Bowers & Wilkins PI5 review
Verdict
Fun sound? Tick. Adept noise counterfoil? Tick. Great looks? Tick. The B&W PI5 earphones accept the functioning where information technology counts at this price, though condolement is an outcome, and they fall short of class-leaders for sound.
Pros
- Fun, bassy inflection to sound
- Robust noise cancellation
- Great aesthetics
- Good phone call quality
Cons
- Comfort struggles
- Battery life runs curt
- No EQ customisation
- Some odd connectivity struggles
Availability
- Great britain RRP: £199
- United states RRP: $249
- Europe RRP: €249
Key Features
- Vesture sensor Car-pauses music when earbuds taken out of the ear
- Bluetooth codec SBC, AAC and aptX wireless streaming
- Telephone call quality Iv microphones for enhanced clarity during calls
Introduction
Later on years of observing from the side lines, Bowers & Wilkins entered the true wireless market place with the PI7 and PI5.
I reviewed the PI7 when they launched and enjoyed them; their fashion, innovative charging case and premium sound scored them loftier marks. The PI5 are their less expensive siblings at £199 just look around online and they've fallen to even more affordable levels.
While there was enough to like almost the PI7 at that place were aspects that didn't hit the mark. The PI5 bears several similarities, and in some means, they fare ameliorate but too commit some of the aforementioned sins.
Pattern
- All the same has problems with comfort
- Wait terrific
- Tactile feel to performance
The PI5 await like the PI7, which is to say they exude style and elegance. However, similar the PI7, comfort is an issue.
For whatever reason the PI5 sits in the ear improve than their premium sibling, just the use of hard plastic produces a similar deadening ache. It's non as bad as the PI7, but that'due south not a redeeming feature.
Only because of the slightly meliorate fit, in that location's no need to resort to swapping out ear-tips to tighten the earphones' seal. With its striking black or white finishes, tripartite housing and auto precise look of the touch controls, the PI5 score highly in terms of craftsmanship.
In terms of the controls there's access to ANC, pause, track skipping and voice assistant but no volume or activation of Ambience Pass-Through (for that yous need the app). Inputs are responsive, but playback often stops when cycling through ANC modes and if you heed to the Soundscapes in the app, auto-suspension appears to be disengaged.
The case is a slim one that easily fits into tight pockets; the LED on the front presents the earphones' current country, with a Bluetooth pairing push button sandwiched in-between the earbuds' cradle to initiate pairing.
Features
- Responsive wear sensor tech
- Robust dissonance counterfoil
- Better battery than PI7
- Potent IP rating
Battery life betters the PI7 just not by much – 4.5 hours to 4, and overall, 24.five hours to xx. That's better than Bose's QuietComfort Earbuds, but nearly premium sets are shifting towards 30 hours. The signs bespeak to an earphone suited for brusk bursts.
So, if yous are someone who listens for a long time, yous'll be charging regularly. At least there are multiple means of topping up with fast- and QI wireless charging.
Water-resistance is IP54 so you'll be protected confronting splashes of water and express ingress of dust. Wear detection works every bit well as it does on the PI7, which is to say it's impressively prompt with its stops and starts.
Wireless connectivity is Bluetooth 5.0 and Android owners go Google'south Fast Pair engineering science for instant outset-time connectedness and install of the B&W Headphones app. While the earbuds boast Bowers & Wilkins' TWS+ technology for "high quality synchronisation", connectivity gaffes still pervade.
There were times where the PI5's connection get spotty but putting them into the case and taking them out resolved this. Busy point areas tin can knock the earphones off their stride and connecting to the B&W Headphone app causes a stutter before pausing music, weirdly.
Wireless codec support hits an aptX ceiling, so they're not as tuned for the high-res audio every bit the PI7, missing out on those earbuds' 24-fleck/48kHz transmission.
The one area where I experience the PI5 betters the PI7 is in its noise cancellation, and that's largely downwards to the seal of the earphone'south passive racket isolating design, which proves to exist better than the PI7'southward looser fit.
According to the transmission, the dissonance counterfoil is adaptive but that may be a misprint. It 'intelligently' tunes the earphones' operation in relation to its environment. I've never been too hot for adaptive ANC – one-size-fits all is more to my liking – merely this earphone is however robust at repelling sounds. Nigh sounds inside the about vicinity are diminished, vehicles intrude less often, people talking equally they go past are less audible and therefore less distracting. There'south a better sense of quietude when walking about.
It's not as dismissive in scope as either Sony's WF-1000XM4 or Bose'due south QC Earbuds, as some noise nonetheless peeks through, but within the price bracket of less than £200, the B&W PI5 print.
The transparency manner is also constructive, letting noise in without sounding unduly harsh or unnatural, and providing a good enough sense of what'southward around yous. There's no slider for choosing a specific level of laissez passer-through, but in the Headphone app yous can opt between 'More than' or 'Less' to change the corporeality of noise that filters through.
The Headphones app for the PI5 doesn't cater much to customisation with no EQ style, and toggling on/off the ANC, Ambient Pass-Through and Habiliment Sensor is all y'all can really modify. Like Jabra's Audio+ app there are some 'natural' Soundscapes to listen to if y'all want to chill.
A brief agree on the right earbud brings up vocalism assistance on your smartphone, so in that location are no born smarts. I don't recall that matters much unless you're someone who interacts with digital assistants often.
Call quality is amid the ameliorate truthful wireless earphones I've tested, with clarity afforded to voices and a reasonably natural tone to call reception, too. They are susceptible to picking upward noises but non to the bespeak where it becomes a lark.
Sound quality
- Big bass performance
- Smooth vocal reproduction
- Short on particular and dynamism compared to the best
Get-go thing to comment on is that the PI5 audio big – both in calibration and bass – and that has benefits and drawbacks.
But the positives beginning. Armed with a 9.2mm bespoke dynamic drive unit, bass is prodigious in giving music a weighty, powerful and substantial sound. A play of Billie Eilish'due south Bad Guy seems tailored for them, as the earphone delivers low-end depth beyond the Sony WF-1000XM4's more measured have.
There's a sense of warmth that verges on being rich and lush at times, but is likewise capable of delivering enough of kick, the driver fix-up giving percussion instruments a firm presence while still sounding relatively clear and detailed in the mid-range frequencies. Vocals are smoothly handed, broader in size and scope than some other true wireless when listening to Faye Webster'southward Sometimes or Queen of the Stone Age'south No One Knows.
But against tougher competition the B&W sound a bit more than ordinary. Measured against the WF-1000XM4 – which might exist slightly unfair given price gulf between them – it's a match upwards that reveals the areas the B&West are deficient in.
I of those areas is the superlative end of the frequency range, which is non equally sharp or as incisive every bit I had hoped. The piano playing in Michael Giacchino's Packet of Joy is brilliant enough to take touch on, the timbre of each note played out to differing degrees, but the lingering disuse of high frequency notes is missing, gone nearly as chop-chop as information technology arrives.
The mid-range is not every bit effectively parlayed equally more premium options, the downside of the 'thicker' audio in FINNEAS' A Concert Half-dozen Months from Now is that there'due south non as much item, clarity or crispness to be observed.
Like the PI7, the width of the soundstage doesn't extend far out, so while these earphones sound large, they don't offer as big a sense of space, which reminds me of Devialet's Gemini. When it comes to their sense of dynamism, highs and lows of a rails are executed with more aplomb on the Sony, the PI5 are like the PI7 in that they're slightly reserved, the sweeping nature of Joe Hisashi's Water Traveller carries less confidence.
That doesn't mean that the B&W PI5 aren't a fun listen. They convincingly are. Their sonic abilities match their weight form, so they're better than earphones effectually the £150 mark but not as practiced every bit those to a higher place £200. An enjoyable heed, especially for those who like their bass, only not the authoritative listen the Bowers & Wilkins name would imply.
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Should you buy information technology?
If you love that bass: If you love music dripping with bass, then the PI5 bring enough of with its performance. They're a big, substantial sounding pair of earphones that get deeper in the low frequencies than more premium space
If you desire a amend fit :Similar the PI7, the PI5 struggles to provide a fit that doesn't get out you with a irksome ache. Information technology's not as bad as the PI7 but that doesn't mean information technology'southward a skillful thing either
Terminal Thoughts
Among their toll subclass the PI5 are a fun listen, merely compared to the best they're brusk on dynamism, clarity and item. If yous similar bass then the PI5 have plenty in reserve: the noise cancellation makes these earphones one of the better around its price and they wait terrific. Practiced, only not quite neat.
How we test
We test every headphones nosotros review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We'll always tell y'all what we observe. Nosotros never, ever, take money to review a product.
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Tested with real world use
Tested over several weeks
Tested with music streaming services
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FAQs
Do the B&W PI5 have built-in voice assistants?
No, only they they do support the voice assistant on your smartphone through their touch controls.
How much bombardment life does fast charging provide?
A 15-minute accuse offers two more hours of playback.
Tin can I conform ANC levels with the B&W PI5
No you lot can't, but you can modify the Ambient Pass-Through fashion from More to Less.
Full specs
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Connectivity
Noise Cancellation?
Colours
Frequency Range
Driver (due south)
ASIN
Release Date
Model Number
Weight
Battery Hours
Wirless charging
Fast Charging
Manufacturer
U.s. RRP
UK RRP
EU RRP
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Jargon buster
ANC
ANC (Active Racket Cancellation) uses an array of microphones in a headphone to notice the frequency of the sound coming at the listener, with the ANC chip creating an changed wave (i.e. opposing sound) to suppress whatsoever unwanted external noises.
IP rating
An abbreviation for 'Ingress Protection Code', which lets you know to what extent a device might be waterproof or dustproof.
Midrange
Midrange refers to the part of the frequency range that sits betwixt the bass and treble. The midrange is the area that handles vocals and most of the instruments heard in a track. Information technology can likewise be in reference to midrange loudspeaker drivers that replicate this surface area of the frequency range.
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