Not much time has passed since cables became full-fledged components, well, or accessories for Hi-Fi systems.\u00a0However, judging by the prices of some models, it is more likely the first than the second.\u00a0And now a new fad is the wireless connection of devices and the rejection of physical media content.\u00a0And there\u2019s nothing to be done: our everything, a smartphone is a fundamentally wireless gadget, and it sets trends.<\/p>\n
Instead of cables, there is now Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or other less common technologies.\u00a0For portable equipment, the second of those mentioned is more suitable, and it does not stand still – all new versions of it are being developed that provide the best consumer properties, including such important ones from the point of view of application in audio technology as the degree of information loss during compression, as well as speed data stream.\u00a0Just look, in this segment, at least, we will soon completely forget about the wires.<\/p>\n
Both full-size headphones and in-ear headphones are wireless, but the latter often retain a rudiment: a short cable connecting them or a flexible rim with it inside, which also contains some structural elements, for example, a battery.\u00a0But there is also a category TWS (True Wireless Stereo) – truly wireless models, which are two physically unrelated earbuds.\u00a0This is where Bowers & Wilkins PI5, which we are getting acquainted with today, belong to.<\/p>\n
![\"Bowers](\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/36_techweek.jpg\")
\nWhen the lid is opened, the indicator bar lights up.\u00a0Its color and glow mode indicate the charge level, a reboot in progress, malfunctions, or the pairing process with a smartphone, which is launched by pressing a button located between the two headphone jacks<\/i><\/p>\n
It should be noted from the very beginning that this is a very pleasant little thing.\u00a0The headphones “live” in a plastic round case, which is their constructive continuation and performs several functions, the most important of which is recharging.\u00a0It also pairs with a smartphone (up to four pieces).<\/p>\n
After carrying out this procedure, it is enough to remove the headphones from the case, place them in the ears, and they will turn on.\u00a0Despite the rather large dimensions, with correctly selected nozzles – and there are three more pairs of them in the kit, and the recommended orientation (one of the microphones to the face), the earbuds hold quite confidently.\u00a0It is worth noting here that they are equipped with donning sensors that turn them off when taken out of the ears, which saves battery power.\u00a0However, in the tested model, these elements were so sensitive that they worked erroneously, stopping playback and starting it again for no apparent reason.\u00a0So this feature had to be abandoned.<\/p>\n
![\"Bowers](\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/37_techweek.jpg\")
\nEarbud contacts are visible in the sockets;\u00a0it is impossible to set them in the wrong place – the form does not allow;\u00a0stability and positioning accuracy ensured by magnets<\/i><\/p>\n
This operation, like many others, is performed from the Bowers & Wilkins Headphone App, which is free to download and install on your smartphone\/tablet.\u00a0In particular, you can activate the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) system, which is equipped with PI5, which duplicates a one-second touch on the touch button of the left earphone, but the mode of passing external sounds is activated only from the application.\u00a0It also displays the battery level of the earbuds as a percentage, and in total it lasts for four hours with ANC turned on.<\/p>\n
9.2 mm speakers are responsible for the actual acoustic part in them, for wireless communication – Bluetooth version 5.0 module from Qualcomm with support for aptX and AAC codecs.\u00a0The range of the model is about 10 meters.<\/p>\n
![\"Bowers](\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/38_techweek.jpg\")
\nEach earbud has four microphones for active noise canceling and other features, including call answering<\/i><\/p>\nCaptivating sound<\/h3>\n
TWS headphones, and even with an active noise reduction system at a fairly reasonable price, are more about comfort than about audiophile sound quality, however, Bowers & Wilkins PI5 deliver considerable pleasure from listening to a wide variety of music.<\/p>\n
Let’s start with the fact that turning on the ANC mode significantly affects its presentation: the sound becomes more spectacular, the low-frequency range deepens significantly, so that the bass in some compositions begins to draw attention to itself, naturally, while the scale of the sound space increases, the scene becomes a little less solid, as the solo instruments or voices stand out more.\u00a0If you turn on the ambient sounds skipping mode, then the tops are made clearer, which, among other things, adds detail to the whole picture.\u00a0As a result, the album\u00a0Max Richter: Vivaldi The Four Seasons<\/em>\u00a0from the Deezer service really captivates with its expressiveness, rather subtle dynamics, and the solo strings play quite lively, without unpleasant dissonances.\u00a0Quite careful study of the bass lines pleases as well.<\/p>\n As for noise reduction, it is convincing, but not absolute – well-grounded conventional in-ear models provide no worse sound insulation.\u00a0More interesting here is the mode of passing external sounds, available at two levels – after all, it is often necessary to control the environment, and PI5 very carefully provide this, delivering mostly informative sounds of the midrange.<\/p>\n Without activating these modes, the sound is smoother, more balanced, but a little more monotonous.\u00a0But the slight auditory discomfort that accompanies them disappears.<\/p>\n PI5 has no genre preferences.\u00a0With them, without any complaints, arias from operas performed by A. Netrebko, collected in\u00a0\u201cA.\u00a0Netrebko.\u00a0Favorites\u201d<\/em>\u00a0on Deezer \u2013 the vocals are rich, emotional, and quite articulate.\u00a0The songs of Deep Purple from the\u00a0Machine Head<\/em>\u00a0album are even better served – rhythmically, worked out, exciting.\u00a0And even for Holst\u00a0‘s “Planets”<\/em>\u00a0these Bowers & Wilkins are quite suitable – the presentation of complex symphonic music is informative, expressive, rich.<\/p>\n Bowers & Wilkins PI5 provide both comfort and high fidelity for a wide variety of music, and are a pleasure to work with. Someone may not be satisfied with the need to recharge them every four hours, but, in the end, you also need to give your ears a rest. We advise you to pay close attention to them, first of all, to those lovers of listening on the go, who want to be at the forefront of progress and advanced technologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not much time has passed since cables became full-fledged components, well, or accessories for Hi-Fi systems.\u00a0However, judging by the prices of some models, it is more likely the first than the second.\u00a0And now a new fad is the wireless connection of devices and the rejection of physical media content.\u00a0And there\u2019s nothing to be done: our […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10404,"featured_media":144136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640],"tags":[778],"class_list":{"0":"post-144130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headphones","8":"tag-reviews"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bowers](\"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/39_techweek.jpg\")
\nOn the outside of each case there is a touch button that allows you to control playback (play \/ pause, forward \/ backward through the tracklist) and answer calls.\u00a0Pressing for one second on the left button allows you to turn the noise reduction function on or off, on the right button to call the voice assistant<\/i><\/p>\nConclusion<\/h3>\n