Bowers & Wilkins has just introduced a new over-the-year mobile hi-fi headphone, called the P7.  The P7 Moblile Hi-Fi Headphones have been designed to provide an enveloping, pristine listening experience using a new drive-unit technology, luxurious materials, and a clever folding design.

The new P7 incorporates technological advances, which allow performance to be raised over even B&W’s current P5 headphones.  Bass is tighter, vocals are more defined, improved tonal balance, and clarity across the entire frequency range and a more spacious and enveloping sound.

The new drive unit technology has permitted the P7 to achieve a giant leap forward in sound quality in an over-ear design that snugly fits to allow the listener to escape from surroundings.  The all-encompassing ear cushions use a dual-cavity construction that helps the pads mold to wearer’s head, while maintaining a consistent volume of air between the drive units and the surface of the ears.  This more precise and consistent fit allows for greater stereo imaging.

Moving parts are constructed from brushed and stainless steel, as is the ingenious folding mechanism. The logo plates are crafted from brushed aluminum. The headband and ear pads are encased in luxuriously soft leather, making them a delight to wear even for long listening sessions. The P7s also features a detachable remote-control- and-microphone cable.

For the P7 B&W created a headphone driver that works more like the drive-unit in a hi-fi speaker, with a diaphragm focused purely on generating sound.  The internal speaker baskets encasing the P7s’ drive-units are perforated with air vents covered with a resistive film, allowing for precise control of the airflow from behind the drive-unit and as a result, more uniform, piston-like movement.  The P7 voice coils are constructed from a lighter aluminum-copper compound that reduces weight and improved high frequency dynamics.

The P7′s speaker baffle plates are constructed from a polymer material that has been heavily braced and tuned to make it very rigid and inert. This limits any resonances that might color the sound of the headphones. Finally, damping material inside the speaker enclosure helps control and dampens internal reflections, further reducing coloration and distortion. All of this means a drive-unit with a more precise, controlled movement, capable of producing outstanding levels of performance.

The Bowers & Wilkins P7 headphones will be available in September, priced at $399.99 U.S.  Look for more details on the new Bowers & Wilkins P7 over-the-ear headphones at: www.bowers-wilkins.com.


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