It sports new drive units, some unique geometry, new microphones for use with cellular phones, and improved noise reduction. It’s slimmer than their previous offerings, made of new materials, and is said to excel at the reproduction of high-resolution music.
I’ve put the Px7 S2 phones to the test against the similarly priced Apple over-the-ear headphones (AirPods Max), and some other brands I have in my collection.
Bowers & Wilkins, founded more than 50 years ago, has excelled in speakers at various price points from esoteric and expensive, to lower-cost popular models that still are good deals at their price point. In years past I had a pair of B&W 801s in my listening room until I moved to a smaller abode. They were breathtakingly wonderful speakers.
The company has been offering fine quality headphones for some years, and this latest is a further iteration and improvement on its popular Px7 Wireless noise canceling headphones. The Px7 is now discontinued.
The Px7 S2 headphones are comfortable and give an excellent account of themselves on any type of music I threw at them. I think they are a leader at this price point. I spent extensive comparisons to the similarly priced and featured Apple AirPods Max and found the B&Ws superior in both sound and comfort. Noise reduction did not seem quite as effective as it is on the Apple headphones, but the differences are slight.
Headphones have come a long way in quality and usefulness. I remember using a pair of Pioneer headphones to listen to music in my college dorm room in the distant past. They were not too comfortable, had limited frequency response, and they cut you off from the rest of the world with heavy over-the-ear pads that made my ears sweat.
I was familiar with good-quality headphones as I did a bit of live music recording and remember what a revelation it was when Sennheiser came out with the HD 414 headsets which were light in weight and sat on, not around the ear. I was doing some radio work back then, and the Sennheisers took over the market with a lot of pros and then later the public.
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After that, good-quality headphones were something a lot of people had, plugging them into their disc spinners (vinyl and later optical). As cellular phones made their mark, headphones came along with the groundswell of interest, and you could listen to the music on your phone, but also take and originate calls. Now there is a mature headphone business, with on-ear and over-the-ear brands for music enthusiasts, and in-ear designs for runners and other athletes who want music while they move.
Bowers & Wilkins has nicely filled this need with both in-ear headphones, and more audiophile-oriented headphones, with both types blending well with mobile phones. With their long and storied history with high-quality audio from innovative speaker designs, the Px7 S2 phones come from a long-distinguished heritage of transducers that seem to find favor with audiophiles.
Bluetooth Wireless Over-Ear Headphones
Active Noise Cancellation, Ambient Pass-Through, Wear-Detection Sensor
Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Adaptive USB-C charging & audio interface
aptX, Adaptive aptX HD, AAC , SBC
A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP, BLE GATT (Generic Attribute Profile)
2 x ø 40 mm dynamic full range bio-cellulose driver
6 in all, 2 for voice, 4 to enable the noise cancellation technology
33 Ω
Rechargeable Lithium Ion
30 hrs. Bluetooth with ANC, 7 hrs. with 15 min charge, 2 hrs. for a full charge
Bluetooth, 3.5 mm stereo jack, USB-C audio
1.2 m USB-C to 3.5 mm stereo jack audio cable 1.2 m USB-C to USB-C cable, Carrying case
307 grams without a case
$399.00 USD
B&W Px7 S2, over-ear headphones, noise reduction, mobile phone headphones, reviews 2022, headphone reviews 2022
So, let’s get down to the sound and design of the B&W Px7 S2. First, the feature set. This headphone, as mentioned, is a significant evolution from the original Px7 headphones. The driver units are new, and B&W says they are improved. The active noise cancellation has been upgraded for enhanced call quality and for music listening in noisy environments. The headphones offer a slimmer profile, improved fit, and upgraded build quality, including ear cups made of memory foam.
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The headphone uses Bluetooth aptX to optimize wireless transmissions between your device and the headphones and includes B&W-developed Digital Signal Processing that results in excellent sound and supports 24-bit high-resolution audio.
The B&W app, which is a companion for the headphones, has many worthwhile features that should enhance the use of the headphones for owners.
The app can be used to pair your headphones to your mobile device, and fine tune the sound with adjustable EQ. Noise-canceling can be turned on and off, and a transparency mode lets in sounds from the outside world so you can hear a conversation or other sounds if you want to. The Music app for iOS and Android lets users stream their chosen music from their mobile device to their Px7 S2.
The headphones are available in 3 colors, grey, blue, and black, with matching detailing. B&W claims 30-hour battery life from a single charge.
When the headphones arrive ready for opening, they make a nice presentation. They come in a form-fitting box, with the headphones inside the included case. There are two cables, one for charging (USB C to USB C) and a second cable for wired listening which is a USB C to 3.5mm stereo jack.
There are a variety of buttons on the ear cups. There is a power/pairing switch, and a series of controls on the right ear cup. Among them are a central multifunction button for controlling playback (press once), track navigation (twice for forward, press three times for backward), and cell phone call control (press once to answer or end a call, press twice to reject calls). Volume buttons that lie on either side of the multifunction button work with your device’s volume control. To keep you from confusing the buttons, they are textured differently. The all-important noise reduction control is on the left ear cup, so it won’t get mixed up with the other controls.
It takes some getting used to the functions, but when you do it will be easy to control your music and calls.
There’s one area where I think B&W dropped the ball on user experience or perhaps assumed too much knowledge on the part of a customer. When you open the headphones, you are greeted with a quick start card.
The card, in several languages, shows the button layout of the headphones, and shows you where to get the B&W app. I would have thought that at least it would tell you how to charge the headphones to get them up and running, give you an idea how long it takes, and explain what the colored LED lights do. But none of that was there. To get that basic and needed information, you must download the B&W app and go to the help area to read a web-based document and find what you are looking for.
It’s the only negative in what was an otherwise superb user experience.
I thought the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2s sounded really good, not just at its moderate price, but against other headphones costing much more.
I think the obvious competitor is the Apple AirPod Max headphones. They are the same price at retail, sport similar features like noise reduction and wired and wireless listening, and they work with mobile headphones to take and make calls.
My main interest is comparing the sound of the two devices, and there are differences. While both headphones sound good, owners of one or the other usually don’t get to compare. I was able to do so extensively, and quantify the different approaches of Apple and B&W. Some of these are what I would deem quality differences, while others may be down to your own personal taste of how you expect a headphone to sound.
Overall, I found both headphones to be very similar on the low end, but I’ll give a slight edge to the slightly higher-sounding B&Ws. At the midrange, the Apple’s had a decided midrange bump, and the high frequencies of the B&W headphones were smoother and more pleasing. So, in general, I’d give the nod to the B&Ws. This was true for classical music, folk, rock, jazz, and anything I threw at it. The shape of the frequency response stayed consistent.
Now some listeners would find the slight mid-range bump a plus, and that’s subjective, but to me, the B&Ws were more musical, and more likely to appeal to a critical listener. I found the quality consistent when listening to the headphones in wireless mode or wired mode, with perhaps a very subtle lift to the high frequencies when listening when wired. When the noise canceling was on, the sound of my room was almost completely removed from my perception. When snapping my fingers, I could only barely hear them, so the noise reduction is very good and effective at isolating you and the music. Air conditioning, outside traffic, and other environmental sounds are really reduced to almost zero. The effect enhances the musical enjoyment to a great degree, something you simply can’t get just listening to speakers.
In terms of comfort, B&W seems a clear win over Apple. The Apple is not uncomfortable, but the B&W is just a better fit. The AirPods Max weighs 385 grams, while the B&Ws weigh 307 grams. That’s a significant difference and helps account for part of the comfort factor.
I heard a great variety of music, and they all make excellent tests of headphones, or for that matter, speaker quality.
Various “Heaven Full of Stars”
Heaven Full of Stars – Some lovely choral music with organ accompaniment. I listened to 192/24-bit files. The sound was great, and the B&Ws offered a nice snapshot of the recording venue, which was a reverberant room. Still, voices could be easily placed in the physical space, and the deepest bass of the organ was accurately reproduced. The Px7 S2s took me there.
Max Richter “Ad Astra “
Ad Astra – original soundtrack by Max Richter – It’s the music from a film many missed, but it’s a moving experience and the music helps make it a tremendously emotional journey. There’s a combination of voices, electronics, and traditional instruments. It’s the perfect music for headphone listening. The sounds are directional, there’s left to right and back to front depth. I listened to the 48/24-bit FLAC, and it is stunning.
Norah Jones “Till We Meet Again”
Norah Jones – Till We Meet Again – Norah’s first live album, released in 2019 with a collection of live performances recorded in multiple locations. The jazz-pop music sounds wonderful as rendered on the B&Ws, with the pinpoint placement of instruments. Great work by Norah Jones and great reproduction by B&W.
Kristin Bolstad “Tomba Sonora”
Tomba Sonora – Stemmeklang – from the wonderful 2L catalog. This is a 44/24-bit FLAC of religious music performed in a very acoustically live venue. On the Px7 S2s you are just enveloped in the sound and the decay of the voices. These files are also offered in MQA format, but alas the B&Ws have no hardware for decoding MQA files.
As you can glean from my review, I really liked the sound and design of the Px7 S2 headphones. I think it’s the best in class at the price, and it challenges more expensive headphones as well.
I like the looks of the headphones. I was sent a sample of the black color, and it is very smart looking with metallic accents. The headphones are not flimsy, and with the included case should travel well. With their 30-hour battery life, road warriors are going to be happy on long flights.
B&W says they are soon going to offer their top-of-the-line headset in this series, the Px8. It will retail for around $549.00.
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