The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 are an audiophiles dream earbuds

I have been fairly outspoken earlier than concerning the construct and audio high quality you may count on from Bowers & Wilkins. The English audio firm has been producing top quality audio system since 1966, later getting into the headphone market in 2010 with the P5s. Since then, Bowers & Wilkins has launched quite a lot of over-ear and in-ear headphones, with the most recent being the Pi8 noise-cancelling in-ear wi-fi earbuds.

As a self-ascribed audiophile, I used to be thrilled to check out the Pi8 and see what Bowers & Wilkins have delivered to the desk for the reason that Pi7 in 2020.

Editor’s Selection

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8

Bowers & Wilkins’ up to date Pi8 in-ear earbuds are essentially the most sonically spectacular earbuds I’ve ever examined. The Pi8 is what occurs when one of the vital revered audiophile manufacturers on this planet units their sights on noise-cancelling, travel-friendly, and fantastically engineered high-fidelity in-ear wi-fi earbuds.

Professionals

• Impeccable sound high quality
• Excellect noise cancellation
• Snug match

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Value, availability, and specs

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 can be found from Amazon, Finest Purchase, and instantly from Bowers & Wilkins on-line. They retail for the hefty worth of $400, and up to now I’ve not come throughout any gross sales.

What I favored concerning the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8

Thoughts-blowing sound high quality for earbuds

I will admit I got here into testing these with pretty excessive expectations. I am fairly conversant in Bowers & Wilkins on their speaker aspect, and so they have not dissatisfied me but. As I began setting them up, which featured a reasonably easy pairing course of, I discovered myself considering, “How good might they actualy be?” and pondering how greatest to extract the perfect sound from such small drivers. Nicely, regardless of the secret sauce is, Bowers & Wilkins have it.

I opened up Tidal and began listening to Rush’s 1981 basic, Purple Barchetta. Instantly, the slowly constructing guitar opening had wormed its method into my ears, and because the tune crescendoed and Neil Peart’s drums began filling the area, I used to be met with a full and wealthy soundstage. Whereas the Bowers & Wilkins app has an equalizer for personalisation, it was utterly pointless. The sound was balanced, the instrument separation was glorious, and the lows, mids, and highs all had correct illustration, which is tough to tug off in earbuds.

As I went about my day listening to all types of ’80s rock and pop, I grew to become more and more impressed by the Pi8’s active noise cancellation. The heavy synths and drum beats on Phil Collins’ album No Jacket Required mixed with the Pi8’s built-in noise cancellation totally shielded me from the hum of passing automobiles on a stroll and the fixed chatter and buzz of a busy Costco.

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Whereas testing and exploring the Pi8 earbuds, it wasn’t misplaced on me that these had been a $400 pair of buds. So, protecting that in thoughts, I actually appreciated among the extra-mile touches that Bowers & Wilkins included right here, like the truth that the Pi8 case helps wi-fi charging and that the sunshine on the case adjustments colours to point battery standing and Bluetooth connectivity. I am fairly choosy about earbud match, so I used to be completely satisfied to see the Pi8 included 4 completely different sizes of earbud suggestions, making it more likely for customers to seek out the right match.

There are numerous different little particulars, like put on sensors that pause your music once you take away an earbud, contact controls on the earbuds for simpler management over your media, and an ambient pass-through mode to raised hear the world round you whereas nonetheless having fun with no matter it’s you are listening to.

What I did not like concerning the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8

Paying a premium for the identify

The sound high quality and total efficiency of the Pi8 are simple, however at $400, its worth level is a troublesome capsule to swallow for a set of headphones. Whereas the Pi8’s constancy and acoustic efficiency are far superior to a $130 pair of Apple AirPods, whether or not it performs greater than thrice as properly is debatable. Briefly, the one factor I do not like concerning the Pi8 earbuds is their worth. A few of this is because of Bowers & Wilkins’ glorious fame for luxurious, high-quality audio tools, and a few of it’s maybe that $400 simply is not what it was once.

Earbuds today are available all sizes and shapes, and the Pi8 are considerably blocky and huge. They don’t seem to be in any respect cumbersome or uncomfortable when worn on the workplace, on public transportation, or whereas strolling at a traditional tempo when out and about, however their bigger footprint does not lend itself to train or very heavy exercise.

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Verdict: Do you have to purchase the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8?

Look, I attempt my greatest to steer clear of overly broad or gushing platitudes when reviewing tech merchandise. I put quite a lot of time, thought, and background into critiques for our readers, and I take it fairly critically. However on this case, I really do imply that these are the best-sounding earbuds I’ve ever used. If the Pi8 are comfortably inside your price range, and audio high quality is essential to you when having fun with your tunes, then I might encourage you to choose up a pair and provides them a hear.

If you’re searching for earbuds for train or extra energetic use, or just should not concerned with dropping this sort of dough, then there are many different choices in the marketplace in the present day, simply none that I am conscious of that sound fairly nearly as good.

Editor’s Selection

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8

Battery Life

As much as 6.5 hours with ANC, Further 13.5 hours from Charging Case

Charging Case Included?

Sure

Microphones

3 per earbud

Model

Bowers & Wilkins

Supported codecs

aptX Lossless/Adaptive/Traditional, AAC, SBC

Bluetooth

Bluetooth 5.4 with aptX Lossless

IP Ranking

IP54

Driver Measurement

12 mm Carbon Cone

Charging sort

Wi-fi and USB-C Charging

Case battery

Li-Ion

Charging Port

USB-C

Noise Cancellation

Lively Noise Cancellation

Earbud weight

7g

Charging case weight

46g

Most play time (total)

20 hours

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