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B&W P5 headphones: “first impressions” review

I was in the market for some new headphones. My Sennheiser PXC450s have worn all around the earcup, and they don’t make a good seal around my ears with glasses on anyway. I’ve been looking at various alternatives, chief among them the Sennheiser MM450 headset, because it’s bluetooth, and the sound quality is really good considering what they have to deal with. I gave them a good test (as my girlfriend has them) by taking them on the tube last time I was in London. The sound quality isn’t quite up there for me (although it’s remarkably good, with particularly tight bass), and more importantly, they don’t isolate well enough.

When I heard about B&W moving into headphone production, and aiming for a really well-made, high-end set which was designed to be used with portable devices, I was naturally interested. Upon investigating more and reading a couple of reviews, I thought I’d give them a go. After all, if I don’t like them after a week, I can always return them.

They’ve turned up today. 

First off, the unboxing is close to Apple quality. I know this is hardly the most important thing in the world, but it’s part of the experience. One criticism: when removing the stickers that hold the nicely-designed box together, the covering on the cardboard tore in a very ugly way despite my care. Not a good start. With that out of the way, the packaging is lovely. They come with a nice little pouch - a little ostentatious for my liking, but then we are talking about headphones made of aluminium, steel and “New Zealand sheep’s leather”.

The included iPhone cable, which can control more recent iPhones and iPods, actually does work with my iPhone 3G. I can pause and play music, jump tracks etc. I just can’t alter the volume, which isn’t the end of the world.

The build quality of these is exquisite. I’ve owned Bose and Sennheiser headphones costing upwards of £300, but never anything that has the right balance of weight and solidity coupled with a lightness in real use. Again, very Apple-like. Every moveable part on the headphones is weighted and damp just so, and all the non-moveable parts don’t, well, move. The earcups are attached magnetically, which I was sceptical about, but there’s no movement. 

Comfort is top-notch. I’m wearing them now, and despite being not much lighter than my Sennheisers (195g vs. 240), they feel much less heavy on my head, and are very secure despite being supra-aural.

The sound quality is interesting. They’re more sensitive than any headphones I’ve used recently, heading towards painfully loud at the top end of the iPhone volume. They’re also seemingly very tightly damped: everything has a hell of a punch to it at the moment. Bass is strong and clear (which don’t always go hand in hand), and very deep. Vocal frequencies are frequently spine-tinglingly exquisite. Treble is a tiny bit lacking clarity at some points, but I’m finding little flashes of utter brilliance when listening to my favourite test albums.

The same criticism applies to the spaciousness of the sound. At times, they sound like the best open-back ‘phones I’ve used, but at others they’re no better than the Bose or Sennheiser sets I’ve had in the past.

They definitely don’t flatter badly-recorded or badly-encoded music: I’m listening to 256kbit AAC, which I had determined to be undistinguishable from lossless source audio for me with previous headphones and speakers, and a couple of moments have had me questioning whether it’s “good enough”. Once I’ve spent some more time with them, I’ll go back to the source CDs and see if it’s simply imperfections in the source music. 

They’re seemingly opening up over the course of a few hours, but I’ll be reporting back with more info once I’ve given them more of a listen. If the flashes of promise are anything to go by, these could be the first truly brilliant headphones for long-term use in a moderately noisy office environment that I’ve used.