Bowers & Wilkins is aiming to "set a new benchmark for performance and design in the wireless over-ear category" with its new flagship wireless headphones, the Px8 S2.
The successors to the five-star B&W Px8 we reviewed a few years back tease wholesale upgrades across the board, vowing better sound, noise-cancelling, comfort and usability in the premium audio space.
B&W is gunning for class-leading performance with the second-gen Px8, teasing them as "the best sounding headphones the brand has ever created" thanks to a new 40mm Carbon Cone drive unit which strives for a "exceptionally low coloration and distortion" combined with "stunning detail and clarity".
The new drive units feature a redesigned and improved chassis, voice coil, suspension and magnet, angled to the listener’s ears to ensure a consistent distance from every point across the surface of each driver to each ear for better stereo imaging.
Each driver is powered by a dedicated headphone amplifier, with B&W promising more scale and energy than their predecessors could muster.
The Px8 S2 support aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless for hi-res streaming over Bluetooth via compatible sources devices. Thanks to Bowers & Wilkins' own digital signal processing algorithm, the new cans promise 24-bit/ 96 kHz high-resolution sound, and if you want even sharper performance, 3.5mm and USB-C wired listening are also supported.
Noise cancelling is, naturally, on the menu, with the Px8 S2 featuring eight high-performance microphones located across each ear cup to eliminate noise from the outside world.
We found the noise cancelling of the Px7 S3 to lag behind the class-leaders when we tested them earlier in the year, so we'll hope for a bit more oomph from the Px8 S2s' performance in this area.
The new flagship cans promise 30 hours of battery life with ANC switched on, while a 15-minute quick charge will provide around seven hours of further listening in a pinch.
The Px8 S2 have been designed to be future-proof, with a series of over-the-air updates set to be rolled out later this year, the first of which will include support for spatial audio. The likes of Bluetooth LE Audio, as well as Auracast audio sharing technology, will also be added further down the line later.
The sophomore over-ears have been engineered for increased wearer comfort over longer listening stints, boasting a slimmer profile than the outgoing Px8 and a more compact carry case. The Px8 S2 use Nappa leather alongside aluminium arms and exposed cable detailing, producing what B&W described as the "perfect combination of "optimised mechanical stiffness" and "exquisite design".
According to B&W's VP of Brand Marketing Giles Pocock: “We are incredibly proud to launch the Px8 S2, the best headphone we have ever created. The Px8 S2 sets the benchmark once again, recalibrating expectations for sound quality, design, and craftsmanship".
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 will be available from 24th September in Warm Stone or Onyx Black finishes, priced at £629 / $799 / €729. That's an advance on the £599 / $699 of the outgoing first-generation Px8.
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