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.

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.

the good: construction - These definitely look and feel like a premium set of headphones. Supple leather, satin metal finishes, solid construction with no creaks or squeaks. The design itself may not be for everyone, but they are certainly upper level quality. comfort - *Significantly* more comfortable than previous editions of this same headphone. The clamping force, the padded headband and the leather quality feel much better, especially over longer listening sessions. You won’t necessarily forget that you’re wearing them, but previous versions of this model were very close to unusable because of comfort issues. They’ve made massive improvements in this area. tactile buttons - So many wireless headphones use capacitive touch buttons, which are clumsy at best. The Px8 has tactile buttons, which are significantly easier to find and use, especially when not looking at them. sound quality - I’m including sound quality in both good and bad for this review. To elaborate, the sound quality isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not a very good mix. Highs are substantially rolled off, low end is slightly on the boomy side, and sound stage is essentially missing…but otherwise these carbon cone drivers deliver really nice clarity. With the right tuning, these could really sound fantastic which, sadly, isn’t necessarily all that easy to do. There’s no app EQ, other than a *very* basic bass and treble slider. You can certainly hear the quality, but there’s just no excitement to the sound...no crispness or dynamic softs and louds. To some, this will be appealing. Those who prefer a much warmer sound may enjoy these immensely. They’re not fatiguing in any way, very easy to listen to over long periods. battery - Battery life has been outstanding, going beyond the 30 hours of usage in my testing. The quick charge is a nice tough as well. connectivity - So many wireless headphones are limited to one device at a time. These connected to both my laptop and my phone, and could transfer back and forth seamlessly. The aptX codec is a nice touch as well. ANC - Solid noise cancelling, though transparency was not great in my opinion. A bit of the dreaded ANC high pitched noise was still present. the bad: price - Significantly more expensive than most of their competitors. sound quality - See above…both good and bad, depending on your musical tastes. call quality - Call quality was just ok. Others I spoke to said it sounded almost like they were on speaker phone. app - The app isn’t quite ready for prime time yet. It is ok, but with headphones of this quality, an onboard EQ should be a no brainer, especially with the current tuning being so warm. misc: design - Some may find the “premium” design a bit over the top. overall: Overall these are *so* close to being 5 stars. With a proper EQ in the app I think they could be, even if things like sound stage can’t exactly be fixed, the sound signature certainly could be tweaked to take advantage of the quality and caliber of cones these actually possess. For that and the price point alone, unfortunately I have to go with 4.

I love the fit and finish of these over the ear headphones by Bowers & Wilkens. Not my favorite color by far, but the sound make the garrish color go away. These Bluetooth headphones paired simply with both my Samsung s22 ultra phone and my Samsung ta s9 ultra tablet. Both devices noticed the headphones before even searching for them. The bulid quality of these headphones helps justify they're high price tag, the included matching carrying case is nice as well. I like that besides a usb-c to usb-c cable you also get a usb-c to 3.5mm cable for devices with a headphone jack. I couldn't find any trailered sound options in the Music app by Bowers and Wilkens, I need to dive deeper into that option. As I feel these sound good but could be great with some minor tweaking in a eq app for the drivers. The battery lasts long enough for three issues before needing to be charged, which is awesome. I find myself grabbing these over my sony 1000X4s. These really are comfortable with great sound to match. If you have the extra cash I highly recommend giving these headphones a go.

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.

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.

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.

I truly enjoyed using the wireless headphones for a few weeks now and I can't help but say they are amazing. Whether I'm on a crowded train, in a loud coffee shop, or even at home with background noise, these headphones create an enjoyable listening environment. The noise-cancelling technology seamlessly blocks out unwanted sounds, allowing me to immerse myself fully in the music or podcasts I love. It's like having a personal oasis of audio clarity. Comfort is a crucial factor when it comes to over-the-ear headphones, especially for extended use. The PX8 doesn't disappoint in this department. The ear cups are luxuriously cushioned, providing a snug yet comfortable fit. The headband is adjustable, accommodating various head sizes, and the overall design is not only stylish but also ergonomic. I've worn these headphones for hours on end without experiencing any discomfort. Battery life is another strong suit of the PX8. With a commendable battery lifespan, I rarely find myself reaching for the charging cable. This is particularly handy for long flights or road trips, where a reliable battery becomes indispensable. The headphones also come with a quick charge feature, providing a significant amount of playback time with just a short charging session. The build quality of the PX8 is undeniably premium. The materials used feel durable and solid, instilling confidence in their longevity. The attention to detail is evident in every aspect of the design, from the seamless integration of controls on the ear cups to the foldable design that enhances portability. Functionality-wise, the PX8 comes with intuitive touch controls on the ear cups, allowing me to adjust volume, skip tracks, and manage calls with simple gestures. The controls are responsive and add a layer of convenience to the overall user experience. Additionally, the headphones seamlessly switch between devices, a feature that proves handy when I need to transition from my laptop to my smartphone effortlessly. The combination of top-tier noise-canceling, impeccable sound quality, wireless convenience, and thoughtful design make these headphones a great choice. Whether you're a music enthusiast, frequent traveler, or someone who simply values a superior audio experience, the PX8 is a worthy investment that delivers on its promise of audio excellence.

To get to the point, these are the best headphones I have heard yet and even sound better than the standard Sony XM headphones. The entire range from the bass to the treble sounds very clear without any noise and distortion that I can detect. The wide frequency range is impressive as well. The noise cancelling works well along with the tight fit but is not perfect. Some outside noise still gets in, but not much. The headphones fold flat to fit into the well-crafted case that comes with it. The only issue I have with it is that you need to change to headband to the smallest size to be able to fit it into the case. That means that every time you remove the headphones from the case, you have to resize them to fit. They are extremely comfortable to wear all day. The leather pads feel great, and they are tight enough to block out outside noise while not being too tight to be uncomfortable. The headband adjustment has smooth travel and holds its position. Overall, the best fitting over the ear headphones I have used. The app was really the only problem I had with them. It took a long time to get the app to detect the headphones. It would detect them but then loose the connection. After several phone reboots and playing around with the phone settings, I was able to get the app to connect to the headphones. I don’t know why it finally worked since I really didn’t change anything. After I got that working, the app was always able to connect without any trouble. The app is fairly basic and allows you to change the noise cancelling mode, and treble and bass settings. All these settings work well. It has the ability to connect to a few different streaming services but none that I have ever heard of, much less have a subscription to. There is a slide switch for power which I find to work much better, and I like it better than holding down a power button like on other headphones. These are very expensive headphones, but they have some of the best sound and build quality so if you can afford them, you won’t be disappointed.

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.

Very beautiful I want to buy!!! The color is amazing. I think they are very comfortable.

I was really excited to open this box which for me is the first impression of any product and the packaging was very secure and top notch as one would expect for a product in this price range. The case is also well designed and includes storage for the included USB A to C adapter for connection and charging as well as a USB C to standard headphone jack which I think is a nice touch! The sound is truly amazing and I could not find fault using my standard test tracks from many kinds of music. The comfortable over the ear design and the 24 bit DSP with the carbon cones delivers what I would consider "true" sound to enjoy. High, midrange and Lows are pure and clear at all volume levels. The controls are easy to use and the noise canceling is excellent and adjustable through the app. In addition the transparency mode is surprisingly strong and clear for instances when you want to be more aware of your surroundings. I cant wait to use these for my next airline flight in February! The six microphones responsible for the above mentioned music quality also ensure call quality is very good too. On top of that they are very comfortable with leather surrounding memory foam ear pads that make you forget you have them on even after long periods. Their design reminds me of a luxury vehicle like a Bentley or Jaguar. Rotating the speakers is nearly effortless yet has no wiggle or play. The same for the extensions to adjust for head size - nicely done. All in all job well done by Bowers & Wilkins.

Have purchased high end headphones, in the past, and always was like a dog chasing its tail, never satisfied. My last headphone purchase, was for for the birds, costing me 999 dollars. They could take there , Harmen curve, and bury it. Here is where B@W Px8 comes in, They are everything I have ever wanted. Volume is better, than most. Bass thumps with the sound stage being wide. love these headphones.

Good set of headphones little pricey for what you get