Bowers & Wilkins is a British firm famend for its dedication to high-quality audio and premium design. Its newest flagship over-ear headphones—the PX8—are additional proof of the fame the model has earned through the years.
Luckily, our mates at Bowers & Wilkins had been form sufficient to ship one out for evaluation.
Design
One of many many stand-out options of the Bowers & Wilkins PX8 Wi-fi Noise Cancelling Headphones is its subtle design and premium supplies.
Indubitably, the PX8 is essentially the most luxurious pair of headphones I’ve ever touched. Once you first lay your palms on the aluminum body and Nappa leather-based, it’s clear these headphones are on one other stage.
They’ve a weight to them offering a sturdy really feel mixed with a sublime design that places the plastic competitors to disgrace.
The PX8 even carries that sturdy scent of actual leather-based, in actual fact, it was too sturdy for me at first. I’m fairly delicate to sturdy smells and I needed to let it sit for every week simply to air out earlier than I might put on them. Nonetheless, now they’ve that trace of leather-based aroma that exudes class and high quality.
Consolation
Beneath the wealthy Nappa leather-based on the ear cups is a beneficiant layer of soppy reminiscence foam that feels nice round your ears. The headscarf, nonetheless, might have used somewhat additional foam to alleviate the strain in your head. Fortunately, the PX8 continues to be snug to put on for hours at a time, however you’ll begin to discover somewhat strain in your head after some time.
Consumer expertise
The PX8 makes use of a collection of bodily buttons on the ear cups to manage playback, quantity, reply calls, and toggle by ANC and pass-through modes or voice assistant. I used to be thrilled to see this deviation from contact controls which have change into so fashionable, as a result of they’re typically simply activated and never all the time carried out in an intuitive method. Conversely, bodily buttons get pleasure from being simply accessible and simply work.
The Bowers & Wilkins Music app is the place you’ll discover extra choices for the PX8, akin to a simplistic equalizer, present battery stage, controls for noise cancellation and pass-through, in addition to toggles for the damage sensor and auto standby.
Total, I discovered the choices within the app somewhat lackluster when in comparison with others like Sony. Moreover, the damage sensor appeared buggy to me as a result of music appeared to pause randomly once I toggled it on.
Audio high quality
The Bowers & Wilkins PX8 makes use of the Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec to attach the headphones to your telephone. Whereas its transmission price is about half of what Sony’s LDAC is able to, aptX Adaptive is ready to change transmission speeds permitting for much less latency whereas gaming or watching movies, in addition to offering a extra steady connection and higher battery life general. Regardless, for the worth that B&W is asking for the PX8, I’d have favored to see LDAC as an choice.
There’s additionally a USB Kind-C to three.5mm cable included within the field for connecting it hardwired, besides the USB plug is inserted into the PX8 and the three.5mm finish is for connecting to your laptop computer or different gadgets. Often, it goes the opposite method round, which means this gained’t mean you can join it to your telephone hardwired with out a dongle for the reason that PX8 lacks a 3.5mm jack.
So far as how the PX8 sounds, it has a heat relaxed sound high quality. The bass isn’t too deep and the highs are reserved in order to not trigger ear fatigue or be piercing. The soundstage is vast and permits the music to encompass you. Total, the sound lives as much as the standard of the construct and supplies that Bowers & Wilkins used, and that’s a powerful feat.
My one criticism is that I want the app had a extra in depth equalizer that allowed for finer tweaking, particularly if you’re asking $700 for them. Sound is a private factor and all of us have our preferences, it might be good to have a bit extra management.
ANC
Noise cancellation is usually a blended bag from model to model. You’re by no means sure whether or not different manufacturers can compete with the likes of Sony or Bose. I’m glad to report that the Bowers & Wilkins PX8 greater than delivers in relation to noise cancellation.
I used to be shocked and delighted at how nicely the PX8 noise cancellation labored, isolating me with my favourite music and serving to me focus. It was even in a position to block out noises that another manufacturers typically wrestle with.
Battery life
Battery life on the PX8 has been incredible. Bowers & Wilkins advertises a 30-hour battery life, and in my expertise, the PX8 Wi-fi Noise Cancelling Headphones stay as much as that. I’ve been utilizing the PX8 for the previous few weeks completely with ANC enabled and I’ve barely needed to cost them.
Even when the PX8 does get low on battery life, it helps fast charging and may present seven hours of playback from solely a 15-minute cost.
Closing ideas
The Bowers & Wilkins PX8 are an outstanding pair of headphones produced from premium supplies and that includes excellent sound high quality, battery life, and noise cancellation. Nonetheless, that every one comes at a worth—and on this case—that’s the hefty sum of $700.
Sadly, that’s going to be out of attain for many individuals, however there are nonetheless another choices on the market for these wanting high-quality audio minus the aluminum and Nappa leather-based construct. For instance, the Sony WH-1000XM5 or Bose QuietComfort 45, each of that are extremely rated for sound high quality and ANC whereas solely costing about one-third of the PX8.
When you’re somebody fortunate sufficient to afford the PX8 Wi-fi Noise Cancelling Headphones, then you definately gained’t be disenchanted. The construct high quality is second to none, and it options a number of the greatest audio high quality and noise cancellation round.
