We found that their compact design made the PX5 very convenient when we took them on busy trains and buses, and we’d certainly recommend them to commuters. Available in blue or gray models, the PX5 headphones use cloth, textured plastic, and leather in their design for a luxurious look and feel. The supra-aural (on-ear) earcups have generous memory foam cushioning in the earpads, as does the underside of the headband. The overall fit and feel can seem quite tight at first, but once adjustments are made, the fit is secure and exerts less obvious pressure on your ears and head.

The mic offers decent intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, we could understand every word we recorded, but there was the typical Bluetooth fuzzy distortion around the edges. The mic signal is strong, however, and it doesn't sound too distant from your mouth. Conclusions There’s something slightly awkward about the PX5. By the standards of wireless active noise-cancelling headphones they’re an unusual size - the earcups aren’t big enough to encircle the wearer’s ears, so they’re not, strictly speaking, ‘over-ear’ headphones. But the earcups are quite a bit larger than most ‘on-ear’ designs. Perhaps Bowers & Wilkins has invented a whole new category of headphones with the PX5. Atop-ear? Against-ear? Bluetooth device reconnection preferences can now be adjusted via the Headphones app. On Bluetooth reconnection, your headphones can automatically pair to either the last connected device, or your preferred 'primary' device (requires Headphones app v2.3 or later). Given that they feature no EQ adjustment, the PX5 stand or fall on their one, unalterable sound. So it’s just as well they’re an extremely enjoyable listen with an impeccably balanced sonic signature. This was confirmed to us by the company’s Andy Kerr in the UK, who also admitted, however, that EQ is a bit of a problem for Bowers & Wilkins, because, well, to abandon modesty, it simply thinks it knows best. It has carefully tuned these headphones and would prefer that you don’t mess with them, ideally. But in this age where everyone gets to define their own personal truth, they couldn’t leave the EQ section showing just a message to F-off and listen, so they’ve deigned to include simple (and relatively mild) bass and treble sliders.From our Temptations’‘Sky’s the Limit’ LP they opened up the glorious mix of Just My Imagination, where silky-smooth harmonies and Jerry Long’s strings arrangements dance around a groove from the Funk Brothers so solidly delivered by these heapdhones that we could not resist a little dance. (We are glad to describe this to you in print, without the distracting reality of the missus pointing and laughing at us.) As far as build quality goes, though, the PX5 require no caveats. They’re sturdily constructed despite their winningly low weight, and feel more than ready to stand up to all kinds of commuter carelessness. There’s enough articulation in the earcups for the PX5 to fold flat, and from there they slip easily into their soft carry-case. The Wear/Clip sensing Auto-Play/Pause functionality on PX7, PX5, and PI4 has been further enhanced. The bass in these headphones is pretty good. It reaches deep, it’s a bit boosted (just a bit), and it’s tight. The overall sound of these headphones is warm, and that starts with the bass. There’s decent slam – decent, but not outstanding. This is possible partly thanks to a new slightly smaller drive unit in the new PX7 compared with old, down from an oversized 43.7mm diameter to a more conventional 40mm, here described as a bio-cellulose driver (standard plant cellulose, we think, rather than the far more expensive type grown rather alarmingly by bacteria in vast vats).

The Bowers & Wilkins PX5 headphones connect to your listening device through Bluetooth 5.0, and they support AptX, which should make for a clearer, better sound quality in supported cases. Future Islands’ Waiting on You is similarly well-balanced, as tangy synth stab-chords punch through driving bass lines; vocals are rich and assertive.

Try sliding the headphones power switch to the middle 'On' position. To do this, firstly slide the Power Switch to the bottom position to switch them completely Off. Then, move the Power Switch to the middle position to power them On. An audible cue should sound and the LED indicator should glow. If you're looking for a comfortable medium between over-ear and in-ear headphones, these on-ear cans could be the way to go. You can usefully prioritise your Bluetooth connections, so that your headphones will connect on start-up to your phone, not the TV you were watching on headphones last night. Ultimately, sound quality is the most important thing to consider — especially if you’re a music junkie and plan on using the headphones for that instead of things like podcasts or audiobooks. Thankfully, the Bowers & Wilkins PX5 headphones excel in all those areas. My one complaint here is that these headphones are a little boring. Bowers & Wilkins is going for a sound here that will please the average music listener, so I have to understand that they aren’t really trying to please me. But I think they’ll be a bit polite for listeners who want to really feel the music, and I’ll get more into what I mean by that here. Bass