Unboxing the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 headphones, you get a sense of the luxury the British hi-fi brand is known for. It’s not just the shiny aluminium arms or the tightly braided cables that impress – great as they are at a glance – but it’s the smell of leather.
Yes, taking these headphones out, like earlier models of B&W’s premium headphones, you get a whiff of the kind of luxury a hefty price tag buys you. Costing S$999 in Singapore, the Px8 S2 comes with fine Nappa leather ear cups and head band, which are as comfortable to put on as they are good looking.
Weighing 310g, these over-ear headphones don’t drag down on you even after hours of listening. Having worn them for work almost every day for the past few weeks, I am impressed at how well they fit. Guess the Nappa leather helps!
More seriously, does the sound quality match up? The Px8 S2, which B&W says are the best headphones it’s made, certainly don’t disappoint in the most important department.
The 40mm carbon cone drivers do an excellent job of delivering a great amount of detail, while providing enough low-end heft as well as the sparkle of treble at the top. In other words, impressive all-round audio quality, especially if you’re familiar with the B&W sound.
I say that because my usual work headphones are a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless, which are a world away in terms of their signature.
Putting on the B&W headphones, I immediately detected a lot more emphasis on the bass – fleet-footed enough to not be bloated, fortunately – and also a closer, more intimate presentation compared to Sennheiser’s more open (some say, metallic) delivery.
I’d say the Px8 S2 improve on earlier B&W headphones. Not just in the “warmth” that some like but things do not feel as “rolled off” as before, so you sense that you’re hearing a lot more extension.
My favourite tracks to play on the Px8 S2 are bossa nova and jazz on Spotify or Tidal’s lossless services. Listening to Luca Mundaca’s Berenguendem track, for example, you find yourself tapping your fingers (and toes) along with the clear, natural-sounding vocals.
The B&W headphones do well with more complex classical music as well. When I played Nigel Kennedy and the Orchestra of Life’s renditions of Vivaldi, the Px8 S2 kept pace with the faster moments while also ensuring the different instruments in the orchestra play out clearly and separately.
Indeed, a good grasp of the material is what B&W has achieved here. Jeff Buckley’s Last Goodbye, for example, is great with all the separate components – vocals, guitar and drums – so clearly presented. You can sense a bit more dynamism than in earlier B&W headphones.
For folks who like a bit of bass, the Px8 S2 do offer spades of that but with a good measure of control. What you get is a tight, focused delivery, say, in Massive Attack’s Dead Editors. Some bass freaks might say they could hit a bit harder and extend further but these are portable headphones, not subwoofers.
You can, of course, customise your sound in the B&W app, which is a decent companion rivalling Sennheiser and Sony, for example. Out of the box, the Px8 S2 are already well tuned, I’d say.
The Px8 S2 would be what some folks might call “musical”, since the headphones produce a rich sound that is a contrast to the flatter, wider or possibly more open presentation other brands might be known for.
The good news is that the B&Ws don’t sound closed-in or tiring to listen to over hours. The combination of extracting a good amount of detail from musical content and then delivering it in a more intimate format will attract many potential buyers.
Speaking of format, the headphones support a variety of aptX Bluetooth codecs – including aptX Lossless – as well as AAC and SBC. So, if your phone supports the higher-quality ones, make sure you’re connecting via the best wireless technologies.
What about the active noise cancelling that B&W promises? I’d say the new headphones block out much of the ambient noise at home, even without a thick ear cushion to tightly sealing your ears in. Out in a cafe, they also manage to keep the music playing without distraction.
The headphones are useful for making calls as well. When I joined a number of video calls recently, the Px8 S2 sounded clear to others in the meeting. It helps that B&W has included eight microphones in the new headphones, ensuring that your voice comes across clearly.
So, if you’re bringing the Px8 S2 on a trip and are wondering if they are good enough for calls, don’t worry. They will give you the audio quality you like, blocking the noise in the plane cabin, while letting you do your Zoom calls when you land.
Indeed, it’d be hard to find a pair of portable headphones that look as good and sound as great. The promise of 30 hours of playback on a single charge is attractive as well. Long-haul flight? No worries.
During the few weeks I used the headphones, I only charged it a few times, usually after several days of using them (for hours each day) for work. It helps that a quick 15-minute charge gives you seven hours of playback. Again, great for when you’re on a plane.
If there’s one thing I’d knock B&W for, as I’ve done before, is the lack of touch controls. To be fair, there are solid buttons you can rely on for playback, and one of them on the left ear cup is also customisable. The good thing is that the headphones automatically pause playback when you put them down.
As with most things with B&W these days, the new headphones aren’t cheap. A dollar under S$1,000 for a pair of portable Bluetooth speakers is one hefty price tag. Even by B&W’s standards, this high price might deter some potential buyers.
That said, the new Px8 S2 does improve on earlier headphones, delivering great audio quality in a luxurious design that few rivals manage to match. As portable headphones go, this is quite a class on its own.
If you spend a lot of time on the road and desire a pair of top-notch headphones to take with you everywhere, then the Px8 S2 could be worth splurging on. I’d say give them a listen in the shops – if you’re into the B&W sound, which is rich and dynamic, then you might be happy to fork out the cash.
As someone who owns B&W speakers and have tried out several of the company’s headphones in the past, I do like the Px8 S2 more than its previous headphones. They are possibly the best yet from the company.
