Customer Ratings & Reviews

I bought Formation Duo + Bass on April 13th, 2020 from Best Buy. They were delivered on April 16th. At the time of writing this review on April 20, I have listened to them for 4 days. I have to say that the product is totally UNUSABLE for a “wireless” speaker. Please be noted that I have altogether 6 different Airplay and Bluetooth speakers (including one B&W Zeppelin) at home before I purchased Formation series. All my 6 current wireless speakers work perfectly and smoothly with Airplay and Bluetooth. None of my current 6 wireless/Bluetooth speakers have ever demonstrated any problems that were found on Formation Duo. I use the same Tidal App on the same iPhone via the same router at home for Airplay/Bluetooth on all wireless speakers. So, the comparison of Formation Duo with other speakers should be a fair comparison in terms of connectivity issues. The problems with Formation Duo are (based on the usage of 4 days with about 4 hours listening everyday): 1. Airplay is completely unusable. This problem demonstrates itself in several aspects. a. iPhone 11 Pro cannot connect to Formation Duo. iPhone is always showing the “connecting” window when selecting Formation Duo from the “SPEAKERS&Tvs” list. Have to reset Formation Duo for this issue. b. When connected to Airplay, music mutes on Formation Duo for no reason. By “mute”, I mean music on Tidal still plays but Formation Duo just does not make any sound. I don’t mean “mute occasionally like once within several hours”. Music mutes for 3-5 seconds at every 15-20 seconds interval. I cannot listen to music via Airplay at all. Such a problem never appears on any of my other wireless speakers (including the old Zeppelin) when using Airplay streaming from Tidal on the same iPhone 11 Pro via the same home network router. c. Each time after music resumes on Formation Duo after the unexpected mute, the Formation bass will get disconnected, i.e., music only plays on Formation duo, not simultaneously on Formation Bass anymore. In other words, the mesh network now only has the Formation duo instead of Formation Duo + Bass. The only way to connect Formation Bass again is to wait for the Formation Duo to go to sleep then play music again. 2. Bluetooth problems a. During the 4 days of listening, music mutes on Bluetooth three times for about 3-5 seconds. It is usable as a wireless speaker when using Bluetooth. However, this is extremely disappointing given that my other speakers have never had any Bluetooth connectivity issues albeit they have much older generations of Bluetooth technology. Again, I am using the same Tidal App playing the same playlist (downloaded into my phone) from the same iPhone on all my wireless speakers. b. After the unexpected mute when using Bluetooth, Formation Duo will automatically continue to make sound again. However, Formation Bass will also get disconnected. The only way to get Formation Bass back to the mesh network is to disconnect Formation Duo in iPhone Bluetooth menu and reconnect again.

I have B&W speakers and over the ear headphones. Bought these for travel and they are great.

Easily the best earbuds on the market today. Sound quality is amazing.

Sound quality. It doesn’t hurt my ears after hours of using.

Really good deals i love the sound of music and concerts no regrets to buy my news toy

Good sound system, but lacks integration choices with no inputs available like fiber optical cable or RCA.

I’ve come to know Bowers and Wilkins for their home audio speakers having a 5.1 system as my home entertainment system. Since I loved my speakers I was really anxious to get my hands on the Pi8 earbuds. I work in an open concept office for an engineering company and it really gets noisy, especially in the morning when we have our calls with our counterparts in India. The adjacent calls can be very distracting so I’m always looking for a pair of earbuds with active noise cancelling to help silence the noise. The Pi8 earbuds did not disappoint. Out of the box the medium tips that were already installed fit my ears perfectly. They do include 3 other pairs of tips so you can fine tune the fit to your ears. Also included is a charging case, a USB-C to USB-C charging cable and something you don’t usually see with other earbuds… a USB-C to 3.5mm jack audio cable (cool feature later). The charging case supports wireless charging so no need to plug in if you have a desktop wireless charger. The other feature of the case has to do with the included audio cable. This was a jaw dropper for me… the charging case can act as an audio transmitter if using the included USB-C to 3.5mm jack cable. So if you have a vintage audio player that doesn’t have Bluetooth you can use the tethered case as the interface. MIND BLOWN!!!! I have a stash of old iPods (yes, the old ones with wheel and audio jack) and now I can use them with the Pi8!!! Heck, I might even dig out my old Walkman cassette player!!! The Bowers and Wilkins Music app does a great job of linking 3rd party services such as Pandora and Tidal but I just use my Apple Music app or other streaming apps to push my music to the Pi8’s. With the app you can customize the touch controls, use the advanced equalizer to adjust the tone to your liking or I just leave it on True Sound which gets you a balanced output. You can also switch between pass through (which offers a bit of noise cancelling), noise cancelling or no noise cancelling. The app will also provide any firmware updates if any should be required. Finally the app also shows you the battery level for both the earbuds and the charging case. The sound quality is amazing. Switching between my rock, progressive rock, and audio books I find the True Sound audio output perfect without having to tweak the equalizer. I tend to wear my earbuds throughout the day due to the high noise level so I get in the habit of keeping my charging case’s battery at least 50% level and when I take a break away from my desk, I will toss the earbuds into the case. I get between 6 or 7 hours of full run time but since I do put them in the charger when I’m away from my desk I can usually go the whole day (11 hours) without having to worry about battery life. They are extremely comfortable, so I have no problem wearing them the entire day. The only ding I can give the Pi8’s is the price. At $399 it may be tough to justify for some but if you need a good pair of noise cancelling earbuds these are hard to beat.

I had high hopes but quickly disappointed! I truly feel my pair were defective because the sound and noise cancelling were nowhere close to my Bose Ultra Quiet headphones I recently purchased. I had to increase the equalizer settings to their max to get any fidelity. I also tested the two pair with my TV sound in the background. With the Bose I could not hear any sound with the Bowers I was able to hear the voices, muffled, but still intelligible. I may try another pair in the future, but for now I’m sticking with Bose.

It’s a good sounding speaker, but definitely not audiophile grade.

If you don’t mess around with it’s natural sound it might just sound great but if like extra bass these might not be for you

It’s possible the speaker would sound great, if only you could get anything to play through them. Airplay dosnt work 99 % of the time, the app alternates between saying there are no speakers and there are. There’s an update avaible, and then well no, they’re already updated. No way to control the volume or adjust the sound once they were set up. Can’t get them to play through Roon. I have the Formation audio and connected the tv through the optical, and just sounds like a hug amount of reverb has been added, so sounds horrible, but at least I could get sound to come out. Read about airplay complaints from the initial unveiling of the product, you’d think they’d have that fixed by now, and apparently how bad it is varies by person. This was meant for people who wanted easy to set up and use, they’ve missed the mark. Too bad I will have to be returning these. Useless as speakers until they fix all the connection and software problems.

Love the PI8's. Best buy delivers as promised as always!!

I've heard great thinks about Bowers & Wilkins over the years and decided to give their new Pi8 Wireless earbuds a try. Clearly, they are quite expensive as compared to the competition and I have higher expectations based on that. First off, you need to download the Music/B&W app to get them set up and fine tuned. Unpacking and set up was easy and I was up and running quickly. The box came with the charging case, the earbuds, various sizes of silicone ear tips, a USB C charging cable and a USB C to 3.5mm audio cable. From here, Im going to break out the positive from the negative things in separate sections below. The good stuff -Build quality and internal tech. The Pi8s are made of metal and seem very sturdy. Their weight is nice and I didn't have any issue wearing them over extended periods of time. They slide into the ear easily as well. Inside, they utilize a 12mm carbon cone driver which provides extended frequency response, particularly in the higher ranges. They have a high-end 32-bit DSP inside which was very tantalizing. That's good stuff for any system, let alone a pair of earbuds. The outer surface offers limited touch controls that can be set up via the app. which I will discuss later. They are IP54 rated which isn't the best but should provide some decent splash protection...not sure they are sweat proof. They offer Bluetooth 5.4 which should be good for a very stable connection along with extended range. They support AptX Lossless, AptX Adaptive, AptX Classic, AAC and SBC codecs which is fantastic. They have auto-adaptive ANC that is monitored by 3 microphones per earbuds. It can be turned off and on along with a transparency function via touch control or through the app. -Battery life is quite good at 6.5 hours per charge and an additional 13.5 hours provided by the charging case. The charging case can be charged via USB C or wirelessly on Qi charging pads, which I have been using. - Smart Streaming Case: The charging case acts as a retransmitter for various premium streaming services (Qobuz, Tidal, deezer, etc.) which can be linked in the app. I am not exactly sure how this works but apparently it's an industry first. I linked one of my accounts and can use it via the B&W app directly. Hopefully they will explain more about this feature in the near future. -Sound quality: The carbon driver may actually make a noticeable difference. I listened to several genres of music and the higher frequency sounds are less harsh or tinny. The bass is not too strong or overbearing like some other manufacturers. The B&W app has a custom equalizer function where you can fine tune the sound to your particular liking. Now the not so good stuff: -The provided silicone ear tips. They are very ineffective at sound isolation and luckily I had some premium foam ear tips that fit. The sound difference was night and day. I would think that at this price point, B&W would have already made that decision to add premium foam tips. -No spatial audio. B&W hasn't developed their own version of spatial audio as of yet, and it's unfortunate. Spatial audio does make a huge difference in the listening experience and I have it on a couple of other sets of earbuds I already own. I also assumed it or something like it would be included at this price point. -Touch controls are VERY limited. You can't control the ANC functions and the volume control at the same time. The app only allows you select EITHER controls for ANC or volume control. That is a very poor decision on B&W's behalf. ALL of my existing earbuds offer both of these functions to co-exist on the earbuds at the same time. I need to have both available as I use them both when Im walking or riding my bike. Not sure if a future firmware will address this but it seriously needs to be changed. -Auto-Adaptive ANC. It's just not that powerful compared to others on the market. Its not awful but it certainly could be better, again at this price point. B&W also needs to create an anti-wind option for times like walking or riding outdoors. A couple of my existing earbuds do offer that ANC function and it makes a huge difference. I used these Pi8s on a few bike rides and it wasn't the best experience. - Multi-point connection. I had a very difficult time getting 2 devices (phone an watch) to be set up and control the earbuds properly. It was a shot in the dark as to which one was running the show..one moment the phone accessed the earbud controls, ,then a moment later, it was the watch. Not fun. Hopefully this can be addressed in an app update of some sort. -Sound quality: As I mentioned above these do sound good, but again at this price point I expected more and they could sound better. They lack separation and depth like another pair of earbuds I already have and maybe Im just spoiled now from them. Music sounds a touch muddy as the separation is lacking. The highs are nice but I wish the bass had more depth. Overall they sound too flat even with the app's custom equalizer set up. Im sorry say it B&W, but they're a little disappointing. Overall these are some very finely made, high quality earbuds that just don't match some of the other competitors out there that cost less money. Im hoping B&W tweaks some things via app and firmware updates to refine them to be their best.

Wireless earbuds a dime a dozen nowadays, but when it comes to actual sound quality in headphones you can always look to Bowers & Wilkins. That is no different here as the sound quality is most definitely what sets these earbuds apart from competitors. First, right out of the box though these headphones have a very minimalistic yet premium look and feel which is much appreciated as they provide a very discreet look in your ears. When putting these in you do have to use a slight twist which helps provide a better seal for the noise cancelation which I will discuss later. As with most earbuds today there are multiple ear tip sizes included to ensure the appropriate fit for you. Once getting them in they are extremely comfortable as due to the plastic design they are very lightweight which allows for longer sessions of listening. This plastic design does not hinder the premium look and feel of the earbuds though as Bowers & Wilkins have done a great job combining aesthetics with function here. The other thing to mention is the setup process and the use of the app. This was a great experience as, yes everyone/everything has an app nowadays, but Bowers & Wilkins has done a great job keeping the app simple and easy to use. The app first walks you through the setup process where you can sync the earbuds to multiple devices and customize the touch gestures for each earbud. Also while mentioning the app it is good to note here that within the app it allows you to control the active noise cancellation and your various EQ settings to which I will say the EQ settings are great as it solely focuses on the bass and treble to keep things as simple as possible for users. Additionally within the app it does show the battery life and allows you to control your music. Onto the actual performance though as that is where these earbuds really standout! Again, this is definitely where Bowers & Wilkins put their focus as the sound is extremely rich in detail and very well balanced! The detail you hear with the mids to the clarity of the highs paired with a full bass really sets the stage for perfect sounding earbuds. Everything I threw at these earbuds from acoustic tracks to edm they passed with flying colors to which one of the most prominent things was the fact that there was no distortion at all. Also when it comes to performance all high end earbuds have active noise cancellation and here Bowers & Wilkins has definitely checked that box. Where they stand out is actually in the transparency mode as it feels extremely natural and not as forced as some other earbuds, which is difficult to describe without actually hearing it for yourself. In addition to these two features I will say that the call quality is right on par with what you would expect as I didn`t have any issues on my end and when I asked those on the other side they said everything sounded great and there was very little background noise if any in all the calls I took with them. So that just leaves the battery life which the 8 hour battery life seemed about on par with the 16 hours of charging available from the case to bring it to 24 hours that was fairly close to what I have experienced so again there are no issues in this respect either. Overall, when it comes to earbuds for me I`m most concerned with appearance and sound quality to which Bowers & Wilkins is at the top of the mountain here in those two respects. With the elegance in their appearance to the superb sound quality there is nothing further you could ask for in a pair of earbuds. The various features check all the boxes as compared to other earbuds, but again from an aesthetic and audio quality standpoint I would highly recommend this pair of earbuds.

I’ve enjoyed several pairs of top quality earbuds in recent years, but these Pi8’s are in a league of their own. From the moment I popped them effortlessly into my ears & selected my favorite “testing music”, I was stunned. I’m amazed that 2 little earbuds are able to put out the high sound quality that you would only expect from full over-the-ear superior headphones. Out of the box, I topped them off with a 30 minute charge. I downloaded the Bowers & Wilkins Music App. It requires that you create an account using your email (Most Apps don’t require this, so it’s an extra burden to add yet another code to my password manager). Pairing was fast & easy with my Android phone and I’ve had no connectivity issues. - Comfortable fit. The out-of-the-box eartips were the perfect size, but 3 additional sizes (L, S, XS) are included if those are not a good fit. They look very sleek, sit almost flush with the ear & barely stick out. The new design of the Pi8’s is a major improvement over the Pi7’s. They’re very comfortable & I never have to adjust them or push them in like some of my others. I also don’t have to twist or screw them in to get a better fit. - Sound quality is off the charts rich, full, balanced & clean! I feel fully immersed in the music with these buds unlike any other. I can hear strings with clarity that I’m never able to detect on my other high-end buds. And finally, these Pi8’s put out the warm full bass that I’ve been looking for, for years. - B&W App - Although the App is not mandatory, I would definitely recommend downloading & creating an account to use it. It’s not full of features, but it gives you the needed basics to truly enjoy your buds like: Battery charge %, Noise Cancellation options, touch control customization & most importantly…the equalizer. Overall, I would definitely recommend these Pi8’s for true music enjoyment. They offer the best sound quality of any buds I’ve ever owned.

Loud but the noise canceling leave a lot to be desired

Bowers & Wilkins has really stepped it up with the new Pi8 earbuds. The design of the earbuds is extremely attractive. They are now smaller than the previous generation and are much more comfortable to wear. The Pi8’s have longer battery life and the sound quality is fantastic. The earbuds come well packaged and include the earbuds, case, 3.5mm headphone cable, charging cable and additional ear tips as well as a manual. I had no problem connecting them Bluetooth to my Android phone, BT turntable, laptop or TV. You can pair multiple devices which is a very convenient feature. I already had the B&W app as I also have the over the ear headphones from Bowers & Wilkins. The app allows you to EQ the earbuds, however there are no sound presets. You can also adjust active noise cancellation and adjust the touch controls. Once I adjusted the EQ to my liking, I found the sound of the earbuds amazing. The sound is smooth and not harsh or overly bright. There is a good amount of bass. The soundstage is very open, and music sounds fantastic. I have several name brand earbuds and headphones, and these are the best I have so far. They are hard to tell the difference between the B&W headphones as far as sound quality and performance. They fall a little short on the ANC front compared to the headphones, but I expected that. Bowers & Wilkins have priced these earbuds according to their performance and have done a fantastic job with them. If you are looking for a top tier earbud you really need to experience these new Pi8’s.

Horrible, spending 5K on a piece of xxx. every time that I need to use the spackers need to (restart) unplug and plug back the speakers so I can use them, my network sees it but it just doesn't play.

So I got the previous version of the Pi7 earbuds, and I thought those were great. However, these Pi8 earbuds take it to another level. First I'm start with build quality. The body of these are different from the older models, and they feel more modern. Less weight, and have a different touch when handling them. The materials used are simply better, and I think that if you have both versions you'll understand more of what I speak of. Next is the controls. Since these are built more like today's traditional earbuds, there's more room for the touch controls. While I'm not a fan of touch controls, these are easy to use in many situations. The application. Get nice upgrade from what it was before, and this makes it easy to setup your earbuds when first get them out of the box. Simply open the lid on the earbuds, and follow the instructions. You'll be setup in minutes. Fun and useful feature is the ability to use them with wireless transmitter functions. If you are wanting to use them with a 3.5mm headphone jack, just plug them in with the included cable. Boom, all set. Lastly is the sound quality! Wow oh wow, I mean sooo much better with the new carbon cups inside, that's all I can say. Strong bass, great minds, and very solid highs. These are a win! Only con is price, they are up there. But you get high end quality with that higher price.

would not maintain reliable connection for more than 5 minutes. sometimes would not connect at all.