B&W C5

I searched for a long time for a set of over-ear headphones that could deliver a lot of bass without distorting. The final destination of my search led to an unlikely place - a set of in-ear earphones.

I always presumed earphones wouldnt be able to deliver as much as bass as a set of over-ear headphones. I was wrong. While these earphones might not be to everyone's taste, or suit everyone's musical palette, they do suit mine very well. When listening to music I appreciate clarity, and warmth, as well as bass presence. These earphones achieve that exactly. When used 'as-is' with no equalization they sound simply superb, and very detailed. When used in conjuction with EQ, they can be driven very hard with no distortion. They are the only ear\head phone device I have heard that can handle a level of bass you could only hear in a nightclub on a large system. Of course, they dont deliver that level of sound, but the 'presence' of sound is there.

In my experience, the bass doesnt muddy or mask the higher end frequencies and they remain bright and sparkly, especially when used in conjunction with an EQ.

The ear loop component is a simple but very useful feature, for isolating and enclosing the sound, again it emphasises the bass presence. I used to do this on regular ear buds.. I noticed that if I cusped my hands over the ear buds, the bass (and sound in general), was greatly improved. A simple, yet highly effective mechanism.

My only negative gripes, and they are small, is that the purse it comes with, is a little small - I feel it squashes the earphones a bit too snugly. The remote control used to Play \ Stop \ Skip Next \ Skip Back \ Volume, in my opinion, is a little rigid, and the Play controls could be a little bit more separated from the Volume control on the stick - it's quite easy to try and press the Volume Up, to only accidentaly press Stop.

But, overall, for my ears, the sound is great, and that is the most important thing to me.

Beware purchasing these earphones, all is not what it seems.  Unless you purchase from a B&W approved supplier all warranties are null and void, B&W tell us Amazon is not an approved supplier therefore a faulty set of earphones which are less than 6 months old are useless!

B&W allow you to register for the warranty, it is only when you try to use it that they finally tell you they will not honour the warranty... Great customer service? I think not!  Very very disappointing.

I have had these for a wile now and have used them with a number of apple products. iPhone 3,iPhone 4s, iPad 2, and the new nano ( can't take cameras into work).

The biggest thing was the bud size. I have to use the smallest supplied buds. Maybe a few years as a tighthead prop has made my canals smaller or....

On the sound. (never good at this) I like and I recently had chance to hear the B&W headphones. I am very happy that I did not buy them. I did not like at all. 

Base not sure about it being overblown yes it may be a bit much on some recordings but.

One thing to consider my normal listening is with some B&W 703's and ilike that sound. But they are 2 countries away andi havenot heard them for a few months.