I am undecided Bowers & Wilkins cares for accolades, reader – and but that is what its engineers are going to get from me, and from this publication, till the model ceases to set new benchmarks for audio high quality inside the class of wi-fi headphones.
You in all probability know simply in addition to B&W does that our Headphones of the 12 months Award on the TechRadar Alternative Awards 2025 was open to on-ear, in-ear and over-ear designs (somewhat than simply cans, because the phrase ‘headphones’ might recommend). And right here we’re once more, one other full yr of testing below our belts, with me needing to impress upon you that selecting the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 as our Headphones of the 12 months was one of many easiest conclusions I’ve come to in 2025.
I put them on. I listened; I commissioned a full evaluation – however truthfully, I did that simply to get a second opinion that confirmed my very own inner verdict. I already knew their rating.
And I write this even though Bowers & Wilkins does not make it straightforward for me by way of workload or stress ranges. Final yr, the TechRadar Alternative Awards 2024 audio winner nonchalantly revealed itself late within the recreation, on the finish of August – within the form of the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8.
It might be straightforward to attract from this the conclusion that B&W does issues solely when the product is proper and not when it is time to put the feelers out for Awards season. I totally consider this to be true – I’ve met the Bowers & Wilkins group and it is a firm that desires to know inside its personal family-run manufacturing unit partitions that its new headphones are the most effective, earlier than garnering the opinions of others.
Bowers & Wilkins’ Px8 S2 arrived late to the social gathering, then hogged the limelight
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 might have solely not too long ago joined the ranks of our greatest headphones (up to now few days, in truth), however simply because not too many people have had the possibility to strive (or purchase) them, it does not imply they don’t seem to be the most effective. And in contrast to the majority of our Alternative Awards, that are compiled utilizing reader enter in addition to our personal, this specific nod is given solely by TechRadar.
There is no denying that the class of greatest over-ear headphones is without doubt one of the most hotly contested guides I oversee – I commonly put on cans simply so I will not be distracted (often managing editors asking the place sure items of labor are, as a result of I needed to shelve issues to get a Bowers & Wilkins evaluation dwell in time for Award inclusion, did not I?) and I discovered myself plucking the B&W Px8 S2 from their newly slimmed down case each time up to now few weeks, to dam out the world with detailed, nuanced, thrilling music.
Truthfully, sound high quality has by no means been a difficulty for B&W, however what the corporate has accomplished with the Px8 S2 is take the extremely gifted Bowers & Wilkins Px8 and newer (even higher) Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 upon which these are constructed and refine, tweak and improve will the expert hand of a surgeon.
Assume further mics right here, extra EQ tabs there, upping the codec assist, tweaking the chassis and motor powering it to assist eke extra nuance and precision out of your music, shaving a little bit of weight off, including a classy uncovered cable element on the arm… it is the very definition of incremental achieve, and whereas they nonetheless do not come low-cost at $799 / £629 / AU$1,299, it is simple to see the place the cash has gone – and I urge you to strive them earlier than deeming them too costly, since you can not knock the sound.
As we stated in our evaluation, the Px8 S2’s “open, detailed and vaultingly dynamic sound”, “nice normal of construct and end” and “glorious management choices” merely can’t be bettered proper now, in what’s a hotly contested and ever-changing market.
Sure, you should buy headphones for lots much less, however what we’re saying is which you could’t presently purchase higher for this cash or much less, within the wi-fi headphone enviornment.
I might humbly like to make Bowers & Wilkins conscious of the hi-fi and audio press’ exacting schedules and even perhaps remind the corporate of the deadlines for Awards inclusion, however final time I attempted to do this I ended up in a listening session, holding one of many 40mm dynamic cone drivers you will discover in B&W’s flagship headphones. And I heard myself agreeing that sure, we’re speaking unimaginable ranges of precision right here, involving many delicate processes – and no, you merely cannot rush this stuff…
