B&W clearly wanted the P5 to deliver a true luxury experience right out of the box. Everything about it oozes class, from the container and travel case, to the headphone itself with its supple New Zealand sheep's leather headband/ear pads and brushed stainless-steel framework. There's barely a sliver of plastic to be found anywhere. I have an XL noggin that usually tests the maximum limits of headphone size, and with the P5s I found its largest setting to be just about perfect.
Many travel-oriented headphones use active-cancellation circuitry to lower ambient noise levels, but B&W feels (and I generally concur) that this approach often results in weird tonal balance problems that negatively impact sound quality. For the P5, the company went with a much simpler solution that it calls noise isolation, which means designing the headphone to block out as much external noise as possible. To achieve this end, the P5's ear pads are cushioned using the same type of memory foam you see on some mattresses, which forms a tight-fitting seal with your outer ear. The closed-back design also helps block out external noise, as does the extra-sturdy metal construction.
As you'd expect from on-the-ear headphones, the P5 applies a moderate amount of pressure on your ears. The super-soft leather makes it very comfortable for shorter listening stints, but after an hour or two I would get the urge to lift it off my head for a few seconds to give my ears a rest. Many around-the-ear headphones make my ears sweat, but I found that enough air circulated with the P5 to avoid any sauna effect.
shopped pretty much everything high end in head phones and at the end of the day I went home with B&W P-5. Best sound with an excellent company to back up there product. No way would B&W put out sub quality on the market. They are the household name with to much to lose. By far blew Boses out of the water sound comfort quality dont get me wrong I do own Boses products again an exchasted search for my ears and head.. And the winner is!!!!
Bill M.
I've owned my P-5's for over a year now. In the winter I move to a condo with units both over and under ours so buying a pair of good speakers was out of the question for me as I listen mostly late at night. The P-5's are the answer for me. I plug them in to my receiver and crank up the sound to whatever level i wish.
The sound quality is wonderful and the headphones are well designed and comfortable. While these are not "sound cancelling" headphones per se, they do a great job of isolating the listener in the world of whatever music you may be listening to. After an hour or so i sometimes remove them for a moment or so to let my ears recalibrate to normal room ambiance, but these headpnones are never uncomfortable and my ears never get hot or sweaty.
To me, the P-5's are worth every cent I paid for them and the only thing better is when I return back to my summer residence and can listen to my B&W 804S speakers. Pure musical bliss.