The British audio manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins launched a new series of headphones a few months ago. The new line of ANC headphones came in the form of the PI3, PI4, PX5 and PX7. In this review we cover the on-ear model from the series, the PX5. How good is this premium headset and how does it relate to the competition? Read the answer in this Bowers & Wilkins PX5 review.
Review Bowers & Wilkins PX5
Price: 299 euros
Battery life: 25 hours with active noise canceling, 15 minutes of charging for 5 hours of listening
Frequency range: 10Hz – 30kHz
Impedance: 20 kohms
Functions: Active noise canceling, carrier sensor, Ambient Pass-Trough
Connections: Bluetooth with aptX Adaptive, USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack
Weight: 241 grams
Included: 3.5mm stereo cable, USB-C cable, instruction book, storage case
Score: 85/100
Pros
- Very comfortable
- Nice premium design and finish
- Good ANC
- Low tones well present
Cons
- Not foldable
- Treble not super
Comfort and design
As soon as you put the PX5 on your head you must acknowledge that you are dealing with a real premium model. The composite material of woven carbon fibers looks very nice and also feels sturdy. In terms of appearance, these headphones are also one of the nicer on the market. This applies to both the blue and gray versions, although the gray model has my slight preference.
The PX5 is great. You feel that the material is a bit rigid, but it is certainly comfortable. The shells fall well on your ears and the headphones stay on at all times. Even when you are running across Amsterdam Central Station to catch your train just in time. With 241 grams, the PX5 is quite light. Long listening sessions are no problem with these headphones.
This is the Space Gray version of the PX5.
Operation and app
The operation of this device is through five buttons. These buttons are present on the ear cups. One on the left ear-cup, with this button you control the active noise canceling. There are four buttons on the right shell. Two of these buttons are used to adjust the volume. The third button is multifunctional, so you can use this button to pause your music or go to the next song. There is of course also an on and off button on the headphones, this also allows you to pair the Bluetooth. The buttons are very easy to reach with your thumbs. As far as I’m concerned this works just fine. The layout is correct and the buttons provide good physical feedback. In addition, the headset lets you know by voice when you have changed a certain setting.
What also works very handy is the fact that the music is paused as soon as the wear sensor notices that you remove an ear-cup from your head or remove the headphones. The PX5 then goes into sleep mode and will wake up (and continue to play) as soon as you put your headphones back on. Touch control is something that is missing from the PX5. With other headphones on the market it is possible to pause the music or adjust the volume via certain gestures. I myself have always been a fan of physical buttons and therefore do not call the lack of this ‘feature’ a loss.
The PX5 can also be used with an application. Here you can make settings such as the sensitivity of the wear sensor or make changes in the amount of noise reduction. Software update is also coming through this application to further optimize the headphones. For example, I received an update that improved the carrier sensor and the Ambient Pass-Through. I will return to this when discussing active noise canceling.
With the PX5 it is possible to remember two Bluetooth devices. As soon as one of these devices turns on Bluetooth, the headphones will establish the connection. Have you switched off the PX5 and then turn it on again? Then he connects to the most recent device. Switching between the two devices goes smoothly.
Audio quality
The sound coming from the headphones is nice and warm. The low tones are well represented and music becomes very spatial. Hip-hop and electronic music, for example, sound very nice. Your audio experience really gets a lot better. The sound quality is best via a wired connection. However, it must be said that excellent sound quality is also achieved via a Bluetooth connection. The AptX Adaptive technology ensures that the Bluetooth connection works well for music, but certainly also for watching films and series or playing video games. There is no delay between image and sound.
Since the PX5 puts a lot of focus on the low tones, the high tones are a little less clear. You have to take into account that it is an ANC headset with bluetooth and not a studio headset attached to an amplifier. For the manageability and flexibility of the PX5, there is certainly something to be done.
The low weight and comfort of the headphone might indicate a relatively lower sound quality, but the 35.6 mm drive units do a good job.
How good is the ANC?
The ANC works very well. Compared to other on-ears, the PX5 does an excellent job in this area. Even some over-ear headphones give Bowers & Wilkins a head start with this model. At the high anc position, ambient noise is very well damped. Both sound from, for example, birth and voice sound are almost no longer audible. In addition, the active noise canceling can be set to three different positions, and the application even offers the possibility to further change the ANC level itself. There are 4 microphones to control the ANC. In addition, two microphones are also available to make telephone calls possible.
A nice feature is the Ambient Pass-Trough. This mode makes it possible to properly hear your ambient noise. Very useful if you want to cross a busy street or want to hear the voice calls in public transport.
Battery life
The description states that the headphone must charge 15 minutes for 5 hours of listening pleasure. You can fully charge it in 3 hours. When fully charged, the PX5 should last 25 hours. In practice, he achieves that too. Note, however, that this applies when the headphones are connected to another device via a cable. If you use the ANC function via Bluetooth, you hand in about two to four hours on the battery life.
Compared to other on-ear models, this is a great battery life. The good battery life and fast charging means that the PX5 scores well in terms of listening time.
Conclusion
As we have reviewed, the PX5 does almost everything well. The sound is warm and layered and the bass is reproduced well. The headphones are very comfortable and also look very stylish. In addition, the battery life and good active noise canceling make this one of the top on-ear models on the market. The only two negatives are that the treble is a little less clear and that the PX5 is not collapsible. This makes it a little less handy than other products on the market. Despite that, the PX5 remains a stylish and versatile headphone with a very good sound. Bowers & Wilkins shows that on-ear headphones do not always have to be inferior to an over-ear model.