We’re Getting Into $800 Territory With Headphones. Can It Ever Be Worth It?

My Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review!

Courtesy of the author

Bear with me.

Earlier this year, Bowers & Wilkins released the Px7 S3 noise-cancelling headphones. I, like many others (and, indeed, Bowers itself), deemed the Px7 S3 to sound better than the flagship Px8s. They had slightly better noise cancelling, too, and were far more comfortable.

Oh, and they were easier to use thanks to a redesigned button configuration.

Back then, you had an odd choice: buy the new kids on the block for £399, or buy the flagship Px8 for about £200 more (even though you knew the latter probably weren’t as good as the former)?

Px8 owners had an even harder choice. Fresh with the knowledge that their headphones were no longer the best-sounding Bowers & Wilkins cans available, should they leap to the less premium model, or wait for the rumoured Px8 S2?

Well, that buying journey is now — in theory — a lot easier because, this week, Bowers & Wilkins released the Px8 S2, which have two very clear jobs:

• Job 1: Be a lot better than the Px8
• Job 2: Be justifiably better than the Px7 S3