B&W P5 Wireless
Hi-fi quality headphones without the wires could finally be here
These wireless headphones are small and lightweight but beautifully constructed and sturdy. Charged using a bundled USB cable, they boast a 17-hour battery life and have a fallback mini-jack cable that can be attached for wired operation if the battery runs out, or with non‑Bluetooth kit. This is done by removing one ear pad, both of which are magnetically held in place.
They are on-ear models and the pads are very comfortable even for extended listening sessions. On the edge of the right cup are three buttons that let you alter volume, skip or pause tracks, and take phone calls. There are two microphones built in to enable calling, and a dualpurpose button for turning on and pairing with another device.
The headphones sound great, with plenty of volume, bigger and more focussed bass than expected from relatively small cups, crisp mid range, and powerful but controlled highs. Interestingly, the sound quality and volume didn’t alter when switching from wireless to wired operation. The headphones use the aptX codec for higher quality streaming (on the Mac) to get around the issue of Bluetooth bandwidth affecting audio quality, and also support the AAC streaming codec which is great for Apple Music on iOS. These are certainly among the finest wireless headphones around and they have an excellent sound stage. However, in this price range if you can live without wireless you can get some breathtaking reproduction from competing wired models. Hollin Jones
The P5 Wireless sounds and feels gorgeous, with flawless streaming and an excellent sound stage.