The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 are premium wireless over-ear noise cancelling headphones. They're the sequel to the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless, positioned above the likes of the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, and are aimed at buyers who want a more luxury-focused alternative to mainstream ANC flagships. They're built from premium materials and promise high-quality sound.
Our Verdict
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 wireless aren't designed for sports and fitness. They're comfortable enough for casual use, but they'll likely fall off during anything more than a light stroll. They also don't have an IP rating for dust or water resistance, so they're not a good choice for sweaty workouts or rainy runs. Their bulky over-ear design makes them better suited for listening at home, at work, or while commuting.
Excellent ANC and good leakage control.
Comfortable fit with soft Nappa leather padding.
Not stable enough for workouts.
No IP rating for dust or water resistance.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 are very good for travel. Their ANC does an excellent job cutting down on everything but the lowest rumbles of a train engine, so you shouldn't hear too much noise from your fellow commuters. They're also comfortable, with soft Nappa leather padding and deep ear cups, although people with larger heads might find their top-heavy fit a bit tight. Still, their battery lasts just under 30 hours, and they come with a hard carrying case to keep them safe in transit.
Excellent ANC and good leakage control.
Comfortable fit with soft Nappa leather padding.
Excellent 30-hour battery life.
No IP rating for dust or water resistance.
Mic overwhelmed by noisy or sudden sounds.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 are good for office work. Their ANC handily reduces sounds like nearby chatter, A/C hum, and keyboard clicks, letting you focus on your work. They also don't leak much audio, even at high listening levels. Their microphone is decent for phone calls and video meetings, so long as you use them in a quiet space and are okay with your speech sounding a touch thin. While comfortable enough for long desk sessions, their slightly top-heavy fit may bother people with larger heads after a while.
Excellent ANC and good leakage control.
Comfortable fit with soft Nappa leather padding.
Excellent 30-hour battery life.
Low latency via both analog and USB-C.
No wireless dongle and high Bluetooth latency with most codecs.
Mic overwhelmed by noisy or sudden sounds.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 aren't designed for wireless gaming. They only connect via Bluetooth, and their Bluetooth latency is generally too high for gaming unless you use the aptX Adaptive Low Latency codec. But even then, you won't want to do more than play that odd mobile game while in transit with these.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 are satisfactory for wired gaming. They have low latency via both USB-C and analog wired connections, and their USB-C connection supports audio and microphone use on PC, PS4, and PS5. Xbox support is more limited: you can use the analog cable for audio, but you don't get mic support. They also can't be used passively. They're comfortable and well-built, but their mic can get overwhelmed by noises like buses going past your open window. Our unit also had poorly matched left and right drivers, which makes pinpointing sounds like enemy footsteps a little trickier than you'd want.
Excellent 30-hour battery life.
Low latency via both analog and USB-C.
No wireless dongle and high Bluetooth latency with most codecs.
Mic overwhelmed by noisy or sudden sounds.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 have acceptable audio reproduction accuracy. Their bass is noticeably emphasized, adding extra thump and punch, while their mid-range follows our target closely enough to keep vocals and instruments clear. The treble is more uneven and deviates from their V-shaped sound profile a bit: some details like cymbals can sound dull or piercing depending on their pitch. Their biggest issue is stereo mismatch: our unit's left and right drivers were poorly matched, making centered vocals drift toward the left and causing the stereo image to sound less focused. On the plus side, harmonic distortion is extremely low.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 have excellent noise isolation. Their ANC is very effective across most of the frequency range, reducing office chatter, sharp sounds like clinking dishes, and high-pitched fan whine. They're also strong in common scenarios like commuting, walking outside, and working in an office, though the lowest airplane-engine rumbles are still audible. Leakage is good too, so people nearby aren't likely to hear much unless you're listening loudly in a very quiet room.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 have a decent microphone. Speech sounds clear enough for calls and video meetings, but your voice does sound a touch thin. Their noise handling is satisfactory when confronted with more steady-state background noise like A/C hum, but louder and sharper sounds like a train rushing by can overwhelm the system, making speech hard to understand.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 have okay frequency response consistency. The low bass changes a little depending on your anatomy, which is common for closed-back over-ears, but there are also some larger deviations in the mid-range. If you have long hair or a larger head, you may hear deviations from our measurements in this range. It's worth taking a moment to seat them securely each time you wear them if you want more consistent sound.
Performance Usages
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 come in 'McLaren Grey,' 'Onyx Black,' and 'Warm Stone.' Here's the label for our 'Onyx 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 Px8 S2 are the sequel to the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless, offering better noise isolation and a more useful app with a five-band EQ instead of simple bass and treble controls. The Px8 series sits above the Px7 series in B&W's over-ear lineup. Unsurprisingly, then, the Px8 S2 feel more premium than the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 thanks to their Nappa leather finish. They also block out more noise than the Px7 S3. But other than that, most B&W headphones tend to approximate a comparable V-shaped sound, and the feature set of the Px7 S3 and Px8 S2 are remarkably similar, with app support, USB-C and analog audio, and nearly 30 hours of battery life, so the Px8 S2 make the most sense if you care about the nicer materials and stronger ANC.
In the wider premium over-ear market, the Sony WH-1000XM6 are the better all-around choice for most people, with stronger ANC and a better mic. But the Sony don't feel as premium or well-built as the B&W. If that's important to you, the closest rivals might be the Apple AirPods Max 2, which are also built from sturdy metal. The Apple also offer superior ANC, but you have to be an iOS user to get the most out of them, and their 'case' is fairly useless. Finally, if mic performance in a metal chassis is important to you, the Noble FoKus Apollo are worth considering since they come with a detachable boom mic.
For more ideas, check out the best wireless headphones, the best USB-C headphones, and the best bass headphones.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 are a newer take on the same luxury over-ear formula as the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless. Both have a premium build with Nappa leather padding and metal hinges, and both offer low-latency wired playback via both analog and USB connections. The newer Px8 S2 have stronger noise isolation and a more useful app with a five-band EQ instead of the older model's simpler bass and treble controls. That said, the older Px8 Wireless last longer on a charge and had better stereo matching on our unit, so they're still worth considering if you don't need improved ANC performance.
The Sony WH-1000XM6 are better all-around noise cancelling headphones than the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2. The Sony have stronger ANC, a better microphone, a more feature-rich app, longer battery life, and a lighter, more flexible design, making them easier to recommend for travel and office work. But the Bowers & Wilkins do have some strengths. First, their build quality feels stronger, with metal hinges that are less likely to break than the Sony's plastic ones. Second, they also support USB-C audio with microphone use on PCs and PlayStation consoles. But for most people, the Sony are the better pick.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 and the Apple AirPods Max 2 are both relatively expensive headphones, but they target different segments of the premium over-ears market. The Apple are the better choice if you're deep in Apple's ecosystem, since many of their features are only available when paired with an Apple device. If that's you, then the Apple headphones are the better pick, as they offer stronger ANC and better audio reproduction accuracy than the B&W. On the other hand, the B&W's companion app is supported on both iOS and Android, and they also have a longer battery life than the Apple, along with a proper hard case.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 and the Noble FoKus Apollo are both premium wireless over-ears aimed at listeners who want everyday conveniences in an upscale package. The Noble are the more versatile pick overall: they have stronger noise isolation, a much longer battery life, better frequency response consistency, better stereo matching, and a detachable boom mic that makes them more useful for calls and wired gaming. The Bowers & Wilkins can offer noticeably lower Bluetooth latency via the aptX Adaptive Low Latency codec, but unless you need that relatively niche feature, the Noble are probably the way to go.
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