- Px8 S2 is ‘the very best headphone Bowers & Wilkins has ever made’
- aptX Lossless and Adaptive; 8 mics (fairly than 6 in Px8)
- Out there right this moment, 24 September, priced $799 / £629 (round AU$1,289)
Effectively now. When a agency like Bowers & Wilkins inform us that its simply created a set of over-ear headphones that set “a brand new benchmark for efficiency and design within the wi-fi over-ear class” it is price taking discover. Why? Oh, as a result of each the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 and newer (even higher) Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 upon which these are constructed are such stunningly good headphones.
So how has B&W outdone itself with the Px8 S2 – or to place it one other approach, what’s their chief bid for entry into our best headphones shopping for information? Usually, it is a case of minor tweaks and incremental positive factors with this stuff, however there are just a few nuggets of knowledge on B&W’s spec sheet this time round that make the upgrades between iterations apparent.
Firstly, there’s a new Bluetooth chipset in the Px8 S2 built on Bluetooth 5.3 rather than 5.2, to offer “true 24-bit/96kHz audio connection” over USB plus aptX Lossless and Adaptive at 24/96 (rather than aptX HD in the older set).
There’s also an eight-mic array where all mics are used for telephony and six are used for active noise cancellation (six of the mics are external; two monitor internal audio) which is quite the upgrade from the six-mic array in the Px8, where four of the mics took care of ANC and only two helped with call-handling.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: what you need to know
Elsewhere, there’s a new voice call quality algorithm, and although the same 40mm dynamic cone driver reappears in each ear cup, B&W has upgraded the chassis and motor powering it to help eke more nuance and precision from your music.
Battery life is still a claimed 30 hours (which is no improvement on the older model and may prove a slight sticking point given the 100-hour battery of the sonically-splendid Cambridge Melomania P100) however you now get a five-band EQ tab for tweaking the sound signature to your liking, which is a strong step up from the 2 band bass/treble tweaks accessible within the older Px8.
Luxurious Nappa leather-based covers just about the entire elegant construct, however the aluminum arm mechanism has a brand new uncovered cable element. Do these metallic accents make them heavier? Truly no, the headphones are a tiny bit smaller and lighter than the unique Px8, however B&W has positively slimmed down the case to make them simpler to suit into your bag.
However what B&W actually desires you to know is that these headphones characteristic a high-performance audio processing setup with devoted DSP and amplifier/DAC (learn: not the digital-to-analog-converter constructed into the chipset – B&W would not belief something aside from its personal resolution to do the job there), as a result of should you take nothing else away from this missive, know that I’ve met with the makers, and Bowers & Wilkins actually desires to make the best-sounding pair of headphones on this planet.
Has the UK agency achieved its objective? We’re engaged on a full evaluate – I’ve a pair (see the hooked up pictures) and we’ll get that verdict to you as quickly as we are able to. For now, know that the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 launch right this moment (September 24) in your alternative of ‘Onyx Black’ or ‘Heat Stone’, priced $799 / £629 (round AU$1,289).
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