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Bowers & Wilkins has long been known for blending high-end design with serious audio bona fides, and the British brand’s latest launch, the Px8 S2, are a refined upgrade to their flagship Px8 headphones. The Px8 S2 aren’t a drastic departure from the originals, first released in 2022 — but there are some tweaks that make this a worthwhile successor.
While I have only been testing them out for a few days, the Px8 S2 are without a doubt among the best-sounding and easily the most attractive headphones I’ve tried, with impressive active noise-canceling and improved comfort over the last generation.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2
Stated Battery Life: Up to 30 hours
Colors: Onyx black, warm stone
Features: AptX Lossless, dedicated amplifier/DAC, custom EQ
If there’s one obvious drawback, it’s the price. At $800, these are a seriously pricey pair of headphones, and $350 pricier than recent releases from Sony and Bose. Whether or not they’re worth it is a personal calculation, but it’s clear that B&W elevated the standard Bluetooth headphones with premium materials and exceptional sound quality.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: Design and Construction
One of my biggest gripes with the original Px8 was the heft — while the premium materials felt luxurious, I found them overly heavy for all-day wear. The Px8 S2 are a slimmed-down version. While the actual weight difference isn’t enormous (about seven grams, according to my kitchen scale), the S2 headphones wear lighter. The case is also slightly slimmer and more travel-friendly.
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The headphones are made from Nappa leather with aluminum details, setting them apart from the primarily plastic build of most headphones. The earcups rotate inward and outward, but don’t fold in, meaning the case is still somewhat large. The zippered case includes a pouch for a USB-C to 3.5mm cable and a USB-C to USB-C charging cable. The headphones don’t have a 3.5mm jack, only USB-C.
They’re currently available in onyx black and warm stone. My review unit was the latter, which is ever so slightly more blush in real life. The cushions and headband are replaceable by “service engineers,” according to the brand. It would be nice to see user-replaceable earcups, as is common with other headphones.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: Controls and Features
The headphones feature intuitive tactile controls, with dedicated buttons on the left earcups for controlling ANC and power. On the right, you get dedicated buttons to raise and lower volume, plus a textured button that controls playback. The headphones also feature wear detection, automatically pausing when you take them off.
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As for the app, it’s fairly bare bones and, somewhat frustratingly, requires an email account to use. The app lets you directly connect music services like Tidal, Qobuz, and Amazon Music (but not Spotify or Apple Music), although most people will probably opt to control their music directly through their preferred app.
You can also customize the EQ with a five-band equalizer, a new feature to these headphones.Bowers & Wilkins says they will roll out new features like spatial audio later this year. As for battery life, these headphones have up to 30 hours of battery life, which is fairly standard for headphones in this class.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: Sound Quality and Noise Canceling
The Px8 S2 headphones boast richly detailed audio performance that’s immersive and engaging, with a wide soundstage and rich detail that will stand out to casual listeners and enthusiasts alike.
B&W uses 40mm full-range carbon drivers and aptX Lossless for the highest sound quality over Bluetooth possible. There’s a catch with codecs, though — the source device also has to support it, and manufacturers like Apple and Samsung prefer to emphasize their own codecs. Still, even using a device without the full performance of aptX, the high-quality drivers and the dedicated headphone amplifier squeeze more quality out of the signal.
Noise-canceling is improved over the last generation, thanks to the inclusion of eight microphones. ANC performance isn’t on par with Bose or Apple, but these headphones are no slouches in the noise-canceling department — in my testing, they capably cut loud street noises to a whisper.
In quick tests recording my voice, I found the quality to be clear and crisp, including with loud background noises. That performance is owed to the eight mics in the headphones, and you shouldn’t have any trouble using these for calls.
Verdict
There’s a lot to love about these headphones. And for $800, you’d hope there would be. The design is exceptionally stylish, regardless of which colorway you choose. The headphones are built from aluminum and leather, setting them apart from most headphones.
Crucially, the sound quality is excellent, as is the active noise canceling. The lighter, sleeker build is a small improvement over the last generation, but one that makes a difference for all-day wearing.
While it’s hard to enthusiastically recommend a pair of $800 headphones, Bowers & Wilkins undoubtedly delivers on the promise of beautiful, high-quality headphones.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2
Pros: Premium build quality, excellent sound quality and strong ANC performance, lighter and more comfortable than last gen
Cons: Steep price, earcups aren’t user replaceable, some features not coming until later
