Bowers & Wilkins PX8 Wireless Over-the-Ear Noise-Canceling Bluetooth Headphones Review

Bowers & Wilkins is a British audio product manufacturer and are famous for their amazing speakers. They also market headphones, which are basically miniature speakers.

The PX8 headphones follow their PX7 which we reviewed a while back. Both designs are wireless over-the-ear noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones.

There are a lot of differences between the PX7 and PX8 headphones, but the two differences you will probably be most interested in are that they have a better sound quality and the price is $699 (PX8) instead of $399 (PX7). The improved sound is via carbon-fiber cones. The remainder of the differences are cosmetic, such as having real leather instead of faux leather.

The tan ones are really gorgeous, and I tried to get a pair for my review, but they were not available at the time.

I got the black ones.

The carbon-fiber cones are the principle differences between the PX7 and PX8 headphones.

Bluetooth codecs have come a long way, and LDAC is capable of transmitting and receiving up to 900 kbps (kilobits per second). However, this is still below even 16/44.1 PCM (1,411.2 kbps) not to mention 24/96 or 24/192 PCM. Also, the transmission and receiving rates are dependent on the hardware, such as an Android phone.

Here is a cool article that describes the limitations of Bluetooth.

There are a number of tactile buttons on the headphones, as shown below.

Button 1 powers on the phones by sliding it to the central position. Buttons 2 and 4 adjust the volume. Button 3 plays the next or previous track. First you press it once, then press it two times in rapid succession for the next track, or three times in rapid succession for the previous track. Button 3 is also pressed to answer an incoming phone call, once to answer, hold it down for 2 seconds to decline the call, and once to hang up after you have answered the call and finished the call. Button 6 is for the voice-assistant which is managed in the app settings, and it also toggles noise cancelation on and off, as well as pass-through. Number 5 is the USB-C jack for charging the 30-hour battery. The voice-assistant basically is for when you want to say, “Hey Google”. You will need to install this function if you don’t already have it.

The on/off switch, pointed out by the black arrow in the photo below, is in the off position. Moving it to the center position turns the headphones on. Moving it to the up position which is near the arrowhead mark, pointed out by the green arrow, toggles headphone/device pairing.

I listened to the Bowers & Wilkins PX8 headphones using a Samsung Note 10+ smart phone.

When I first put the headphones on, they turned on and a voice said it was ready to set up. The headphones recognize when you put them on. That is pretty unique. I went through the setup procedure by downloading the B&W Android Phone app.

The setup process was very easy, and I was ready to rock n’ roll.

I used my Qobuz account to listen to music. Comparing the Bluetooth sound from phone to the headphones to the same albums using the included 1/8th inch stereo phone plug connected to my laptop, it was nearly the same, perhaps a bit less sparkle using Bluetooth. I compensated for this by using the app’s EQ setting. I upped the treble by 1 dB. The headphones have a bit too much bass for my tastes, so I reduced it by the maximum 6 dB available. You can see the settings on the screen shot below. For the analog cable connection, an ADC built into the PX8 converts the analog sound to digital, and the DAC in the PX8 decodes it. You can use a USB-A to USB-C cable connected to your laptop if you wish, rather than the 1/8th inch stereo phone plug, and that will set up the connection digitally rather than analog. In this case, your laptop sees the headphones as a DAC.

Note also in the screen shot that you can activate noise cancellation in the headphones. Microphones on the headset are used to monitor ambient noise, and the signal is inverted and fed into the ear pieces. It worked well for me, but I did not try it in high ambient noise situations like on an airplane where there is a constant hiss from air passing at high velocity over the aircraft. If you don’t need it, leave it off because it does use battery power. Noise cancellation is a well-developed technology and is useful in certain situations. I found that it affects the way I hear my own voice. Since the sound of my voice going to my ears is external, noise cancelation removed that, and I could only hear my voice as perceived inside my chest.

The Pass-Through option lets the sound from the microphones go into the signal path so you can hear outside sound, for example, if someone speaks to you while you have the headphones on. The Off option turns off the noise cancellation.

One surprising thing about the Bluetooth transmission is that I could leave my phone in the kitchen and walk two rooms away (about 40 feet) and still have good sound in the headphones without dropouts, so Bluetooth has improved significantly from times past.

The Bowers & Wilkins PX8 Bluetooth Headphones are a delight.

I have not been a Bluetooth fan in the past, but after hearing the excellent sound quality produced by the PX8’s, I am now a big supporter. They are not cheap, but high quality never is cheap. Your ears are worth it. Get one of the best. The PX8 qualifies.