Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsP5 Wireless – The Best Wireless Headphones Today
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2015
Edit: Even months later these headphones are by far my favorite audio product ever. Nowadays I use these headphones with 12" retina Macbook, iPhone 6S Plus, and Apple Watch, and the wireless audio performance is absolutely fantastic on any of the devices above. Although I am pretty careful with my stuff anyway, it is also good to note that the pair still looks like new, thus the build quality is just about as durable as it can be. I would recommend all Mac users to download Bluetooth Explorer app made by Apple. The app can be used to force Mac's Bluetooth audio output to go through with AptX codec, which is a slight improvement over SBC codec that is being used by default.
All the listening I have done with P5 Wireless has been in wireless mode and thus I’m not going to compare how do they sound wireless versus wired. After all, why would one buy wireless to listen with a wire when wired can be had for $100 less. Music I listen to is streamed from Apple Music (presumably 256kbps AAC) through either iTunes on 13” Macbook Pro (Early 2015, OS X 10.11 Beta) or Music app on iPhone 6 (iOS 9.0 Beta). My choice of wireless headphones and listening equipment probably confirms that I’m not very hardcore audiophile.
Connectivity:
P5 Wireless was easy to pair to both of my devices. On the bottom of the right side of the headphones there is a power switch / bluetooth button. Sliding the switch turns headphones on and off and pressing the button for 2 seconds brings P5 Wireless to pairing mode. First thing you pair P5 Wireless to becomes a “master device” and short press of the bluetooth button will connect to this device. With other paired devices it is required to go to bluetooth settings and reconnect whenever you want to use headphones, but going through pairing process is not necessary. According to B&W, P5 Wireless can remember 8 devices at once, but I do not have more than 2 so I can’t confirm this.
After connection is established in between of device and P5 Wireless the connection is very solid. Connection does not stutter or anything until I go to the opposite corner from an iPhone or Macbook Pro in small/mid-size Floridian home with pretty open floor plan. I doubt there will be any issues with the connection in any normal situations. While connected it is also possible to control music playback with volume up, down, and play/pause buttons. They work well, but I prefer to control through the device I’m using instead.
Design:
Aesthetics are very subjective thing, but I personally like the way P5 Wireless looks and feels. They’re mostly made out of leather and metals, but rather than having chrome ring familiar from P5 and P5 S2 in between of ear pad and ear cup there’s a black plastic ring, which accommodates all the buttons. I’m not too big fan of plastic, but this strip seems sturdy enough and is probably a necessity to achieve stable bluetooth connection.
These are also pretty comfortable headphones for me to use–more comfortable than P5 or P5 S2. However, since I’d rank P5 to be the least comfortable and P5 Wireless to be most comfortable, I suspect that my head is just getting more used to the feel of these headphones over time and they’re in fact just about equally comfortable when compared to each other. Regardless, although I don’t have much experience with my P5 Wireless I bet I can wear them for long hours without significant discomfort.
Sound:
Unfortunately sound is the hardest thing for me to really review since I have nothing really to compare these to. Of course I have had some other headphones too outside of B&W offerings, but it has been so long ago that I can’t possibly remember their sound. Additionally, I have nothing to do direct comparison with since I always sell, dispose, recycle, or give away my previous stuff before buying new. In fact, besides some furniture, all of my stuff fits in the cargo area of Mustang, so I really don’t have too much stuff…
Regardless of lack of comparison I can still say though that P5 Wireless sounds very good. Judging by the sound I couldn’t really tell they are in fact a wireless pair of headphones. Mid frequencies are probably their strongest point and vocals sound fantastic. Highs are pretty good too, but sometimes a bit too bright to me. I personally set EQ to bring highs slightly down. Bass in these headphones is something I like very much too. To me it feels like that the bass would be “under” or “behind” the vocals, while still having quite good presence. Out of my memory P5 Wireless bass seems to be less powerful than it was on P5 S2, but I can still very much enjoy EDM and other bass heavy music I tend to listen to.
EDIT:
Sound has changed quite a bit after using more of these headphones. It might be due to mysterious burn-in, which I do not really believe in that much, or ear pads have now had more time to form a shape better to my ears. It may also be just me getting used to the sound, but again, I used to own P5 S2, which sounded almost the same to what P5 Wireless has now become.
Anyway, bass has now got off of the background and instead is very present in the listening experience. I love the bass of these headphones now as I did with P5 S2 too. In the beginning treble was too sparkly or sibilant, but now it's no longer an issue. Mid frequencies are still fantastic and the vocal reproduction of these headphones is hard to beat. Soundstage is not too big, but it's sufficient or even great for an on-ear headphone.
All in all, I'd recommend these headphones to just about anyone looking to drop $399.99 for their listening experience. While many wired options might be more accurate sounding, P5 Wireless is joy to listen to with wireless convenience. Finally, these also sound great from any modern bluetooth capable source, so buyer doesn't have to worry about impedances or other technical stuff–they just work! I bet that simplicity and convenience with this great sound cannot be beaten by anything on the market today.
