Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 headphones review – true quality for the discerning listener

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• VERDICT

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 noise cancelling headphones are beautifully designed and delivers superb audio quality for the discerning listener. These are one of the best headphones you can buy right now.

Just the mention of Bowers & Wilkin conjures thoughts of high-quality audio and its new Px7 S2 noise-cancelling wireless headphones deliver exactly that.

These are the follow-up to the Px7 and have improved not only on the audio quality but the build quality as well.

The Px7 S2 have a more premium look and luxurious feel with patterned fabric around the earcups and headbands and finished with stylish aluminium caps emblazoned with the brand name.

They headphones are also complemented with ultra-soft leather-covered memory foam on the earcups and headphones to provide a new level of comfort.

And what about under the hood?

The Px7 S2 offer high resolution audio through its new custom designed 40mm drive units that are purpose-built for headphone listening.

There’s also the powerful Bowers & Wilkins designed DSP (digital signal processing) with 24-bit high resolution sound quality from popular streaming services.

The result is a crisp and clear sound with a level of warmth that will put a smile on your face.

Bass is not over the top but still holds its own without taking over.

The soundstage is wide enough to accurately allow all kinds of music to shine.

It’s the amount of detail that immediately caught our ear all volume levels and without any distortion.

The Px7 S2 headphones was always surprising us.

The noise-cancellation the headphones is impressive and does a good job of not letting any ugly outside sounds spoil your listening.

It didn’t block out every sound but did the trick to keep the focus on the music.

There is a Bowers & Wilkins companion app as well but there wasn’t much you can do with it part from slightly adjusting bass and treble, seeing your battery level and switching between noise cancelling and passthrough modes.

Call quality was also impressive through the Px7 S2 when we received a call – not the clearest we’ve heard but more than enough to take a call and not have to remove the headphones.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 earphones don’t have any touch controls of any kind on the large areas on the outside of the earcup.

The good news here is that accidental touches are not going to interrupt your listening.

Instead the Px7 S2 headphones have physical controls on both earcups.

On the left is a solitary button that allows you to toggle between noise cancelation and passthrough.

But all the action is on the right earcup where the on/off/pairing switch is located above two volume keys and an action key.

The action key is between the volume up and down buttons and can be found by feel thanks to its textured surface.

This key can control and navigate your music and answer and end your calls.

What you won’t find on the Px7 S2 is a 3.5mm jack to attach a cable.

You can still attach a cable, but you need to do that through the USB-C port which also doubles up as the charging port.

In the case is a USB-C to USB-C cable for charging and a USB-C to 3.5mm jack to connect it to a device or an inflight entertainment system.

Battery life is superb at 30 hours on a full charge – that’s more than enough for a flight to Europe or the US and to get you through day when you’re back on the ground.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 noise cancelling headphones are available now in three colours – grey, black and blue – and is priced at $599.95.

VERDICT

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 noise cancelling headphones are beautifully designed and delivers superb audio quality for the discerning listener. These are one of the best headphones you can buy right now.