Metal and sealed-leather construction
Cable with Remote and microphone
Audio cable with gold-plated 3.5mm plug
Luxurious sound and a luxurious fit set the Bowers & Wilkins over-the-ear headphones apart from others. Two 40mm drivers reproduce a refreshingly natural and highly detailed concert for your ears alone. A padded leather headband and comfortable noise-isolating ear cups keep you listening all day long. For easy storage, you can fold the P5's flat.
This review is from: Bowers & Wilkins P5 Over-the-ear noise-isolating headphones
For the past 3 years my headphone of choice was wildly popular Sennheiser 555. I decided that I wanted to try something new, not because I disliked the the 555's, not at all because they were fairly solid cans. I just wanted to hear my music with a fresh sound, and sometimes changing headphones can provide that. Let me preface this by saying I listen to many different types of music. From extreme metal, jazz, acoustic, hip hop, electronica, progressive rock, so i needed a pair that was pretty versatile. I had a few areas i wanted to focus on when getting new headphones.
No external amp needed- Didn't want to be bothered with amping my phones
Smaller than the 555's the Senns were huge, so that shouldn't be so hard!
Closed headphones- I wanted to listen to music with out bothering others
Comfort- the 555's were very comfortable
Sound - I wanted more low end, and my Sennheisers didn't have much bass un amped (never tried with an amp)
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.
Now lets look at my areas. No amp- check. Smaller than the 555's- Check. Closed headphones- Check. Comfort-not as much as my prior pair. Sound- Check.
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....
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