Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds (Dove White), in-Ear Bluetooth Earphones with Qualcomm Chipset & aptX Lossless, Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds, 3 Built-in Mics, 15-Min Quick Charging

Very nice and high quality feeling earbuds! They feel very nice, they are light, they connect easily, and they sound really good. The in app EQ helps adjust it to your personal liking as well. Sound quality is definitely quite good, low end is good, high ends as well. Decent passive noise cancelation from the hollow ear tips it comes with. Active noise canceling on the other hand is laughable. It does actually rather well at removing LOW frequency noise however wind noise or anything in the mid to high range it does almost nothing to. If active noise cancelation is at the top of your list these are NOT the earbuds for you. Pass through works pretty well, and sounds decently good actually. These are definitely oriented towards audio quality and fit rather than having the best ANC. I still find I can go on bike ride with them and the wind not be too much of an issue. I usually keep ANC and Passthrough OFF however for that since the passive noise dampening works decently well. Get Memory foam tips for really good passive noise dampening if needed. Fit is good though, can be worn for hours without it hurting your ears. Just a FYI: IF you have a earbud stop working or the ANC or passthrough doesn’t work on one of the earbuds after taking it out of the case usually taking it out of your ear for 5 seconds then putting it back in fixes it. Only a minor quirk if you take the earbuds out of the case really quickly and don’t give them time to boot up. If issues persist put them back in the case for a minute then remove. This has fixed any nuance issues I’ve had with them. Last thing, one issue I have noticed is that while no music is playing or right after a track stops you may notice a higher pitched noise in one or both of the earbuds, it’s very faint but in quiet environments you can hear it. It’s NOT an issue when listening to audio however even at the lowest volume. It does appear to be another quirk of these buds. Though not everyone experiences this. I don’t find any of those things mentioned to be issues however as they do not interrupt functionality or cause further problems or disturbance. Merely quirks. Going on a few months with no issues. I will say as with any wireless earbud, don’t get them in water or drop them very often if you want it to last a while and have no issues. Every wireless earbud brand seems to have problems however it tends to be from neglect or mishandling. Take care of them and they should last quite a while. Overall 9/10, good Quality Earbuds! 7 month update: Still going great no issues. Battery still last a while no noticeable degradation. Everything else is still the same as I had mentioned in the original review such as the quirks. No real issues. Loving the Ability to use the case as a Bluetooth transmitter. When connected to my TV playing games the sounds are very very good and clear/ detailed. Quite happy with these Earbuds. I will update if any issues come up.

I bought these to see if these would be better than my Airpod Pro 2s. They definitely are. Yes they may lack Spatial Audio and head tracking the APP2s have, but the actual sound is way better. I actually bought these after originally buying the Bowers and Wilkins PX8 headphones and being underwhelmed. These were a way better experience and value IMO.

What a disappointment after loving my B&W 685 S2 speakers for years (they're still GREAT!). I have tried: Technics EAH-AZ100 and EAH-AZ80 Jabra Elite 10 Bose QuietComfort Ultra SAMSUNG Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Denon PerL True TOZO Golden X1 And many other cheaper earbuds. Pro: 1) The sound quality is very good.... FOR EARBUDS. (which is necessary because there are NO features in the app that allow you to change the sound other than a basic EQ). But over-ear headphones are still much better. Cons!: 1) The app, which is necessary to begin using them, has fewer features than ANY earbuds I have tried at ANY price point that has an app. 2) PRIVACY: What does the app do???? NOTHING except collect information on you so they can sell you more stuff! To B&W: "NO B&W you don't get to surveil every action on my phone just so I can use your useless app which I MUST INSTALL to get them to work. Basic functions SHOULD work straight out of the box with NO APP for this price. I should NOT have to give you ANY personal information since I ALREADY paid you $500! $500 WASN'T ENOUGH???" This is straight out of the LG playbook. I VALUE MY PRIVACY and for the prices B&W and LG charge for their products I EXPECT PRIVACY. I DON'T WANT MY TOASTER CONNECTED TO MY EARBUDS SO THEY DO SOMETHING "FANCY" WHEN MY TOAST IS DONE!!! 3) ANC is GARBAGE!! There is litterally MORE white noise/hiss when it is ON than when it is off in a quiet room. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?? These can't even block out a very quiet air filter in a bedroom. They must be USELESS on an airplane!! THE WORST ANC OF ALL TIME! 4) You can't even adjust the ANC in the app like you can with most earbuds in this price range. I have $60 earbuds that allow you to adjust the ANC to tune out higher or lower frequencies. And the ANC is superior on ALL OF THEM compared to these. 5) Connecting these things is a NIGHTMARE! Once they are connected, they constantly have glitches. Read other people's worst reviews on the connectivity issues; whatever they say, they're ALL CORRECT! 6) Battery recharging is INSANELY SLOW! Mine came fully dead. It took 45 minutes of charging just to have enough charge (15%) to even begin to use them!! After 4 hours of charging they were only at 50%. 7) You can't customize what different taps and holds of the earbud "buttons" do!! The app has 2 different presets that change what press-and-hold does, but it is not customizable. 1 tap, 2 taps, or 3 taps cannot be changed on either earbud. 8) These earbuds came with no charge. That's ok. What ISN'T OK is they had to get all the way up to 15% charge just to get a beep or ANY SIGN OF LIFE to tell me that is why they weren't working!!! 2% SHOULD BE ENOUGH to give an indication they are working!! A beep, a flashing light, a voice prompt; SOMETHING SHOULD WORK WITH JUST 2%!! So, I guess the last 15% of a charge is actually 0% because they don't work below 15%, WHAT???? 9) There's nothing special about the build quality or anything else. 10) No indicator lights on the earbuds. 11) How can they possibly handle a high bandwidth "lossless" codec when they can't even handle a much lower bandwidth "lossy" format without glitches???? I don't buy it, litterally and figuratively because these are going back. 12) DON'T SUPPORT DOLBY ATMOS OR ANYTHING ELSE!! For $500 they should have every feature available on the market. 13) WHO CARES IF THEY HAVE GREAT SOUND IF THEY ONLY SOUND GOOD IN A DEAD QUIET ROOM?? THAT'S WHAT OVER-EAR HEADPHONES ARE FOR AND THEY WILL SOUND BETTER. 14) ONLY ONE LIGHT FOR EVERYTHING (on the case). There are NO OTHER LIGHTS on the earbuds or case to tell you things like "trying to connect" "connected" "charging" "charged" or simply, "WORKING!!!" Yes, the ONE LIGHT tries to do all those things, but fails miserably. Even the app doesn't tell you how much charge EACH earbud has. If one earbud isn't charging, there is no way to know!! NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR $500!! TAKEAWAY: NOBODY WOULD PAY MORE THAN $80 FOR THESE IF THEY WERE GENERIC "NO NAME" EARBUDS. YOU'RE JUST PAYING FOR A NAME. B&W SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO SELL THESE EARBUDS WITH THEIR NAME ON THEM. IT MAKES ME QUESTION IF THEIR NEWER SPEAKERS ARE STILL ANY GOOD.

So, somehow I found myself on this quest to find the perfect earbuds. After all the usual suspects like Apple AirPod Pro 2, Bose QC Ultra, Sennheiser Momentum TW 4, Denon Perl Pro and others; the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 joined the crew. Reviews on audiophile websites are mostly very positive. Up to this point, however, the Sennheiser generally won any competition or came in a very close second. Time to dethrone? At 400 the Pi8 are certainly getting into a stratosphere where one simply has to expect the exceptional. Not everyone is an audiophile (or pretends to be). I am not sure where I fall on that spectrum, but the search simply seemed not over even after crowning the both the MTW4 and the Perl Pro as my favorites, while none could ever match the massive functionality in the AirPods Pro 2. I don’t need the Spatial Audio, even if it’s cool at times, and so it happens that none of my favorites have it. Figure that! Anyway, as I previously bought a pre-owned pair of Px8 (over the ear headphones), impressed by their stellar audio performance and delicate materials, a preowned offer of the Pi8 broke my resistance to adding another set of earbuds to my collection ($130 in “savings”). Pre-owned in both cases (thru Amazon) had the side effect that both pairs had to be hard reset as they were paired and not reset. For the Px8 that was easier to figure out than the tiny reset button in the charging case. (The manual does not mention that.) Make sure to press the button well past the orange light. Once reset (blue LED blinking) the app pairs fairly quickly. At this point, no software update is available. The Bowers & Wilkins app offers minimal options. there is an “advanced EQ” (5-band equalizer) and an equally minimal setting for the touch controls. I am no fan of double triple taps and combinations, so this is fine, even if the options are limited. You have no control of which AptX is being used and apparently it’s lossless by default. The storage case is easily the most advanced of any of mine, despite being one of the smaller ones. It does charge the earbuds and itself can be charged via USB-C port (cable) or wireless (Qi). That seems commonplace these days, even if the Bose QC Ultra somehow did not include this feature. (The Bose also have no case charge level reported to the App, while the B&W do.) The B&W, however, have another unique feature since it can be connected to a 3.5 mm audio jack (headphones) like in the airplane entertainment system. If it also had a speaker (like the AirPod case) to find it, it would be perfect. The design is beautiful, both for the case and the earbuds. The sound, however, is the big deal and I must admit that my expectations were high. First stop ANC. It’s good and some say it doesn’t match the Bose. It may be true but it sure isn’t far. I noticed a similar thing with the Sennheiser and the Denon. Just like them, the B&W heavily depend on the seal of the tips to my ear. Find the perfect fit, and the ANC is fairly effective. With (too) high expectations, the sound at first seemed to not deliver. Not sure if it was just the fit of the tips, but a bit later a second attempt (after fully charging) revised that first impression. Yes! These sound great and are surprisingly loud! Whereas I am setting for almost all others the volume to about 70%, the Pi8 are about the same volume at 50%. The differentiation of instruments is nothing short of amazing. Easily the best I encountered so far. It’s not, however, as if the MTW4 are far behind. It’s just that I am starting to understand what reviewers mean by sound signature. It happens to be different between the MTW4 and the Pi8, and that makes it a bit of personal preference. Specifically, the Pi8 seem more pronounced in the upper middle frequencies, which makes them crisp. They also have a good base, and what happens in between apparently is due to signature differences. (There are no tools in the B&W app to find a personal profile like in the MTW4 or the magic Perl Pro.) The excellent sound makes up for the missing features the AirPods Pro are so rich of: conversation awareness, Find my compatibility, head gestures, Spatial Audio, hearing aid … and so on. If you need those, the AirPods are still unmatched. If you insist on the best sound possible, the Pi8 are strong contenders.

I've found there's a pretty direct relationship between the price of wireless earbuds and their performance. This is a case in point. These are very expensive but the sound quality is stellar - exceptionally clear, full, rich sound. As it should be, considering their technical specs. The excellent fit and comfort surprised me, given that they look kind of big and awkward in photos. They are surprisingly light and fit well in my ears, with no movement. I don't share the negative opinions about the NC on these. I found it to be perfectly fine. Not Bose quality, but more than adequate. The one really cool feature that you won't see on cheaper earbuds is the streaming case - you can connect the case to any sound source via USB-C or aux and it will stream the sound to the earbuds in Apt-X lossless, which is essentially CD-quality sound. It's surprisingly useful. As for the app, it is perfect for me. Nowhere near as full-featured as Sony's app or Technics' app, but I think that most earbud apps are way too complicated and have a lot of functionality that I will never use. This app just has the basics, easily organized: EQ, noise cancelling, updates, and button programming. Whether these are worth the money is up to you - you have to really value sound quality above just about everything else.

Let's get it out of the way. I'm a first adopter. I just gotta have the best sound possible and I'm well versed in portable audio technology. I purchased my first set used in "like new" condition. They arrived as described. Here are my observations. Pros: The 2 things that stand out about these are SOUND and COMFORT. The best I have heard and experienced. If those are important to you, these are a no brainer. They are outstanding. They are loud, with a clear, open soundstage and no distortion and they will stay in your ears even with the most demanding head movements. They just disappear with no discomfort. Battery life seems adequate. I have not tried transmission via the case. I will update when I do. Cons: 1) There is limited adjustability in the app It is either Volume up/down or ANC on/off or the voice assistant for the touch controls. Not both. So the only way to adjust ANC is via the app should you choose the touch volume option. 2) The touch controls can't be turned off. So if you have to adjust the buds you will pause the music. 3) The touch controls are finicky. If you want to skip back to previous track, good luck getting them to respond to 3 taps. 2 taps will pause the music more often than skip the track forward. If you want to adjust volume 3 or 4 times out of 10 they will pause music. 4) ANC is downright poor. My Samsung Buds 2 Pros for $100 eat these for breakfast in that regard. 5) On occasion they momentarily disconnect from the source. Maybe every 3rd or 4th track? I tried all the usual suspects to no avail. REAL FRUSTRATING! 6) Sometimes when earbuds are removed from the case, only one works and I have to put it back in the case and "reset" it and it will come on. Weird. 7) Uhhh, don't even think about making a phone call with these. For a $400 set of headphones these should be stellar in every category. They are not. But man, they SOUND AWESOME! So in conclusion, this is a 3.5 star experience. Sent them back due to the disconnect issue. Ordered a new set. Let's see if I can live with those cons.

I own both the B&W Pi8 and Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds. If audio quality is your primary criteria, the B&W is your choice; if you are more price conscious, then the Sony is still a great choice for slightly less money. I can't really comment on noise cancellation as that is really not something I really care about. Where I find the B&W exceeds the Sony in audio quality is in treble definition and cleanness and overall soundstaging. Cymbal strikes with the B&W's are clean whereas the Sony's have a slight fizziness and distortion that likely is only apparent in direct comparison. Likewise, the B&W's present a more open and defined soundstage than the Sony's. Is the extra money worth it for the B&Ws? If you want exceptional audio quality, then yes. If you're willing to give up some audio quality, then the Sony's should be more than adequate.

So disappointed in these headphones. I had the Sony Wf1000XM4s. Lost those, then got the XM5s. I'm not necessarily an audiophile. But I listen to headphones 10 hours every day at work, so I appreciate listening to something nice. To get a sense of how I like my music, I like things flat and neutral sounding, on the bright side. I like detailed analytical sounding stuff. As pictured I also own an older pair of JH Audio 13 pros, which years ago were 1200$. So I know what good sound sounds like. I'll start with the pros of the Pi8s, which isn't many. No wireless earbud Ive ever listened to compared to a quality wired IEM sound wise. And that's the case here. That said, the Pi8s definitely sound good. Compared to the XM5s, the sound is much "fuller" sounding. Every note hits harder with more slam. I feel it's on the warmer side compared to the sonys. Going back to the sonys, they sound hollow and thin by comparison. That said, I don't think they sound leaps and bounds better. Which is the whole reason you're buying these. I actually had to play with the equalizer and ton to dial them in. I wouldnt say they more detailed either. Disappointingly, in the B&W app is a setting I was excited for called natural sound. It overrides the EQ to present the flattest most natural sound possible. To me, it is a big fail. It makes the bass dominate the sound. The mids get extremely recessed and the treble is rolled off tremendously. Detail is completely lost. The volume of these buds is the loudest I've ever heard in wireless buds. My XM4s were always set to about 75%. The XM5s about 60%. The PI8s I only need about 40%. They're actually painfully above this. Fit is extremely personal, but I found the fit on these to be AMAZING, once you get rid of the garbage stock tips and grab complys, which we'll get to later. Lifting weights and running these don't budge. Super solid. Battery life is just okay. Definitely less than both the XM4s and 5s. What helps is the fast charging feature to keep them going. Now the cons and why I'm returning them. Connectivity issue galore. I'm using the Galaxy 24 Ultra. When I first got them, they kept cutting out again and again. Sometimes id pull them out of the case and they wouldnt connect with the phone. Sometimes they'd just cut out completely and wouldn't reconnect till I put them back in the case and out again. Updating the buds to the latest version as of this review date, 3.0, resolved the random connection drops. What is did not resolve, is the AWFUL connection range of the buds. Walking away more than 30 ft introduces intense static and dropped connections. Even the thinnest wall will completely block the connection. The Sonys have no exaggeration, quadruple the range of these. These alone for me is a huge fail. Second, the stock earbuds FOR ME, is absolutely terrible. They don't get a good seal no matter the size tried. And they don't block sound good. I had to upgrade to expensive complys. But, even with the complys the noise cancelation is not in the same class as the Sonys. No way, no how. If Sonys are a 10, these are 7.5. I work in a loud manufacturing environment, and need the best cancelation possible. The app is pretty barebones and does not have the features Sonys has. A small nitpick, but why did they put the USB c port on the bottom of the case? It's silly. Sonys is in the back so they case can stand upright as they charge. The noises they buds make as you hit play on them and turn noise cancelation on/off are absolutely terrible. The worst I've ever heard. Ultimately, the Sonys feel like a dramatically more refined mature product. And theyre half the price. They still sound really good, are very loud, much better noise cancelation, infinitely better range and next to no connectivity issues.

Well, I have had these for just short of three months now & they still fascinate every time I use them. I have had several earbuds over the last few years & these, by far, are the best sounding, although the most expensive, to date. My opinions on these earbuds are as follows: Sound: Out of the box, they have a perfectly good sound. This can be enhanced to sounding great & to your own liking/preference using the equaliser settings in the app. It was nice to be able to hear the different instruments in the masterpiece works by Beethoven etc. App. Very basic but generally works. Not very intuitive though. It just generally works. Eartips: I’ve never been fan of the silicone type of tips. The ones supplied with the PI8, for some reason, suit me very well & are causing me no concern as to wanting to change them anytime soon. They are very comfortable & snug fitting even after a couple of hours. I believe the placing in the ear & the ¼ turn locks them into the ears exceedingly well. ANC: Not the best but nowhere near the worst. It does block out the overall loud noises OK. They might be better with foam based eartips. The after-market tips do not seem to appear with a general search & most results of the searches are a bit murky as to the correct fitment for the PI8s. In conclusion, I very much like & enjoy these Earbuds & would recommend them for an upscaled listening experience.

Si decides comprar los Bowers & Wilkins Pi8, que sea por la calidad de sonido, nada más. Son fácilmente los audífonos true wireless con mejor calidad de audio que he escuchado. Ofrecen graves contundentes y bien controlados, una excelente separación de instrumentos y voces claras, presentes y con muy buena definición. El perfil sonoro se inclina hacia lo cálido, lo que les da un carácter envolvente y musical sin perder claridad. En lo demás, cumplen sin destacar. El ANC es decente: filtra bien las frecuencias graves, pero es menos efectivo con voces y sonidos más agudos. Le daría un 6.5/10. Además, en mi experiencia, se escuchan mejor con el ANC apagado. La duración de batería es normal dentro de su categoría, aunque se cargan con bastante rapidez. Los controles táctiles funcionan bien; no fallan constantemente, pero tampoco siempre responden a la primera. En cuanto al ajuste, al menos en mi caso, ha sido muy bueno. No se me salen, no me lastiman y no tengo que estar acomodándolos constantemente. Las puntas de silicona se sienten de buena calidad y logré un sellado perfecto. Hay qué ecualizarlos desde la app, el sonido que tienen desde “la caja”, para mi gusto es un poco oscuro y con graves predominantes. En resumen, están totalmente enfocados en ofrecer un sonido espectacular, y lo logran. En mi opinión, valen cada centavo.

El producto tiene excelente calidad de materiales y el sonido es muy bueno, podría decir que es claro y profundo detectando mejor el origen de los sonidos de manera espacial que unos AirPods de segunda generación que son los que tenía previamente. Al conectar el estuche de manera alámbrica al iPhone el aumento de calidad y potencia de audio aumenta de manera sustancial. El sistema de cancelación de ruido es mejor en los AirPods sin duda pero cumplen con su objetivo en un vuelo de avión por ejemplo. Si eres de los que gusta disfrutar el detalle en la música con alguna aplicación como Qobuz mientras descansas o viajas estos auriculares son para ti ya que además nos se sienten pesados y son cómodos cuando los usas por mucho tiempo.

Excelentes audífonos, vengo de los pi7 s2 y si se nota una diferencia, también la duración de batería es mucho mejor y cargan muy rápido, los recomiendo totalmente, soy alguien que tiene que usar los audífonos más de 5 horas seguidas y son muy cómodos, no me cansan con el tiempo de uso.

Amazing earbuds the best that I have ever owned. The sound is unbelievable and they have a very nice secure fit. Yes they are expensive but if sound quality is the most important thing then these are the earbuds you want. Yes there are other earbuds that might have better noise cancelling or longer battery life but nothing beats these for sound.