[General Accessories] vectron:
This is a review of Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless headphones. http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Headphones/Headphones/Headphones/P5-Wireless.html , also available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bowers-Wilkins-Wireless-Headphone-Black/dp/B00Y0Q9LFU/

Today you can find a lot of headphones labeled as "premium", but not all of them could be considered as truly "luxurious". If you narrow it down to what one might consider as premium-luxurious, it still doesn’t guarantee a great sound. And if you prefer a wireless connection - you probably should brace yourself for more compromises and a very limited selection. Out of the blue (at least it caught me by surprise), B&W just released a new Bluetooth Wireless version of their latest P5 Series 2 model with a checkmark next to all of these requirements. Premium and luxurious is already synonymous with Bowers & Wilkins brand name. I reviewed a number of their headphones in the past, and was always impressed with a quality of leather material, sexy wavy curves of chrome frame attached to earcups, concealed cable attachment (clever, but a bit time consuming), and a sound quality which I found to mimic analog tuning of full size speakers. Their first entry into Bluetooth world with T7 speaker was quite impressive as well, thus Bluetooth wireless headphones made sense as the next logical step. Here is what I found after spending over a week testing B&W P5 Wireless (P5W).

Packaging a gear in a black sturdy box has been a common practice with a lot of companies who want to underline premium quality of what to expect inside. Often you are not going to see much on the cover of such "gift" box beside a company/product name, while in this case B&W put a bold picture of their P5W on both the front and the back sides. No marketing hype, no functionality description, no specification list - just an elegant image of their headphones with captivating curves that draw you right in. When you lift a cover, your unboxing experience is rewarded with a "jewelry" display presentation of P5W in its leather, metal, and chrome glory.

Unboxing.

With headphones out of the way, I was looking at a set of familiar P5 accessories including a quilted soft case and two sets of cables, except this time it was an audio headphone cable and usb charging cable. Since smartphone controls are integrated as part of Bluetooth wireless functionality, you no longer need a cable with in-line remote/mic, thus only an audio cable was included (3.5mm side to your source and proprietary 2.5mm to a hidden jack inside of earcup). Typical of many other wireless headphones, P5W offers both wireless and wired connection if you run out of juice. Just keep in mind that you can get up to 17 hours of listening time from a single charge at moderate volume level.

The case is the same as the one included with P5 S2, except this one has a small inner pocket for cable storage. Personally, I’m still on a fence about it. Using it at home is convenient, though my wife keeps teasing me if she can borrow my “purse”. P5W has a nice fold flat design with earcups rotating 90 degrees, and a soft quilted case with a magnetic flip cover does a good job of cushioning and protecting it. But a soft case doesn’t offer the best protection when you are traveling and want to shelter your headphone investment. I just wish B&W would offer a hard shell storage case, even as an add-on accessory. If they can make their headphones look that good, I can only imagine what they can come up with for a case.

Accessories.

When it comes to a design, as I mentioned before, all B&W headphones stand out with a premium luxury details common across their different models, just scaled up or down depending on over-ear or on-ear design. You will find a genuine perforated leather material covering soft memory foam of earpads, as well as the back of earcups covered in leather around the sides with a black brushed aluminum plate in the middle with an etched “Bowers & Wilkins” name. Earcups are attached on one side to a solid curved chrome metal double wire that waves into the headband. Beside previously mentioned 90 deg rotation mechanism, earcups also have a degree of tilt to adjust to your ears/head shape. Earpads are attached magnetically to earcups, and I will cover more about it later when discussing cable attachment. But I do want to mention that after 20-30 minutes of continuous use, my ears did get warm - it wasn’t too uncomfortable, but still noticeable.

The headband is leather wrapped and has soft foam padding on the inner side. The whole construction felt very solid and lightweight with an evenly distributed 215 grams of weight. Also, headband height adjustment was buttery smooth while still requiring a little bit of force so it doesn't slide out loose. Similar to P5 Series 2, clamping force was a bit tight out of the box and required a short break in period. After a few days it felt more comfortable while still offering an acceptable sound isolation. Regarding sound isolation, you do have to be realistic this is on-ear design which can't be compared to over-ear, thus you should expect to hear outside noise but with a good attenuation while still being aware of surrounding. Also even at full height extension, I think P5W model is more appropriate for small and medium heads, while it could be a bit tight if you got a big one on your shoulders.

Design.

Unlike other headphones with a removable cable, P5W (exactly like P5 Series 2) has a proprietary cable with a standard 3.5mm on the side going to your audio source and 2.5mm angled connector hidden inside of the left earcup. It's really a clever design which makes a cable attachment to earcup look like it has a hardwired seamless connection. To get to the connector you need to remove magnetically attached left earpad to access internal 2.5mm plug. Right side earpad is magnetically attached as well for an easy replacement. I do want to comment about being careful if you have sharp nails so you don't damage the leather since these magnets are quite strong. The cable itself feels sturdy yet thin, has a round shape, and feels soft. Also, due to a connection with a removable cable inside of the earcup, I didn't sense any microphonics effect.

Without a doubt, that is one clever way to attach a cable, but it's not as efficient as just being able to plug in a cable directly, and fiddling with earpads is a bit time consuming.

Replacement pads and wired connection.

Before I proceed to sound quality analysis, let me talk about P5W Bluetooth wireless performance and the controls. I have reviewed a lot of wireless headphones in the past, everything from minimalistic controls or touch controls to controls with individual and exotic buttons. In my opinion P5W strikes a perfect balance between all of these with a multi-function spring-loaded power button that turns headphones on when you slide and hold it and goes into pair-up mode when you push it. And everything else is taken care of by 3 other conveniently located buttons. All these operation are accompanied by a pleasant chime tone, the same one used in T7 wireless speaker.

Pair up was easy and seamless, and headphones were connected to phone and media audio without any problem. All the controls were within easy reach on the back of the right earcup, using 3 buttons with volume up/down assigned to the upper and the lower one, and a raised button in the middle for Play/Pause/Call with a single click, Skip Next with a double click, Skip Back with a triple click, and long press to start Google NOW. The location of buttons on the back of earcup was very convenient and easy to ID by sliding a finger to find a button in the middle. The same right earcup has micro-usb charging port at the bottom next to power button, a bi-color led, and two mic pinhole vents contributing to an excellent voice pick up. Sound quality during calls was noted to be excellent.

With a support of the latest BT4.1, wireless performance was quite good covering a stutter free distance of 40 feet in open space. Also, during a testing with my Note 4 in a pocket and while covering earcups with my hands, the wireless connection was still solid. And of course, with a support of apt-X, AAC, and SBC audio codecs – I was able to confirm a really good audio performance as well. If you are using Android based devices, apt-X support is a must. Btw, one interesting thing that I did notice - as soon as you plug in the cable, wireless connection was automatically disabled.

Wireless operation.

When it comes to a sound quality, we are still dealing with a pair of 40mm drivers used in P5 Series 2 with a full dynamic range tuning. As a result, wired performance was very similar to P5 S2, but slightly different in comparison to Wireless which now depends on internal D/A audio decoding of digital stream and analog conversion to pump the drivers. As a matter of fact, I actually enjoyed wireless sound a little more than wired. Wired was close in comparison, but had just a little more depth in soundstage and a little more sub-bass. But retrieval of details wasn't exactly on the same level as wireless. Also due to lower sensitivity in wired mode, it needed a little volume boost. In comparison, Wireless sound was more balanced and with a better separation and layering effect.

In more details, I found Wireless audio performance to be nicely balanced with a full body sound and excellent extension at both ends of frequency spectrum. It had a nice soundstage with slightly above the average width and an average depth with a more intimate feeling. I found layering and separation of instruments and vocals to be just perfect.

Low end has a deep meaty sub-bass extension which adds a nice level of rumble without overpowering the bass, mid-bass punch is fast and well controlled without crossing

lower-mids threshold. The balance between sub-bass and mid-bass quantity was just perfect and also the reason why I preferred wireless sound over wired.

Lower-mids have a nice body without adding extra "weight" to the sound, and upper mids have a great level of smooth clarity with excellent retrieval of details. This is noticeable especially with vocals, male or female, that sound smooth and organic. Overall mids have a perfect balance of smooth and detailed sound.

Treble has a good extension, also with a clear, crisp, and smooth sound. No sibilance or ear fatigue during extended listening. I was actually very pleased with upper mids/treble performance which often gets neglected in wireless headphones.

And speaking of other wireless headphones, here is a comparison with some other on-ear and over-ear models (Meelec Touch, Meelec Matrix 2, Stance S1+, and Momentum 2 Wireless).

P5W vs Touch - Touch has less sub-bass and a touch more aggressive mid-bass, lower mids are a bit thinner and upper mids are a little brighter and a bit more forward, treble is a bit crispier. For 1/4 of the price Touch is a great value, though build/design is not as luxurious, and touch controls could be a bit confusing. Overall, P5W sounds smoother and more organic.

P5W vs M2W - M2W has a wider/deeper soundstage, a bit less sub-bass and a similar mid-bass, also similar lower mids, but upper mids are more recessed, darker, and a little less detailed, treble is also a bit darker and has less quantity in comparison. M2W full size over-ear is more comfortable and added sound isolation of ANC is a plus. P5W controls are straight forward and easier to reach, sound tuning is smoother and more detailed, and Bluetooth performance is more stable.

P5W vs Matrix 2 - M2 has less sub-bass and slower mid-bass, thinner lower-mids and less detailed upper mids (not the same level of clarity), similar treble. P5W controls are more minimalistic and straight forward, and it has a more luxurious build/design.

P5W vs S1+ - S1 has a lot less sub-bass and mid-bass is less aggressive, lower mids are a little thinner and upper mids are a little brighter and slightly more detailed, treble has a better extension and a little brighter and crispier. Soundstage in S1+ is a little wider. Also, S1+ controls are a little more confusing.

Conclusion.

B&W P5 Wireless came out of the blue and knocked one right out of the park! I would be very curious if they ever decide to convert P7 into wireless, or perhaps B&W thinks that wireless is more appropriate when traveling thus P5 footprint is compact enough. But either way, I found P5W to hit the right mark in design quality, selection of premium materials, ergonomics of controls, battery life, and audio performance. Even with a support of BT4.x and apt-X codec you can either get a muddy performance or a sterile clean lifeless sound. Here, B&W was able to tune their drivers on a level of quality wired performance with a nicely balanced sound signature. At the same time, fitment might not be for everyone, and even with my medium size head I had to adjust earcups a bit until I find a sweet spot. In general, on-ear fitment could be a hit or a miss, and as I mentioned before – don’t expect super isolation. But if you are looking for premium luxurious headphones and craving high quality wireless audio performance – P5 Wireless sounds as good as it looks!