Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) C5 Pro Reviews

If you are looking for premium headphones for your iPhone, the Bowers & Wilkins C5 are certainly worthy of consideration. The combination of comfortable fit and excellent sound quality make them a pleasure to use. The design is a little quirky and the "secure loop" didn't really offer us any great advantages, but at the same time we didn't suffer any drawbacks from it either - having failed to use it any great purpose, we largely ignored it. The price is the obvious downside to the C5s so some may be more attracted to the many alternative, and some hugely capable, headphones sitting in a slightly lower price bracket.

The problem with having wildly successful older siblings is that you’re often judged by their successes. Indeed, it’s for that very reason that I had high expectations for the C5, and while it’s a solid product, it doesn’t quite live up to the precedent established by the company’s previous Apple-focused products. Whereas those products similarly sell for a premium, their combinations of very good sound quality and standout design give them compelling appeal. With the C5, sound quality is good, but bass is emphasized enough to detract from the overall performance, and the attractive and well-intentioned design is not enough to keep me from feeling that the C5 should deliver more given its price and heritage. Still, if you like C5’s design, have had trouble with in-ear canal headphones falling out, or want good sound with an abundance of bass—a category that surely includes many on-the-go music listeners—the C5 is worth a look.

While the Secure Loop design may not be a perfect fit for every ear, the Bowers & Wilkins C5s are among the best-sounding earphones in their sub-$200 price class.

Bowers & Wilkins's design-led approach has come to the fore once more in the C5 earphones. They're far more interesting-looking than almost all other in-ear pairs, and are incredibly well-made to boot. The sound is satisfying too - open, full-bodied and powerful - as long as your ears aren't too critical. Lacking control in the low end and unable to tackle sibilant passages of audio as well as the best, they're beaten by several rivals in pure audio fidelity terms. That's not to say they're not delightful to listen to with most music, though.

The Bowers & Wilkins C5 In-Ear Headphones offer beautiful, rich bass and fantastic audio performance inside the most secure-fitting earphone design in its under-$200 price range.