SEK 7,500 for a pair of headphones? We’re definitely in audio filter territory here, but Bowers & Wilkins is a brand that tends to appeal to music connoisseurs.
Before we get to the sound, we can still say that the headset is the most luxurious over-ear headset we’ve tested. If you ignore the fact that the leather is artificial, there’s no plastic here, everything is sturdy, well-designed aluminum. This means that quality and long-term sustainability inspire confidence.
It’s also a comfortable headset, the ear cups with their memory foam fit comfortably without pressing too hard. The bow doesn’t press hard on the head either. However, the headset is not so well suited for sporting activities. When I sweat, the ear cups get quite sticky and if I lay on the exercise machines, they slide right off. This isn’t unique to the Px8, but rather typical of over-ear headphones.
Real buttons
The headset has five distinct buttons that are easy to feel with your fingers without looking, we avoid the touch panels entirely. On the right cover are the play/pause, volume buttons and the on/off button. The last one is a slider that can be pushed up for pairing mode. It makes it intuitive how to pair the headset with new devices. Volume steps with the volume buttons feel much more pleasant than when using the volume button on the cell phone, so I never have an issue with sounding too loud or too soft. On the left cover is a programmable button that is preset to rotate between noise canceling off, noise canceling on, and listen when you need to hear your surroundings. That’s fine with me, but it can be a voice assistant button instead if you prefer.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 can be paired with more than one device at the same time. If you have the app installed, you can also set the order in which the headset should try to connect to devices.
Yes, it sounds good
In addition to the AAC protocol that the iPhone uses for music via bluetooth, Bowers & Wilkins also supports AptX Adaptive and AptX HD, which can transfer music with high sound quality. For 7,500 kroner, anything other than excellent musical sound would have been a scandal, and the sound is truly excellent, with clear reproduction across all frequencies. We’re really talking true-to-source reproduction here, with no trace of amplified bass for a more powerful feel. If you prefer, you can select the EQ mode with more bass in the Bowers & Wilkins app. There’s also a “podcast mode” here that makes speech clearer, but I have no problem listening to podcasts well even in normal mode.
Active noise reduction, on the other hand, isn’t that impressive. It sure makes a difference, especially with low-frequency noise, but you’re nowhere near the magical feel of Sony’s 1000X-series headphones. The noise reduction isn’t as sensitive to wind as it sometimes is, and I can use it even if it’s windy.
The headset automatically pauses music when I take it off. You can adjust the sensitivity of this feature, but even at the lowest sensitivity, I find the headset just turns off from the jacket pressing it sometimes, so I turn the feature off. It’s not particularly difficult to find and use the pause button.
Worse in calls
The closest I get to headset disappointment is when I have to make calls with it. The person I’m talking to complains that the volume on me is so low that it becomes difficult to hear, even if you turn the volume all the way up the other end. Traffic noise isn’t filtered out and it quickly becomes impossible to hold a conversation when it’s a little louder. This should be something Bowers & Wilkins can fix with a firmware update. According to the app, my headset has firmware version 1.0.0, but I can’t find a way to check for newer versions. Hopefully it will be fixed automatically.
A headset for 7,500 kroner isn’t for everyone, and honestly, it’s hard to see that the sound would be much better than headsets for a couple of thousand cheaper from, say, Sony or Sennheiser. But if you know you’re really picky about sound quality, you won’t be disappointed with the Bowers & Wilikins Px8.
