Tom's Guide Verdict
The PX8 S2 are about two things: excellent wireless sound, and a super premium build. Sure, the ANC is good and the battery life solid, but that’s not really what they’re looking to achieve. And at their goal, the PX8 S2 have been entirely successful. This is a great-sounding and feeling pair of headphones that comes at a steep price. They’re worth it — if you can afford them.
Pros
- +
Ridiculously premium build
- +
Incredibly comfortable fit
- +
Sumptuous sound
- +
Solid battery life
Cons
- -
Better ANC on rival headphones
- -
$799 at launch
- -
No vegan-friendly option
Why you can trust Tom's Guide
Bowers & Wilkins has been the headphone manufacturer to watch this year. The PX7 S3 now sits atop our list of the best headphones, thanks to some major upgrades that make them a great over-ear alternative to the Sony and Bose options. Now B&W has reset its sights on the AirPods Max, with another version of its range-topping PX8, the imaginatively titled PX8 S2.
There’s a lot to like about the new version of the PX8. They’ve got a more up-to-date slim design, buckets of metal accents and sound that takes just about everyone to school. You’ll be paying through the nose for the privilege of ownership — $799 to be exact — but for the right buyer, they’re going to be more than worth it.
But what’s the full story on the Bowers & Wilkins PX8 S3? Let’s find out.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? B&W's newest premium, range-topping headphones
- Who is it for? People looking for the ultimate wireless music experience on the go
- What does it cost? £629/$799
- What do we like? Impeccable Hi-res sound, comfortable fit, super-premium design
- What don’t we like? There are better ANC options, and these aren’t for vegans
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: Specs
- Price £629/$799
- Connectivity Bluetooth 5.3
- ANC Yes
- Battery 30 hours (ANC on)
- Weight 0.68 pounds
- Dimensions 6.9 x 2.3 x 9.2 inches
- Colors Onyx Black/Warm Stone
- Drivers 40mm
- Compatibility iOS, Android
- Frequency response 10Hz - 22kHz
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Price and availability
Picking up a pair of the Px8 S2 isn’t going to be all that tricky — you’ll find them at all major retailers. That means you can head to Amazon or your local Best Buy for a chance to slip some seriously impressive headphones into your backpack. You’ll need to spend a lot of money to get them, however.
So how much are they? Deep breath now, everything will be ok. It’s like ripping off a financial band-aid. Ready? Aaaand 3, 2, 1…
They’re $799.
That wasn’t so bad, was it? Well, it was pretty bad. $799 makes them more expensive than the AirPods Max by $150, and $250 more than the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. That’s lots of money. Now, when you take into consideration their build and sound quality, that price makes sense.
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Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Build and design
- Metal and leather everywhere
- … lots of leather everywhere
- (sorry vegans)
First things first — vegans and people who don’t like leather and its animal origin are going to want to close this window right now. The earpads and the headband padding are both smothered in lovely, soft nappa leather for a comfortable, breathable fit, but also one that means some cows have had to die. It’s fine, someone almost certainly ate their meat at a steak restaurant somewhere — but animal people should probably look elsewhere.
With that out of the way, we can get to the meat and potatoes of things. Or the unseasoned chicken breast and green beans of things — the Px8 have gone on a strict diet since the first model landed on our heads. They’ve slimmed down a great deal for a much sleeker look, and it's one that I think is rather fetching. It means they don’t stick out as much while you’re wearing them, making you look a lot less like Lobot from Cloud City.
They’re a smidge lighter than the old model as well, which, when coupled with the lovely soft leather and copious padding, makes them a supremely comfortable pair of headphones. I’ve been able to wear them for entire work days at a time without needing to take them off or redistribute their weight. I could see them being comfortable for the whole of a long flight.
From comfort to looks, and they are a handsome pair of headphones. There’s stainless steel in those armatures, which contain a braided cable that carries the audio to the earcups. The leather-smothered headband looks lovely as well, and it’s topped off by the metal outers of the earcups that feature a 3D Bowers & Wilkins logo that sits proudly on the surface.
Add it all together and you’ve a pair of headphones that look and feel like they’re worth every dollar of their expensive price. The metal is cold to the touch, and there are no rattles or creaks if you shake them around. They feel and look even nicer than the AirPods Max, I’d say — and that is high praise indeed.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Features
- Useful B&W App
- Good EQ
- Some features are still coming soon
When I reviewed the Px7 S3, I had to report that there was a spatial audio function coming soon. That remains the case with the Px8 S2, so anyone looking for the next spatial audio fix is going to have to wait a few months before they can try out B&W's version. That’s a shame, but I’m not personally bothered. I’m not generally a fan of spatial audio systems.
Otherwise, you’re looking at a pair of headphones with a feature set that you’d expect from a pair of headphones in 2025. Because they’re ‘audiophile’ headphones, you’ll find support for aptX adaptive and aptX Lossless — both of which are worthy additions.
There’s also a USB-C sound mode for even higher bit rate listening, so that you can really enjoy all the goodies that B&W has packed inside. It works well too, noticeably improving sound over the wireless connection. If you want the best sound possible, it’s the way to listen.
If you buy a pair, you should download the B&W music app, as you’ll find the majority of the headphones' features here. First up is the EQ, a five-band adjuster that lets you customize the sound of your headphones to your heart’s content. It’s a useful feature, although given the headphones sound so excellent out of the box, one you’re unlikely to actually use.
It's also here that you can also change the auto-pause when you take them off and initiate the multi-point connection. Software updates are generally automatic, but you can manually trigger them in the app if you’d like.
Finally, there’s a sneaky extra. Sign in to Qobuz or Tidal in the app, and you can play music directly to your headphones.
Why might you want to do this? Well, you can then pass your music to other B&O devices that you’ve got around the house, so you never go without music. Pull your headphones off, and throw the music to the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro you’ve got in the living room. You could even pass music from your headphones to the Pi8 earbuds, in case you want to go for a run. It works very well and rounds out the feature set of the PX8 S2.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Sound quality
- Impressive, articulate bass
- Effervescent detail
- Need a dongle or USB-C mode for best results
Bowers & Wilkins have packed the headphones full of hi-res and lossless codecs to make sure that they sound as good as possible. To get the best sound I used my Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and for good measure, I hooked up my iPhone 17 Pro Max to see how music would sound over normal connections.
Inside each earcup, you’ll find 40mm carbon cone drivers, which are much quicker and snappier than those found in the older PX8 model. They’re coupled with a new headphone amplifier — and it means that the headphones can get very loud. Max volume will deafen you. Don’t bother. Instead, it’s there to make music sound fuller and more dynamic at lower volumes, something I can confirm it does very well.
If you listen properly, the sound of the Px8 S2 is excellent. There’s buckets of lovely, clear bass on display here, making for a warmer sound signature. It’s very well timed and snappy, never sticking around for too long. Some might want to dial it back slightly, but I like how warm it sounds.
Detail retrieval is also excellent, picking out the finest parts of your music with ease. There are orchestral pieces where you can hear the movement of the musicians, and even the shuffling of musical notes. Fingers on the fret board, and even finer parts of instruments become easier to pick out.
Highs are good too, with cymbals and other sounds that are clear and bright. There’s no uncomfortable pinching or other unseemly sounds either. The mids are well-rounded, lending plenty of presence to guitars and vocals.
While warm, they’re not as uncomfortably warm as the Sony and Bose options. Compared to the PX7 S2, their cheaper stablemate, you’re getting more of everything. The PX7 still sound amazing, but the extra attention to detail with the more expensive pair reveals more detail and more control in the low end. You can tell where your money is going the moment you press play.
Soundstage is slightly more intimate than some might like, but instrument separation and placement are top-tier. That means they’re more immersive than you might expect, placing everything around you a little closer than other headphones. You’re in the midst of a practice session, or right in front of the stage at a gig.
I’ve been on a Cyberpunk 2077 binge recently, and that includes the soundtrack. Giving I Really Want to Stay at Your House a spin from Qobuz, our testing streaming platform of choice, shows some excellent edge. The synths are hard and uncompromising, and the layered vocal encoding is well-formed. The headphones relish each element of the track, providing an unnerving undertone — that sub-bass is sublime, without being entirely overpowering.
I wanted to see how the headphones handle machine gun-kick drum, so I turned to Crown Magnetar’s Nailed the F*** Down. The opening and its opening salvo of kick drum are a sight (sound) to behold (behear?), and every hit is impactful and well separated by the Px8 S2. As the track gets even heavier and more oppressive, the headphones are happy to headbang along, keeping everything exactly where it should be. Some headphones have a habit of blending the track together — not so here.
Finally, I turned to Myrkur and House Carpenter to chill me out. The simple rhythm section was solid and sounded great, while the strings strummed along. The Violins and violas added a sense of folk to proceedings, and Myrkur’s voice sounded like soft, velvety cream.
Check out the Tom's Guide PX8 S2 testing playlist below:
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: ANC
- It’s good
- Transparency mode is solid
- There are better ANC options
The standard for noise canceling is the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones — the headphones that all others are measured against. When compared to those, the Px8 aren’t quite up to scratch. They allow more noise through when there’s no music playing, and they struggle with high-range sounds like tires on roads and some chatter in offices and busy public transport.
But you could never call the ANC bad. It’s actually quite good. It blocks out plenty of noise while you’re trying to get on with your work, silencing the majority of your chatty colleagues and other environmental sounds. Buses and the like are much quieter as well, keeping noise down to an absolute minimum.
I suspect the ANC is softer than the Bose so that it doesn’t interfere with the sound profile, and I can get behind that. The sound is minimally affected by the ANC, something that you can’t say for the Sony or the Bose cans. It might not be quite as strong, but the music sounds better as a direct result.
The pass-through mode (transparency) is well featured and works well. I had no problem understanding bus drivers and train operators when buying a ticket, and chatting with people around the office wasn't an issue in the slightest.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Call quality
- Solid microphone
- Decent sound quality
- About par for the course
The call quality of the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 is fine. It’s not really anything to write home about, and doesn’t excel in any one particular area, but for most calling situations, it’s perfectly adequate.
Your manager at work is going to be able to hear everything you’re saying without any problem or any muffling. The noise canceling is such that your call partner won’t have concerns about any kind of road noise or environmental sounds making you difficult to hear.
On your end, things are going to sound great. While part of it is going to come down to the microphone your partners are using, there’s nothing to complain about with the sound quality of the headphones themselves.
On my customary call to my sister, we both sounded good to one another. Solid marks, but about the same as the Bose and Sony options.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Battery life
- 30 hours
- About what you’d expect
The battery life, we’re told by Bowers & Wilkins, is 30 hours. That’s pretty decent battery life, around the same as other headphones at the same price and cheaper. I’d say it’s “enough” battery life. It would be nice to have more, but you’re never going to want for battery when you go out and about with the Px8 S2.
That puts them on par with the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the brand-new Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones. If you use all the battery life and need some juice fast, a quick charge of 5 minutes will nab you 7 hours of battery. That’s a decent fast charge — better than both the Sony and the Bose, and far more impressive than the AirPods Max, their primary price rival.
I’ve found that 30-hour battery life runs true. With ANC activated, I found that 9 and a half hours of listening drained about 25% of the battery. That’s roughly on track with the claimed battery life. You won’t find an ANC off claim from Bowers & Wilkins, but given performance with ANC turned on I’d wager you’ll get plenty of extra staying power.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review: Verdict
There’s no getting around the fact that the PX8 S2 are very expensive headphones. You could get a pair of AirPods Max and something extra on the side for the same price as the B&W headphones, making them a far more considered purchase. Whether they’re worth it or not will depend almost entirely on the person buying them as a result.
If you value excellent sound quality, sumptuous leather and the finer things in life, then the Px8 S2 are going to be well worth that high price tag. They’re a luxury pair of headphones that excel at what they set out to do, with super premium materials and some of the best, most articulate sound around.
If, however, you value ANC and features, then the PX8 S2 might not be quite what you’re looking for. You’ll be better of with their slightly cheaper cousins, the PX7 S3 – our pick for the best headphones you can buy today.
The price being what it is, I can't give them a full-throated recommendation. However, these are among the comfiest headphones I've ever worn, and a superb alternative to Apple's high-end headphones... at least until we get the AirPods Max 2.
Want to listen along? Check out the full Tom's Guide testing playlist below:

Tammy and her generous collection of headphones have found a new home — Tom's Guide! After a two-and-a-half-year stint as iMore's resident audiophile, Tammy's reviews and buying guide expertise have more focus than ever on Tom's Guide, helping buyers find the audio gear that works best for them. Tammy has worked with some of the most desirable audio brands on the planet in her time writing about headphones, speakers, and more, bringing a consumer focussed approach to critique and buying advice. Away from her desk, you'll probably find her in the countryside writing (extremely bad) poetry, or putting her screenwriting Masters to good use creating screenplays that'll never see the light of day.
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