They’re made by Bowers & Wilkins, of Zeppelin and Zeppelin Mini fame, so even before seeing them you expect the B&W P5 headphones to be something special. They’re also the company’s first foray into headphone manufacture, and though they’re a ‘Made for iPod’ and ‘Works with iPhone’ product, it doesn’t put a damper on our expectations ever since going ears-on with a pair at CES in January.
The clues are all there even before looking at the headphones themselves. For a start, Bowers & Wilkins are asking £250 for a pair of P5s, which is hardly pocket change. It’s a price point full of competition, too, be it from IEMs such as the Grado GR8 and SE530, or ‘real’ headphones of the Denon AH-D2000 or Grado SR325 variety.
And with all that in mind it’s still hard to look at the P5s and not think: “why yes, that is what £250-worth of audio equipment should look like. Everything that isn’t metal is leather. And not faux leather, but actual leather made from a sheep previously resident in New Zealand – vegans and the devoutly vegetarian will have to avoid these.
The choice of materials isn’t purely aesthetic. While the design is undeniably pleasing to look at, the use of metal for the headband and rear of the ear-cups provides durability that’s essential in a set of headphones that will be carried with your iPhone or iPod (or indeed any device with a headphone output). Moreover, while the sheep may have a thing or two to say about its use, it’s undeniable that leather is a beautifully comfortable material. It’s tactile in a way that synthetic materials simply cannot replicate – try though they might.
This beauty isn’t skin deep. The P5 headphones’ impeccable design extends inwards with details such as memory foam padding under the ear-cups’ leather skin. As a result, wearing the P5s is more akin to giving your ears a warm, leather-bound hug than anything else.
I’ve been wearing the P5s almost permanently for several days now, and I’ve yet to find them uncomfortable. Furthermore, I’ve had no problems with overheating despite the closed-back design and the large amount of leather pressing on my ears – an issue I’ve had with other headphones. Yes, Teufel AC 9050 PH, I’m talking about you.
Particularly inspired is the decision to make the ear cups detachable, held in place magnetically on small nibs. Should you damage one, or simply wear it out from over-use, you’ll only have to replace the cup itself – a cheaper proposition than buying a new pair of headphones.
Removing these cups also reveals another trick of the B&W P5 headphones. Under the right-hand cup you’ll find a serial number, which isn’t exactly exciting. Under the left-hand cup, however, is a 2.5mm jack, into which the headphones’ cable plugs. Two cables are provided with the P5 headphones. One has, as you’d expect, an in-line remote for use with your iPhone, iPod or even a Mac for that matter, with the second, predictably, eschewing any controls.
This might seem like an unnecessary addition, but it’s indicative of the thought that’s been put into creating these headphones. Plus, some MP3 players won’t work with headphones that also have a microphone built-in, with which the remote-less cable should work. So there!
As with so many recent Apple-orientated products the remote will only work fully with newer devices. As such, while the volume and play/pause control worked with my iPhone 3G, the microphone did not. I was able to use it to deliver Voice Control commands to my 64GB iPod touch, although why I would want to, except in the interests of testing, I cannot fathom.
It’s also worth mentioning that the cabling is quite thin, and feels by far the weakest point in the P5’s design. It’s not going to fall apart in your hands, but it does seem something of a let down when the attention to detail is so good in every other respect. There’s even a 3.5mm to 6.25mm adaptor thrown in, alongside a fabric carrying case, to round out the overall package.
Best of all, because the P5’s are so very comfortable, you tend to forget you’re wearing them and find yourself not listening to music through a pair of headphones, but instead listening just to your music. I should add here, too, that the closed-back design gives a reasonable level of noise isolation. These factors, as anyone with a modicum of knowledge will tell you, is exactly what you want from a good pair of headphones.
I’ve had plenty of time to establish that neither my iPhone nor my iPod touch is a particularly good source device for music. Apple may well provide a lossless codec, but even when using high quality IEMs such as the Grado GR8 I’d be kidding myself if I could say for certain that the difference between ALAC and a well-encoded 320kbps MP3 is always discernible. And yet, somehow, the B&W P5s make my iPod touch sound far better than it has any right to.
The low end is prominent, but without becoming overwhelming, which lends these headphones well to the likes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 or Mozart’s Requiem. Woodwinds and strings in particular have excellent, reverberating warmth of tone. You might argue that the bass is too strong, but at best that would be finicky verging on just plain wrong.
There’s superb mid-range clarity as well, with vocals ringing out particularly clearly and an impressive sense of separation between instruments. Topping this off is a crisp, refined high end and a spatial soundstage that never feels crowded. Furthermore, even at high listening volumes the P5’s aren’t fatiguing on the ears and there’s no trace of distortion.
What the high quality of the P5s mostly did, as do so many other high end IEMs and headphones, is remind you just how awful a source device an iPod touch or iPhone actually is. But make no mistake, if I had £250 to spend on a pair of headphones for my iPhone, it would be these I’d buy.
Verdict
There’s no escaping the old maxim of garbage in garbage out, but the Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones make an iPod sound better than you have any right to expect, and for that they have to be applauded. However, they can only do so much with a substandard input and I can only hope that a set of proper audiophile grade headphones – or even IEMs – will find their way out of Bowers & Wilkins’ labs soon enough.
Overall Score 4 – 1/2 Stars
Scores in Detail
Value 9
Sound Quality 9
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Where to buy Bowers & Wilkins: http://abtec.co.nz/product-search.php?keyword=Keywords&category=&brand=118&search=