At a look
Knowledgeable’s Ranking
Execs
- Impeccable audio replica
- aptX HD and AAC codec help
- Luxurious supplies and construct high quality
- Extremely comfy to put on for lengthy listening classes
Cons
- Good, however not best-in-class lively noise cancellation
- No help for Sony’s LDAC codec
- Fewer high-tech options than Sony’s WH-1000XM5
Our Verdict
The luxurious Bowers & Wilkins Px8 noise-cancelling headphone seems to be and feels each bit as stunning because it sounds, however its luxurious appointments render it a major step up in value from the also-excellent B&W Px7 S2.
Value When Reviewed
£599
Finest Costs Right this moment: Bowers & Wilkins Px8
I characterised the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 noise-cancelling headphone launched earlier this yr as “much less sizzle, extra steak” as a result of its audio efficiency was phenomenal, however rivals such because the Sony WH-1000XM5 delivered extra whizbang options. With its step-up Px8 noise-cancelling headphone, B&W delivers an awesome-sounding luxurious audio product chockful of high-tech options.
Luxurious comes within the type of the Px8’s supplies in addition to its construct high quality. The place the Px7 S2 is constructed primarily from plastic, the Px8 options diecast aluminum arms and diamond-cut steel detailing. The earcups, memory-foam earcups, and either side of the headscarf are wrapped in exquisitely gentle Nappa leather-based.
This evaluate is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the very best noise-cancelling headphones.
Whereas these parts add a little bit of weight to the headphone—the Px8 weighs 11.3 ounces in contrast the Px7’s 10.8—I discovered the Px8 to be much more comfy to put on for lengthy listening classes than the 12.6-ounce Focal Bathys. The B&W offers simply the correct quantity of clamping stress to remain in place, and the earcups present glorious passive noise isolation even earlier than you deliver know-how into play (extra on that later, in fact). The usual-setting—a minimum of when it comes to noise-cancellation—Sony WH-1000XM5 ideas the scales at simply 9 ounces, however sounds comparatively inferior to all three of the opposite fashions mentioned right here.
The ribbed nature of B&W Px8’s play/pause button helps your fingers differentiate it from the volume-up and volume-down buttons on both facet of it.
Michael Brown/Foundry
Bowers & Wilkins outfits the Px8 with 40mm carbon-cone drivers, that are angled inside every earcup. B&W says these drivers are lighter and extra inflexible than the same-sized cellulose drivers within the Px7 S2. The earcups, in the meantime, are detachable—and replaceable—ought to your canine or cat discover their scent and/or style irresistible. Multiple headphone has succumbed to that destiny in my dwelling.
Excessive-tech options of the Bowers & Wilkins Px8
The Px8 has a USB-C port for charging, however it’s also possible to join it to a pc to stream high-res audio (24-bit decision, 44.1- or 48kHz sampling fee). B&W additionally offers a USB-C-to-3.5mm cable, so you may join the headphone to an analog audio supply with a 3.5mm headphone jack, comparable to a high-res digital audio participant or pocket DAC.
The material-covered, hardshell case Bowers & Wilkins offers with the Px8 is an identical to the one it provides with its Px7 S2, with one exception: The pull tab on its zipper is a thick slab of leather-based. There’s a storage compartment contained in the case for storing your cables, which has a magnetic lid to forestall them from falling out. However if you would like an airline adapter, you’ll want to supply your individual.
You’ll use the Px8’s USB-C port to cost its battery, however it may well additionally connect with digital or analog audio sources with the included cables. The button on the left-hand earcup might be programmed to both summon your smartphone’s digital assistant or change lively noise-cancellation modes.
Michael Brown/Foundry
The Bluetooth audio is Bluetooth 5.2, with help for aptX HD and aptX Adaptive for Android customers, and AAC for iOS customers. There is no such thing as a help for Sony’s glorious LDAC Bluetooth codec. The Px8 might be paired with as much as two units directly, comparable to a smartphone and a pc. It could play audio from just one machine at a time, however if you happen to’re listening to music on a pc, an incoming name will mechanically pause the music whether or not it’s streaming out of your telephone or from the pc. Cellphone-call sound high quality was glorious at each ends.
B&W’s “wear-detection sensor” is meant to mechanically pause music playback once you carry both of its earcups. B&W is clearly seeking to compete with Sony’s WH-1000XM4 and WH-1000XM5 noise-cancelling headphones with this characteristic, which additionally preserves the headphone’s battery by placing it right into a low-power mode when the headphone is eliminated.
Sadly, the Px8’s efficiency on this rating was so erratic as to be just about ineffective. It might generally pause the music after I lifted an earcup, generally not; it might generally resume the music after I lowered the earcup again towards my head, generally not.
There are three ranges of sensitivity for this characteristic—low, medium, and excessive—that you simply set within the B&W Music app, however this didn’t assist. I finally disabled the characteristic altogether, as a result of the headphone would generally pause the music even after I hadn’t touched an earcup.
The B&W Px8’s case has a compartment with a magnetic lid for stowing its USB-C-to-USB-C and USB-C-to-3.5mm analog audio cables.
Michael Brown/Foundry
Contact management is one characteristic I’m pleased B&W isn’t attempting to ape. The Px8 has three mechanical controls—fabricated from aluminum—not plastic—on the right-hand earcup: There’s a dual-function slider for energy on/off and Bluetooth pairing (with help for Google Quick Pairing), a button under that will increase the amount, and the final button from the highest reduces the amount. A ridged button situated between these quantity controls toggles between pause and play.
The raised slider makes the three buttons on the right-hand earcup simple to find by contact, and the ridged play/pause button helps to additional orient your fingers. Urgent a “quick-action” button on the left-hand earcup both summons your smartphone’s digital assistant or switches between noise-cancelling modes, which B&W calls “environmental controls.” You program this button within the B&W Music app. Not like the Focal Bathys, you may’t use the headphone to summon Alexa.
The app has an EQ slider that allows you to increase or minimize bass and treble by 6dB. An replace to the B&W Music app that got here after our evaluate of the B&W Px7 S2 added the flexibility to stream music from the app to B&W’s headphones, with direct connections to in style music-streaming companies, together with Qobuz and Tidal.
Now you can stream to Bowers & Wilkins’ wi-fi headphones immediately from its Music app in the identical method you may play music on its Wi-Fi audio system.
Michael Brown/Foundry
Lively noise cancellation on the Bowers & Wilkins Px8
Bowers & Wilkins presents no menace to Sony’s dominance when it comes to lively noise cancellation, however the excellent news is that B&W’s ANC doesn’t have a detrimental affect on the Px8’s audio replica, both. The headphone can change between three modes: noise cancellation on; pass-through, wherein the headphone’s 4 microphones pipe ambient sound into the headphone; and noise cancellation off (two separate mics are used for telephone calls).
B&W’s noise lively cancellation is efficient sufficient, masking however not eliminating the sort of low-pitched drone you’ll expertise on airline flights, however it’s much less efficient at overlaying up the hiss of followers and HVAC gear. Extra importantly for individuals who care extra about audio efficiency than isolation from the skin world, turning on ANC doesn’t masks frequencies you do wish to hear.
The Px8 guarantees 30 hours of battery life and requires about two hours for a full cost. However if you happen to do let the battery run down, a 15-minute cost yields a full seven hours of listening time.
Listening to the Bowers & Wilkins Px8
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 is an thrilling, natural-sounding headphone with a really broad soundstage. As a lot as I loved listening to the Px7 S2, the carbon drivers within the Px8 take issues to an entire different stage. Listening to “Chet Boghassa,” from the Tuareg desert blues/rock group Tinariwen’s 2004 album Amassakoul (Qobuz streams the remastered high-res model launched in 2022), was a mesmerizing expertise, with the Px8 reproducing the driving bass and electrical guitars with out trampling on the intricate vocal harmonies, handclaps, and percussion.
Outstanding markings contained in the Px8’s earcups make it simple to discren proper from left.
Michael Brown/Foundry
The 50th-anniversary version of the Neil Younger album Harvest options unbelievable renditions of “Coronary heart of Gold” and “Don’t Let It Deliver You Down,” recorded dwell in live performance on the BBC. You may hear each string resonate on Younger’s guitar. Listening to tenor saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders’ “Nophizo,” from his 1996 recording Message from Residenceconfirmed the Px8 to be as adept with jazz recordings as it’s with rock and acoustic people music, presenting a large soundstage and revealing each attractive element.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8: Extra than simply luxurious
The supplies and construct high quality of Bowers & Wilkins’ Px8 headphone certainly account for an excellent chunk of its $700 asking value, however these headphones are far more than a luxurious merchandise. They appear to be $700 headphones, however what’s extra vital is that they sound like $700 headphones. The Px8’s carbon drivers are undoubtedly a step up from the cellulose drivers in Bowers & Wilkin’s also-excellent Px7 S2. As with different high-end noise-cancelling headphones we’ve examined, nonetheless, Bowers & Wilkins considers the mission of isolating you from the skin world as of secondary significance to high-fidelity audio replica. If noise cancellation is your major criterion for selecting a headphone, keep on with Sony or Bose; these producers nonetheless do it higher than anybody.
