Customer Ratings & Reviews

I'm a sucker for a new pair of headphones that make bold claims about delivering a superior user experience that doesn't sacrifice sound quality. Long story short, I was blown away by the sound quality, and the comfort of wearing the Px8 headphones for both watching movies and listening to music. In the box, there's the Px8, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to aux cable. Everything comes secure and well managed in a hardshell case. I was pleasantly surprised by this because the last pair of what I considered to be "luxury headphones" came with no case, just a fabric bag. I downloaded the Bowers & Wilkins Music app from the App Store and was up and running in no time. The headphones themselves exude a premium feel. The leather around the cones and headband is super soft and comfortable. The arms connecting the earphones to the band are sturdy and metal. There's a surprising amount of weight that I feel when holding them, but it disappears when I wear them on my head. The attention to detail in the weight balance was delightful. I was keen to try out the noise cancelling feature, so I connected my phone and fired up my favorite Apple Classical music playlist. I sat back and closed my eyes. I felt like I was inside the music, which was so nice. Everything else going on around me, my wife and kids, I heard nothing except the music. Speaking of music, there are several streaming services that you can connect the BW Music app to if you're interested. I'm an Apple Music user, and that wasn't one of the services, but no big deal. I was also surprised by the regular setting that doesn't cancel noise. I was able to hear both my movie and be aware of what was going on around me, but not in a distracting way. With respect to battery life, I accidentally left them on over night and was surprised to see they were still over 90% the next morning. I'm not sure if the device went to sleep on it's own, or if the Bluetooth Low Energy feature is to thank, but it was a welcome surprise. My previous headphones would just drain down if that happened, requiring a recharge before use. Speaking of power, it's important to note that using the USB-C to aux cable does not work unless the headphones are turned on, there's no "passive" mode here. When I connected them to my MacBook Pro and used the aux cable, the Mac saw the headphones, but nothing worked until I flipped them on. I was also able to use the standard USB-C to USB-C line to connect them to my Mac and hear music. I believe this also has the added benefit of the Px8 drawing power from the Mac while being used, so I could see this being an attractive workaround.

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.

Great sound however poor battery quality that doesn’t last for more then 2hrs

Loud but the noise canceling leave a lot to be desired

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.

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.

Though the sound is really good, it may be more about the materials and the craftsmanship with these headphones. There's just something intangible about a really well made piece of gear, and these headphones have that something. At a certain level, even an audiophile isn't going to be able to tell much difference between high-end speakers, but these headphones just feel better. I was skeptical about the purple color at first, but it's a subtle shade of purple, and it's set off well by the gold metal. These also feel quite substantial. They're mush heavier than your standard pair of plastic headphones, and the swivels on the earpieces make them fit just right. Unlike most over-ear models, the cups go completely around my ears and fit securely against my head. They are a bit snug, but not so snug that they become uncomfortable. I miss having touch controls a bit, but at least you don't have to worry about accidentally activating something when you brush up against them. I also don't find myself having to readjust these much at all. The sound quality is as good as you would expect from high-end headphones, and the noise cancelling works well too. A couple of minor quibbles: When you turn them on and they pair, the chimes that indicate both of those things are too loud, and there doesn't appear to be any way to turn that volume down. The app is also pretty limited from a customization/equalization standpoint. Other brands give you more ability to tailor the sound exactly to your liking.

They are nice good sound but definitely not as great as advertised for the money. Was looking for better performance.

For music lovers and audiophiles, sound quality is often at the forefront of our purchasing decisions; in most instances, budgets will be a bit higher than what most would want to spend. Nevertheless, audio quality, specifically lossless quality support, should be an absolute priority regardless of the device. However, we must recognize that quality will undoubtedly mean something different from person to person. For me personally, over the last decade I have dedicated myself to the joys of extensively collecting physical music and analyzing the technical intricacies of lossless audio; quality for me is controlling the listening experience at every possible variable from the source file, the main device, and the end speaker. Naturally, for some this may sound like quite an undertaking, but life would be incomplete without hearing music as it was intended. Thus, I was extremely excited to test the latest high end wireless headphones from Bowers and Wilkins: the reference Pi8! For most people, the Pi8 setup should be very familiar as it is essentially the same with every other wireless earbuds. As typical of every manufacturer, the first step would be to download their specific application; unfortunately an account is required to use the application, a seemingly recent trend that I am not fond of at all. On the one hand, the good news is that at least they will still work and pair without the application. However, once you get your device paired with the Pi8’s, and you are signed in, you will then be able to access the various settings such as the tap behavior, noise cancelling, and the 5 band EQ setting (there are no sound presets). In addition, you can also see the battery levels of the case and the earbuds. For accessories, the Pi8 comes with a USB Type C charging cable and also a USB Type C to 3.5mm cable so you can connect another device via the 3.5mm to the charging case and transmit audio wirelessly to the earbuds. In addition, the other USB Type C cable will also let you transmit audio to the charging case for wireless transmission. On my Xperia 5 III, both the 3.5mm and USB connection worked flawlessly, but obviously Bluetooth should be disabled first. I was quite pleased with this feature as you don’t usually see that on wireless earbuds. Lastly, the Pi8s come with a set of ear tips; medium sized ones are pre-installed. I would also like to recommend you take a look at the full manual found on the website, as it goes into more detail with respect to the color LED statuses found on the charging case as well as paring information. Before I discuss the sound quality, I first would like to mention the noise cancelling as I was honestly surprised at the implementation. With noisy environments, the Pi8s did a fabulous job in sealing in the sound. In my living room with the TV volume set 25, I could not hear anything coming from the TV. With my music paused, I was quite surprised at how good of a seal these provided; perhaps even more surprising was that even with the noise cancelling off, outside noise was still relatively muffled! Even walking outside at a shopping center next to a busy intersection, with noise cancelling on, I could barely hear the traffic. Simply put, I was quite impressed with the Pi8s and its sound insulation. Furthermore, they are quite comfortable; long listening sessions never caused any discomfort. As for call quality, I was also quite impressed with the sound. Voices were nice and clear and there was a noticeable difference from the cheaper earbuds that these replaced. Most should be please with regards to the noise cancelling perspective. As with sound quality, I first want to mention a couple of preliminary points before I discuss my observations; most importantly the Bluetooth protocols. As most are probably aware, the Pi8s support the newest APTX lossless protocol (or Snapdragon Sound with APX Lossless). Unfortunately, depending on your device, the implementation of codecs may or may not be supported. Initially, I was under the impression that my Sony Xperia 5 III would be new enough to support the latest codec, but unfortunately it wasn’t added until the next generation (aside from the fact that my phone on Qualcomm’s website is listed as Snapdragon Sound compatible but not lossless). Upon opening the developer options, my only choices was SBC, AAC, APTX (presumably APTX Classic as listed on the Pi8 spec sheet), and APTX adaptive audio. Now keep in mind that APTX adaptive audio is listed as 276 kbps to 420 kbps and it will shift depending on the connection environment so unfortunately this is limiting the Pi8’s in that regard. It is also a shame that the Pi8’s do not support LDAC as that would have at least allowed an increase in the transfer rate up to 990kbps on my device, though the bit rate on some of my FLAC files do exceed over 1,000 Kbps. Undoubtedly, this naturally raises the question can you fully have lossless quality over Bluetooth? Personally, with such a question I have always tried to argue that it is best to assume the worst and say no. Given the nature of wireless transmission (packet loss), even if the smallest fraction of a byte is lost during its transfer at any point regardless if its audible or not, the end result cannot be called not lossless. As such, perception is not the same thing as reality. In that regard, it is why I have always preferred wired connections with any audio device, stereo, or home theater system. However, I certainly do not want to diminish the Pi8’s and their fairly high quality sound; it is merely difficult to minimize the technical context that accompanies such products and audio in general. As noted earlier, my lossless collection has blossomed over that past decade; currently, my library consists of 3,573 songs with my FLAC backup at around 265 GB across over 13 genres. As such, the majority of my songs are 44.1 KHz/16 Bit sourced from my physical CDs. All songs were ripped by EAC 1.3 using the secure rip feature and are encoded to FLAC 1.30. I have also personally scanned each file and analyzed every single song using a spectrogram (Spek 0.8.5) to make sure it is of proper quality (just because it’s on CD doesn’t guarantee someone knew what they were doing; music sourced from lossy sources have made it on to official CDs which will also make it on to streaming platforms and digital stores. I do not stream for this reason nor do I own the music). All songs were played from my Sony Xperia 5 III over APTX adaptive audio. As for sound quality, the quality of the Pi8’s is quite exceptional given their size. It is a clear upgrade over my old Bose Soundsport headphones. Starting with my metal and rock genres, I was quite surprised here as I noticed instrument separation was quite good. A couple of standout tracks worth noting was on Crypta's "Stronghold" starting at 5:16 the guitar solo has some really good separation from the low end. On "Lullaby For The Forsaken" the bass at 0:50 is extremely clear. On Trivium's "Torn Between Scylla And Charybdis" the bass line intro comes in perfectly. Shockingly, you can hear the whole thing; for comparison, most laptops I own can barely replicate this part. Next on Epica's "Victims Of Contingency" from 0:45-1:20 the drastic vocal changes were handled quite well; towards the end of the song, I heard more choir and background vocals than on my other earbuds. Lastly I was quite pleased with Elysion's "What Lies Beneath" and "Break Free" as vocals were nice and centered. Next, I wanted to test a few other genres, specifically with a focus on more instrumental tracks. On Fat Jon's "Risk It All" there is a bass line that starts at 0:43 that runs on top of smaller bass notches; the Pi8 held its own here and completely produced the line throughout. On "Your Purpose" at 0:39, the middle tapping sound is centered perfectly over the bass line along with the ambient string like sound that plays throughout. Lastly, on "How You Feel" is an absolute joy to listen to; the tapping and bass line are just perfect. Next, I moved on to Septicflesh's "Dogma Of Prometheus (Orchestra Version)" one in which has a good balance of choir and orchestra. At 2:10, the brass sections really come alive; at 4:09 there is a nice clap with choir vocals over it. The Pi8 is quite the performer. Next, I moved on to Si-Sé's "Mariposa En Havana" in which the crisp middle frequency percussion taps and viola at 0:20 are quite delightful with distinct separation. As for the low end, there is a slight occasional rumble but nothing too crazy. On "Slip Away" there is a nice bass line that picks up at around 2:00 mark, and the song finishes with a nice piano arrangement at the end; when it merges with the low end, the Pi8 really shines here. Lastly on "Steppin' Out" the intro bass line is quite low; to even produce a fraction of this rumble is quite extraordinary. At around 1:04, the higher chime like notes are crystal clear. Lastly, on Nujabes "The Space Between Two World" is just pure gold. Every section of the song from lows to middles are rendered perfectly clear. Overall, the Pi8's is perfectly natural across all genres and most should be completely satisfied. In conclusion, the Pi8s are perhaps the best wireless headphones I have personally used; even more impressive was given their relatively small size and weight, they were still able to replicate parts of my music that I wasn't expecting. In addition, the noise cancelling is spectacular and I was able to drown out most of all the external noise during my testing. Furthermore, they are extremely comfortable. Aside from the codec situation, the Pi8s are still worth a strong look as they do sound that good; understand that the lossless claim should be taken with a grain of salt and that your device will also determine if you can use the proper codec. Despite this, if the budget allows, the Pi8's still come highly recommended.

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

I was excited to get these Bowers and Wilkins earbuds as I have had a couple of over-the-ear headsets in the past that I really enjoyed due to the superior build and sound. With these Pi6 True Wireless Noise Cancelling In-Ear, I was expecting the same. Sadly, this was not the case. I received these about a week ago and spent the past week listening to them both as my daily work earbuds for zoom meetings as well as phone calls, music and audiobooks. Again my expectations were really high but was frustrated with them. The Good: These are really nice looking earbuds. The shape contours with my ears well. I feel that they are solidly built. The top surface is really responsive to my finger touch for the various controls. When listening to the various calls on zoom/phone, the people's voices comes out nice and clear and crisp. The microphones on these also pick up my voice well and the clarity is amazing. When listening to music and audiobooks, the sound is just very impressive. Sounds and music is very precise, and the noise cancelling is just amazing. It is able to lower the surrounding noise well that also adjusts to the environment around me. With other competitors anc, these don't give me that suctioning feeling and I can still hear what is around me but very muted. The case is also nicely built and charges quickly. In just a 15 minute charge, I am able to get about an hour's worth of battery life. On a full charge, these buds last about 8 hours of use (the most I've gone listening was on a long 1.5 hour drive with lot of batter life left). The Bad: They are not the most easy to connect earbuds. As I mentioned earlier, I already had a pair of over the ear headsets so I have the app already. When you initially set this up, there is no button on the case. It is very bare of anything except the one indicator light. I was struggling trying to connect this with my bluetooth. It took a few times of closing my app and opening again before it was able to pick it up and connect. This was a frustrating process which I felt it could've been lessened had there already been a power button. Also, these are ergonomically designed which I value tremendously. They contour my ear shape well. The problem is the material they use on these, they are very slippery in my ear. There are different silicone ear piece sizes but the standard medium-sized ones that are already installed are the best fit. There are no wingtips on these so with some sudden movement, they feel like they are being dislodged. I did several motions that required my head to have some movement: running, pushups, sit-ups, looking left and right. With these movements, they feel like they are about to fall out. So this was very disappointing as I would have liked maybe a stem design or probably wingtips. Overall, these are very good in-ear earbuds with noise cancelling. They are of solid build with amazing sound quality. I was just a little disappointed with the fit and connectivity of them. Once they were connected I feel that these are good for my office calls or when driving, but for me, not when I am exercising or doing strenuous activities.

The earbud is slick and comfortable, and I like the noise cancellation but it's flaky and keeps disconnecting from my iPhone on either side

The Px8 is the very best wireless headphone Bowers and Wilkins has on offer, and it delivers. After using these for almost a month now, I’ve come to realize why, while being quite expensive, are worth having and why these have become my daily driver. Starting from the build quality and fit/finish, immediately these feel well made and luxurious. The aluminum body/frame is rigid yet light, and not so stiff as to put extra pressure on my head. And to add more comfort, the extra supple Nappa leather that clads the earcups and the top headband is just heavenly. The form factor is also non too obtrusive - like a lot of the other high-end over the ear headphones out there these do not feel too large and obnoxious. However, this particular color trim, the “royal burgundy” adds quite a bit of flair which can be a hit or miss based on individual taste profile - the burgundy cladding and the eye-catching golden frame will stand out in the crowd. For people who like low-key, maybe the black color option will lend a more subtlety. As mentioned, the Nappa leather and the aluminum construction make these extremely comfortable. Even though this is not the lightest one out there, the weight distribution is spot-on, and helped me get into extra long sessions with music listening. Overall feature set is as expected - nothing standing out. LDAC is not supported and the best Bluetooth codec support is limited to aptX HD, which is adequate for most people. For iPhone users, as usual, AAC is the highest it can achieve. Pairing is easy, especially with the Bowers & Wilkins Music App, which I believe is optional. It supports Google Fast Pair, so when I turned it on, a notification popped up immediately. Also this supports multi-point (read “dual”) connectivity, so I could connect to both my phone and my laptop, and switch between without much issue. When I was moving between 2 phones, the switchover was a bit more “graceful”, whereas between Android and PC it sometimes took a number of tries. As for the app I used mostly to control the active noise canceling. There are very few settings that can be changed in the app, and the EQ is very very basic - just bass and treble. I typically use other EQ apps to get things done, so for me personally it didn’t matter. But with all these, the question comes, how do these perform the job at hand i.e. how do these sound. Now audio is a very subjective matter, and I am no pro audio enthusiast. I do enjoy listening to a wide range of music and have a bunch of headphones, IEMs, and am still inclined towards a wired setup with a decent amp when I get the chance. But when I started using the Px8, it immediately felt good. It is by no means a neutral or transparent pair of headphones. However, it is well balanced. Nothing screams out in the low or high end - it’s bassy, not overboosted or muddy. The sub-bass felt a bit recessed than some other similarly priced headphones, but not muted. The mids were good and well pronounced without being overpowering. And the high notes are well produced - clear yet not jarring. I have a few other headphones that do these better than the Px8, but not all at the same time as this pair. Out of the box, I spent less time EQing, and more time enjoying music which always scores high points for me. So, in essence, it’s not for technical listening like a studio monitor or a reference set, and nor is it for bass-heads. I felt the music to be intimate, closer to me without having a very narrow soundstage. At least for me, it hit just the right spots, and felt well rounded. As for call quality, it is not the best in terms of outside noise pickup. It did a decent job while I was on a call in a moderately busy street, and though the other person mentioned my voice is clear, some car noise was also transmitted. In terms of active noise cancellation, all I can say is that it is in the upper tier, but not the best. I felt the ANC augmented by music listening experience, rather than being the central feature. It is usable in most of the environments I typically venture to (sidewalks, cafes), and the environment pass-through feature works equally well. Unfortunately I was not able to use it in an airplane. In summary, I am extremely happy with the Px8. It demands a hefty price tag, but at least for my use case, it delivers.

The Bowers & Wilkins earbuds are a fantastic product and I love them! For the short time that I’ve owned them, they have quickly become my go-to earbuds. I have used these buds for extended listening hours and their comfort level is fantastic. They fit well and don't cause ear-fatigue. I usually use them while cycling or walking during my exercise routines and they feel great. One awesome feature which I love is the active noise cancellation. They are really effective in canceling out extraneous noises during my listening sessions. The call quality during my conversations is clear, concise and crisp . The earbuds have clean highs, really nice bass and nice mid ranges. My music comes alive and my listening pleasure is amazing. Battery life is solid, providing 8 hours of earbud life and if stored in its charging case affords a total of 24 hours of playback on a single charge. The fast charging feature is definitely something I particularly enjoy and having 24 hours of playback time ensures you have enough juice to last through the entire day. A quick 15 minute charge gives you 2 hours of listening pleasure. Noteworthy is this product is backed by a full 2 year parts and labor warranty. In this day and age, it’s wonderful to see a manufacturer that warrants their product for more than a year! Overall, I love these earbuds! In my opinion , they are top-of-line and posses superior listening qualities which are hard to beat. Love them, buy them and enjoy pure listening pleasure

I have been a fan of Bowers & Wilkins since I was a teenager. I have owned everything from their 600 through 800 series over the years. They have always represented well in the higher end audio community and offer a slightly brighter British sound than many of their counterparts in the market. The Px8 are the first pair of B&W headphones I have tried and not really what I was expecting from the storied brand. Immediately out of the box they check off all of the expectations one would have with headphones in this class: great aesthetics and well built. They really do feel first rate in your hands. From here though things took a bit of a turn. As soon as I put them on my head and adjusted them for fit the top of my head was irritated by the band. Yes, it is padded and made from leather so it wasn't that it was an oversight on Bowers part, but more that the band is just narrow enough that it was bothersome and would be an issue for longer use. Of course, that is on my head and it may be of no consequence to others. By comparison, my AirPods Max are definitely more comfortable for extended use. Clamping force was good and the Px8 felt secure and tight without the pressure making my eyeballs bulge. I paired the headphones to my iPhone and was off and running. I downloaded the accompanying app and went through the brief setup. Pretty standard stuff and after determining the Px8 were on the latest firmware I jumped out of the app and back to Apple Music. I listened to music for about an hour non-stop through the Px8. I tried it with noise cancelling on and off, as well as, in audio passthrough. The sound is warm and almost recessed by comparison to my AirPods Max. They don't seem as detailed which is partly due to the lack of brightness at the top end. It was an unusual experience as B&W speakers are very counter to that experience. The benefit here is that they may be less fatiguing for longer sessions. After listening to the Px8 for a bit I jumped back to my AirPods Max and was immediately struck by just how different the two sound. For my personal preference, I enjoy the AirPods over the Px8. This is an area where it really is personal preference. The bottomline is that the Px8 sound very good and are as hi-fi as one can get via bluetooth. The noise cancelling on the Px8 might be a touch better than the AirPods Max. Bowers implementation easily stands shoulder to shoulder with Bose, Sony, and Sennheiser in this department. The noise cancellation is excellent and should not be a concern. The audio passthrough I was much less impressed with. The AirPods Max are fantastic in this department and almost seem like you aren't wearing them at times. With passthrough enabled on the Px8 everything was still pretty quiet and almost muffled. While better than having everything turned off it was far from the experience it should have been. The headphones seem to have great battery life as I still haven't run them down since I got them and I have been putting several hours a day on them over the last week. The included carrying case is nice and robust and includes a small compartment for the USB-C charging cable that accompanies them. My biggest complaint is the price. Given the market they are competing in, I feel their peers are as good if not better in some areas for considerably less cost. I know when I am looking at B&W that there is an associated cost that goes with the brand, but in this case the upcharge is harder to reconcile. The AirPods Max are cheaper and equally well built, but maybe not as stylish. They are also considerably less expensive. If you are on an iPhone or in the Apple ecosystem they continue to be a no-brainers. The Px8 might suit Android users better, but Sony, Bose, and Sennheiser also have strong competition in the space. So, I can really only conclude the higher retail cost must be for the style. For me that is a tough sell, but for others may be an important factor that pushes them over the top. Overall, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 are very nice and sound great, but the stiff competition makes them a tough sell at their asking price.

Apple AirPod pros and others they like on the market so just as good if not better to me.

This is the definition of quality. Everything about the headphones is great. The design is gorgeous. I have the burgundy one and the shade, matched with the metallic finish of the arms is perfect. The look is so elegant and classy, I want to wear it, more than my earbuds. And the case it comes with is perfect to protect the earphones when it’s not in use, and since it is beautiful, I think this will hang around my neck a lot of times too. The placement of leather is perfect and, man, it is so soft. I have the earphones on at least 4 hours in the past few days and never did I feel like I had the need to rest from it. The earphones are snug, and the feel is comfortable. Well, I am also not sure if me keeping it on is because I am so immersed in the music, which I will get to in a few. Battery life is great too—like I said, it has been on for at least 15 hours and the app says I have 55% of juice left. This is considering I don’t softly listen and the noise cancellation is on all the time. It comes with USB-C port to charge which is now a standard, but what I like more about that, is the fact that the USB-C port can plug to a 3.5MM jack with the included adapter. Which means I can use this on a console controller if I need to or maybe a high definition amplifier for raw audio listening. I like it that the physical buttons have perfect response. I know when I have clicked them. And unlike touch earphones, which gets accidentally tapped all the time, only the presence of the physical buttons is very much welcomed. Placement is very simple too and there are enough buttons—so playback and pause—or pick up and drop calls are easy to learn; same as track navigation and toggling through noice cancellation. On the noise cancellation front, there is one thing that confuses me—because the headphones are nicely snug, sometimes I cannot tell if I am on noise cancellation or if it is off when I am at my office room. So minor sounds, do not go through the headphones, which makes me think the noise cancellation is on—only to find out that it is off when the someone slams the door. The noise cancellation when on is very good while the passthrough is very effective too. When I am at home with the baby, the passthrough still makes me enjoy music while I am aware when the baby starts to cry. Now with the audio, the sound quality makes me enjoy my premium streaming subscriptions. The audio is so immersive, I get lost in the sounds. I am not the super discerning music listener, but I know when the speakers I am listening to has wide capabilities, and they are noticeable with 24-bit, 192 khz audio. Wide meaning, not just the highs and lows, but the actual GRADIATION of each level. For example, listening to Bad Bunny tracks—the bass is not solid, and that’s by music production design. The booms are throbbing bass—and when you have these PX8’s on, you will clearly hear the different levels of low, so that you can distinguish among the spectrum of the lows. Now when you have that range for the lows and highs—can you imagine how much material you are actually listening to in one modern pop song where tons of sounds are produced. I hope I am making sense here and trying to really dumb this description down because I think I am already geeking out. Calls-wise- pretty good I would say. Audio is clear—no cracking and my voice, per the other person on the line, mentions that I sound super clear—so I would assume the microphone is great. This device though, being connected to both my computer and phone, I like it that it can switch to either, whatever is the one active. There is some glitching on which one to automatically switch to—could be depending on many factors like browser, app (zoom / google meet), phone call, etc. So this requires a lot more playing around with it and learning what behavior works best. The one thing I am sure of is, even if I am listening to music on my computer, it switches to the phone when I receive a call. But when I am listening to music on my phone, it does not necessarily switch to my zoom call. Again, something to note, but I think there’s too many factors for software to be this intelligent in switching. So I simply pause one device and play the other. The good thing is, whatever is the one playing, the physical buttons responds to that media—e.g., I click the play/pause button while computer music is on, it pauses the computer audio, versus playing the phone audio. The app comes in very handy too. Besides helping with connectivity with my devices, it actually puts my services all in one place—so it makes it easier to navigate through my streaming services. It comes with usual device management controls and some EQ and a reference on how to use the headphones. I know the PX8 comes with Siri as voice-assistant which can be set-up using the left button, through the app but I use Android. It’s not a big deal because I can easily trigger my voice assistant with my voice prompt anyway and still have the left button handy for toggling through noise cancellation modes. These headphones are very well-designed and I am happy Bowers & Wilkins is not sleeping on its name when it comes to sound quality. I definitely recommend.

Look and feel is fantastic, but the delay on sound from all sources when using Bluetooth is too much for me. I had to return and stick with the B&W Px7 S2s.

I rarely if ever would give something a 5/5 but with the Bowers & Wilkins Px8, I can't find anything meaningfully negative to say. So these are genuinely a 5/5 - incredible sound, comfort, and features. If you want an incredibly audio experience with noise cancelling, the Px8's are perfect. In the box you get: - Px8s (I have royal burgundy, which looks appropriately regal) - a matching hard case - USB C to USB C cable (for charging, no plug included as is the standard these days) - USB C to audio cable (for wired use). Setup and pairing took all of a split second with my iPhone 15 and you can pair to two devices, so I also paired to my MacBook. There's a very posh slightly British "ready to connect" when you first turn the Px8's on and they show as Px8's in your Bluetooth device list. Once they connect, literally a split second, there's polite chime to confirm pairing is complete. Audio Quality In testing, all I can say is INCREDIBLE. I tested using Apple Music (paid subscription) listening to lossless audio. Listening to "Maybe Man" by AJR was eye opening, I heard elements in the track I just never heard before a theremin, rolling thunder, and on another track "Bang!" the session backup vocalists were clearly discernible. The bass on the Px8's is deep, punchy, but not over tuned. The audio quality is doubly impressive as the noise cancelling is also superb and there's none of that "washed out" effect you get on some noise canceling headsets when listening to music. VOICE CALLS I feel it's a waste to actually use the Px8's for voice calls, but you may need to do the occasional call. In my tests, voice quality was clear and the inbuilt microphones were also good. So you could use this on a computer/office for a Zoom/Teams call. Especially if you wanted all the benefits of noise cancellation. COMFORT I will say the Px8's are 100x more comfortable that a certain fruit company premium headset. If you're considering the Px8's vs alternatives, I would beg you to get the Px8s as you will find them better in every way - comfort, sound quality, noise canceling. I wear glasses and the Px8s both fully cover my ears but also don't disrupt or interfere with my glasses. ALTERNATIVES I actually own the Px7s2. The Px8's are an amazing step up on the Px7s2 model. So if you're on the fence and wondering if it's worth paying the premium, the answer is yes. I will say again, the Px8s are better than anything the fruit company has made. OTHER THINGS TO KNOW Bower & Wilkins also have an excellent (free) app. Registration is required, but it lets you install firmware updates, tweak the treble and base settings, and adjust some of the buttons (initiate voice assistant). I would recommend you download the app, as Bowers & Wilkins are consistent and reliable at providing firmware updates for any known issues. I will say there were no firmware updates out of the box on first use. Actually, if there was one small weird thing it's the apps it doesn't offer Apple Music or Spotify as being able to directly integrate with the app. This is not a deal breaker, just an odd oversight. Battery life is rated as 30 hours (according to the box). I have used them all day with no issue. So if you're about to fly half way around the world and back and need a great set of noise cancelling headphones, the Px8's should be your pick. OVERALL Amazing. Perfect. Great sound, Lightweight, Premium look and feel. You won't be disappointed.

I always preface my headphone reviews with a disclaimer that I do not consider myself to be an audiophile. I enjoy music and sound but I am not the one to look to if you're looking for how well a pair of headphones can distinguish between two subtly different frequencies. That said, these are definitely one of the nicer pairs of headphones I've used and will probably just be my new wireless set for listening to music. Setup is dead simple like it always is. There's an app that walks you through the entire process but it's a bluetooth headphone set so it's the same process as it is everywhere. The app is one of the better accessory/headphone apps I've used. It doesn't feel bloated or slow or anything. It doesn't get in your way. I'll probably leave it installed, which is saying something for the countless headphone apps that didn't survive. The sound is quite nice. It somehow strikes a really good balance of loudness where it sounds loud without being deafening or anything. Bass sounds really good. All the frequencies, from my non-audiophile ears, sound really good. The bluetooth connection is also good and, even in a home with a lot of 2.4Ghz interference around me, I didn't notice any stutters or anomalies that I notice in some other bluetooth devices or separate 2.4Ghz transfer tech. It just sounds good to me. The headphones also feel really nice on your head. They're really light weight and the cups fit around my ears nicely. The cups might be a tad smaller than I'd usually like. They do "touch" my ears but not in a distracting way. There's a good amount of pressure into your head keeping the headphones secure and sealed without causing any discomfort that I could notice with prolonged use. The carry case requires the headphones be completely collapsed. This is weird to me because every other pair of headphones I've used I basically leave the strap in the place I like it so it always fits nice. But the strap extends in a very smooth and easy manner so you always don't notice doing it when you put them on again. You could also just leave the headphones laying on a desk or something and not worry about collapsing them, but the case is nice so I enjoy using it. The controls feature an actual toggle switch for power (I really dislike needing to push and hold an ambiguous button to power on my headphones). I found all of the control buttons were pretty easy to distinguish and press on both cups. The noise canceling sounds good. There's no trouble getting a good seal around your ears and it does a really good job canceling out noises you don't want to hear. Overall, these are some of the best bluetooth headphones I've used and I've used a lot of them. They're well built and feel nice to wear. Connection is great and they sound great while keeping out the sounds you don't want. If you have the budget, give these a listen and see how you like them.