Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have owned lots of expensive audio equipment and got tired of all the wires and different components. I replaced a Mark Levinson/Linn system with small QBs from Naim. The Qbs are great for what they are, but they lack really low bass and will not play in stereo pairs. In spite of many compliments on their sound from visitors, I wanted better. So, I have been following all the new active, streaming speakers coming out. I was looking for best bang for the buck and that could double for music and movies. I tried a KEF system that kept losing WiFi and Bluetooth signal. The sound was Ok, but not great. The Naims are better, even in mono. When I returned the KEFs, I listened to these Duos in the BB store, where they were NOT set up in an appropriate location (dumb). I decided to give them a home-try. Man, what difference the environment made. The speakers sound as good as $100,000 systems I have heard. I expected crystal clear mids and treble, and they definitely deliver, but what surprised me was how much bass they put out. I don’t need a sub as I had thought I might. These are worth far more than what seems initially an expensive price. Keep in mind you don’t need separates — you already get a streamer, DAC, amps (4), preamp as well as extraordinarily good speakers. Note that a mid-fi amp and a set of passive 700 series B&W bookshelves would exceed the price of these. I am sure you could find a less expensive, less usable system, but it will be nowhere as good as these. And if you were to build a comparable system, with all the same features, you’d spend far more than $4,000 (assuming you buy total crap equipment) and it would like still not be nowhere as good. As for the older reviews regarding drop-out and the app — B&W has replaced the app, and the new one is quite good. If others suffered connectivity issues, that definitely is not indicative of all Duos, and I suspect is a rare problem, where you could get a replacement pair under warranty in any event. Give these a try— you WILL want to keep them once you figure out what value they offer.

There are Audiophiles and then there are Consumer listeners. This earphone was created for Audiophiles and it is a big point that can't be skipped. Bowers and Wilkins is a brand for those who seek the exact goal of the producer and artist created their work for. It doesn't overdo things nor not deliver on them when they are supposed to be there. The fit and venting is perfect and when you add this up with look and even the case broadcast options ...you have something unique to the world of Bluetooth earphones and the best sounding earphone in Bluetooth products today.

If sound quality is your top priority when considering new earbuds, the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 need to be on your short list. After a week using these buds and alternating with others in my collection (I have buds for work and play), I have concluded these are the most accurate buds I’ve heard. The word that keeps coming to mind when trying to describe the sound from the Pi8 is “neutral.” I believe sound produced on the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 sounds just like it should. Some buds sound too bright, some seem to obscure vocals, still others beat you over the head with bass. The Pi8 present a complete, clear audio picture. Everything is present and distinguishable. They just sound great! The Pi8 support the aptX Bluetooth codecs (lossless, adaptive, and classic) as well as AAC and SBC. I’m on Android and had to dig into my system settings to enable aptX. ANC is passable. Noise cancellation is either on or off; there are no ANC level settings. It’s not the most effective implementation I’ve experienced from earbuds, but it gets the job done. From the app, there are three settings for noise cancellation: On, Pass Through, Off. From the buds, the choices are either On or Pass Through. Touch control functions are set from the app and you can choose from two settings: ANC (L) and Voice Assistant (R); or, Volume Control (L:up, R: down). If you want to change touch controls, it must be done through the app. As of this writing, those functions are not user-modifiable. I would prefer more customizability of touch controls. When used in phone calls, sound quality is excellent on both ends of the conversation. In the box: Charging case (wireless or plug-in charging); ear tips in four sizes (XS, S, M, L); a charging cable; and a 3.5 mm analog accessory cable. The 3.5 mm analog accessory cable is a cool inclusion. Say you want to connect to in-flight audio. Plug the 3.5 mm plug into the audio jack, the other end (USB-C) goes in your charging case and, presto, you now have wireless audio. The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 have set a new standard for me. I have been fortunate to be able to enjoy some terrific headphones and earbuds over the years. They each have their own distinct sound and personality, and I really thought I had a good handle on what accurate sound reproduction is. I was wrong. With the right recording, the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 can put you in the room with the musician. This really is sound that is true to life.

I really wanted these earbuds to work for me. Some design issues make them unusable for me. Design issues can't be fixed, so I have to return these. The positive. 1. They sound great. 2. The look great. The negative. 1. They are difficult to get out of the case. There is nothing to grab hold of while pulling them out of the case. 2. They don't stay in my ear very long. 3. The left earbud is probably defective. It cuts out almost half the time. It's only the left earbud doing this. I have tried keeping my phone close to the buds to no avail. I tried contacting both B&W and Best Buy about this. B&W put me on 'forever' hold. I couldn't get past the robot with Best Buy. 4. They are frustrating to reinsert into my when they start to fall out. This is because the button is too large and too sensitive. It is nearly impossible to avoid deploying the button during reinsertion. In my case, deploying the button brings up the B&W phone app even if I was listening to a different app. Now I have to stop walking, open my phone and find the app I was really listening to. Since they don't stay on my ear for long, this is a big problem. 5. The phone app doesn't seem to add any value to apps I already have. 6. I have problems getting them paired to my Android. It is still not clear to me how I get them paired, but I eventually do.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to earbuds, and I wanted so badly not to like these, considering the substantial price. I bought these and a pair of Galaxy Pro Buds 3. The GPB3 were an extreme disappointment. No substantial improvement in sound quality, and in fact, they were worse than my old $20 buds. With a horrible sharp hiss on "s" sounds, and the noise canceling almost non-existent. Sigh. These, however, have GREAT noise cancelling. Even at 30% volume, I can't hear a thing with these things in. The sound quality is awesome. The fit is great. And one of the most surprising things, something I never thought I'd find in earbuds or earphones again, is volume! Omg, these things can get loud! At 50% volume, they are almost as loud as any other buds will ever get. I get that hearing loss is a real issue with volume from earphones, but that's MY choice to make, thank you very much! I LOVE that these earbuds can get L O U D!!! I miss the days when a song would make me feel the need to hear it louder in my chest, my guts, and I could turn it up louder and really feel the music. Now I can experience that again! And despite the eyeroll I had upon seeing the "made for iPhone" blurb on the packaging, I've had no issues connecting to both my laptop and my Android phone. I left off one star for three things. First, I can already tell that the battery life isn't all that great. At 50% volume, it seems like these buds might make it 6 hours. Maybe. Second is price. Yes, they're obviously high-quality, top-notch earbuds. But the price is just crazy. I'm still hesitant, even with how great these are, to keep them. The price is just insane. And last, the APP SUCKS! That's one thing Sony has that I love is a great app for their earbuds/headphones. Their app is so bare bones for how expensive their earbuds are. And a tentative 4th reason. I don't know how long these buds are going to hold out for. If I do keep them, I'll be using them constantly. So only time will tell me if they last.

I got this speakers as open box for 1K and I can say this are the best speakers I've had better than the 805 d3 not d4 tho but for that price you get the sound quality of a 800 series not bad at all. Finish is good but not 800 series good I believe the design is good but I still prefer the 800 diamond finishes and design Now if you get this I strongly recommend you get the formation audio it will make your life easier and you will be able to use this speaker with anything that is the downside of this system is only wireless but the formation audio fixes that in my opinion Just keep in mind this is a great deal on clearance (2k at the moment of this review) not only you get a great pair of speaker but also the amps 2x125w each speakers bi wire if you get the 805 d3 (what this compares to) and a decent amp you may be looking at 6k+ i paid for my whole system and a formation wedge 2k for all not disappointed at all.

My Formation Duo speakers arrived four days ago. For the first two days, my experience matched those of the reviewers that rated the speakers as one star—multiple dropouts and episodes of unresponsiveness. I was completely unable to use Roon with them, although the B&W Music app worked most of the time. I tried an ethernet cable right away. I restarted and factory reset the speakers several times. That seemed to improve things a little, but the dropouts continued to an intolerable degree for such an expensive piece of equipment. Roon gave me a hint. Roon provides info on its music files—I soon figured out that hi-res audio files were always dropped but lower-res compressed files would play. The Roon Help documentation emphasizes the importance of a well-tuned and correctly configured wireless system to allow maximum data transfer. Otherwise, dropouts would occur. I decided to put some time into investigating my network performance since I had already tried everything I knew to do with the speakers. My entire system had been set up by the guys from Magnolia. I had rarely experienced problems, but my AV equipment and computers are hard-wired, so the wireless may not have been challenged by web surfing over an iPhone or iPad. Magnolia had installed a fancy Luxul router and two wireless access points; the Luxul connected to the Internet through an Arris cable modem/router supplied by Spectrum. While investigating my network, I found the following (in a system that I previously thought was functioning well): • The Arris cable modem/router had a 2.4 GHz wireless network itself that was transmitting on the same channel as the Luxul access points, possibly producing interference or using bandwidth that could otherwise be used by the Duos. I turned the cable modem wireless off. • The access points needed firmware updates. I took care of that. • I found a faulty ethernet connection elsewhere in my network and replaced it. I also worried about another potential problem. Tidal limits the number of active connections to one. I used to get a warning on my iPhone when I used Tidal while I also accessed Tidal on Roon. (This was before the B&W Duos.) It’s easy to forget to close the iPhone app… so I wondered if the B&W would just not play Tidal streams if I had Tidal open on other devices. I don’t know the answer, but during the investigating period, I just signed out of Tidal and Qobuz on everything. Finally, I reset Roon and then powered off every device, switch, router, cable modem and speaker for a couple of minutes and then restarted. Something did the trick! I have had no dropouts or unresponsiveness for almost 24 hours. Roon plays like a champ. Songs that previously wouldn’t play now play beautifully. FLAC 24/192 and DSD256 are converted to 96 or 88.2kHz for transmission to the Duos, where they sound spectacular! I believe they are even better than the B&W 803s floorstanders that have produced great sound in our living room for many years… So sound quality is unsurpassed. Ease of use would also be fine if your network is configured for maximum data transfer. I hope this helps others to avoid the two days of heartburn that I experienced.

These earbuds are the first pair I have ever purchased for myself. My wife owns an Apple Pro and when I put them on not only did it not fit my ears properly, the sound was not to my liking. I kept thinking why are they so popular? Since I own a B&W PX8, I figured the Pi8 might sound great, too. It has great reviews so I caved and gave it a shot. I am not disappointed at all. The fit and sound are amazing!! My wife agrees, too. I will be traveling soon so I am excited to use the earbuds on the plane and watching an inflight movie while using the case as a transmitter. They are expensive, however.

It is my birthday month so Bestbuy had 10% off for me. I got the speakers and the matching stands. Ive watched and read all the reviews for these, and most professional reviews conclude these sounds like speakers costing multiple times more, including Wilsons. I went to my local Bestbuy and listened to these first, hoping I guess I would not be wowed by them. But I was floored. Once I got the speakers I placed them on the matching stands. Once I downloaded the app, setup took 30 seconds. It was that fast and easy. I started to stream from my iphone and then did it from my macbook pro (to get higher bit rate, as iphone streams at CD quality only via bluetooth). Macbook pro streams at 24/48. Sound is absolutely incredible. You can hear instruments you did not know were there. You really don't need a subwoofer for these, as they do down to 25 Hz. The Soundstage is awesome, it is like you are there. These are likely going to be my last speakers for music, as I can't see anything I don't like about them. The stands are a must, I first plugged them in placing them on the shelf just to see if they were working, and the sound was great, but once I placed them on stands on my ear level, it was just amazing. Of course my wife thinks they look ugly, but I don't care.

absolutely love the Bowers & Wilkins Pi6. The sound quality is on another level. The audio is crystal clear, the bass is deep but clean, and the overall balance feels premium and refined. You can really hear the details in every song.

These feel impossible - like they’re turning your cranium into a resonance chamber - in a detailed, precise way. Highs have non-fatiguing sparkling detail. Midrange, vocals, strings - robust. Bass is tight and voluminous in a way i didnt know IEMs could accomplish. My only gripe is i have experienced brief disconnections, but worth it regardless. Transmitting, wirelessly charging case is nice.

I returned the Sony XM5 after buying and using the B&W Pi8. Full dislosure: I don't use the phone feature. I do use the noise cancellation - I found Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 earbuds much better. With Sony XM5 I could hear my treadmill. With B&W, I cannot hear my treadmill. The Sony XM5 has mediocre sound. I'm not sure why all the rave reviews about the XM5 sound great-They absolutely do not! They sound flat on both high and lows. Not impressed at all. The B&W Pi8 are amazing sounding - as if you are in the room with the band. If you are really picky about sound (and your ears) the B&W Pi8 are simply amazing for a pair of earbuds (totally worth the extra $100.00). When sweating Sony XM5 fall out of my ears way too many times during a 50-minute treadmill routine - they have a rounded body and slip off the ear easily. The XM5 foam pads don't help. The B&W Pi8 are well engineered with a bit of a ledge (flat) edge and rest comfortably on the ear cartlidge, this keeps them more in place & secure than the rounded XM5 - and the Pi8 silicone pads fit securely even when I'm sweating. Get the B&W Pi8 if you can swing it financially. There really is no comparison.

Owned the Duo's for over 2 years now. The sound stage is superb. They deliver powerful sound gracefully. The bass is suprisingly adequate for bookshelf size speaker's. Very dynamic. Can connect directly to Roon, Tidal, qobuz, deezer etc.... thru B&W app. In life you may not always get what you pay for but with the Duo's you get ALL your monies worth. Excellent and I'd buy them again tomorrow.

Intelligent Active Noise Cancellation (ANC): Advanced noise reduction technology, with a maximum reduction of about 25dB, effectively shielding low-frequency noise (such as subway and bus noise). Supports ambient sound mode, which can flexibly switch between noise reduction and external sound perception. Stable wireless connection: Bluetooth 5.4 technology, supports multi-point connection (connecting two devices at the same time), and is easy to switch. AptX Lossless transmission ensures high audio quality and low latency. Ergonomic design: Oval ear canal design, combined with multi-size earplug glue, suitable for long-term wear. IP54 dust and water resistance, suitable for sports, commuting and other scenarios. Long battery life and fast charging: single battery life of 6.5 hours, total battery life of the charging box up to 20 hours. Supports wireless charging, charging for 15 minutes can be used for 2 hours.

The Pi8 Earbuds sound phenomenal, especially when listening via the retransmission AptX Adaptive option between the Pi8 case & my iPhone 16 Pro Max. Listening to Hi-Res Lossless iTunes music with this option never sounded better. It really opens up the music & sounds incredible. Pairing is easy & staying connected via Bluetooth is excellent with no issues. The B&W App is easy to use & I like the ability to use the equalizer, although it would be nice to have additional features added to the App. The comfort of wearing these earbuds is very good. Phone calls & Noise Cancellation are okay, but not as good as my Apple AirPods 2 earbuds. However, I mainly purchased the Pi8’s to be able to listen to my music with much better clarity & sound, which is far superior to the AirPods 2 in sound quality. The AirPods 2 sound kind of muddy when comparing the same songs right after each other between both earbuds. Also, the build quality of the Pi8’s have a premium look & aesthetic. Although pricey, I am very pleased with the Pi8’s.

Let me begin by saying if you need volume/a lot of headroom then these are the ones for you. They have exceptional audio quality with a wide soundstage and very detailed sound. They have well balanced bass and are very comfortable. The Pi 8s have effective active noise cancellation and a good aware mode. I also use the audio retransmission case for wired connections when I need true lossless audio.

Amazing, good job! Very clear bass, best way to flex, and it sounds amazing. Everyone can buy a pair of in-ear headphones, but not Bower Wilkins in-ear headphones, I will never buy anything that not Bower wilkin or bose. I mean it 499$ headphone.

They sound amazing. huge step up from my Sony WF-100-XM400 earbuds. I like listening to music and the difference is astounding. The box says lossless audio and lossless music on Spotify sounds amazing, but I was under the impression you need a wired connection to truly get lossless quality. You tap the buds to pause/play next/rewind, but they are not so sensitive that they pause when you brush them. Also got them price matched <3

Bowers & Wilkins made a name for themselves by building high end loudspeakers, so the Pi6 earbuds come to me with some high expectations. It sits about mid-level in their earbud line up and features the aptX bluetooth codec and 24-bit processing for a high fidelity connection. The earbuds are marketed to last 8 hours on a charge, which seems accurate so far. I can’t confirm the 24 hours of total battery life with the case, but that sounds reasonable. The case is compact and should fit in most pockets well. It charges quickly with USB-C, but I was surprised it doesn’t wirelessly charge, which almost seems standard at this product level in 2024. And this kind of foreshadows my general experience with the Pi6 earbuds. A mix of ups and downs. SOUND If you’re looking into Bowers & Wilkins earbuds you likely put an emphasis on sound quality. I wanted to like the Pi6 more, because the tone and response are well balanced, but I couldn’t get over how cramped the soundstage felt. It’s like I’m standing next to a speaker vs facing a stage, there’s no sense of air in-between. The vocals are smooth but they’re not crisp. I almost want to say they’re a little warm, but I’m not sure if that’s it. Out of the box, they sounded flat and I had to turn the bass up a good amount just to get it near where I like. The bass response is good from a sound quality standpoint, but it doesn’t kick. It’s musical enough for you to hear the details though. It’s the first time I’ve felt that earbuds needed to be broken in, because they sound better now after playing them for many hours than when I first put them on. What could probably help make them sound better is having more than only a bass and treble adjustment for the EQ, but I’ll get to the app shortcomings later. Overall, the Pi6 earbuds are well balanced and sound good, but not great. My biggest issue is how compact the soundstage feels, but some people might like that. And as with all earbuds, the ear tip fit will make or break the sound. I tried the larger ones to see if it would seal tighter and improve the bass, but it somehow reduced it. NOISE REDUCTION / CALL QUALITY Excellent on both fronts. The Pi6 features adaptive noise reduction that won’t completely drown out the background noise, but will turn them down to a whisper. The Pass-Through mode allows you to hear background noise without removing the earbuds and works well while wearing both or even just one earbud. It would be nice to be able to adjust the ANC or Pass-Through audio levels, but as of now you can only turn them on or off. Call quality sounds excellent with a natural tone. No complaints there. APP / CONTROLS The app is a big letdown. It’s the most disappointing part of the Pi6 experience and I sincerely hope Bowers & Wilkins gets it updated quickly. There are only 2 audio adjustments available in the EQ (bass and treble), there is no adjustment for the ANC or Pass-Through sound levels, the customizable touch controls only allow you to choose between 2 presets (ANC/Voice Assistant control or volume control), and the battery charge level doesn’t show the case charge level or individual earbuds either. Just one percentage for the whole thing, which became really confusing when my right earbud died but the app said it still had 13% charge. I also kept placing the earbuds in the case thinking it was charging them and it took me a while to realize the case was dead and the app didn’t even show the charge level for it. The app has a lot of room to grow and a software/firmware update could probably do a lot to make the Pi6 really shine. OVERALL The Bowers & Wilkins Pi6 earbuds sound good, but not great. It’s tonally balanced, but the bass lacks kick and the soundstage feels cramped. The app has very few customization options and the touch control buttons are not always responsive. I’ve tried many times to skip a song only for it to stop. But after all of the trouble, the more I listen to them, the more I like them. There’s potential here and I would love to see how a firmware and app update could improve them. PROS - Sounds good with correct size ear tips and eq tuning - Good adaptive noise canceling - Excellent call quality - aptX codec - 24-bit audio - Stays in ears well - Sounds better the more I listen (breaking in?) - Comfortable for long use - Good battery life - Compact charging case - Good pass-through mode - Stylish - Excellent range - Comes with 4 sizes of ear tips - Charges quickly - IP54 water and dust protection - 8 hours of earbud battery life - Supposed 24 hour battery life with case CONS - Vocals not crisp - Soundstage feels compact - Sounds flat out of the box - Bass lacks kick - Ear tip fit greatly affects sound quality - User EQ only has Bass and Treble adjustments - Only 2 options for touch control customization (ANC or volume) - Cannot adjust noise canceling or pass-through sound levels - Taps on touch controls do not always register - Random static sound - Limited app functionality - Does not show charging case charge level or individual earbud charge level - Case does not wirelessly charge - Apple Music not listed as Direct Streaming app - Expect a more polished product from Bowers & Wilkins

Best sounding earbuds but with flaws. So far these are the best earbuds I have had sound wise. The ANC is ok, these do not cancel external sound like the AirPods Pro. They do stay in your ear. I had to let these go because after 3 months the left earphone began to make a static noise. To conclude I would purchase these earphones again for the amazing sound they provide.