Read the review with interest. I purchased a set of PX7s Carbon Edition from AMZ during the Black Friday deals. I've been waiting to get these to replace my PXs for a while now and the new updated finish as well as a super discount triggered the buy button.
I love the sound of the PXs. But, like many, they are uncomfortable after 30min or more. Although I have used them regularly on long-haul flights. Just sorta put up with the discomfort. So I was really looking forward to getting these as all reviews had stated B%W had fixed the comfort issues.
Comfort wise they really do not disappoint. Can easily wear these for ages. Build quality is good and they are light..... however....and this is a BIG however.... the sound!?!
Let me preempt this by stating that I really hope I got a dud pair because I find the sound almost unbearable. Especially on high dynamic range tracks with heavy bass lean....e.g. Lianne LeHavas, Elbow... Bon Iver etc.
I did write to B&W customer support and received a rather speedy response that told me they needed +40hours of burn-in and that the bass would settle down, the mids/vocals would become more pronounced and the clarity and separation would lift. The agent also stated that the PX7's were better than the PXs in every way and to give them a chance.
I've had these playing for about 3 recharge cycles, so 50-60 hours and they still sound like a cheap pair of bass-heavy gaming headphones. The bass is so over-pronounced that it becomes uncomfortable to listen to anything with a reasonable bass dynamic recorded in the last 20 years. They have settled down a bit, but only by fractions.
I generally prefer a warm sound to a neutral. I love the PXs and they do not have a light bass. The PXs are in a different league to these. The PXs make me smile when I listen to tracks I love. The PX7's make my head spin. Vocals are down near the floor, the bass is massive, muddy and overpowering and the highs are an afterthought.
I had read that they were a bit bass-heavy out of the box but most reviewers gave the B&W's an edge over the Sony 1000XM4s. I Wonder has anyone else found the same or (as I hope) I've a dud set!?! I can’t for the life of me understand how any reviewer worth his/her salt would think these sound good let along great.
Interesting info on what it would take to “Fix” them here:
jaakkopasanen/AutoEq
I used an eq on my Mac to test and they’re not wrong. The tweaks definitely normalised the sound. Makes you wonder why B&W didn’t include an EQ in their App. Using an EQ is a pain. Especially when I didn’t need one with the PXs or any other headphones I have. iPhone doesn’t have a system wide EQ either so you have to download a paid app that then links to your Tidal account and use that. No thanks.
I'll give them another 2-3 days but I'm not holding my breath.
BTW…Audio content is almost entirely Tidal (High/MQA) and I use iPhone, MacBook Pro as source.
Cheers
Grif