Bowers and Wilkins Px8
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 are premium active noise cancelling (ANC) over-ear headphones.
I have used Bowers & Wilkins products over the past decade, including multiple headphones and the excellent Mini Theater, connected to a Sony STR-DN1050 AV Receiver.
The UK-based Bowers & Wilkins brand has always resonated with me, specifically their rich heritage of high-performance bespoke sound hardware and their elegant design language that expresses their unique, premium style.
Most importantly, the sound produced by their products has always exceeded my expectations, offering clarity and punch that is faithful to the source material. In my experience, this balance is with consumer-centric sound products, often failing to deliver clarity or exaggerating specific ranges, such as bass.
I have been interested in the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 headphones for some time. However, with a recommended retail price of £599, I was unwilling to pull the trigger. Thankfully, during key sales periods, they can be found for around £399 and I managed to procure them for £290.19 (51.55% discount) during a recent sale on Amazon.de.
At this price point, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 offer great value, especially when compared against the competition.
- Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H95 (RRP £879)
- Apple AirPods Max (RRP £499)
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (RRP £449.95)
- Sony WH-1000XM5 (RRP £379)
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 headphones exude quality. The premium materials, including cast aluminium arms, diamond-cut detailing and Nappa leather trim, look and feel amazing. The fit is also exceptional, delivering a reassuring and comfortable clamping force that (for me) feels more secure than the Apple AirPods Max (they are also approximately 64.8g lighter).
Highlighting the attention to detail, Bowers & Wilkins even angle the drivers, so that they are parallel to your ears to help with timing and precision in the sound (a nice touch).
Regarding the drivers, Bowers & Wilkins include new carbon cone 40mm drive units, which are lighter and claim to be more rigid, reducing distortion and improving transparency. This is supported by high-resolution 24-bit digital signal processing (DSP).
In summary, I would highlight the following positives:
- Exceptional Sound
- Premium Design and Materials
- Refined Build Quality
- Physical Buttons (Easy to Use)
- Excellent Battery Life (30 Hours)
- High-Quality Codec Support (aptX Adaptive, aptX and aptX HD)
- Versatile Connectivity (Bluetooth 5.2, USB-C and 3.5mm Headphone Jack)
Without question, the main positive is the incredible sound performance, which is the best I have experienced with active noise cancelling (ANC) over-ear headphones. This is also the consensus from many audio critics, for example, What H-Fi.
The active noise cancelling and transparency modes are both excellent, but arguably not quite as good as the Apple AirPods Max or Sony WH-1000XM5. However, if your use case is mostly home or office (not travelling), the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 will certainly deliver.
One critique, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 headphones can not be used passively, meaning they need to be “on” for them to receive sound. This is not uncommon for active noise cancelling headphones and on the surface is a minor concern.
However, this negative is compounded by the fact that the internal battery cannot be replaced easily. As with any battery, it will degrade over time. When this happens the headphones may become unusable. In a perfect world, Bowers & Wilkins would make the battery user replaceable, or at minimum, offer a simple low-cost replacement service. At this time, neither option is viable.
This critique would not stop me from recommending the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 headphones. However, it would give me pause at the recommended retail price of £599, knowing they will have a predetermined usable life span.