A must for every music lover

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Design and Fit

Although it has a charger (1.6 ounces, 2.6 x 1.1 x 2 inches), which is larger than other headsets, the Pi8 headset is on the small side. At 0.24 ounces, it’s as light as some of my all-time favorites, a Sony WF-1000XM5 (0.21 ounces), and about the smallest.

The Pi8 is a beautiful pair of headphones in a mix of glossy and matte plastics with a thin air gap separating the two. The surface of the Pi8 is glossy and has Bowers & Wilkins in the center, while the rest of the housing is black with four gold-colored connectors, sensor, and mic vent. It ends with the tiniest silicone ear tips I’ve ever seen. Bowers & Wilkins includes three additional tips to ensure the right fit. My review Pi8 came in Anthracite Black, which is beautiful, but man, I wish I had the Jade Green or Midnight Blue colors, because they look great. And for fans of white accessories, the headphones are also available in Dove White.

The Pi8 is not only beautiful, it has a little durability built with IP54, which means that the headphones are protected against dust and water. And by water, I mean light sprays or maybe sweat. Do not submerge these in water; you will be sad and $400 poor. The Pi8 is more rugged than the XM5, which is only rated IP4 (injectable water).

Back to the payment case. Like the headphones, the case of the Pi8 is made of matte Anthracite Black plastic with a thick band printed by Bowers & Wilkins. The light bulb is located below. The USB-C charging port is on the bottom of the case. The case dwarfs the XM5, which weighs 1.4 ounces and measures 2.5 x 1.8 x 1.04 inches.

With my weird, tiny ears, I never thought I’d see the day I’d trade them for big ears, but here we are. The Pi8 ships with small non-standard ear tips. They were too small, which forced me to move to smaller tops. From there, I was golden. The seal was so secure that I grabbed the beast, my elliptical machine, and it stayed put. I ended up wearing the Pi8 comfortably for six hours straight.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Controls

Unlike other headsets, the Pi8 has fewer controls to learn. Play/pause and answer calls are done with one quick tap and skip forward, and hanging up calls requires two taps. You need to press and hold the appropriate button to access the voice assistant. To switch between Passthrough and ANC, press and hold the left button.

What bothers me is that you have to use the app to begin with. When the free Music|Bowers & Wilkins app is installed, you must hold all pages for three seconds. It’s a small thing, but sometimes people want to be able to listen instead of dealing with a friend’s app. But as far as companion apps go, this isn’t bad.

The display is clean, with an adjustable equator with Passthrough and noise canceling options. The app allows you to integrate with multiple streaming services, including Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, TuneIn, NTS, and Soundcloud, allowing you to access and manage services through the app. You can also get a free two-month trial of Qobuz. While it would be nice to get my hands on a pair of expensive headphones like this, Bowers & Wilkins will step into the lost position if one goes missing.

Photo: Bowers & Wilkins

In terms of connectivity, the Bluetooth 5.4-compatible earbuds are also more powerful and can connect to two different devices.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: ANC

Bowers & Wilkins included three microphones in each ear. Two of the microphones are designed to cancel out ambient noise, while the remaining one is there to pick up speech. Combined with a good seal, the mics can block out loud noises. Is it good if Bose QuietComfort Buds or the Sony WF-1000XM5? No, but the Pi8’s ANC still works to block out New York City noise.

I traveled around my constituency with ANC support. I could hear a lot of conversation around me without any music playing, just in silence. And as the train passed over it, I heard every shriek, tear, and crash. Turning on the music immediately stopped outside the NYC din. At home, the Pi8’s ANC was able to stop my video if the volume was set to four. Compare that to the XM5 (volume 6) and QC Ultra (volume 7). Overall, you can use the Pi8’s ANC to reduce noise rather than zero ambient noise. However, there are very few earbuds that can claim this quality.

The Pi8 has a way to allow external access. This is useful when exercising outdoors or when you want to stay ahead of your surroundings.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 review: Performance

Headphones? Whew, Bowers & Wilkins, that’s a big statement. The company says that although it’s unlikely that a studio engineer would take the wireless blades to work properly. However, these headphones deliver the most accurate performance Bowers & Wilkins can squeeze from wireless devices. This means that fans of extra bass and treble should not use it. I like smooth transitions because it helps to skip colors at will. And since I keep my playlists on the go, these headphones did it for me.

So, how does Bowers & Wilkins do it? The answer lies in cone drivers. The company has made smaller versions of its carbon cone drivers, usually for speakers or audio. The Carbon Cone drive unit is rigid and therefore performs very well at high frequencies as it does not bend like a normal cone. In addition, with its lightness the cone driver can quickly respond to changes in your music resulting in a powerful and realistic sound. I quickly learned that the 12mm carbon cone drivers are impressive, providing a smooth, consistent performance regardless of brand. As with all my tests, I used Tidal with Hi-Fi and Master tracks.

To kick things off, I started with Jamirquoi’s “Time Won’t Wait” and immediately started playing the bass lines, funky guitar, silky horns, and vocals. The sound is great, and everything has its place, even the occasional space sounds. Above all, I didn’t want to push the volume more than 50-60%, depending on the environment, to achieve a complete shutdown of New York City.

The vocals on Doechii’s “ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL” sounded ethereal, a clear soprano with a strong alto and a powerful chorus. And I have to say, I was so moved by Snoh ​​​​Aalegra’s “DO 4 LOVE” that I listened to this song four times before I gave it up. The strings sounded fuller, building into a beautiful crescendo that gave way to forward-looking keyboards and strong, clear vocals backed by beautiful orchestral melodies. These are one of the best wireless headphones I’ve heard this year.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Review: Sound Quality

Although the Pi8 headphones excel in music and podcast audio, their audio quality needs improvement. I invited several people and websites and participated in several video conferences. However, out of three phone calls and two video conferences, only one produced positive results. My callers quickly reported that I was not clear on all other calls and meetings.

This was my biggest complaint, because sometimes I struggled to hear people clearly. However, after changing the software, I got better results, but not much.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Review: Battery Life

Bowers & Wilkins estimates that the Pi8 will last 6.5 hours with ANC enabled. The company did not mention the use of ANC-free headphones. However, I hit 8 hours without noise cancellation. The charging case brings an additional 13.5 hours of battery life to the mix, bringing the total battery life to 19.5 hours with ANC and 21.5 hours without. As an avid noise-canceller, I squeezed 6 hours and 35 minutes out of the Pi8’s music, watched episodes of “Invincible Fight Girl,” and made phone calls before getting a low-battery warning.

That’s not too bad, but it can’t match the standby power of the WF-1000XM5, which lasts 8 hours with ANC enabled and 12 hours without. The charging case also adds 24 hours, for 32 hours of ANC and 36 hours without noise cancellation.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 review: Verdict

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 has its faults – poor sound quality, lack of my pages, and good, but not great, noise cancellation. But the Pi8 has few competitors with its stellar audio drivers. Plus, they’re durable, compact, and stylish, exactly what you’d expect from a pair of headphones. As a comment, I can say that these will be my big ears for the first quarter of 2025. They have some signs to put them down.