Bowers & Wilkins Pi8

An expensive but terrific true wireless pair from Bowers & Wilkins. They’re one of, if not the best-sounding models on the market, along with a strong wireless performance, improved design and solid noise-cancellation. If you’re willing to pay a premium for them, they’ll deliver a scintillating true wireless sound to your ears.

Introduction

A brand with the pedigree of Bowers & Wilkins is one I almost expected to knock it out of the park with its first true wireless.

The flagship Pi7, followed by the Pi7 S2, were good attempts but with some irrevocable faults (namely comfort). Here’s hoping that at the third attempt with the Pi8, B&W can get all its ducks in a row.

Design

• Stylish, minimalist appearance
• New extra small ear-tip
• Strong water resistance

The Pi8 buds have been reworked with the internal structure changed, a new shape and form as well as different materials used. It all counts up to a wireless earbud that leagues more comfortable that the previous models.

There’s no dull ache that both the Pi7 (and to a lesser extent) the Pi7 S2 caused, and the Pi8 slot invitingly into the ear without complaint. In terms of comfort and fit, they rectify the issues from before. There’s also an extra small ear-tip to accommodate a wider range of ears.

The Pi8 makes use of touch controls, which are very good in terms of responsiveness with a nice feedback sound that lets you know it’s been successful.

Aesthetically the Pi8 are a more minimalist set of earbuds but no less stylish for it. From the glossy touch surface to the two-tone colours of the central body, and the placement of the microphones where the chassis is perforated, the Pi8 are attractive pair available in four nice shades of colours – black, blue, white, green.

Water-resistance remains the same at IP54 (buds only), so they’re protected against splashes of water and ingress of dust. The charging case is another element that’s changed: smaller, rounded and (ever so slightly) more pocketable. You’ve got an LED light that’ll signal its current state.

Included in the packaging are two cables. A USB-C cable for charging and another that terminates in a 3.5mm connection for hooking the charging case to analogue sources.

Features

• 6.5 hours battery per charge
• Snapdragon Sound support
• Audio retransmission feature

My frequent complaint about previous Bowers & Wilkins true wireless has been the battery life. It’s either been below expectations or it depletes in the strangest way – jumping up and down like a kangaroo. The Pi8 displays much more normal behaviour.

I’ve noticed that the battery is never fully charged – it stops at around 95%, which I believe is Bowers prolonging the earphones’ battery life (charging up to full regularly is not that good for a battery’s lifespan). An hour’s stream of audio at about 50% volume resulted in a 17% drop – that’s around six hours of battery life and in the ballpark of Bowers’ claims.

It’s the same as the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, though behind the likes of the Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2, Sony WF-1000XM5, and JBL Tour Pro 3. There’s an extra 13.5 hours from the charging case which puts the total at 20 hours.

That’s a few hours less than others but B&W has put more of an emphasis on fast charging (15 minutes equals two more hours) and wireless charging support. Personally I’d like a bit more out of the box.

In terms of wireless support, the Pi8 runs on a Bluetooth 5.4 connection with SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless support. The latter is possible with the earbuds’ Snapdragon Sound compatibility, which allows for 24-bit/96kHz streams over a Bluetooth connection.  You’ll need to bear in mind that you’ll need a mobile device that’s also Snapdragon Sound compatible.

The wireless performance (on an aptX Adaptive connection) has been strong, as seems to be case from pretty much all the Bowers & Wilkins headphones I’ve tested. Aside from the slightest blip at Waterloo, it’s been perfect everywhere else.

I can point a finger at the call quality, which isn’t up to Bowers’ usual standards. I’ve made calls both indoors and out and the feedback was decidedly lukewarm. Both noted that the performance wasn’t particularly clear, and despite no background noise being picked up, my voice sounded faint. Whilst Bowers has rejigged the placement of the microphones for better voice pick-up, it hasn’t resulted in in improved performance.

Noise-cancellation has never been an area where Bowers has sought to challenge the likes of Bose and Sony, and the noise-cancellation here is solid – partly down to the fit and seal created but also down to just how loud the earphones volume is.

Even at default volume it feels like there’s a house party in your head. While I’m not complaining, I do think it masks the headphones’ dependency on volume to stop external sounds from invading your personal space.

Used on the Victoria, Jubilee and Northern lines, and no issues were noted: there was barely any noise, I couldn’t hear people talking and on a challenging part of the Northern line – around Camden Town or so where it can get incredibly loud, the Pi8 passed with flying colours. Wherever I’ve been, I’ve been able to hear music above the din around me.

The transparency mode is fine, passing through external sounds with more clarity and detail but again, we’re not talking to the levels of a Bose or a Sony. It’s fine enough and no more.

The headphones are serviced through Bowers & Wilkins Music app. There are more customisation options than have been available with previous B&W headphones, such as an Advanced EQ (five-band adjustments) to a True Sound mode that overrides any custom settings for a balanced sound output.

You can customise taps and holds on the earbuds (and add volume control), as well as toggle on/off the wear sensor, but unlike the Px7 S2e you can’t tweak the levels of sensitivity of the wear function.

The other half of the app features music playlist curation from the streaming services you’ve signed into as well as playlists provided by Bowers & Wilkins (though these don’t seem to be updated particularly often). It’s nice being able to stream direct from the app itself, though you’ll find the native apps offer more features and room for exploration (all the editorial content from Qobuz is virtually missing).

The Pi8’s charging case features the audio re-transmission feature the Pi7 kicked off. Connect the USB-C-to-3.5mm cable to the charging case and plug it into another source with a 3.5mm and the audio is routed through the case to the earbuds.

It’s no longer as novel as it once was since LG and Jabra offer the same feature at a less expensive price than the Pi8’s premium. That’s devalued Bowers’ proposition somewhat but it still works brilliantly with no latency that I can hear and good levels of clarity and detail. It’s made me get my mothballed PlayStation Vita out to have a go.

Sound Quality

• Energetic, spacious performance
• Big bass
• Clear highs

As I’ve mentioned already, these earphones are loud. At default volume, they sound as loud as some true wireless do at full volume, and that feeds into the Pi8’s energetic, rich, and musical performance. I’m confident in saying that the Pi8 are the best-sounding wireless earbuds from Bowers & Wilkins.

Bass reaches down deep when listening to Warren G’s Regulate, those sub-bass frequencies pleasingly reverberate, offering a little more depth and detail than the Sennheiser Momentum 4 True Wireless. The extension and richness of the low frequencies impress, and it seems to have no undue effect on the midrange performance.

And it’s not a one-note performance as far as bass is concerned. The Pi8 offer a varied performance that can be taut, punchy, and textured. If you like your bass, the Pi8 provides lots of it.

And at the top end of the frequency range there’s a brightness and clear dense of detail with GoGo Penguin’s Atomised. Highs stand out from the fray, varied in its description – any brighter or sharper with a track such as Andreas Ihlebæk’s Come Summer (which deliberately doesn’t feel like it’s the best presentation) and it could start to grate. The Pi8 stay on the right side of balance in providing that detail and fidelity.

The soundstage is described in expansive terms, levels of detail are high – the Pi8 seem to uncover every bit information in a track. But it’s also the clarity it brings to tracks too, the guitar in The Raconteurs’ Steady, As She Goes is both fleshed out and well separated from other instruments and voices in the track.

Timing is equally as good, so along with that detail, separation and clarity, music feels as if it all coheres as a wall of sound being pinged into your ears. You could argue for a little more sharpness with some tracks but that would take away from the richness the Pi8 goes for.

Voices sound natural and true, the delicate tones of Sufjan Steven’s vocals in Chicago are well reproduced, while the voice of Jean Knight’s comes through with lovely clarity in Mr. Big Stuff.

Bowers’ previous true wireless efforts have offered an impressively refined and warm presentation but the Pi8 take it up to another notch with its clear, detail-rich and big sound. Any track, any genre, and the Pi8 laps it up with glee.

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