The high-end siblings of the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2, the leather-clad Px8 are a decidedly luxe take on the same concept, and take the Px7’s place as the flagship in the company’s headphone lineup. They’re a better-appointed and decidedly more upscale headphone — nicer materials, exotic drivers — that delivers cleaner, crisper sound that should appeal to detail-oriented listeners who demand the very best. And you can even get a Bond-tailored version for $100 more if you like your music shaken, not stirred.
An aluminum-framed, leather-trimmed upgrade to the already-great Px7 S2, the Px8 share electronics and design DNA but offer carbon-fiber drivers and a massive voice coil for cleaner, more audiophile performance.
What we like about it
Both the Px8 and the Px7 S2 offer balanced sound with solid low end; well-controlled, pronounced mids; and some audiophile sparkle up top. Most of what we’ve already said about the Px7 S2 holds true for the Px8.
The Px8 are just more refined all around. In place of the Px7 S2’s leatherette and cloth and plastic, you get genuine leather and a cast-aluminum frame. They’re a little more comfortable to wear, and feel a little more substantial. And they look great, in an executive (or supervillain or spymaster) sort of way that preserves the Px7 S2’s well-mannered profile but gussies things up quite a bit.
The significant differentiator is that the Px8 use a totally new set of dynamic driver units, with a carbon-fiber cone and a model-specific magnet and larger voice coil. It measures better, with lower THD.
Under the digital hood, the Px8 are much the same as the Px7: 24-bit processing, aptX HD/AAC support (though no LDAC support, which would have been nice given the audiophile orientation), noise-canceling algorithms and hardware and user interface and app support are all identical.
So do the Px8 sound “better”? Yes, they do sound better, though we’re talking about marginal gains over the already excellent Px7 S2. But really for most potential listeners the question is whether they’re worth the extra $300 (or $400, for Bond fans). And on one level, the answer is simple. We think that for the great majority of people, the Px7 S2 sound so good already that spending that extra money on music is a better long-term investment.
The Px8 do in fact sound cleaner and airier — if you crank them up with a great acoustic recording (the first thing I turned to was a high-res edition of Sir András Schiff’s ECM recording of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, then to Charles Mingus’ Mingus Ah Um) you’ll notice the difference. Bass is a little bit tighter, and there’s a little more air in the representation of the sound of the room if you listen back-to-back with the Px7 S2. (That said, not that many listeners are doing that, aside from headphone enthusiasts.) But they both sound great.
Bottom line
After listening to the Px8 for a few weeks, we think they’re a great wireless over-ear headphone, but the question as to whether you should buy them over the Px7 S2 (or any other flagship model) depends very much on your personal audio priorities.
Those who are primarily listening to mobile devices as a source and just want something really good-sounding as an all-around headphone will likely be very happy with the Px7 S2.
If you’re really into optimizing your listening first and foremost, $700 (or $800) can buy you a pretty incredible-sounding wired headphone for critical listening these days. The Px8 doesn’t really compete with those.
The Px8 make the most sense as a second (or third) pair for the committed audiophile who knows what great audio gear sounds like, has already invested in high-resolution equipment in the past and wants something luxurious and good-sounding for when they’re away from their main system and listening to streaming platforms.
