Bowers & WilkinsLimited Edition Px8 Over-Ear Wireless Headphones, Advanced Active Noise Cancellation, Luxurious Materials, 30-Hour Battery Life, 15-Min Quick Charging, Dark Forest

A common complaint I see about this product, is that the sound is excellent and in most cases better than what you get from the Bose Ultra or Sony XM6, but not enough to justify the price. That really misses the point.I switched from the XM5s. Those always sounded excellent to me, they worked well, and had amazing ANC. In contrast, the Px8 has a more dynamic sound. Every segment sounds slightly more defined. To me, they do sound better. The ANC, while not as good as the XM5s is still excellent for most situations.Battery life is excellent and they charge up quickly.These fit well and are more comfortable than the XM5, despite their extra weight.I will miss the controls of the XM5, but some people will prefer the Px8. There is something to be said for physical buttons and having dedicated volume buttons.Here is the real separation. When you pick up the XM5, you don't think much about them. When you pick up the Px8, you realize what true quality feels like. Once you experience that level of quality, it's very difficult to go back. This might be most apparent in the hinges. Sony's feels flimsy and cheap in comparison. The Px5s feel like they are invincible. Solid isn't even the word for it. We're talking metal vs. plastic. The same goes for everything else. It's function vs luxury. Luxury can have both but function can lack luxury.The app is simple compared to Sony's but that's not a bad thing. Sony's app is bloated and hard to navigate at times. B&Ws is far more straight forward and you can find what you need. These do let you tweak the EQ in the app. For me the default sound is really good, but I can see myself tweaking it slightly for certain kinds of music.I know some people are going to complain that these do not have the latest and greatest Bluetooth connectivity, but if that's a thing is going to depend on your phone. For most people that's not going to be a factor at all when it comes to the quality of sound or even the stability of the connection.The real illustration for how these compare to others is to compare them to cars. A new Toyota is great, reliable, and gets the job done, but you can't really compare it to the similar Lexus. Both are technically a Toyota, but the Lexus is a whole different experience. You might balk at the price and wonder why you'd ever pay the extra for a slight power boost and better interior, until you've actually experienced the quality and attention to detail. After that you know why the Lexus is more, and understand why some people prefer it, even if it's not your preference.The Px8 are some of the most luxurious headphones you can buy. They are a cut above the offerings from Bose and Sony.

More often than not, my glib, erratic and often brainless Amazon purchases are beyond disappointing. A total anti climax, from the second I abuse the one click purchase system, to the moment the oversized ad-clad ‘steal me’ box celebrates touch down at my porch door (usually a day later than expected). Presuming I retrieve the package before the local porch pirates interject, the excitement and wonder usually sours, then dissipates. A little like a foul fart after a delicious meal. Yet I still persist, I am a consumer.These Bowers & Wilkins headphones are really expensive. The kind of dollar price that would bring a tear to a glass eye. They are, however worth every penny. I’m writing this because it’s rare that purchases exceed your expectations. All my school yard waffle aside, they’ve given me hope that Amazon do carry quality products, despite the cheap knock-off advertisements.I’ve used the headphones for over a week now, still on a single charge. The sound can be carefully crafted through the app, if you wish. Bass is tight and rich, treble is consistent, not irritating and the mid tones actually exist! They’re exciting to experience.I work from home, so obviously I use the noise cancellation for removing distractions / irritations, like my wife’s hour long, booming conversations with her sister, through her iphones loudspeaker. It removes every background noise.I’m very happy with my purchase, for the first time in a long time.

I have spent months (years, really) of research searching for the perfect set of no-compromise, best-at-everything bluetooth ANC headphones at any price. I've bought and ended up returning a couple sets that each disappointed in some way or another, and had essentially given up on such a headset ever existing. My priorities are (in order):- Sound (including high-bitrate bluetooth codecs because I prefer to listen wirelessly)- Comfort (especially over many hours on long flights)- Active Noise Canceling (ANC)- Call quality- Quality-of-life features (I like buttons, though I know some prefer touch controls)The recent wave of ultra-premium headphones (Focal Bathys, B&W PX8, M&D MW75, Mark Levinson No. 5909, B&O Beoplay H95, etc.) got my hopes up, and while I don't think any of them truly hit that "no compromise" standard, the PX8 from Bowers & Wilkins came *very* close, and for me is the best on the market at any price (as of fall 2022).~~~Sound~~~First and foremost, they sound incredible. My wife has the Sony WH-1000XM5's and while those sound great (significantly better than their Bose counterparts, imho), the PX8's blow them out of the water on clarity and separation. I won't try to write up a full audiophile description of the sound because there are plenty of more qualified ones online, but I will give an anecdote: without telling her which headphones or their price tag, I put these on my wife's head and played a song she loves and has heard many times (instrumental metal, if that matters). She listened quietly and said "It sounds like I'm hearing this song for the first time."Also important to me is the fact that the sound is on the warm side and easy to listen to for extended periods. I am sensitive to high-frequency sound and often have problems with sibilance or a "sharp" quality to high end audio equipment that strives for upper range extension. These have plenty of detail in the highs, but none of that sharp quality that I personally find irritating.~~~Comfort~~~The other area that the B&W PX8's really shine is on comfort. I have big ears that stick out a lot, and many over-ear headphones press my ears down in a way that gets uncomfortable. My wife's Sony XM5's are a great example - because they have such stellar ANC I like to borrow them for flights, but I can only wear them for a couple hours before my ears get physically sore. The PX8's have no such problem. They have large earcups, and the angled drivers create a deep space in the back that gently cradles even my Dumbo-esque ears. I keep finding excuses to wear them, because they just feel so good.~~~Active Noise Cancelling~~~This is why I say they aren't truly "no compromise" headphones. The passive noise blocking is quite good, and the ANC is effective at cutting down outside sound, but it isn't class-leading. The Sony XM5's, Bose QC45's, and Apple Airpods Max all seem to do a better job of creating that total Cone of Silence I crave on long flights. This is a common trend among the most premium audiophile headphones though, and some companies have said that there are engineering trade-offs that have to be made between sound quality and ANC. I'm not sure I'm totally sold on that narrative, but if slightly weaker ANC is the price of this glorious sound quality, then that's an acceptable trade in my book.~~~Call Quality~~~Very good, my voice can be heard clearly. Not quite as good at blocking out background sounds as the Sony XM5's or my Jabra headset with a boom mic, but perfectly adequate for the situations I need.~~~Features~~~I love the well-made buttons (I live in a cold weather climate where touch controls are less than ideal), and the app is refreshingly simple. It doesn't have some bells and whistles (no adjustable ANC, limited EQ options, no voice detection or automatic situational awareness), but it has what I need and works well. The only exception here is on-ear detection, which is finicky and frequently pauses the music even on "low" so I had to turn it off. It's not a must-have feature for me but might be more bothersome for some.Edit: another issue I have noticed after a couple weeks of use is that the "skip backward" function doesn't work very well. In theory you can skip backward with a triple-press of the multifunction button, which I do often when I want to go back a few seconds in a podcast, but 80% of the time it either skips forward or pauses instead. Not a huge deal, but annoying.~~~Summary~~~Best-sounding, most comfortable bluetooth ANC headphones I have ever tried. Other features aren't necessarily the best among the competition - in particular I wouldn't mind having stronger, adjustable ANC - but they are more than good enough, and all together I think the package justifies the high price.