Bowers & Wilkins Enter Headphone Game With Retro-Looking P5 Cans

Bowers & Wilkins is a well known name in the high-end audio world. If you're spending big bucks on a new sound system, you're probably at least giving B&W a look. But if you're not one of those high rollers, you probably only know this company because of its Zeppelin iPod sound system (and its wild design).

Now, however, you may end up knowing it for one other thing: headphones. As the world moves towards becoming the "iPod world," it seems like just about everyone wants to get in on the accessories game. The P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones are the company's first-ever headphones, and according to B&W, these deliver bright, clean audio with a "a natural, unfatiguing performance."

You'll find ultra-linear neodymium magnets and highly optimized Mylar diaphragms, but sadly, you won't find a price. We do know that they'll ship in early 2010, though, and we'd bring quite a few blank checks just in case.

Bowers & Wilkins headphones hit the streets

Concert for one

Unfatiguing natural sound gets you closer to the music. Noise isolating design for use on the move. Metal an sealed-leather construction maximizes comfort, for life-long listening. Made for iPod®, weith cables supplied for speech and device control.

Bowers & Wilkins is proud to announce its first ever headphone. Designed for use on the move, the P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphone allows people to have Bowers & Wilkins sound quality wherever they are.

Some 45 years of audio experience has gone into the P5; close to five-decades of research into what true sound is. The ultimate aim of all Bowers & Wilkins products is to bring the listener as close as possible to the sound intended by the recording engineers. That is as true of the world-renowned 800 Series speakers used in the likes of Abbey Road Studio, as it is for the best sounding premium iPod® speaker available, Zeppelin. And now it's true for Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones.

Recognizing that many mobile headphones can be tiring when listened to over extended periods, Bowers & Wilkins' engineers at the world-famous Stenying Research Establishment have worked tirelessly to produce a headphone with a natural, unfatiguing performance. The use of specially developed ultra-linear neodymium magnets and highly optimized Mylar diaphragms provide the best possible sound quality. As always, countless hours of critical listening and tuning have played a major part in the P5's natural and engaging performance.

This pristine sound performance is married to design and construction techniques aimed at isolating as much noise as possible, for consumers that do not require full electronic noise cancellation. This isolation is achieved through a combination of the closed-back design featuring a rigid metal faceplate, and the sealed-leather ear pads. These materials not only remove a lot of external noise, providing an enveloping listening experience without completely removing the user's sense of place, they also offer an extremely comfortable user experience. The leather-clad headband has been designed for extreme comfort where it interfaces with the side of the head, while the softest available sheep's leather from New Zealand has been used for the ear pads. Recognizing the dominance of Apple's iPod and iPhone® in the portable media market, the P5 comes supplied with a Made For iPod approved cable, which allows for speech and device control. It also comes supplied with a high-quality, standard audio cable with gold-plated plugs. Switching between the two is facilitated by the magnetically attached ear pads, which simply pop off allowing access to the cable.

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin and Zeppelin Mini provide the best possible sound from an iPod at home, and now the P5 lets you take that great performance with you wherever you go. Bowers & Wilkins P5 is available from January 2010 To find your nearest Bowers & Wilkins stockist visit www.bowers-wilkins.com.