Customer Ratings & Reviews

These units feel good in the ear and they sound excellent. Great sounding audio, great call quality and the ambient mode works well. ANC was fine but not amazing. It works. The problem is that the connection is often buggy and it frequently took several tries (place in-and-out of the case) to get both ear buds to connect. The B&W app to fine tune the functions was also hit and miss, often failing to connect to or even recognize the units. Eventually I just quit using the app but it is necessary to adjust certain settings within the ear buds. As usual, tech support's standard answer for these issues was the classic, "...do a factory reset." Otherwise, these are fine units but for this much money they should be better.

The first impression out to the box was that the PI5’s case is quite light, has a nice plastic “feel” to it, and an interesting shape as the top is completely flat, with subtle brand text, as well as a smooth and round bottom. There, you’ll find the USB-C port. An LED display can be found in the “front”. While not as small as other cases, I actually like it. It can fit in my pocket flat without making a bulge or being uncomfortable. The cap opens easily and stays closed magnetically. I shook the case vigorously and the top never opened. The buds never fell off when I did open the case and shook it. Nice job. The buds also have a very peculiar design. The two-tier casing is made of a sort of “charcoal” plastic/metal that looks sleek in my opinion. There’s some branding on the earpieces and L-R markings. The touchpads feel exceptionally smooth as well. While very cool in design, I wondered how they’d fit my smallish ears. Well, I am happy to report that my worries were in vain. The extended casing allows for the earpiece to fit into the entire ear concha by inserting it with a slight twist, making it very stable. After just a few minutes, I was over the initial adjustment. I was able to walk, run, and even do cartwheels and the buds never fell out. Yes, they stick out a bit, but I am OK with that. However, connectivity was a bit of a letdown. I had some trouble connecting them to an iOS tablet and my android phone. They would not be recognized at first, then identified as two separate BT devices (one did not work) and dropping in/out constantly. This happened on both devices. Even when using the B&W app, they were not always recognized. I would think having 5.0BT would help, but that was not the case. Once paired, I experienced some HiFi apps that I use would not recognize the buds. I had to tinker consistently by disconnecting and reconnecting the buds. Even when watching YT, I had to do this a couple of times. I am not sure if this is a bug or an issue with the buds as the firmware is up to date. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the future. Featuring AptX tech, I never perceived any lag or distortion when watching videos or playing games. When the connection was stabilized, I was able to walk away for a significant distance and the buds kept the connection. The call quality was exceptional. I was heard loud and clearly -even outside on a noisy, windy street. The control touchpads work well enough. There were a few miss-taps but remained consistent. My only gripe is that there is no volume control from the buds. Sure, you can use the device’s sound rocker or voice assistant, but when I leave it on the counter to do chores that can be annoying. Same with ambient sound mode, you would need to change that on the app. I do like that the PI5s feature smart wear detection and the sound is paused when taking the buds out. The Active Noise Cancellation is outstanding -almost on par with much pricier offerings. It basically omitted low noises like traffic and a lawnmower right outside my window. Battery life is average. On my first run, they lasted for about 3 hrs. 45 min. This is with 70% volume and full ANC. The case provides an additional 20 hours. I am pleased that the PI5s feature quick charge, where 15 minutes in the case add 2 hrs. of playback. I also love that these are Qi wireless charging compatible. But how do they sound? In this department, I was extremely pleased. I would describe the sound signature as cinematic, and certainly more “urban”. The bass was impactful and clear, with enough depth that adds body to whatever you may be listening to. The midrange was slightly recessed in my opinion, but not enough to suppress any instruments or vocals. The treble was high and distinctively responsive, adding clarity overall, without being overly bright. The soundstage is not super wide, but still noticeable and channel separation is well implemented. I thoroughly enjoyed all the music genres I threw at them, as well as movies and games. I must point out that the sound changes slightly when ANC is on/off, or when ambient sound mode is active -ANC being the better. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of EQ on the app -maybe later? Considering that the PI5 are premium buds, they were almost there -perhaps a 3.75 out of 5. Personally, I would’ve liked a more consistent connection and pairing process, a more robust companion app, and full control options. However, the looks, comfort, portability, amazing ANC, and exciting sound signature make a compelling case for at least considering the B&W PI5 buds.

Pros - Bowers & Wilkins earphones design look stylish and slick. - case is light weight mine came in a darkish grey color, while each earphones have prints of bowers & wilkins on it to add that extra details - each earphone fit perfectly i felt that these will not fall off and they delivered, ive had them on the whole time while at was at work, and it never let go no matter how much movement i was doing - these also support touch features like most wirelss earbuds, from pressing next/ pause to your music all the way on picking up upcoming phone calls. - PI5 also have an active noise canceling feature, i think all feature wireless earphone should come as standard - charge for 15 minute and you can get up to 2 hrs of listening time, with up 25hrs of battery life from the case. great enough to last you all day - the biggest thing i notice after listening to higher bit rate of music was how good the bass on these little things, its so good that i fully notice that, it made me pay attention to the type of beat i was listening to, even after switching back my audio stream quality bass on PI5 delivers, i honestly havent experience a cleaner bass on earphone as good as this one, very impressive. not even airpod or my other wireless earphone can top the quality of PI5 Cons - Bowers & Willkins app is simplistic i love the design choice, but connecting your PI5 to see the options is pain sometimes, for some reason it wont recognize the device, it require me to test it multiple time but i finally manage to get in the app, the app is also disappointing that its just bare bone, doesnt offer much either, you have the battery life of each earphone display on the top of the app, a Noise cancellation option to toggle On/Off and Ambient pass through for Low and High - speaking of noise cancellation, its a bit disappointing, it need a step up. Anker own earphone support a much better noise cancelling than this, and i expect more for $250 B&W - i wish the app have an option for an equalizer, another feature that could improve how you want to listen to your own music and justify your purchase. - tested making calls with PI5 as well, and the result is not very great, talking to my fiance was a bit of a mess, she was having a hard time understanding what im saying, she mention that my quality sounded muffled, yikes so that defeat the purpose of making calls with this earphone, made phone calls to the office and they end up hanged up the phone because im guessing they couldn't hear me, got annoyed so took it off the Bluetooth and just made a regular call without thought PI5 instead An ok wireless earphone, noise cancellation could have been better, making calls could have been better, and app supports need major supports for more option, for me i wouldnt spend the asking price, maybe hit during a sale

Sound is not bad.. but don't pay over $150 for this buds. Please B&W improve battery and connectivity for next series.

I'm going to be honest and say that I hadn't really paid much attention to this brand for earbuds and headphones until recently. So I don't know a whole lot about the brand. I have purchased and had my hands on many wireless ear buds and headphones throughout my life, and what I can say is that these are definitely in my short list of favorite wireless earbuds. I'd say top 3 for sure. I love the sleek yet subtle modern design of the earbuds. They are small and fit perfectly in my ear canals with the standard rubber tips. The charging case also has a beautiful compact design. it charges via USB-C. Sound quality is fantastic. Man, I'm not even sure how to describe them.. when I listened to a song by Purity Ring with these I was a little mind blown. The song I listened to starts off pretty clean with just vocals and some bells and then the punchy bass comes in about 30 seconds in. These earbuds handled it magneficently. The bells/synths and vocals were high and crisp like they should, and when the bass kicked in it was punchy! But clean, and when she starts singing again through the bass, I could hear the vocals clearly while the bass remains punchy! They are very well tuned, and listening to music is such a treat with these. I love them. Noise cancelation is decent, and the included rubber tips do an excellent job at creating a seal. You can download a companion app on your phone or tablet for these. The app doesn't allow any EQ control, BUT it does have a very cool "soundscapes" page that will play ambient sounds for you through the earbuds so you can set a timer and relax. I used them the first night to fall asleep when I discovered it. So cool! Would I recommend these to a friend? Most definitely! Sound quality is very impressive, build quality is very premium, and battery life is outstanding. I haven't needed to charge the case for 3 days, and I use them for at least 3 hours a day.

Let's get straight to the point - I value sound equipment for it's ability to deliver accurate sound - closer to the original artist's / producer's version - the better. These are an awesome headphones, but they do seem to boost bass a bit too much for my taste (and neglect highs). There is nothing in the settings or an App to remove that bass boost. Other than EQ issue - headphones are pretty decent, comfortable to wear while exercising or on the run, they do come with 3 different sized tips for an optimal fit. Earbuds have proximity sensor in them which allows them to pause/resume track when removed from the ear, however I found that sensor a little bit finicky. Sensor can be disabled using the app though. Noise cancelling works very nice - headphones sit pretty tight in the ear canal and provide great noise isolation on it's own but active noise cancelling improves on top of that. There are 2 "spatial awareness" modes available as well just in case you need it. Battery life is nice, each earpiece reports it's battery life to the phone and it's available in the app, charging case does not report battery percentage to the app, but it has an LED which changes color depending on the case battery state (when earpieces are out of the case - LED shows case battery status, when earpieces are in - earpiece battery status). Case can be charged via USB-C or by any Qi compatible wireless charger. Overall - it's a nice wireless set of earbuds, and I really hope that EQ can be fixed with the next firmware update.

Bower and Wilkins PI5 Review (3 Stars) I am a member of Best Buy’s Technical Insider Network, TIN for short. Reviewers in this invitation-only program are provided products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased reviews. Setup – What did I test with? The PI5s are easy and quick to setup. I synced these earbuds with my iPhone 6s, gaming laptop, and work laptop. The PI5s need to be in the charging case to make the initial sync relationship with your device. The connects with the PI5s are stable with all my devices. The True Wireless feature appears to be working as intended. However, I have had a few instances where the PI5s were forced off my device by a competing headset. This is probably due to wireless management rules on the device itself and not the fault of the PI5s. Managing Sync Relationships I will save you a lot of time. Use the B&W Headphone app to manage the PI5s sync relationships if you plan on using the PI5s with multiple devices. It is a pain to go into the Bluetooth app on the device you are leaving, disconnect the PI5s, go into the Bluetooth app on the receiving device, and press connect. Do this a few times and you will understand quickly why this is not the preferred method. Open the B&W Headphone app and go to the “Connect” screen for the PI5. You can manage which device you want the PI5s to work with easy-peasy. It took me a week to figure this out. Why? Because the 3x7 pictural guide and the App’s helper text is inadequate. B&W does have a link to a user’s guide on their marketing page. Neither the included paperwork nor the App have a link to the user’s guide. The online guide does go deeper into some of the features of both the PI5s and the App. There is still plenty of room for improvement. Sound: These earbuds rock the bass. If you are the kind of person who enjoys feeling your music, then the PI5s will easily accommodate you. The PI5s also handle high volume with ease. I would caution listening to music at ear bleed volumes for long due to the strength of the bass. My preferred listening experience is moderate to low volumes. Even at low volumes bass is strong and present. The PI5s strength is also its greatest weakness. The bass is so pronounced that the midrange gets lost with bass heavy content. For example, while listening to Meghan Trainers “Like I’m Gonna Lose You”, the bass notes and Ms. Trainers highs are front and center. But most of the mid-range felt like it was fighting for attention. Sturgill Simpsons vocals in Sound & Fury has an obvious auto tuner applied to it but these details are completely lost due to the heavy bass. If you are a bass head, then this is great! For example, Blue Man Group’s “The Complex” is a lot of fun due to the heavy reliance to PVC Pipe rhythms, drums, and screaming guitars. I even pulled up some random African drum pieces and they sound great; right in the sweet spot for the PI5s. Pieces that do not have heavy bass tracks, or a strong beat, sound great. Classical music, for example, sounds great. Bach’s Double Violine Concertos, Mozart’s Piano Concertos, Vivaldi’s Four Season, and others were clear, full, and evenly spaced across the whole range of frequencies at any volume. But that evenness and clarity was lost when I switched back to something bass beat heavy like Electro Swing or K-Pop. I had to turn down the volume so as not to drown in the bass. This had the affect of reducing the rest of the content to a whisper. Manual EQ and EQ presets would go a long way to solve this problem and allow the PI5s to shine across a variety of content. Unfortunately, this is not a feature in the B&W app. You can manage this somewhat if your music app has a built in EQ. Not all music apps have EQ. And B&W should offer this feature since they know the characteristics of the PI5 the best. I know that I would have enjoyed a greater variety of content if EQ, and in extension bass management, were made available. Phone: Phone calls are crystal clear on my end. The people I spoke with reported that my voice was clear but tunnelly. The earbuds have two microphones each. One facing the ear canal and one facing outward. The internal microphone is used to record voice. I own other earbuds that pick up my voice from inside the ear canal and do not suffer from this issue. I will not be using the PI5s for phone calls. Maybe this is something B&W can address through a software update. Noise Cancelation: What ANC? I could not tell the difference between ANC on or off. The biggest factor in noise cancelation for me was filling my ear canal with the proper sized silicon tip. Otherwise, ANC had zero impact on my listening and room experience. I could still hear my typing, the road noise outside my window, and the constant hum of my gaming laptop’s fan. Turning ANC “on” produces some white noise that I can only hear in a completely quiet room. Which, at that point, I do not need ANC. In my opinion, the ANC on the PI5s is inadequate. Ambient Pass-Through, however, did work. There are three options: High, Low, and off. External noises sound a bit muffled due to the earbud and silicon tip filling my ear canal. Ambient High allows the external mikes to pick up everything in the room at a volume equivalent to what I would hear if I were not wearing the earbuds. Ambient Low performed the same task at roughly half volume. There is a bug with the Ambient volume control in the app. Several times the app reported an error communicating with the PI5s when I tried to move the Ambient Pass-Through from Low to High. Restarting the app resolves this issue. Comfort: B&W did a fantastic job making the PI5s and charging case look and feel like a premium product. The coloring, styling, look, weight, and absolute smoothness of all edges and connections are fantastic in my opinion. The last bit is the most important to me. There is nothing that kills the experience of an ear bud more than sharp edges in my ear. The PI5s are glass smooth everywhere the surface touches your ear. The earbuds are designed to be twisted into the back of your ear just above the ear lobe. This keeps them in place. Activity such as eating, talking, moving your jaw around will loosen the PI5s just like other earbuds that rely on similar anchoring styles. Several times I had to check and adjust the PI5s in my ear. To B&W’s credit, the touch control surface is not sensitive enough to activate the touch control by touching the sides of the surface. This means that I will not accidently drop a call if I accidently activate the touch surface when adjusting the earbud in my ear. There are three sizes of silicon tips that come with the PI5. The tips are soft and comfortable in the ear canal. I can only wear the PI5s comfortably for about an hour. The PI5s place pressure on the cartilage on the top of my ear canal. This causes pain and discomfort within about an hour of wearing the earbuds. This is exasperated when I am talking or eating. I have the same issue with other earbuds I own that assert pressure on this same part of my ear. This may or not be an issue for you. Controls: The touch controls on the PI5s are simple. Play, pause, next, answer phone, hang up is about it. There are no volume controls on the touch surfaces. The touch surfaces are small. Thus far, I have had no issues accidently pausing music, jumping ahead to the next track, or dropping calls when adjusting the earbuds in my ear. This is an issue for me with other earbuds I own. App Controls: I have covered the App throughout this review. There are a lot of great features here that require additional instruction or helper text to get the most out of the PI5s. The user manual is available online on the PI5s marketing page. When I received the PI5s for review the user manual was not posted to B&Ws site. So, I had to figure out on my own what impact the different features had on my PI5s listening experience. I would also like the ability to control the volume of the indicator sounds. They are simply too loud. Final thoughts: At time of this writing, I feel that the PI5s are a solid middle of the road earbud. As is, these earbuds are not for everyone. The PI5s need EQ and status volume controls. Call quality needs to be addressed. And please include the User Manual with the product. I should not have to accidently discover it. I truly feel the PI5s have the potential to be a great product, but, as it ships today, I would not recommend these.

1. Boxing quality is premium and you'll find them in a sleek plastic box that fits well in pocket and offer about 20h of charge 2. Build quality and design is nice but i find them a little bulky and they stick out a little too much for my taste. The commands for this set is done by touch which has some flaws and you can't control the volume. 3. Sound is amazing. Very pleased with the music listening on my Spotify Premium and the voice call quality is outstanding 4. Noise canceling is stellar. So i love the way this Bower & Wilkins Pl5 set performs but there are some minor flaws that can be worked on.

I am blown away by the sound quality of these earbuds! Thie crispiest highs and some great lows. These earbuds pack a punch in such a little package. From a company that makes $60k pairs of floor speakers, I would not expect anything less. Bowers & Wilkins put in some serious engineering into these earbuds. Besides the superb sound quality, there are so many things I really enjoy about them. For starters, I like that the case the buds store in has USB-C charging as well as Qi charging. I like to share the charge from my phone and wirelessly charge the speaker case while I’m at work. The noise-canceling feature is amazing. I feel like I am completely immersed in whatever I am listening to, while the outside world gets completely shut out. The ambient noise feature comes in two settings, low and high. The passthrough ambient noise technology in these earbuds is incredible. The ambient noise feature was quite different from other experiences I have had. While ambient noise is on, it does not feel like it is a heightened loudspeaker in your ears, it is a more natural sound and feel. I was trying these earbuds out on a run and I could easily hear cars coming, but what got me to really notice the ambient feature was a plane overhead. I not only could hear the plane, but I could also pinpoint what direction in the air it was. For what the passthrough ambient noise feature offers, I am pleased, but more on this later. Phone call quality is top-notch. I was on the phone with my wife for quite some time before I told her she was part of the test. She said that it sounded as if I was just talking on the phone itself and not muffled or distorted in any way, it was even windy out. There was a huge gust of wind, she did say she could hear that, but in even moderate wind she said the sound quality on her end was great. The sound quality on my end was awesome, way better than the handheld phone, and I felt more In tune with what she was saying because the earbuds blocked out all the surrounding noise. I downloaded the Bowers & Wilkins app for a better sound experience. The app is very intuitive and easy to use. The app also features soundscapes to listen to. The campfire one is my favorite, you can even hear a dog barking way off into the distance, it is crazy. The app is where you can toggle ambient sound, noise-canceling, and even the ability to manage power and playback whether the earbuds are on or off your head. The soundscapes are cool, the app has 6 different types and can set a timer in the event you are using them for meditation or getting some sleep on a plane. The app is also immensely helpful by showing you how much battery power is in each of the earbuds. Overall, the app is easy to use and runs smoothly. Finally, the sheer look of these earbuds is amazing. So much class and engineering have been put into these earbuds and it shows. They look so good! A more high-end product for sure, just have a look for yourself. But looks alone do not do these guys justice, a listen is proof in the pudding. Now there are some cons I found with these buds, but are they really? That depends. One of the cons I experienced was that these earbuds are a little on the heavy side. When I was out for a run, I found that I could notice them in my ears, not too bad but they are there, with a little bounce. Being on the heavy side is not all that bad in some ways. They are heavier because they have huge drivers that make that premium sound come alive. Without the big drivers, the sound quality would suffer, and here I will sacrifice weight over sound and these earbuds do not sacrifice sound, at all. There is no EQ adjustment within the app for these earbuds, you will have to use your phone settings or other Bluetooth devices that you are connected to. Another con is the case size. It is big. Yes, it is larger than most case sizes that you may have seen, but it is still small enough to fit in your pocket or easily store away in a bag. The flip-top seems like it could be a little stouter and I find that it closes with the smallest touch. I have no doubt there are reasons why the case is on the large size. The guys over at Bowers & Wilkins know what they are doing. There are 2 extraordinarily strong magnets per earbud that secure them in the case, and they are strong. That gives me a lot of confidence when taking the earbuds in and out of the case. The size of the case does not hinder my love for these earbuds in any way. Back to the ambient feature. I believe the ambient feature is not so in your face, err, head as some might be used to because of who might be wearing these earbuds and where. Bowers & Wilkins is a top-notch audio company that most people may never heard of before. Some of their speaker designs are worth more than a brand-new car. These earbuds are on the audiophile spectrum of music listening devices. I believe for best uses of these earbuds is not out running around the neighborhood or on a local trail but is better suited for people who may travel a lot or just enjoy some sweet music while getting comfortable at home. I have to say again, this quality of sound is incredible, I feel like I am listening to music for the first time. Sounds in some songs I did not even know were there before. I am blown away. I most likely will not be using these while out on a run, but when I travel, relax at home, or even listen to study videos, these will be my absolute go-to earbuds. These earbuds are incredible and are now part of my EDC. I absolutely recommend these glorious little sound machines. Great job Bowers & Wilkins!

These Wilkins and Bowers buds are definitely pricey—so the expectations are high for the fit, quality of the sound, and functionality. They perform highly in all of these categories. Fit: These earbuds are actually comfortable. They come with a few sizes of ear gels (or whatever they’re called). The regular ones work fine for me, and my ears are sometimes difficult. The lower profile shape of these fits nicely in the ear and sort of locks in place. They might look kind of chunky out of the box, but I think they work really well in the ear. In fact, my cheaper buds absolutely stink in comparison with the fit on these. That said, I will keep using the cheap ones for running. I don’t want to lose the Bowers and Wilkins. Though perhaps a better fitting bud wouldn’t constantly seem to be in danger of falling out when sweaty. Function: The headphones pair easily--even to an older (4+ years) android phone. I would note that they didn't work with an older Kindle Fire--they showed up, but wouldn’t fully connect, and the Kindle still played audio out of its speaker and not through the buds. This is a bit strange, as other wireless buds will connect with this Kindle, but it’s probably something I could figure out with time. I had no other difficulties pairing with a variety of devices. A new android phone, a newer tablet, a running watch that uses its own interface (not google), all worked fine. Two pieces of advice though: if switching from one device to another, turning off Bluetooth on the first paired device sometimes seems necessary (but this has often been the case with Bluetooth headphones I have used). OR, the other nice thing about these is that if you press the button on the inside of the case for a second, the unit will go into pairing mode. Then it seems to work easily and flawlessly. Popping the buds into the case for a second seems to break the connection and let you establish with a different device. If it’s annoying at first, stick with it; they do work fine across platforms—but I found it easiest to you use the button on the case to enter pairing mode when switching. The fast pairing works fine if you’re going to connect to one and only one device. Sound: The sound quality is amazing. I listened to a variety of music--everything from 80s Rock, to Jimmy Buffett, Nirvana, Frank Sinatra, talk radio and a full orchestra. Those two little headphones provide a quality of sound that you won't get directly from your phone, and probably not from many high end speakers. Listening to audio from talk radio was crisp and clear—the differentiation in the voice quality was probably far higher than I’ve ever noticed before in listening to NPR, which provided me with a variety of tones and voices in quick succession and total clarity using the NPR app. Listening to a John Williams soundtrack with the buds was rich experience. Plenty of depth, highs and lows were well defined. Bass came through and I didn’t miss the little high pitched flute and xylophone notes even with roaring timpani and tuba. The depth really is surrounding when you have a full range orchestration. It is simply just that every line of a thick orchestration is beautifully crisp, there is no muddling. Accents standout, but the moving parts below are not just lost. Compared to a more “everyday” earbud I can say it sounds like being AT the orchestra compared to the flatter sound of a lower end bud. I used to play timpani quite a lot, and so I zero in on this when I listen to an orchestra. I can really hear the accent, rumbles, and separations on those timpani hits. They are perfectly clear; I can sense when the mallet is coming off the drum with the Wilkins. It is amazingly three dimensional for a wireless, Bluetooth connection. Not so with my cheaper buds. Those are fine for what I use them for—working out and being outside. But if I’m going to sit down and really listen to something—I would choose the Wilkins 150%. The stereo is also really well defined, especially if you’re just sitting and listening to music or sound. The noise cancelling in these situations works perfectly well, though I think there are some quirks to work out. Let’s just say that while I type this and listen to music, I don’t hear my own typing. These would be nice in a shared office or in an airplane. You can pick up a phone call, skip ahead or rewind songs, and turn on noise cancelling all with a tap (or three) on the earbuds. I had a third-party media player on my phone, and the controls worked the same on that app as they did on the phone's native media player. As for the noise cancelling: It will depend on what it is you seek out of that feature. I used them while mowing the lawn, and I could hear the mower over them. I used them while in my workshop, using a sander, and I could still hear the sander over the music. Supposedly these have an “active” noise cancelling feature, that auto-adjusts. You can set “noise cancelling on” “Active” or “off” with a tap on the bud. I have to say, this was difficult to deal with, as it doesn’t SAY what the setting is while cycling through. I suppose you should be able to tell, but it would be nice to for the bud to give you a signal. (See below for an additional concern about the noise cancelling) There IS, I am happy to say, a little more certainty on this feature if you download and use the app. Using the app, you’ll know if you’re set “on” the cancelling feature, OR you can also set a level of “ambient” noise to come through. This is important if you want to use the buds in an outdoor situation, for example, when you need to hear something. Like…if I were riding my motorcycle. The buds are fairly low-profile. I put on a motorcycle helmet, and could get it on without moving the ear buds very much. In the past, I tried many different ways to get music while riding my motorcycle. This one would keep wires from coming out of my helmet. Even with the noise cancelling on, you should be able to hear a horn, or other traffic noise that is close enough, if you use these on a motorcycle, with a helmet. I don't know how safe that would be, but these don't fully-block out external noise. I would definitely use the pass-through ambient noise feature, though, if I were to use these on the bike (I did not have an opportunity to test this). Even just walking outside, though, it’s a good idea to have some ambient pass through. App: Download the app to control the ambient sound and noise cancelling more easily. It is not the most useful app otherwise. It does not have any equalizer or anything like that to add. But it’s helpful for some basic things. It also has a battery monitor on it, so it can tell you how much charge each bud has while you’re listening or when you get started. So if you’re using the buds with your phone or a tablet or something where you can download the app, you get more info. The app also lets you turn on some “white noise” settings, like “waterfall” or “campfire” noise. This is not something all that important to me, but I can see how it might be relaxing or helpful for some folks. The pros: -- Fantastic sound. -- Pairs easily and has good controls (reading the manual and using the app helps) -- It will also interface with voice assistants if you use those. I don’t, so I don’t have a great sense of it, but when I touched the control for assistant on the buds and said “Hello,” my phone wanted to do things. --Comfortable and stable in the ear. --Good battery --Charging case works well and is small enough to easily fit in a pocket. Cons: --Expensive. --Includes only a "quick start" guide, but no other manual in the box. It may not actually need anything more, but I tend to read the manuals on everything--even on a toaster-- Not having a manual on a $250 item just feels like something is missing, and could leave you wondering if you are getting everything out of it. If you visit the website, you can find a manual. I would recommend downloading it. It explains what the different lights on the case do and how to enter pairing mode using the case. This is, in my mind, essential for getting the buds to easily pair with several devices and be able to switch between them. --App makes noise cancelling and battery life clear, but it’s less so without the app. --Only includes a USB C charging cable, and no wall plug adapter. I have other wall plugs, but, c’mon. I even have USB plugs in some outlets, but not USB C. So, even plugging into a USB right now means I need a dongle except for on my newest computer, and many folks may not even have that. I know this is getting to be pervasive—the lucrative field of adapter and dongle sales seems to be growing—but know that unless you’ve got something you can plug a USB C into, you’re not charging this thing AT ALL.

I just can't recommend these. I myself am a huge Bowers & Wilkins fan and have owned many of their headphones and speakers over the years, and was super excited to see these come out. But wireless earbuds are only as good as long as they can stay connected, and these are by far some of the worst in that regard. I can't walk more than 2 feet away from the source device, and even holding my phone in certain areas is enough to cut the signal. On average over five minutes, I'd experience about 10-15 intermittent cut outs, and this was consistent across all my devices that work fine with my other bluetooth devices. And that's just frankly unacceptable. Assuming I had a fluke device, I exchanged it for another unit in store and had the exact same experience. Additionally I found the design of the interface for these headphones very confusing. You're able to toggle on ANC from a long press on the left earbud, yet doing so doesn't turn off ambient mode. WHY WOULD YOU WANT AMBIENT MODE AND ANC AT THE SAME TIME? This means every time you want to actually switch between ambient and ANC, you've gotta use the app, which is already annoying when connected to your phone but downright frustrating when you're using them with a laptop or something without the dedicated app. There are some perks. The sound when it comes through is great, a little bass-y/boomy but overall very full and fun to listen to. The design/construction of the earbuds themselves are top class, and i found the fit to be very comfortable. Even the case, while nothing great is pretty good for what it is. But until connectivity is improved you should not buy these. And honestly for the price and the other options it competes with it's such unbelievable poor value. From what I've heard from people who've compared against the more expensive PI7, a lot of these issues don't seem to be present and that may be due to the higher end/newer codec's supported by it, but I can't verify that. For me, i have returned these and picked up a pair of the Sony WF-1000XM4, which not only works great from my short time with them but have superior noise cancellation, battery life, better controls, a more feature rich app, support for higher end codec's like LDAC, and honestly in my opinion just sounds better.

Great sound, great fit and decent volume. The main drawback on these earbuds other than the price is the connectivity issue. I use these buds for the gym and when I get a groove going, the buds tend to disconnect.. it gets annoying and old so I’m still on my quest to find the ultimate earbuds.

I really liked these.. They sound great and fit well.. Great battery life.. Took them back as I heard the pi7 are the best earbuds ever.. However they are all sold out as of now

I am trying my best to like these buds, but with the app connection issues, sound quality not up to what I expected ( I am an Audiophile ). Have tried many others and wished these would be the end all. The sound is pretty FLAT and uninteresting until you turn on the NC and it's like louder but even more disturbing, over boom of bass, flat mids and highs and low peak volume. I've tried my S22 ultra to its limits, Dolby Atmos and all the other tricks of my phone, to NO avail. Tha app is terrible, No options, sound enhancements, etc... One thing I feel OK with is the fit and feel of the buds. Please B&W get it together with your support, these could be soo much better if you at least get the app in some working order where you could use it to some degree. I'm not sure if I'll keep them or try someone else, maybe go back to Sennheiser.

The Bowers & Wilkins PI5 Wireless Noise Cancelling In-Ear Headphones are a high quality pair of headphones, as you would expect from a company with a great reputation for high-end equipment. Following are what I found to be the pros and cons: PROS: - They come in a nice box, with simple instructions. The case is a nice small, smooth design that slips easily into a pocket. - A USB-C cable is supplied in the box to plug in the case for charging (no charging block included), however, they also charge wirelessly by placing the case on a wireless charging pad if you have one of those for your phone. - The headphones have a stylish, expensive looking design. - They come with three size tips. The medium ones fit well in my ears. I can wear them for hours very comfortably and they do not come out of my ears, even with strenuous activity. - very easy Bluetooth pairing - They come with voice assistant support for either iPhones or Androids. - They have an advanced noise cancelling feature which provides pretty good noise cancelling for an in-ear set of headphones. - While the headphones carry just over four hours of charge, the case provides another 25 hours of charge. I really like the fast charging feature, as you can get 2 more hours of use with only a 15 minute charge. - There is a decent free app you can download to allow a number of features, including: software updates; turning noise cancelling on or off; turning ambient noise pass-through on or off and high or low when on, which is nice to have when using the noise cancelling mode; 6 soundscapes with a sleep timer so you can listen to one of 6 nature sounds to put you to sleep and use a timer to turn them off; and the ability to turn on or off the wear sensor, which determines if the headphones automatically turn off or stay on when you remove one of the ear buds.(I like the fact you can choose, as I like to be able to take one out at times while leaving one in and not have them turn off automatically) - there are control features right on the headphones. With simple clicks you can play, pause, skip forward or backward, turn on and off noise cancelling and activate the voice assistant - good clarity on phone calls - finally, the main reason I bought them is for the sound quality of music. I found the sound quality to be average with noise cancelling off. However, when I turn on the noise cancelling feature, its like a whole different set of headphones. With noise cancelling on, the sound was incredible for a set of in-ear headphones, with nice bass and good overall depth and sound quality. I have tested them out with a wide variety of music genres, soft and loud music, acoustical, male and female singers. etc. and I found the sound quality to be excellent with noise cancelling turned on. Others might like the sound without the noise cancelling on, but I like a heavier bass and I found that lacking without the noise cancelling turned on, With that feature turned on, the sound quality is exactly what I had hoped for. CONS: - As mentioned above, I found the sound quality average unless I turn on noise cancelling, with which they sound great. Given this, I will always keep on the noise cancelling (since they have an ambient noise pass through feature on the app, it is not a problem to leave the noise cancelling on to enhance sound quality.) - Since the cord provide has dual USB-C connections, you will have to make sure you either have a charging block with a USB-C port or a wireless charging pad. For people with older phones who don't have wireless charging capability and still use a charging block with a USB port, this may be an issue and cause you to buy either a USB-C charging block or wireless charging pad. - I would like to see an equalizer added to the app as a future enhancement. I can use the equalizer on my iPhone, but it doesn't change things a whole lot, so an app provided equalizer would likely enhance this capability. - while the headphones offer a number of controls by tapping on the headphones, they do not allow you to control the volume on the headphones. Would like to see a volume option on the headphones so I don't have to get my phone out of my pocket to adjust the volume. - while the call clarity on phone calls was very good for me, the people I am talking to have had some echoing going on. I tried this with three other people with different phones and they all heard some echoing of their own voice when they talk to me as I am using these headphones. These will be good for listening to phone calls or zoom meetings, but could cause an issue for people who want to talk to you. I mainly listen to music with these, so not a big issue for me. Overall, I am happy with these Bowers & Wilkins PI5 Headphones, as I mainly wanted them to listen to music and the sound quality is very impressive with the noise cancelling feature turned on and the great design, fit and look are all an added benefit also. I will recommend these to my friends.

Comfortable fit but ultimately not worth the premium charged. Noise cancelling is ok and sound signature is above average. When compared to the more expensive big brother PI7's they would be considered a bargain as they are identical with ANC and fit and sound very similar. When compared to the Sony M4's they sound better out of the box and are more comfortable to wear, but the Sony can be tweaked to your preference through their great app and do a solid jog with noise cancellation.

Owned a lot of B&W love the sound but hate the connectivity. They are ultra sensitive where they will mute themselves with the slightest hair touch.

Overall they are good. Earbuds sound is pretty good The only thing that I don't really like about them is the control functions like the tap function is a bit sensitive and you're trying to switch tracks or answer a call. It seems to get confused and then you end up tapping too many times. If you were able to customize how many times you tap to answer the phone or skip track, I think it would be better to have a little bit more customization in the app. But overall it get the job done.

if you are listening to music, the buds give a full round sound just like 2 speakers are against your ears. maybe the best sounding earbuds I have used. during phone calls, you hear the person, but they don't here you as good. the buds disconnect frequently and the battery life is horrible. they do recharge quickly.

Excellent sound quality. Comfortable. ANC and Transparent can be turned on simultaneously, which is weird. Bug fix probably?