Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3  Headphones Review

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are bassy headphones. A sizable boost to the low end lends extra thump, punch, and boom to your audio, but it doesn't follow our target (or any of the other targets we use). That said, the mid-range is balanced, matching our curve well. In addition to the weighty bass, the treble is de-emphasized, resulting in a bassy sound with a dark treble that's relatively veiled, but with splashes of detailed emphasis due to a few peaks and dips. While still not aligning with our target, the treble is closer to the warmer frequency response targets by SenseLab Aizu and the SoundGuys.com Headphone Preference Curve.

The headphones' frequency response remains unchanged regardless of their ANC setting. Over various connections, there's some variation in frequency response: analog (active) and USB-C are closer to each other than either is to Bluetooth.

The frequency response consistency is unremarkable. The smaller ear cups make it difficult to achieve a consistent fit between each session. The mid-range can vary, particularly if you wear glasses. That said, the bass doesn't roll off too drastically if you've got glasses or long hair, which are the usual frequencies affected by these attributes. You'll want to take your time when fitting these over-ears on to ensure a predictable sound.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 have okay bass target compliance. The entire range is exaggerated compared to our target curve, leading to extra doses of thump and boom. The tuning lends tracks like the cover of This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us by The Last Dinner Party extra boom and warmth on the bass. If you crave low-end emphasis, these may be the ticket, and this bass tuning is very similar to the previous Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless. That said, an inflated bass range affects the clarity of the rest of the frequency spectrum.

The mid-range's target compliance is remarkable. The low-mid bump is a continuation of the heavy bass boost, but it tapers off to match our curve tightly. Melodic parts, such as guitars, playback with clarity and balance in songs like Heroes by David Bowie, though the bass can overwhelm this range somewhat, depending on the song.

The headphones have an alright treble response target compliance. It's mostly underemphasized compared to our curve, except for peaks in the mid-treble. The low-treble is a bit veiled and warm, while the peak can sound piercing. The top-end is otherwise relatively open-sounding.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3's peaks and dips are okay. There's a slight mismatch in the lower ranges, but it's relatively flat in the bass and mids, which is smooth-sounding overall. That said, the treble has several dramatic peaks and valleys that alternately sound overly bright and harsh, or veiled and dark, depending on the pitch, which can cause some frequencies to jump out in the mix compared to others.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 have alright stereo mismatch performance. The weighted amplitude is decent, as is the weighted frequency response mismatch, which help influence the stereo image's stability and balance. Their weighted phase measurement shows some mismatch, but we didn't notice any effect in real-world listening. However, your results may vary from our unit's.

The PRTF results of these closed-backs indicate that these don't interact with your outer ear the same way that a reference speaker does.

The bio-cellulose drivers have remarkably low harmonic distortion, regardless of whether you push each frequency to 94dB/SPL or 104dB/SPL. As a result, your audio remains uncolored by artifacts in the signal chain.

These are battery-powered headphones and don't require additional amplification.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are an evolution of the previous Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless (and the generation in between, the slightly tweaked Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e) with a slimmed-down profile. The over-ears come in several tonal colorways ('Anthracite Black,' 'Canvas White,' 'Indigo Blue,' and 'Frost Blue) with the branding on the outer face of the ear cups. They use a mixture of different textured elements to give them a premium look, such as satin-finish, fabric along the headband, and metallic accents.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are comfortable. They're a little lighter than the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless, but importantly, they don't sit as far forward on your head, offering a comfortable placement across your crown with a fully padded headband. Their faux-leather earpads are soft, with a nice amount of give that doesn't collapse completely, so they don't put too much pressure on your ears, even if you wear glasses. There's enough depth to fit most people's ears without bumping into the drivers. But the space available to fit the headphones over your ears can feel cramped, especially if you have larger ears, and poses a challenge when trying to ensure a good over-ear seal that doesn't press the headphones against your helix or pinna.

The controls for the headphones are great. They use clicky buttons (and one slider) with intuitive placements and textural differences, so you can tell which is which by feel. As you can see, the control scheme is comprehensive, but not overly complicated. Each setting (ANC/Transparency/normal listening mode) has a distinctive chime instantly differentiating the mode. There's no chime for volume changes, but the steps are more granular between volume increments than your phone, which is nice for dialing in exactly the level you want, and the headphones chime when you hit the minimum and maximum volume. The headphones also have on-ear detection and will automatically pause or play your audio, which you can disable in the app.

As over-ear headphones go, these have alright portability. They don't have folding hinges like the Sony WH-1000XM6, but you can fold them flat and carry them around your neck or use their zip case to pack them in a backpack. They're also a little bit slimmer than the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless.

Their carrying case is great. It zips closed and offers a snug, protective fit for the headphones, featuring a soft felt interior that won't scratch the finish. However, the felt may collect dust if the case is left open for weeks. There's a sizable compartment to keep the cables organized, complete with a sturdy magnetic flap. The zipper is liable to get caught on the case's fabric sometimes, but it's not difficult to fix the snag in a second.

These have excellent build quality. The materials feel premium, and there aren't any obvious flaws or unsightly seams. The headband is amply padded, more so than the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless. However, it's worth noting that the design hasn't changed significantly between generations, and there are user reports of other models in this line suffering from the high-quality faux leather separating from the band; while this hasn't occurred during our review period, it's totally possible. The yokes feel sturdy with well-built hinges that don't creak or feel overly loose. You can swap out the earpads, effectively extending the headphones' lifespan. Their ear cups are well-made, but the shape may not be universally ergonomic for individuals with large ears. The accompanying cables also exhibit no flaws. Like most over-ears, these don't have an IP rating for water and dust exposure.

These are stable over-ears. Between their relatively high clamping force and the grippiness of the faux leather padding, they'll stay on during moderate tilts and shakes, like a walk or moving about and bending down. They're not meant for exercising, though, so if you try high-intensity workouts, they're more likely to slide around or fall off.

• Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 headphones
• USB-C to 3.5 mm (1/8") audio cable (1.2 m/3.9 ft) with loop-and-hook cable wrap
• USB-C to USB-C charging/audio cable (1.2 m/3.9 ft) with loop-and-hook cable wrap
• Carrying case
• Quick Start Guide

The full range noise isolation performance of the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 is great. Their ANC is most effective against mid-range and high-bass sounds. They filter out a little more bass noise than the previous Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless, but the updated physical design seems to affect the passive isolating properties of the S3, and they block out less trebly noise than their predecessor.

The ANC's noise isolation performs very well in common scenarios. Street noises, like traffic and people chatting outside, are strongly attenuated. They also do a good job with office and airplane cabin sounds.

One upgrade over the previous Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless is that these create less wind noise with their ANC system. That said, there's no dedicated wind noise reduction feature.

Their leakage performance is good. What little escapes is a somewhat mid-range focused sound that you can only hear in very quiet settings. So, hop on a bus or peruse the library, and your audio will remain private. Still, it depends on how loud your volume level is set and your proximity to others.

The microphone system sounds decent. It captures your voice clearly and sounds natural for the most part. You can sound a little bright, depending on the pitch of your voice. Previous models have captured somewhat quiet audio, but these are a bit louder.

The mic system's noise handling is satisfactory. With consistent background noise, it prioritizes your voice, but can't completely filter out the sounds in the backdrop. Occasionally, it'll pick up other people's voices too. While louder sounds, like subway trains, are noticeably reduced in volume, they can still start to overwhelm the microphone, hurting intelligibility.

Their battery performance is impressive. Advertised to last 30 hours with a 15-minute quick charge yielding seven hours of battery life, these lasted slightly over 29 hours in our standard test. They also have a battery-conserving standby mode if you take them off of you, and they will power off if left idle. You can adjust these settings in the companion app. You can use them for wired audio while they charge using the supplied USB-C to USB-C cable.

The Bowers & Wilkins Music app is good, but fairly streamlined as far as features are concerned. Unlike the Sennheiser HDB 630, there aren't Sound Zones, and unlike the Apple AirPods Max, there's no Spatial Audio. However, you get a simple interface (as you can see in this video tour) with listening modes, connection quality selection, and a five-band graphic EQ (but you can't save the settings) with +/-6dB of adjustment available. You can select how sensitive the on-ear sensor is, manage Bluetooth multi-pair connections, and alter the 'Quick Action' button's function. Battery functions include monitoring battery life and the auto standby mode.

There's limited integration with other streaming platforms (Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Amazon Music, TuneIn, SoundCloud, and NTS), and you can view your playlists, see what's now playing, and view recommendations.

These headphones use the USB-C port for wired audio connections. With the headphones, you get two 1.2 m (3.9 ft) cables for either USB-C or 3.5 mm (1/8") audio connections. They're low latency overall, so your visuals and audio will match, but not quite as low as a purely analog audio connection would be.

These headphones have good Bluetooth performance. They let you connect to two devices simultaneously. The included Bluetooth codecs range from the usual SBC and AAC codecs to aptX Lossless (and the rest of the aptX suite, which covers aptX Low Latency and aptX HD). Your experience is influenced by your device's compatibility, but where supported, the aptX Low Latency codec plays back your audio with tight A/V sync.

You can use the USB-C to USB-C cable for full mic and audio support with PCs, and the same goes for Bluetooth connections. The USB-C to 3.5 mm (1/8") cable bypasses the microphone, but you can still receive audio.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 can use their USB-C to USB-C cable to connect to PS4 and PS5 controllers for full mic and audio compatibility, which is convenient if you're a casual gamer who doesn't need a fully dedicated headset. The analog 3.5 mm connection will only let you receive audio, though.

These only connect via their USB-C to 3.5 mm (1/8") cable to Xbox controllers, but you'll only be able to receive audio. If you need a mic, you'll need an outboard one to chat with friends.