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- Stupendous sound quality
- Very comfy
- No touch controls
- ANC is not the best
- Considerably more expensive than rivals
It has been a long four years since Bowers & Wilkins released the Px8 headphones. In that time, the British audio firm has released not one but three versions of its more affordable Px7, most recently the Px7 S3 model, which I had the pleasure of reviewing earlier this year.
The Px8 S2, despite the out-of-step name, are made from similar stuff. Internally, the headphones share the same amplifiers, the same DAC, DSP and Hi-Res audio capabilities as their cheaper counterparts. Externally, the two headphones look uncannily alike, too, although there are differences in the type of material used in the construction. More details on that below.
And yet, there are major differences in the way these headphones sound. If you feed them the right signal, the Px8 absolutely deserve their position at the top of Bowers & Wilkins’ wireless headphone range, and they’re the best-sounding cordless headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. The question is, are they worth the significantly higher cost?
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: What do you get for the money?
It’s a pertinent question, for while it is easy to spend significantly more than the Px8 S2’s £639 asking price on a pair of high-end headphones, this is somewhere near the ceiling for a pair of premium wireless headphones that come with ANC (active noise cancellation). Most of the competition, even the Apple AirPods Max (long in need of an update), sit around the £400 to £500 mark these days. The superb Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are a comparative bargain at £400, as are the Sony WH-1000XM6.
So what do you get for your £239 premium? A close look reveals a few different details, not least significantly superior build quality. The Px8 have fully metal armatures and earcup hinges, where the Px7 and Sony’s are plastic, and they look more high-end, too, with exposed braided cabling inset along the length of each arm. To top off the look, the earcups are covered in a brushed metal finish instead of plain matte, and the grille running around the circumference of each cup has a more refined perforated grille.
The other major difference is that the memory foam headband and earcups are covered with real napa leather instead of PU leather, and the result is that these headphones feel cooler next to the skin and are more comfortable to wear for long periods. There’s no doubting these headphones feel super comfortable to wear, but that fact unfortunately rules them out for audiophile vegans.
Other than those details, there is remarkably little difference between these headphones and the far cheaper Px7 S2. The location of the buttons, shape and dimensions of the earcups and the headband are all the same – volume up and down buttons flank a multipurpose play/pause/skip button on the right earcup, while on the left are the pairing/power slider switch and a button for cycling through ANC modes – and inside the headphones are very similar, too.
Both models share the same design architecture, with discrete amplification and DACs powering each 40mm driver, and support for audio codecs and wireless standards that is just as impressive. Bluetooth 5.3 goes hand in hand with Aptx Lossless and Aptx Adaptive 24-bit 96kHz for hi-res listening, alongside SBC and AAC. You can also connect the headphones via USB-C if you don’t have the hardware capable of transmitting 24-bit 96kHz audio wirelessly. And as I write this review, the Px8 S2 don’t support spatial audio, either, although there is an update promised towards the end of 2025 that will add the feature.
From a sound-quality standpoint, the key difference between the Px8 S2 and the Px7 S3 lies in the material used in the cones of the 40mm drivers. While the cheaper headphones use biocellulose (and both headphones share the same more rigid housing than their predecessors), the Px8 S2 employ carbon fibre, which is lighter and stiffer. A lighter, stiffer material, in theory, can react more precisely to the supplied signal and can, therefore, deliver more detail in music and lower levels of distortion.
What do the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 sound like?
The question is, how much difference can such a seemingly trivial difference in cone material make? The surprise is that the answer is: quite a lot. And while normally I would have to try quite hard to hear the differences between two pairs of wireless headphones, here it was immediately apparent, even to my ageing ears, which was superior. No prizes for guessing that the winner was the Px8 S2.
For my listening tests, I compared the Px8 S2 principally with the Px7 S3, as that was the best-sounding pair of wireless headphones I had to hand, but I also threw in a pair of Sony WH-1000XM6, because I was already comparing using those as a yardstick to judge ANC. I did most of my listening with high-resolution tracks from Apple Music. I streamed that audio wirelessly to the headphones over Aptx Adaptive 24-bit 96kHz, using a Creative BT-W6 USB audio transmitter, to bring my MacBook’s wireless audio up to spec.
It didn’t take long for me to discount the Sony. Good headphones though they are, they are not on the same planet as the Px8 S2 when it comes to sound quality. Some might prefer their more bombastic, fun approach to music presentation, but the Px8 S2 deliver music with a purity of sound the WH-1000XM6 can’t match. Instrument separation is better, bass is more defined and controlled, vocals are more immediate and – when things get chaotic – it’s just easier to enjoy a piece of music with the PX8 S2 clamped to the side of your head.
Even the very similar Px7 S3 pale in comparison. I fired up my usual list of eclectic test tracks and pressed play on Joe Satriani’s Thinking of You as a first port of call and was immediately smitten. The Px8 matched the Px7 S2’s muscularity, but as for everything above the bassline – the cymbals, rhythm guitar and surrounding percussion – the Px8 S2 were able to lift that out into space and into my ears far more effectively.
If I were to say I began to hear elements of the music I had not heard before, I fully recognise I would be employing a well-worn hi-fi cliche, but that would make it no less true. The Px8 S2 simply dig deeper into the depths of recordings than their rivals.
Turning next to Mike Masse’s cover of The Rolling Stones’ Angie, and the difference is more difficult to put your finger on, but it’s there’s nonetheless. There’s more apparent texture to the jangling acoustic guitars, the live ambience is more – well – live and there’s a better balance between all the instrumental parts and Masse’s vocals, the latter floating out from the mix with a pleasingly ethereal clarity.
Declan Zapata’s Philomena exposes the Px8 S2’s total control over the music more clearly. The latter part of this track is an explosion of guitar body slaps and frenzied Spanish guitar solo that really exercises an audio system’s ability to deal with big transients, complex, multilayered sound and timbral accuracy.
The Px8 S2 coped admirably, generating all the power and punch you’d expect and yet with more authenticity. Zapala’s guitar sounded more real, more resonant, more immediate and more expansive, while the performance itself was captured with more of that live atmosphere.
What’s more, this performance was replicated across all of my test tracks, from the strident Six by Seven track, Eat Junk Become Junk, to King’s College choir’s masterful rendition of Mozart’s Requiem. I simply could not find fault with the Px8 S2, no matter how hard I tried.
How good is the noise cancellation?
If there is a weakness, it’s a familiar one: noise cancelling. The Px7 S2 performed well when I tested them earlier this year, but they couldn’t match the Sonos Ace at the time or the Sony WH1000-XM6, which arrived later in the year.
The Px8 S2 do not move the game forward for Bowers & Wilkins in this regard. Comparing them side-by-side on the short but painfully noisy stretch of the Northern Line between Liverpool Street and Old Street stations, the Sony WH1000-XM6 effortlessly outperformed the Px8 S2, and although I did still have to turn up the volume, I was able to comfortably hear the podcast I was listening to at the time. Even at maximum volume, I struggled to make out the conversation while wearing the Px8 S2.
That’s admittedly a rather extreme test, so I toned it down with my next comparison, playing the sounds of an aircraft cabin through my kitchen Sonos Move at maximum volume. Here, the Px8 S2 fared better, cutting significantly down on the roar of the engine, but the Sony headphones were still clearly superior, cutting out not only more of the roar but also slightly more of the high-pitched tapping from my fingers on my laptop keyboard.
And while the passthrough audio works nicely – a quick press of the button on the rear of the left earcup quickly patches some audio in from the outside world so you can hear approaching traffic and the like – there is no way to temporarily mute audio completely so you can, for instance, listen out for tannoy announcements.
With the Sony WH-1000XM6, you simply hold your palm over the touch surface on the outside of the right earcup to mute and pass audio in from the outside world, hold it there while you listen release it when you want to return to the cocoon of your music.
The Px8 S2’s ANC can’t be automated like the Sonys can, either. While the WH1000-XM6 can sense when you are walking, in a vehicle or sitting down at your desk and automatically pipe in a little ambient audio depending on the environment, there are none of those features here. You simply have the option of on, off or “passthrough” and that’s your lot.
That simplicity is reflected in the options available through the Bowers & Wilkins Music app, but although it is basic in comparison to Sony’s, it does contain some useful features. You can, for instance, tweak the sound profile via a five-band EQ if you don’t get on with Bowers & Wilkins’ True Sound tuning; not something I found myself itching to fiddle with, though.
More practically, you can toggle the wear sensing on and off and adjust its sensitivity, assign the quick action button on the left earcup to your voice assistant, toggle the various noise cancellation modes and disable or enable auto standby. The latter is useful if you occasionally want to use the headphones without playing audio through them – for a bit of peace and quiet in a noisy office.
The app’s best feature is how easy it makes managing your various connected devices. As the headphones support Bluetooth 5.3, they can maintain a wireless connection to two devices simultaneously, without having to re-pair – your laptop and phone, for instance. However, if you regularly use your headphones with some other device – a tablet, perhaps – then this feature allows you to quickly and easily disconnect one device and reconnect to another without having to jump through hoops.
Should you buy the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2?
There is no doubt in my mind that the answer to the question of whether you should invest in a pair of Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 is a resounding yes. If you have the money, if audio quality is paramount for you and you’d rather your headphones not be tethered to a desktop amp, then the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 are a superb choice.
The build quality is second to none, audio quality is seriously good, and they feel both comfortable to wear and luxurious on your ears. In this price bracket, there is no pair of wireless ANC headphones with better audio or comfort levels. The only caveat is that the noise cancellation and smart capabilities fall short of the very best; on this front, Sony’s WH1000-XM6 remain the headphones to beat.
In the end, which you choose comes down to what your priorities and your budget are. But if you value sound quality above all else, then the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 tick all of the audiophile boxes, and then some.
