It’s one factor to select a struggle with the most important child within the playground. It’s fairly one other to aim to do it by yourself phrases. But with its new Px7 S2 wi-fi over-ear headphones, Bowers & Wilkins has principally squared as much as Sony and enquired as as to if or not the Japanese behemoth would really like some. Bold? Reckless? A little bit of each?
A few years in the past, Bowers & Wilkins launched its unique Px7 wi-fi noise-canceling on-ear headphones and priced them to fulfill the incumbent class chief, Sony’s WH-1000XM4, head on. And by taking part in on its heritage in addition to to its strengths, Bowers & Wilkins delivered a pair of headphones capable of compete the place the basics of sound high quality have been involved. Yes, they have been a bit chintzy, a bit try-hard in look, however they’d it the place it counted, and they have been a sound audio-focused different to the all-singing, all-dancing, all-conquering Sony possibility.
Last month, Sony launched its WH-1000XM5. The value is up a bit, the load is down a bit, the listing of options and performance stays so long as your arm. And so right here comes Bowers & Wilkins with a brand new mannequin. The value is up a bit, the load is down a bit, the emphasis on sound high quality and reasonably self-conscious “sophistication” stays precisely the identical.
Photograph: Bowers & Wilkins
What meaning for the skin of the Px7 S2, then, is a glance that’s each premium and understated, delivered by deploying high-quality and tactile supplies. At least, that’s true of our black evaluate pattern. The $399 (£379) Px7 S2 can also be out there in grey or blue, however we’d be shocked if these finishes undermine the impression of high quality.
A mix of soppy, pliant, memory-foam-filled leather-based on the contact factors, flawlessly utilized cloth on the outer components of the headscarf and ear cups, high-quality and silent plastics for the arms and hinges, and a sky-high general commonplace of construct helps the Px7 S2 look and really feel good. Even the case during which they journey feels a minimize above the norm.
Comfortable, Fast-Charging Cans
Bowers & Wilkins has finessed the headscarf hanger association and reassessed the clamping pressure in an effort to make these headphones extra comfy than the mannequin they change. And assisted by shaving a share level off the load (307 g towards the 310 g of the previous Px7), it’s really labored. The Px7 S2 aren’t any burden to put on, and they keep comfy even by means of lengthy listening classes. It helps that the ear pads resist returning your individual physique warmth to the perimeters of your head for an impressively very long time.
Photograph: Bowers & Wilkins
There have been revisions on the within too. But what hasn’t altered is Bowers & Wilkins’ willpower for these headphones to be the selection for purchasers who worth sound high quality extra extremely than, say, adaptive energetic noise cancellation. The Px7 S2 use Bluetooth 5.0 for wi-fi connectivity and are suitable with SBC, AAC, and aptX Adaptive codecs—so 24-bit high-resolution audio high quality is out there. The sound itself is delivered by a pair of 40-mm full-range, free-edge dynamic drivers. This is an all-new bio-cellulose design with decrease complete harmonic distortion figures than the motive force it supersedes.
