Bowers & Wilkins PI7 S2 Earbuds Assessment: Similar Implausible Sound, However Solely Slight Enhancements

When Bowers & Wilkins launched its first true-wireless earbuds in April 2021, they have been among the many very best-sounding fashions in that extremely aggressive headphone house. Now we get the following era of these buds, the PI7 S2 ($399, £349, AU$700) and PI5 S2 ($299, £249, AU$450) — and so they handle to be each fairly spectacular and a tad disappointing on the identical time. (For what it is price, the names are “pi 7” and “pi 5”, styled in all caps and no areas, not “P seventeen” and “P fifteen.” Received it?)

Let’s begin with the underwhelming half. For higher or worse, though the PI7 and PI5 now are available in new colour choices, their design has barely modified, and so they look similar to their predecessors. For those who look carefully, the grilles over the microphones look like barely bigger, and there is a sensor just under one of many microphones that wasn’t there beforehand. Bowers and Wilkins did not point out something about new drivers, so presumably they’re the identical, and I’ve confirmed that these new fashions use the identical legacy Qualcomm QCC5126 chipset (with Bluetooth 5.0) because the originals. (The newest 5 sequence chips are the QCC5141 and QCC5144).

So what’s upgraded? In accordance with Bowers & Wilkins, the brand new fashions have higher battery life and Bluetooth vary, now as much as 25 meters, which is double the earlier vary. Moreover, the buds now combine into the brand new Bowers & Wilkins Music app for iOS and Android and have a a lot improved set-up expertise (I can attest to that). 

With the unique PI7 buds, you solely bought about 4 hours of battery life on a single cost with an extra 4 fees within the case (20 hours whole). The battery life on the PI7 S2 is as much as 5 hours for the buds with 16 hours extra from the case (21 hours whole). In the meantime, the PI5 goes from 4.5 hours on a single cost to as much as 5 hours however dips from 20 hours further from the case to 19 hours. 

Bowers & Wilkins says the battery life good points within the buds have been achieved by {hardware} modifications, not software program updates. The batteries within the buds are new and the antenna design has additionally modified. “The caps on the finish of the earbuds — the sections that carry the brand — have been re-engineered to enhance antenna efficiency,” a Bowers & Wilkins rep knowledgeable me. “We have launched a brand new design of antenna and repositioned it throughout the earbud endcaps. On the identical time, we’ve switched to make use of plastic, fairly than aluminum to trim every endcap. The result’s stronger Bluetooth sign energy, giving us our improved 25-meter vary.”

Whereas I definitely recognize higher battery life and improved Bluetooth vary with a extra dependable wi-fi connection, the updates struck me as comparatively modest. After all, Bowers and Wilkins may add options later, which we have seen earlier than with premium buds that use Qualcomm chipsets (Jabra and Bose, for instance). Nevertheless, Bowers & Wilkins has by no means up to date the firmware of its authentic buds. So do not anticipate these to get multipoint Bluetooth pairing, which lets you pair the buds with two gadgets concurrently — say, a pc and smartphone — and have the audio robotically swap to your smartphone when a name is available in (as an alternative, it’s a must to manually swap between paired gadgets). Nor are you able to anticipate to see help for Qualcomm’s upcoming spatial audio or Bluetooth LE Audio with Auracast capabilities. 

The app can be lacking an equalizer to tweak your sound. I personally do not thoughts a set EQ that sticks to an organization’s signature sound, however lots of people prefer to customise the sound settings of their headphones. 

All that mentioned, the contact controls work very effectively, as does the automated ear-detection function. And the PI7 S2’s wi-fi charging case, like its predecessor, converts right into a transceiver, so you possibly can plug the case into the headphone port on an airplane’s inflight leisure system and wirelessly stream audio from the case to the earbuds. Alternately, you would additionally join the case to a laptop computer audio port and use it to wirelessly stream high-resolution audio to the buds.

Notice that the PI5 could be very a lot a step-down mannequin. It is bought a single driver as an alternative of the twin drivers discovered within the PI7 and one much less microphone on every earbud (two as an alternative of three). The aforementioned “wi-fi audio retransmission” function in its case can be absent.

All concerning the sound

Merely put, the PI7 S2 sound nice as long as you get a good seal from one of many three sizes of included ear suggestions. I am a fan of Bowers & Wilkins ear suggestions, which have an identical design to Sennheiser ear suggestions, and the massive suggestions match my ears effectively. These are massive ear buds that may stick out of your ears a good quantity, however they did match my ears comfortably and pretty securely. They provide IPX54 water-resistance, which implies they’re splashproof and dust-resistant, so you possibly can run with them, although there are higher earbuds choices with sport fins which are extra appropriate for sporting actions (I am unsure you wish to danger a $399 earbud dropping out of your ear). Nevertheless, I might haven’t any downside utilizing them on the health club.

Like its predecessor, the PI7 helps Qualcomm aptX Adaptive wi-fi transmission (which incorporates the aptX HD codec) from suitable cellular gadgets, permitting for “high-resolution music transmission from appropriate streaming providers, reminiscent of Qobuz.” The listing of Android gadgets — and devoted music gamers — that help aptX Adaptive has grown over the previous few years and you need to ideally pair the buds with a tool that helps aptX Adaptive (together with a streaming service that gives high-resolution streaming). That mentioned, the buds additionally work simply positive and sound excellent with Apple’s iPhones, which help the AAC codec. (Each the PI5 and PI7 help AAC streaming however the PI5 solely helps normal aptX, not aptX Adaptive.) Alas, Sony’s LDAC hi-res audio codec shouldn’t be supported, however sometimes headphones help both aptX or LDAC, not each. 

I listened to the buds utilizing an iPhone 14 Professional and an Asus ROG 6 Android smartphone that is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 cellular platform. As I mentioned with the unique PI7, the PI7 S2 has precisely what I am on the lookout for in a great set of headphones: Correct and articulate sounding with deep, well-defined bass, pure sounding mids, properly detailed treble and a large soundstage that provides the general sound some largesse.

On my iPhone, I examined the buds with Spotify, Apple Music and Qobuz. The PI7 S2 can go toe-to-toe and, in some circumstances, barely edge out most of the high mainstream earbuds on the market for sound, together with Sony’s WF-1000XM4, Apple’s AirPods Professional 2, Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds 2, Sennheiser Momentum True Wi-fi 3 and Bang and Olufsen Beoplay EX, which additionally price $400. 

Nevertheless, once I switched to the Asus and streamed high-resolution tracks from Qobuz (with aptX Adaptive), I went from saying to myself, “That sounds actually good” to “Wow, that sounds superior.” Bowers & Wilkins has a playlist on Qobuz for its PX8 full-size headphones, so I ran by a bunch of these tracks. A few of them included Taylor Swift’s Vigilante Shit, Athletes of God’s Do not Wanna Be Regular, Anna B Savage’s Since We Broke up, Orbital’s Soiled Rat and Pixies’ Vault of Heaven. The standard of the bass was a stage up — extra visceral with added girth and punch — and there was just a little extra sparkle, depth and nuance to the music throughout. I got here away feeling my Spotify wanted an improve. 

Good noise canceling however not best-in-class

As with the sound, you will want a good seal to get optimum efficiency for noise canceling, which might be set to on, off or an “auto” mode that adapts the noise canceling in line with the ambient sound in your atmosphere. It’s also possible to modify how a lot “passthrough” sound you wish to let into the buds, which is often known as an consciousness or transparency mode.

The buds’ transparency mode is not fairly as pure sounding as a number of the others I’ve used (in the mean time, the AirPods Professional 2’s transparency mode is the gold normal). I settled on a halfway level for the slider setting in between “min” and “max” for what I felt was the very best transparency expertise. 

The noise canceling is sort of efficient and does a pleasant job of decreasing an honest quantity of ambient sound, significantly within the decrease frequencies. Nevertheless, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 do a greater job decreasing noise throughout a broader vary of frequencies (larger frequencies are tougher for noise-canceling headphones to muffle). So whereas the PI7’s noise canceling is clearly respectable, it isn’t in the identical class because the earbuds’ sound. 

The PI7’s voice-calling capabilities are at an identical stage — excellent however not best-in-class. The buds did a pleasant job of decreasing background noise on the streets of New York. Whereas callers mentioned they might hear a little bit of background noise, it was diminished significantly, and so they mentioned my voice got here clearly with none warbling. I may additionally hear them fairly effectively, and there is a little bit of sidetone so you possibly can hear your voice within the buds as you converse. 

Bowers & Wilkins PI7 S2 remaining ideas

Sure, the PI7 S2s are technically a second-gen product, however they really feel extra like a era 1.5 product. Bowers & Wilkins has basically smoothed out a number of the tough edges on the unique buds (I imply that metaphorically, not actually). The additional hour of battery life and prolonged Bluetooth vary (with seemingly a barely extra dependable wi-fi connection) are welcome modifications. And the setup and integration with the Bowers & Wilkins Music app creates a greater total person expertise, regardless of its considerably bare-bones high quality (in comparison with Sony’s Headphones app anyway). 

For those who’re evaluating the PI7 S2 to the PI5 S2, which additionally sound wonderful however not fairly pretty much as good because the PI7, you will wish to control the PI5 S2’s value, which ought to dip extra rapidly than the PI7 S2’s value. The authentic Pi5s are promoting for as little as $150, or $100 off their listing value of $250, so we’ll see the place all the things shakes out. The PI5s may find yourself being the higher worth, although it is unlucky that Bowers & Wilkins added $50 to their listing value. 

For sure, $400 is loads to spend on a set of earbuds. And once you spend this a lot, you ideally need the newest expertise and options (aptX Lossless, for instance). But when nice sound is your precedence, the PI7 S2s ship it. And with the buds paired to the correct system and streaming service, they will sound downright particular.