 5 hours of constant use they were perfect! Drowning out engine noise, emitting gorgeous sound & still remaining comfortable. I honestly cant fault the P5's, with just one exception. Since owning these, Ive gone back through my iTunes and re-ripped most of my collection to the highest quality so I can enjoy all the tracks the way they were meant to be listened to.

So I've had the headphones for a week or two and I think I'm finally ready to write a proper review.

Build:
Very sturdy. You wont be worried about these headphones breaking any time soon. I love the fact that these are only leather and metal. The headphones rotate flat for safe and easy storage. The metal it's self is very sturdy and the leather and memory foam are very soft and plush. They don't hurt my ears at all but then again I have a smaller head. The design is very well engineered. For many of the parts, if they break there is an easy way to remove/replace them. One thing that I'm a bit worried about is the fact that there is a cord covered in cloth out in the open right in-between the speaker and the head rest. It doesn't seem like a big problem but just giving a heads up.

Sound:
At first they don't seem like they are all they are made out to be but do not fear, they started sounding better and better with usage. I recommend to keep using them and listen to all your favourite artists/songs and you'll start to head just how amazing they are. The other good thing about these unlike the beats, the sound doesn't leak like crazy. If you have your music up really load then people directly next to you will hear music but theres no need to have your music up that loud because these headphones are fairly good at keeping noise out. By no means are they amazing but they do a satisfactory job. The headphones hit the notes nicely and there isn't any trembling with the volume up high. By the way. The base is rather good. Its not as strong as the Beats by Dr. Dre but you still get more with these headphones overall in my opinion.

The case:
Its nice, not great though. Doesn't offer any protection to the headphones but thats not a huge deal because the headphones are pretty tough.

Some other things to know:
The headphone jack is very small and will fit into most iPhone 4 cases. I have a Elementcase Vapor Nickle case and they fit like a charm and that was one of my main concerns because my iPhone is my iPod too. Last thing, the remote and mic on the cord works rather nicely unlike the one on the beats which broke for me almost right away. The remote also has a rewind feature via 3 presses of the centre button which is something I've wanted for a while.

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. Definitely recommend these to everyone if you have the money. Sorry about the long review but hey, If your spending this much money, you need the info!

I've had these headphones going on several months now. The sound quality is amazing considering you can use these without a headphone amp. Since I got these, I've been rediscovering my music collection and can vouch that they work in all genre's. However, if you want excessive and unnatural booming bass, look elsewhere. Not that the bass on the B&W's isn't powerful (it is), but don't expect bass bloat. This is an accurate and musical audiophile device - not prone to altering the character of the music it's being fed. The build quality is superb and the aesthetics are impressive. Even the storage pouch they come in reeks class. If there is one drawback, it's that they tend to move when eating. The chewing motion of your jaw tends to move them off your ears, requiring periodic adjustment. A small nit to pick for sure. While $300. is not chump-change, particularly in this economic climate, it's a very inexpensive way to enter the world of high-end audio. Highly recommended. Enjoy!

P5 is just..awesome. Amazing sound, quality material, really comfortable, unique design.... The only down side is that it is little pricey. But it is worth it

I recently purchased the B&W P5 headphones and I am more then happy with them. I have owned the Bose On-Ear headphones for 2 years and while satisfied with its sound I could not resist the P5.
Comparing the two, the sound quality of the P5 is noticeably better from the start then the On-Ear. The sound of the P5 is much more clear and natural. The build quality of the P5 is also much better then the On-Ear. It's kind of like comparing Bentley (P5) to a BMW 3 series (On-Ear). The P5 is made of leather and steel while the On-Ear is plastic & synthetic fabric. The only benefits of the On-Ear are is it is a little lighter, (but I do not notice the weight difference when on my head) and the On-Ear folds up, making it a little bit more portable.
I was told the mic on the P5 sounded natural when on the phone and the controls are very convenient for basic iphone controls.
Overal the P5's are great headphones that sound great, look great, and are very comfortable. I highly recommend them.

I've always loved the sound of the Bose Around-Ear headphones, but was never happy with the low quality of their product. The main problem I always had with them was how the cord eventually breaks from the audio jack.

These Bowers & Wilkins headphones look great, they sound even more amazing, and have beautiful top-quality construction. The cord is even changeable when you pop the cushion off the headphone!!! (My favorite feature, aside from the brilliant sound)

I know these will be a great investment to last a long time (longer than the 1 year Bose headphones so) and are worth every dollar.