Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: which premium wireless headphones reign supreme?

2025 was a massive year for premium wireless headphones, with many of the big-name manufacturers pulling out all the stops in a bid to eke out a slender advantage in this hugely competitive market.

Such a standard was typified by the arrival of both the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 early in the year, before Sennheiser threw its oar in at the last moment with its unveiling of the HDB 630 flagship over-ears.

Fierce competition is clearly pushing brands to new heights of performance and innovation, evidenced by the ever-climbing quality of the premium arena. Both B&W and Sennheiser have staked serious claims to this contested territory, but which should you pick if you want the best premium performance possible?

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: price

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 cost £399 / €429 / $449 / AU$699 at launch, placing them firmly into what we would term the 'premium' tranche of the wireless headphone market. Discounts have occasionally knocked that UK figure down to £329, but at the time of writing, we've never seen the Px7 S3 fall below the £300 mark.

The Sennheiser HDB 630 will set you back a good deal more cash, especially if you're buying them outside the UK. At £400 / $500 / AU$1000, they're also decidedly premium over-ears, and unlike their sometimes-discounted rivals, we don't expect to see major price cuts just yet – the HDB 630 were only reviewed in December 2025, lest we forget.

**Winner: Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: design and build

What our two head-to-head rivals prove, at least from the outside, is that there's more than one way to design a pair of premium wireless headphones. Both cost the same sort of money, yet from an aesthetics perspective, they walk decidedly different paths.

The Sennheisers are about as straight down the line as a pair of headphones can be, adopting the design language of recent Sennheiser Momentum cans via their chunky ovular earcups and complete lack of adornments or thrills. Functional is the word we'd be tempted to use.

The B&W Px7 S3 are a blingier, more eye-catching affair, and if you're into perceived value, this is where you'll find it. Every part of the cans' more complex construction has been lovingly realised, from the premium hinges adjoining the earcups to the textured woven fabric of the headband.

In terms of comfort, it's a closer affair. The Sennheisers aren't flashy, but they're also easy to wear, with a nicely judged clamping grip which, when combined with their nicely cushioned earcups and headband, means they're rarely an oppressive experience.

They offer a less plush, padded fit than the more all-encompassing Sennheisers, but we imagine many wearers will prefer their slimmer earcups and lighter overall profile.

It's the same when switching over to the Px7 S3. The clamping force is again well-judged, while the earpads’ blend of firmness and suppleness means our ears rarely feel as though they're being squashed into oblivion. We did experience some on-ear heat during testing, but nothing too disastrous.

Rather interestingly, the B&W opt for the more traditional physical buttons rather than flashy touch controls for their on-unit operations, but we've no gripes when the systems works as well as it does here.

The backside of the right earcup offers a play/pause button flanked by longer volume controls, whereas the left cup features a sliding Bluetooth/power toggle alongside a configurable ‘Quick Action’ button we currently have reserved for cycling through our test pair’s noise-cancelling modes.

For Sennheiser, it's mainly a touch-control affair, with the only proper button reserved for launching your phone's voice assistant. Happily, the HDB 630 offer solid touch integration, with controls which we find are responsive and work across a generous surface area.

Not a huge amount to choose from here, so this might depend on whether you have a preference for button or touch controls.

**Winner: Draw**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: features

These are premium headphones we're dealing with, so naturally, both are equipped with premium-level feature sets as befits their status.

Let's start with the simple stuff. The HDB 630 are ahead of the game when it comes to battery life, clocking in at a maximum of 60 hours of playtime with ANC switched on when compared with the Px7 S3's 30 hours. A 10-minute fast charge will provide a further seven hours of life for the Sennheisers, while you'll get the same amount of playtime from a 15-minute boost to the Px7 S3.

Whichever over-ears you pick, you'll get access to Bluetooth Multipoint, so listening and switching between multiple connected source devices should be a doddle.

App support for the Px7 S3 is handled by the Bowers & Wilkins Music app, an admirably exhaustive platform from which you can adjust your user experience, tinker with the equaliser or checking your headphones’ key vitals, all while granting direct access to music streaming service libraries such as Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz.

With the HDB 630, you'll be handling similar functionalities from the SmartControl+ app, and while there's less all-in-one streaming integration here, excellent ANC, EQ and touch control customisation than make up for it.

Both pairs of headphones offer Auracast support, meaning that they can receive audio transmissions from compatible broadcast sources, although that's only true of the Sennheisers when they have their clever Bluetooth dongle plugged in. Speaking of which...

Right, let's talk about that dinky USB-C dongle bundled in with the Sennheiser headphones, shall we? Our full Sennheiser HDB 630 will give you a full rundown, but basically, the clever little accessory (BTD 700) grants superior quality codec powers to devices which might not have otherwise had them, providing hi-res streaming up to 24-bit/9kHz via aptX Adaptive. That means you can stream in higher quality when the dongle plugged into an iPhone, for example, which doesn't natively support the aptX codecs.

For the more straightforward Px7 S3, Bluetooth codec support comes courtesy of the standard AAC and SBC codecs living alongside higher-quality flavours such as aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless. Those codecs are higher than Sennheiser's, but they will only work with certain compatible smartphones, so if you have an iPhone, they won't be supported.

If you want to go all out on audio fidelity with the Px7 S3, USB-C and 3.5mm cable connections are provided straight out of the box for listening at rates up to 24-bit/96kHz.

Impressive on both counts, but for that clever dongle and a much more durable battery span, we're giving the win to Sennheiser here.

**Winner: Sennheiser HDB 630**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: active noise cancelling and call quality

We'll be blunt: at this level, you can find better noise cancelling, with the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) both leading the charge in this regard.

Sennheiser's effort is far from bad, but it's what we'd term 'good' rather than 'great', and certainly not class leading. Still, as we said in our review, the cans' ANC "takes the sting out of disruptive surrounding noise, reducing the rumble of traffic and bus engine noise", so it'll do the job if your music is playing at a decent volume anyway.

With the B&W Px7 S3, we're a little disappointed. While the chic over-ears are capable of reducing the low-frequency rumbles of, say, road traffic, they're less able to match their rivals when it comes to muting traffic noise or the chatter of voices, while high-frequency noises will intrude on your listening with surprising insistence.

Voice calls are ably handled by both rivals. Calls via the Sennheisers are crisp and clear, albeit with a hint of that slightly processed sound some headphones are capable of producing, while the Px7 S3, thanks to their repositioned microphones and B&W’s ‘ADI Pure Voice’ voice processing technology, make speech sound a touch fuller and more natural without seeming muffled or mechanical. They're not quite as clear as the Sennheisers, but perhaps a little more personable.

Each set, be it the Px7 or the HDB 630, does a fine job of reducing background noise, and as we stand next to a busy road in the pouring rain, the splash of puddles and the pitter patter of the falling raindrops subside nicely into the background.

For their finer ANC talents, the HDB 630 take the win.

**Winner: Sennheiser HDB 630**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: sound

When they landed last year (and before the Px8 S3 had been released), Bowers & Wilkins claimed that the Px7 S3 were its most “advanced and capable” wireless headphones ever.

Big words, yet thanks to their redesigned 40mm paper drivers furnished with a new chassis, voice coil, magnet and suspension, it's hard to disagree with what might initially have seemed like marketing hyperbole.

As we stated at the time, the Px7 S3 "are exceptionally refined and detailed headphones", a pair of cans that are capable of dropping you right into the heart of your music to rather thrilling effect.

Play Nick Cave & Warren Ellis’s Song For Bob, and you'll marvel at the bite and grip of those mournful strings, while the varying components of John Williams’ Duel Of The Fates blend authenticity with a thrilling sense of drama when pumped through the B&W over-ears.

These are muscular, forceful headphones, with grip and power in spades. There's more than enough lower-end clout to keep bassheads happy, and while headphones that go big on bass can often sound blobby or out of control, we remain impressed by how well the Px7 S3 are able to meld power and punch with control and bottom-end refinement.

The Px7 S3 are tremendously talented performers, and unequivocally entertaining, but even they aren't quite capable of outgunning the remarkable abilities of their Sennheiser rivals. As our review verdict summarises, the HDB 630 "move the goalposts for wireless sound quality at this level, while going the extra mile to upgrade iPhones and other audio sources to make it easier for people to benefit from it".

Plug in that clever USB-C dongle, get them playing from an appropriately quality source and the HDB 630 will reward you with arguably the most detailed and nuanced performance we've heard at this level. We perform much of our testing using an iPhone 16 and a Samsung Galaxy S21, with the dongle upgrading their connectivity to aptX Adaptive and helping us eke out news levels of clarity and solidity.

The dongle certainly helps, but however you listen, you'll find the HDB 63O to be strikingly smooth and natural sounding headphones that go big on dynamism and articulation across the frequency range.

Instrumental textures are replete with detail and body, while the rhythmic patterns are outlined with outstanding precision, all of which gives tracks a lush, emotional appeal that we find utterly gripping.

The Sennheisers are also capable of painting on a pleasingly expansive canvas, one that sounds much wider and more cinematic than the outgoing Momentum 4 Wireless over-ears can manage. Musical elements are cleverly and precisely placed, making even dense productions seem more easily digestible.

All of that lovely precision and analysis are wedded to a tangible feeling of drive and liveliness, making for, we think, "the most informative and entertaining sound we’ve heard from wireless headphones at this price". What a result!

**Winner: Sennheiser HDB 630**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: verdict

There's no question that the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are very, very good wireless headphones. These are five-star operators, and we completely understand their appeal given just how nice they look, how easy they are to use and, of course, how great they sound. That robust, punchy personality is never less than thrilling, all underpinned by outstanding levels of textural insight.

The Sennheiser HDB 630, however, are in a class of one. Put up against any price comparable rival we can think of, the Sennheisers are at the top of the leader board, and it's going to take something remarkable in 2026 to knock them from their perch.

If class-leading sound is your priority and you're happy to spend a decent sum to get it, there's simply no looking past what might be the best wireless headphones Sennheiser has ever made.

**Overall winner: Sennheiser HDB 630**

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