Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e Headphones Review
My new favorites!
For Black Friday 2024, I could not resist adding the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e headphones to my collection. I ordered these from Amazon and they cost $240. They retail for $400, but are usually on sale for around $320.
There were lots of great Black Friday sales on headphones, including the Sennheiser Momentum 4, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, Sony XM5 and even the B&W Px8. Other than the Px8, which was around $500, the others were all in the $220 to $300 range.
I already own the Bose Noise Cancelling 700 headphones and wanted to try something different this time. The Sennheiser and Sony’s had a reputation of being bass-heavy and were rather plain looking. The B&W won out with their great looks (I got Ocean Blue) and constant praise for their sound quality. Here are my thoughts and impressions.
Unboxing
The packaging is slick and professional with the headphones arriving in a shrink-wrapped white box. The back touts features of the headphones and photos on the box do a great job of showing off the Ocean Blue color.
The outer cover slides off the inner box. The box contains the headphones inside their case.
Build and Usage
The build quality of these headphones is astounding. The ear cups have a a cloth like texture around the outer part, which I really love. The smaller part of cup with the B&W logo is metal.
The ear cups swivel all the way around so that they get a great fit on your head. The pad at the top is very soft and comfortable. The PX7 S2e do weight a bit more than my Bose NC700, but I don’t really notice this when I’m wearing them.
For controls, these use buttons. There are no touch-sensitive controls. I do like the touch controls on my Bose NC700 (which also has buttons), but the PX7 S2e is all buttons, particularly for the volume up/down and play/pause. The controls work well, with a solid feel.
By default these have a feature to pause your music when you take the headphones off or lift an ear cup, but I found this to be very unreliable. It would often pause my music with minor turns of my head. I ended up turning it off in the app.
The headphones have normal clamping force and stay on my head well. I’ve seen people ask if they can use these headphones in the gym, which is usually a question of how well they’ll stay on your head. This is a case of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”. Don’t use over-the-ear headphones in the gym as they are always susceptible to sweat, falling off and other damage — get ear buds instead.
Sound
I’ve been using these for a couple months now and these are, without a doubt, the best-sounding headphones I own. They are incredibly clear with great bass response.
I’ve only used the with Bluetooth using Apple Music from my iPhone 15 Pro. They can also be used in wired mode, either from a 3.5mm to USB-C plug or digitally via USB-C. I’m told they sound even better when used wired, but I don’t like having wires, so I haven’t tested if that’s true.
I’ve been listening to most of my music and can wear these headphones for hours without fatigue and each new song I hear with is stunning.
I’ll have a comparison of my headphone collection out in the spring, so be sure to subscribe if you’re interested.
Mobile App
There is a mobile app that can update the firmware and tweak some settings. It has a simple EQ with ability to adjust the bass and treble. I do have the treble increase slightly to better match the bass.
Noise Cancelling and Pass-Through
These also have noise cancelling, of course and it works well. It’s probably not as good as the NC in the Bose NC700, but using it around the house I’ve found it does a good job of silencing everyday sounds such as the refrigerator, air purifier, dish washer and I’ve even worn them while vacuuming to great effect.
The pass-through also works well and is about the same as the NC700, although not nearly as good as what the Apple AirPods Pro 2 can do.
Overall
These are now my new favorite headphones. I keep going back to them because everything I play on them sounds so good.
At $230, these cost me about the same as the Heavys, but the B&W are much, much better headphones. They sound better, are built better and fit better.
I still probably use my AirPods Pro 2 more often, just because of their convenience and more tuned sound profile, but they don’t have quite the kick and clarify that the B&W PX7 S2e have.
Nice review. I bought a pair myself. Great sound. I can hear nuanced moments in my music now. Appreciate the buttons. My previous headphones were Sennheiser PXC-500. Nice upgrade.