Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Extravagant headphones

There is a thin line between luxurious and ridiculous. When you’re talking about $799 headphones, that line starts to blur. Bowers & Wilkins has been on a great run of form in recent years, consistently offering the best sound quality you’ll find on any pair of headphones. It doesn’t overload its models with features – sometimes it could use a few more – but there’s always a great mix of design, audio performance and capable active noise cancellation (ANC) that make for well-rounded products.

And then there is the Px8 S2. At $799, it’s $100 more expensive than its predecessor (the Px8) at launch, putting them even further out of reach for most. Bowers & Wilkins has changed the familiar design slightly, and there’s a big improvement in audio performance, the addition of high-resolution music via USB-C and improved call quality. There’s no doubt that the Px8 S2 is more than premium, but has the company gone too far?

What’s new on the Px8 S2?

After several generations of the Px7 and Px8 which had virtually the same design, Bowers & Wilkins changed things up a bit with the Px8 S2. There’s no comprehensive redesign here, but the slimmer silhouette of the earcups and exposed cables on the headband yokes are notable improvements to the overall appearance. Once again, the company opted for a mix of soft leather and die-cast aluminum, both of which give the Px8 S2 a distinctly premium aesthetic.

Inside, new 40mm carbon cone dynamic drivers have been updated with a new chassis and engine. These components are powered by 24-bit DSP (digital signal processing) with a dedicated amplifier and digital-to-analog converter (DAC). There’s also a more robust five-band EQ with True Sound bypass, which lets you disable any equalizer adjustments to quickly return to Bowers & Wilkins’ standard tuning. The company has added aptX Lossless support on top of existing aptX Adaptive availability, and you can get ‘true’ lossless – 24-bit/96kHz – sound quality via USB-C.

Compared to the previous model, the Px8 S2 has two more microphones, bringing the total to eight. Six of these are used for external monitoring for ANC, while two monitor noise in the headphones. All eight are used during calls, alongside an upgraded ‘pure voice’ algorithm to improve performance there. You can also hear yourself better in transparency mode, which is the biggest boost for calls.

What else is good about the Px8 S2?

Bowers & Wilkins has excelled at creating a warm, inviting and immersive sound profile through its headphones for some time now. That’s still the case on the Px8 S2, as the audio quality is rich and detailed, with a wide soundstage that envelops you – almost to the point of bombarding your ears. While I don’t think the bass tuning is suitable for quiet genres, there’s plenty to enjoy here. On albums like Jason Isbell’s Foxes in the snow, For example, the amount of texture and subtle nuance where the only instruments are the singer’s voice and a single acoustic guitar is incredible.

Reliable battery life has been a strong point for the company in the past, and that remains true for the Px8 S2. The 30-hour battery figure (ANC on) is the same as the previous model, and I was able to achieve that longevity easily in my testing. With a mix of active noise cancellation, high-resolution melodies and transparency mode for business calls, the headphones easily kept up with Bowers & Wilkins’ promised numbers.

What’s not so good about the Px8 S2?

The biggest knock against the Px8 S2 is the price. These headphones are much more expensive than what most companies charge for their top models, which are around $500 these days. Sure, $799 is only $50 more than the rate-adjusted rate for the Px8 (originally $699), and there are several upgrades here, but that price will be prohibitive for many, making the S2 harder to recommend despite its strengths.

Even with the improved sound, I feel like Bowers & Wilkins may have gone too far with the bass tuning. There’s an absolutely booming low-end tone on display here, especially for bass-heavy genres like rock, metal, EDM, and hip-hop. On Spiritbox’s ‘Perfect Soul’, as an example, the kick drum comes dangerously close to drowning out the lead and bass guitars. A little more restraint here would have provided enough punch and depth, which isn’t nearly tiring to listen to. Sometimes the improved bass is great, but other times, like Ruston Kelly’s Pale, through the window, it can really be too much for the music style.

On its recent headphones, Bowers & Wilkins has moved the physical controls from the edge of the earcups to an edge on the outside. The company has also made the buttons much smaller. As I said when I tested the Px7 S3, this makes the controls harder to find with your thumbs, and you also have to be more precise with your keys. That’s especially true of the three-button array on the right, which handles volume changes and playback controls.

As with its previous headphone models, Bowers & Wilkins hasn’t packed the Px8 S2’s spec sheet with advanced features. You do get a few basic items – multipoint Bluetooth and wear detection/automatic pausing – but there are no things like voice recognition, hands-free assistants or automatic sound profiles. This is an area where brands like Sony, Bose and Sennheiser outdo Bowers & Wilkins, even though products like the Px8 S2 generally offer superior sound quality.

Wrapping up

How well does Bowers & Wilkins bridge the line between luxury and ridiculousness? I would say the Px8 S2 is a luxury headphone with a ridiculous price. I fully understand that Bowers & Wilkins is a high-end audio brand and its products generally command a premium over most of the competition. But as I said, the price puts these excellent headphones out of reach. When you consider the price tag alongside the lack of advanced features, the Px8 S2 becomes difficult to recommend. But for those who can afford it, a tantalizing symphony of sound awaits.