The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 is an iterative update to the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless (and the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e, which were released in between). These over-ears promise 30 hours of battery life and competitive active noise cancelling in a sleek and stylish package, complete with aptX Lossless support for high-quality streaming. Let's see if they've earned their premium status.
Our Verdict
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are satisfactory for sports and fitness, but it depends on the types of activities you do. They're stable-fitting, for over-ears, but high-intensity workouts will cause them to slide around or even fall off. Similarly, they lack any IP rating or sweat-resistance, limiting the sorts of workouts they can suit. With that said, they can easily join you for a speed walk or upright movements, but they're not very portable compared to sports-oriented earbuds, and obviously less breathable.
Comfortable fit.
No sweat-resistance.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are good for travel. They're comfortable with premium faux leather and plenty of padding, even with glasses. They're fairly portable for over-ears and come with a sturdy case. Their 29-hour battery life easily lasts through multiple trips back-to-back. You can connect via Bluetooth (with two-device multi-pairing), and there's support for USB-C or analog connections, allowing you maximum flexibility with in-flight entertainment. Their ANC is overall very good, although not class-leading, and effectively muffles fellow passengers, even if rumbly engines don't get attenuated as much.
Comfortable fit.
29-hour battery life.
Extensive connectivity.
Mic is decent, but can cut out your voice with very loud background noise.
Peaks and dips can be difficult to smooth, even with app's EQ.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are decent for office work. They feel comfortable to wear for extended periods, and their 29-hour battery life means you can do so for several shifts without a recharge. Their microphone is satisfactory for work meetings, and their Bluetooth, USB-C, and analog connectivity make swapping devices a breeze. Their noise isolation is very capable of shushing coworkers, even if it's not the most powerful. That said, they're rather bassy-sounding, which you might like, but if it's not your taste, their app lends you the flexibility of a five-band equalizer.
Comfortable fit.
29-hour battery life.
Mic is decent, but can cut out your voice with very loud background noise.
Peaks and dips can be difficult to smooth, even with app's EQ.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 aren't designed for wireless gaming. They can only connect via Bluetooth, and even with their aptX Low Latency codec, most people will find the latency is too high for gaming and too limited.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are alright for wired gaming. You can use their USB-C to USB-C cable for full audio and mic support with PCs and PlayStation consoles. That said, the analog cable limits you to audio-only reception. The mic performance is decent, too, and they offer ANC, which is still unusual in gaming headsets to help block out your surroundings. Their bass-heavy sound can add immersiveness to action-packed games, but won't give metallic sword clashes their due. Stereo matching is okay for a fairly stable image. All in all, these lack game-specific features found on dedicated headsets, though they can do the trick for casual gamers.
Comfortable fit.
Extensive connectivity.
Mic is decent, but can cut out your voice with very loud background noise.
Peaks and dips can be difficult to smooth, even with app's EQ.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are alright for audio reproduction accuracy. Their sound profile is tuned to deliver a bass-heavy signature with a balanced mid-range and a darker treble, relative to our target curve. While the bass and mids yield few peaks and dips, the treble has several narrow and prominent peaks that can cause some frequencies to jump out in the highs. Their stereo matching is acceptable, but not the tightest; however, we didn't notice any issues with real-world content. Their PRTF results suggest these don't interact with your outer ear as a reference monitor does.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 have great noise isolation performance. Although they're not class-leading in ANC, they perform very well in common noisy scenarios and don't create much noise in windy conditions. However, their passive isolation isn't particularly noteworthy when dealing with trebly sounds.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 have a decent microphone. Your voice sounds natural, if a little bright. Their noise rejection is similarly decent, capable of prioritizing your speech, but it doesn't completely eliminate background sounds, and extremely loud sounds, such as trains, will still drown out your voice.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 have fair frequency response consistency. While their earpads provide a comfortable over-ear fit, their shape can compromise the over-ear seal, especially if you have long hair or wear glasses, resulting in an altered mid-range and bass delivery. As a result, you'll want to take your time to ensure a consistent fit for a predictable sound between wears.
Performance Usages
Changelog
- Updated Apr 20, 2026: This review has been updated to Test Bench 2.2, which removes the Cumulative Spectral Decay (CSD) test, retiring its waterfall plot visualization from our reviews. You can read more about this change in the changelog.
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Updated Apr 15, 2026:
This review has been updated to Test Bench 2.1, which removes the Group Delay test and rebalances scoring for the Harmonic Distortion test and Audio Reproduction Accuracy performance usage. For more details, consult our full changelog.
- Updated Apr 09, 2026: We've converted this review to Test Bench 2.1, which features minor updates to our sound tests.
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Updated Feb 04, 2026:
We've updated the Sound Profile box with supplementary measurements of the headphones with different connection types and ANC settings.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 come in 'Anthracite Black,' 'Canvas White,' 'Indigo Blue,' and 'Frost Blue.' Here's the label for our 'Anthracite Black' unit. We expect all of these colorways to perform similarly.
If you encounter a variant or additional colorways, please let us know in the comments, and we'll update the review.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are premium over-ears with ANC, much like the earlier Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless, which are arguably their greatest competition, given that not a whole lot has changed. You get a five-band EQ and improved ANC on the S3, with most other changes coming from refinements to the design and drivers. Meanwhile, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless are getting a little older and are worth a look for the right price, but similarly, with the actual differences mostly coming down to materials and slight tuning preferences. Besides that, Sony and Bose blow the Px7 S3 out of the water when it comes to overall ANC performance with the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. Still, for fans of the Px7 S3's bass-heavy sound and the aptX suite, they're comfortable and well-made over-ears.
For more ideas, check out the best wireless headphones, the best USB-C headphones, and the best bass headphones.
Whether you should choose the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless or the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, both are premium-tier headphones with solid noise isolation performance, even if neither lead the pack. The Px8 are a bit higher-end with Nappa leather padding and a slightly more even response with better stereo matching. However, they're bulkier, which isn't as handy for travel purposes. Meanwhile, the Px7 S3 are slimmer, but their frequency response consistency isn't as tight and can yield a different sound between wears. Still, their ANC is solid, and they feature a five-band EQ.
Depending on your priorities, you may choose either the Sony WH-1000XM6 or Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3. The Sony have much better noise isolation performance, so if silence is your priority, they win out. They also fold down and are a bit lighter. Their app has more features, too. They use LDAC and LE Audio for high-quality streaming, while the Bowers & Wilkins include the aptX codec suite, which includes both aptX Lossless and aptX Low Latency, but compatibility is a bit more limited. They're comfortable to wear, even with glasses, but both headphones have variations in how they sound depending on the fit.
The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Wireless and Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are high-end headphones. The Bose feel more comfortable and lightweight for most people with much better noise isolation performance. Their sound profile is more excited in the treble by default. The Bowers & Wilkins are comfortable too, even with glasses, but their noise isolation isn't as impressive. Still, their mic is a bit better, and depending on your tastes, the bass-heavy tuning may appeal to you.
The Focal Bathys Wireless are better headphones for most people than the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, but they're also in a higher price bracket. Their sound is more balanced with tighter stereo matching. Still, the Bowers & Wilkins weigh less and are a bit slimmer, making them easier to carry, and their bass-heavy tuning may suit your tastes.
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Test Results
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