Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2
Wireless noise-cancelling headphones that supply style with substance
Product | £379 | whf.cm/Px7S2
It’s never ideal to be upstaged by a younger, more expensive model at your own party. But when Bowers & Wilkins first announced the latest generation of its high-end noise-cancelling wireless headphones, the Px7 S2, curiously it also chose to reveal that an even better “no-holds-barred” Px8 pair would be released later this year, rather undermining the premium cachet of its former flagship.
We might then have expected the Px7 S2 to be merely an iterative cosmetic update with little to impress us sonically. But, as it turns out, they put in an accomplished and precise hi-fi performance with significant upgrades from 2020’s Px7, offering an analytical, if not the most entertaining, alternative to the current class leaders.
Priced at £379, the Px7 S2 occupies what was not so long ago considered the top tier for most consumer headphones – before the likes of the far more pricey Apple AirPods Max, Mark Levinson No.5909 and indeed the forthcoming B&W Px8 came onto the scene.
Still, the Px7 S2 remain at the premium end and similar in price to Sony’s latest release from its What Hi-Fi? Award-winning series, the WH-1000XM5 (£380). The Sonys set the benchmark that these B&Ws will hope to near or surpass.
Outwardly the most significant departure for the Px7 S2 from its predecessor is a shift away from smooth ovoid earcups to a less bulky, chamfered build that is similar to the original PX headphones from 2017. This could be related to a return to a 40mm driver after stepping up to a 43.7mm diameter for the previous generation.
This retro redesign shaves 3cm off the overall dimensions of the headphones. But generally, they retain a similar aesthetic with a moisture-repellent fabric covering the headband and outer shells and a C-shaped yoke that allows 180 degrees of horizontal rotation.
The race car-inspired carbon fibre arms of the last iteration have been replaced with a matt-plastic composite that counterintuitively has a more luxurious finish and, depending on the colourway, gold or silver accents separate the shell from the memory foam cups. These touches subtly produce a more premium and, dare we say, mature look that is a nice contrast to some of the more overtly plastic models currently available.
Despite the more compact casing, the weight of the Px7 S2 has dropped only slightly by 3g to 307g. They sit snugly, forming a good seal around the ear with the clamping force on the firmer side compared with the WH-1000XM5. Those with long
