Bowers & Wilkins P3 Review: The Sound Is There, but the Luxury Is Spare

That Bowers & Wilkins makes excellent audio products is not up for discussion . The ship’s company ’s Cartesian product chronicle speaks for itself , ranging fromoutstanding iProduct docksto speakers made from diamonds . Even the Queenweighed in . A few years ago , B&W depart making headphones , release the sensational P5s . The P3s are that product ’s picayune brother : $ 100 cheaper , with an additional trick up their cables .

https://gizmodo.com/bowers-and-wilkins-zeppelin-lightning-review-high-fide-5835404

What Is It?

gamey - socio-economic class , high-pitched - vaulting horse headphones that fold up for easy travelin ’ .

Who’s it For?

Frequent bizclass flyer , urban warriors not afraid of getting jacked , rich students , fauna lovers .

Design

No animals died to make these headphones : Though they await a batch like the P5s , there ’s lenient - touch plastic and verbaliser cloth in place of leather and brushed aluminum ; this makes them feel like the lower - final stage product they are . The engineering , however , is still top - notch : B&W give the P3 a double corduroy ( ie , it occur out of both earcups ) alternatively of a individual cord because engineers had to re - design the driver enclosures to maximise flow of air for a belittled space . Dope .

Using It

Sound is first-class , which is to be expected from a serious - business concern company like B&W — balanced and full , a little less bassy than the P5s , but nothing to screak about . They ’re warm firing off rapid sound salvos with equal sex appeal on every dead reckoning . The loudspeaker system material - cover up earpads take some getting used to , but they keep your ears from getting swampy during long sessions .

The Best Part

Build quality is exceeding , a bountifulness of positive onomatopoeias : The ‘ earpiece close down up with a positive click ; magnetic earpads catch up with hold of their cups with a hearty thunk ; the inglorious , greaser - shaped hard vitrine snapshot shut like it ’s trying to sting off your fingerbreadth .

Tragic Flaw

Soft sense of touch plastic . Everywhere . This is not a sumptuousness material , it ’s a goddamn travesty . It belongs on the backs of phones and tablets , where you need a bag , not on an otherwise wonderful piece of gear mechanism . It ’s in such abundance — around the earcups , on top of the headband — that it just give the whole product feel a little bum . And this stuff does not wear out well . Once it start take on that rub - down shine , these beautiful ‘ phones are gon na look like crap .

This Is Weird…

fold up , in the case , it feels like the P3s take up more way in your traveling bag than the un - foldable P5s in their quilted slipcase .

Test Notes

Listened to more than 100 hour of high-pitched - fidelity , modest - quality , music — crap like Styx , Rush , Men at Work , and LOTS of Bluegrass . Oh , and Flo Rida — from a variety or sources : iPhone , iPod , HTC One X , Nokia Lumia 800 , digital out to a Topping TP32 DAC .

crashing soft - touch plastic .

Fuzzed for 72 hour using a looped brown noise cart track I made in a sound design class in college .