Bowers & Wilkins’ first headphone is a doozy

The first headphone from British speaker marque, Bowers & Wilkins, the P-5 benefits from 45 years of audio research by the company into how to bring the listener as close as possible to the sound intended by the recoding engineers.

With the working brief to create a “headphone with a natural, unfatiguing performance”, B&W developed ultra-linear neodymium magnets and highly optimised Mylar diaphragms to help deliver best possible sound, and packaged them in a closed-back design with a rigid metal faceplate and sealed sealed-leather ear pads. The materials and construction provide not just high levels of comfort for prolonged listening, but excellent isolation from external noise, without the need for full electronic noise cancellation.

The P-5 is supplied with a Made For iPod approved cable, which allows for speech and device control, plus a standard audio cable with gold-plated plugs. The magnetically attached ear pads easily pop off to allow access to the cable, making it easy to switch between the two connection methods.

We had a brief play with them and while they were $500, they had nice bass with good highs that made the headphone sound balanced.