Review: Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 – audio luxury for the connoisseur

Let’s establish one thing right away: Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 will not be a headphone for everyone. It is a statement product, a lifestyle gadget that clearly communicates that the wearer prioritizes sound quality, high-end lifestyle design, and exquisite craftsmanship above all else. With a price tag in Sweden set at around 8,000 SEK, it positions itself in the absolute top tier of wireless headphones. The question is: does the experience match the price?

Design and Comfort: A (Slightly Tight) Embrace of Luxury

The first impression is striking. Like its predecessors, the Px8 S2 is incredibly stylish, crafted from exclusive materials such as cast aluminum and soft Nappa leather covering both the ear cups and the headband. This is light-years away from the plastic housings that dominate the market and lower-priced headphones. They feel substantial, luxurious, and built to last.

However, that luxurious feel comes with an initial compromise. Straight out of the box, they can feel a bit stiff and tight around the head. According to B&W themselves, they are designed to fit “heads large and small” while remaining snug, secure, and stylish. We wouldn’t say our heads are incredibly large here at the editorial office, but two testers felt these were a bit too tight. After a week of use, they softened up slightly, but they still feel significantly tighter than their smaller sibling, the Px7 S2 (our reigning reference). The snug fit and choice of materials are meant to signal a conscious user about town, and these aren’t headphones you just “throw on” or something intended to blend in as discreetly as possible—no; these breathe intentional luxury, just like the recurring poster boy David Beckham, who is once again the brand ambassador for the headphones this year. This is just one of several exclusive collaborations with famous brands; other B&W specials have included headphones in the McLaren racing team colors and a 007 model.

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Sound Quality: “As the Artist Intended”

But sound is always the most important factor, and this is where the Px8 S2 truly shines. Bowers & Wilkins follows a philosophy of “True Sound”—a pure and unfiltered reproduction of music, “as the artist intended.” This is clearly evident in both the sound profile and the choices made (as well as what was omitted). The soundstage is exceptionally clear, detailed, and precise. When listening to the drums at the beginning of Bruce Springsteen‘s Streets of Philadelphia, every beat is distinct and crisp, with a tight, realistic, and controlled bass that never becomes overwhelming. In Allan Taylor‘s Colour to the Moon, the instruments emerge with fantastic space and resonance; you can distinguish layers in the music that were previously almost lost.

USB-C – The Key to Audiophile Heaven

The real magic happens, however, when you bypass the limited bandwidth of Bluetooth technology. By connecting the Px8 S2 with the included USB-C cable to an iPhone (or another device supporting high-resolution audio), you unlock the headphones’ full potential thanks to lossless audio via the built-in DAC. The sound receives a noticeable boost. Julienne Taylor‘s covers of Your Song or I Don’t Want to Talk About It gain a warmth, presence, and goosebump factor that is hard to describe and cannot be achieved wirelessly. Similarly, it’s surprising how well old recordings sound; listen, for example, to the strings and overtones in Gregory Isaac‘s version of House of the Rising Sun. If you pick up the pace a bit with Josh Wink‘s Higher State of Conciousness, we get a nice bass and a distinct midrange that reaches quite high. It might not be the heaviest “oomph” you’ve ever heard, but it remains very close to a clean and accurate monitor headphone without ever becoming boring.

Features and Technology: Conscious Choices

Noise Cancellation (ANC)

B&W has consciously chosen not to compete with the quietest headphones from Sony and Bose. The ANC function is effective and dampens ambient noise well, but it is simultaneously balanced to avoid negatively impacting the music reproduction. For audiophiles like us, this is a plus, but for those seeking total silence on a flight, more powerful alternatives exist.

Call Quality

The Px8 S2 is equipped with a total of eight microphones—up from the six in previous models. Out of these eight, six are responsible for noise cancellation and two for calls. Call quality is generally very good and clear in most environments, though like many other headphones, they can struggle slightly with wind noise outdoors. Both this flagship model and the updated smaller sibling Px7 S3, which arrived earlier this year, feature “ADI Pure Voice” technology, a function for digitally processing spoken audio to make both outgoing and incoming sound clearer and better. And it actually works quite well; we hear the other party perfectly, and they describe us in the same way.

Connectivity and the Future

One disappointment for audiophiles is the lack of support for LDAC, a codec that can currently deliver the highest wireless sound quality and is found in many Android phones. The Px8 S2 instead relies on Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive and aptX HD, both of which certainly provide excellent 24-bit sound. Adaptive attempts to provide the highest sound quality with the best stability (up to 420 kbps / 96 kHz), while aptX HD goes up to 576 kbps, albeit at a 48 kHz sampling rate (which, strictly speaking, is below the threshold for Hi-Res Audio). LDAC theoretically offers up to 990 kbps at 96 kHz, and it would have been interesting to compare the difference against the wired USB-C connection, as wireless still offers great freedom.

Battery life is stable and reliable with up to 30 hours of listening on a single charge, which should be more than enough for most needs.

Regarding future features such as Spatial Audio, LE Audio, and Auracast, these are promised by the “end of the year,” so we will have to revisit those later.

Verdict – B&W Px8 S2

The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 is a premium headphone for those willing to pay a premium price for a premium experience in terms of sound and materials. At the same time, it is also a lifestyle product—”a luxury statement,” as B&W calls it—that consumers buy into, yet it still delivers absolute top-tier sound quality, especially when used with a cable. A new reference on senses.se in the high-end segment!