Reviews for Bowers & Wilkins C5 In-Ear Headphones

Having admired B&W speakers for years - and been a proud owner of the 801Fs - I was excited to replace my aging Bose earphones with the B&W C5s. To my unpleasant surprise they sounded tinny. I listen to classical and opera and the entire soundstage moved back 1000 feet. Strings sounded strident and the brass lacked punch. There was no bass to speak of. The Bose are far superior. Changing the ear tips is just about impossible. They will rip if you try. I'm sticking with the Bose - a far superior product. Too bad...and disappointing.

1 of 2 people found this useful

Great bass, decent treble, vocals were clear. But something in the sound was missing that just wasn't there. They also did not stay in my ears nearly as well as I thought and were very uncomfortable. Sound cancellation was pretty good. I think these headphones would only be good for planes and car rides with lack of movement. Also way to expensive for what they produce. Build quality was great, I didn't feel the worry for them breaking any time soon. Only had them for a few days until i returned them though.

3.5 stars to sound quality (because of price)
4 stars to looks
2 stars for comfort
4.5 stars for build quality

2 of 4 people found this useful

What can I say... these will BLOW your mind!! I'm hearing things in the music I love like I've never heard before. I'm actually enjoying listening to my collection all over again! LIke it's NEW music. The sound is that good! I blast it way up and the sound is just rich, rich, rich. I think it rivals cans (headphones), for me the same sound as my Bose noise canceling headphones. It's much better than the Apple in-ear $80 earphones, and the loops hold in your ear!

So happy with these earphones I was literally going around the house with them plugged into my iPhone with my music library blasting.

The increased Bit-rate Albums available when you register your device are great too. Bit tricky because the songs end up being 170mb vs 10mb at the Apple 256kbs sample-rate. But you could pick a favorite song and keep a few. iTunes quality is nothing to sneeze at!

And I was schooled that it's know as B&W not Bowers & Wilkins by audiophiles--- of which I'm soon becoming!!!!

3 of 4 people found this useful

I love the sound and fit of the C5. Very comfortable and the sound quality is awesome. The problems for me are that the right side stopped working after 2 months. They were covered under warranty so I sent them back and got them fixed. Now the left side intermittently stops working and the volume up button on the inline control turns the volume down. What I am also unhappy about is that because I currently live outside of the US and bought them in the US, I get charged a $25 fee to return them even though they do not have to leave the country where I live to get fixed/replaced. So now I have had to spend an extra $50 because of their manufacturing problems. I take very good care of these because I loved the sound so much and I shouldn't have to spend the extra money because of their problems. It's unfortunate because the sound is so good when they work properly but I would not recommend these because if these issues.

5 of 7 people found this useful

I've had these headphones for about 8 months. Before getting to the negative, I have to say that the sound quality and noise cancellation capability of the B&W headphones are a cut above. I've owned Shures and Monster in-ear headphones previously and these are better. Now the bad part - over the past couple of months I've been getting shocked intermittently when I'm walking outside in the cold and when I make sudden movements either getting up from a desk, couch or generally moving around. The design flaw is most likely due to the ear pieces being made of metal and not being properly grounded.

Barring the free shock therapy, I would have given the headphones 5-stars.

1 of 3 people found this useful

These B&W C5s have exceeded every expectation I've had from high end earphones. Build quality is nice, sound quality is excellent (mids and highs are crisp and accurate) and there's plenty of bass to be had. That's right. BASS. We're not talking about the type of inaccurate, low frequency garbage you get from Beats headphones but rather just enough to accentuate higher frequency tones without muddling the SQ.

They are extremely comfortable - they may look a bit weird but believe me, they conform to your ears very quickly.

Only drawback is the storage pouch that comes with 'em. Way too small. The zipper doesn't function properly.

Sure, these are pricey but if you care about SQ, then the C5s are well worth the money!

3 of 3 people found this useful

I bought the C5 from an Apple store after reading positive reviews. I am a classically trained musician/composer with very critical listening skills and am naturally very critical about sonic fidelity. B&W has always been a favorite brand due to its consistent quality and design philosophy-being true to the sound with min. coloration. The C5 lives up to the reputation. Clear, dynamic, with no excessive bass enhancement. My favorite lossless recordings are faithfully reproduced with spacious sound within iTunes. Great product for the price. Since I just got them, I couldn't say much about the durability at this point. Other very positive features are the Apple product integration: mic and iPod function controls work very well. The ear loop is a very innovative design that allows the earbuds to securely position with min. fuzz.

The only minor flaws: poor soft carrying case design and the cord is bit short.

Highly recommended for the pure sonic quality and innovative fitment.

I am not one to write a review, However, these headphones deserve some recommendation. i tried monster Dr.Dre in ear and returned them (cheesy\cheap) tried Klipsch S4i and the controller was half way down the what seemed like a six foot cord. not practical to use iPhone controls especially when the cord is inside your zipped up jacket. Tried Bose Mie2i and the controls were great. Sound however was sad. no bass, harsh treble and the stay hear tips were brutal. Zero noise cancelling and have to crank them to hear which distorts sound. As for the C5's, wow!!!!! As soon as the box is open you notice great looking fit and finish and attention to detail. Cord is stiff and strong feeling. Ear inserts were tricky but once I figured it out they fit nice, secure and comfortably. The sound so far is amazing. Clear and perfect balance of low's, mid's and high's. Instruments really clear and the voice is great. the controls are up high and on the left ear. A little tricky and mostly rounded except for a little notch for the call/pause button. It will taking getting use to. I see people with gloves having a hard time and if youre driving to answer a call may take a few more seconds which could be good or bad depending on whose calling LOL.

Overall. good looking box and accessories including pouch. Fit and finish modern, contemporary and kinda industrial because you can see the wire (which i like) The sound is better than the ones i mentioned incase youre considering the above mentioned headphones. Cord is not long so for those tall ladies and gents take that into consideration. For the althetic types the ear inserts are really secure and normal jogging should not dislodge these at all. They feel more secure than other mentioned headphones.

2 of 2 people found this useful

Used them for a few months before the right side stopped working entirely. Hopefully B&W will warranty these things.

9 of 13 people found this useful

These look cool, but the sound quality isn't the greatest and I've already had to had them replaced because the wiring came loose resulting in jumpy sound quality. Plus the worst part...they've shocked my ear on multiple occasions (both the old pair and the replacement set). Looking for a new set set of headphones now.

4 of 8 people found this useful