Headphone Reviews

Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones Page 2

Sound Quality
The B&W P7 has a gentle, tasty "V" shaped response with a slightly emphasized mid-bass and mid-treble. To my ears the only thing that rises to the level of a flaw is the bass boost is a bit mid-bass centric, and bleeds just slightly into the midrange. This is a very minor flaw and easily accommodated in listening.

Other deviations from neutral are minor and don't rise to the level of "flaw" but rather add to the character of the headphone. Me, I'm a "give me neutral with a slight roll-off in the upper treble and a 5dB bass boost below 150Hz" kind of guy, so the P7 is just a tad too bright for me. Thing is, it's close enough that it doesn't interfere with my listening pleasure...well, other than the slight bass bloom.

This is an important point I think: Once you're close enough to neutral, critiquing a headphone is more about describing its character rather than pointing out flaws. The P7 is a dandy headphone presenting itself as having a warm and lively character.

Mid-range is smooth and even. Female vocals are nicely coherent. Transition into the treble is likewise well integrated. Cymbals are natural sounding and well resolved, though just a bit grainy and slightly more emphatic than I would desire.

Imaging is reasonably well defined and stable. Slightly wider than it is deep; I'd say it strikes a nice balance between being so deep it feels too distant, and being too close and in your face. Nominal in the NASA sense—on target and meeting expectations.

Dynamic impact, like imaging, is kind of right down the middle. It's not soft or sloppy, and it's not going to knock an eyeball out. Again, nominal.

Removing the cable and listening over Bluetooth I'm relieved to say that not much changes at all. The bass gets a tad looser, and the sound gets a bit less refined when compared to being well amped over the cable. But compared to many headphones, the P7 does an outstanding job of keeping its composure when loosing its tether.

Summary
The Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless is an elegant, well built, comfortable Bluetooth headphones with excellent sound quality and good isolation. Built with leather, chromed steel, and anodized aluminum, the build quality, fit and finish is superb. A true daily driver...especially if you like English sports cars; very natty.

The overall sonic character is warm and lively. The lows are nicely emphasized, though a bit mid-bass centric and slightly invading the low-mids. Mid-treble is very slightly emphasized and is nicely resolving; cymbals are natural sounding though just a tad forward.

This is a really solid from a premier audio company and will pretty easily knock a few cans of the Wall of Fame. One note here is that I've seen quite a bit of competition in this category/price-range, and I expect the P7 Wireless is going to have its work cut out for it to remain on the WoF going forward. Good times for us listeners though, the P7 feels like the beginning of a new age of quality headphones worth the price of admission.