Bowers & Wilkins PI7 S2 Earbuds Review: Same Fantastic Sound, But Only Slight Improvements

When Bowers & Wilkins launched its first true-wireless earbuds in April 2021, they have been among the many very best-sounding fashions in that extremely aggressive headphone house. Now we get the following era of these buds, the PI7 S2 ($399, £349, AU$700) and PI5 S2 ($299, £249, AU$450) — they usually handle to be each fairly spectacular and a tad disappointing on the identical time. (For what it is price, the names are “pi 7” and “pi 5”, styled in all caps and no areas, not “P seventeen” and “P fifteen.” Got it?)

Let’s begin with the underwhelming half. For higher or worse, though the PI7 and PI5 now are available new shade choices, their design has barely modified, they usually look similar to their predecessors. If you look carefully, the grilles over the microphones seem like barely bigger, and there is a sensor slightly below one of many microphones that wasn’t there beforehand. Bowers and Wilkins did not point out something about new drivers, so presumably they’re the identical, and I’ve confirmed that these new fashions use the identical legacy Qualcomm QCC5126 chipset (with Bluetooth 5.0) because the originals. (The newest 5 collection chips are the QCC5141 and QCC5144).

So what’s upgraded? According to Bowers & Wilkins, the brand new fashions have higher battery life and Bluetooth vary, now as much as 25 meters, which is double the earlier vary. Additionally, the buds now combine into the brand new Bowers & Wilkins Music app for iOS and Android and have a a lot improved set-up expertise (I can attest to that). 

With the unique PI7 buds, you solely received about 4 hours of battery life on a single cost with an extra 4 costs within the case (20 hours whole). The battery life on the PI7 S2 is as much as 5 hours for the buds with 16 hours extra from the case (21 hours whole). Meanwhile, the PI5 goes from 4.5 hours on a single cost to as much as 5 hours however dips from 20 hours further from the case to 19 hours. 

Bowers & Wilkins says the battery life positive aspects within the buds have been achieved by {hardware} adjustments, not software program updates. The batteries within the buds are new and the antenna design has additionally modified. “The caps on the finish of the earbuds — the sections that carry the brand — have been re-engineered to enhance antenna efficiency,” a Bowers & Wilkins rep knowledgeable me. “We’ve launched a brand new design of antenna and repositioned it inside the earbud endcaps. At the identical time, now we have switched to make use of plastic, relatively than aluminum to trim every endcap. The result’s stronger Bluetooth sign energy, giving us our improved 25-meter vary.”

While I actually admire higher battery life and improved Bluetooth vary with a extra dependable wi-fi connection, the updates struck me as comparatively modest. Of course, Bowers and Wilkins might add options later, which we have seen earlier than with premium buds that use Qualcomm chipsets (Jabra and Bose, for instance). However, Bowers & Wilkins has by no means up to date the firmware of its unique buds. So do not count on these to get multipoint Bluetooth pairing, which lets you pair the buds with two gadgets concurrently — say, a pc and smartphone — and have the audio robotically change to your smartphone when a name is available in (as a substitute, it’s a must to manually change between paired gadgets). Nor are you able to count on to see assist for Qualcomm’s upcoming spatial audio or Bluetooth LE Audio with Auracast capabilities. 

The app can be lacking an equalizer to tweak your sound. I personally do not thoughts a hard and fast EQ that sticks to an organization’s signature sound, however lots of people wish to customise the sound settings of their headphones. 

All that mentioned, the contact controls work very effectively, as does the automated ear-detection characteristic. And the PI7 S2’s wi-fi charging case, like its predecessor, converts right into a transceiver, so you may plug the case into the headphone port on an airplane’s inflight leisure system and wirelessly stream audio from the case to the earbuds. Alternately, you may additionally join the case to a laptop computer audio port and use it to wirelessly stream high-resolution audio to the buds.

Note that the PI5 may be very a lot a step-down mannequin. It’s received a single driver as a substitute of the twin drivers discovered within the PI7 and one much less microphone on every earbud (two as a substitute of three). The aforementioned “wi-fi audio retransmission” characteristic in its case can be absent.

All concerning the sound

Simply put, the PI7 S2 sound nice as long as you get a decent seal from one of many three sizes of included ear ideas. I’m a fan of Bowers & Wilkins ear ideas, which have an analogous design to Sennheiser ear ideas, and the massive ideas match my ears effectively. These are massive ear buds that can stick out of your ears a good quantity, however they did match my ears comfortably and pretty securely. They provide IPX54 water-resistance, which suggests they’re splashproof and dust-resistant, so you may run with them, although there are higher earbuds choices with sport fins which might be extra appropriate for sporting actions (I’m undecided you wish to threat a $399 earbud dropping out of your ear). However, I’d haven’t any drawback utilizing them on the fitness center.

Like its predecessor, the PI7 helps Qualcomm aptX Adaptive wi-fi transmission (which incorporates the aptX HD codec) from appropriate cell gadgets, permitting for “high-resolution music transmission from appropriate streaming companies, resembling Qobuz.” The listing of Android gadgets — and devoted music gamers — that assist aptX Adaptive has grown over the previous couple of years and you must ideally pair the buds with a tool that helps aptX Adaptive (together with a streaming service that gives high-resolution streaming). That mentioned, the buds additionally work simply high-quality and sound excellent with Apple’s iPhones, which assist the AAC codec. (Both the PI5 and PI7 assist AAC streaming however the PI5 solely helps normal aptX, not aptX Adaptive.) Alas, Sony’s LDAC hi-res audio codec just isn’t supported, however usually headphones assist both aptX or LDAC, not each. 

I listened to the buds utilizing an iPhone 14 Pro and an Asus ROG 6 Android smartphone that is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 cell platform. As I mentioned with the unique PI7, the PI7 S2 has precisely what I’m searching for in a superb set of headphones: Accurate and articulate sounding with deep, well-defined bass, pure sounding mids, properly detailed treble and a large soundstage that provides the general sound some largesse.

On my iPhone, I examined the buds with Spotify, Apple Music and Qobuz. The PI7 S2 can go toe-to-toe and, in some instances, barely edge out most of the high mainstream earbuds on the market for sound, together with Sony’s WF-1000XM4, Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds 2, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 and Bang and Olufsen Beoplay EX, which additionally value $400. 

However, once I switched to the Asus and streamed high-resolution tracks from Qobuz (with aptX Adaptive), I went from saying to myself, “That sounds actually good” to “Wow, that sounds superior.” Bowers & Wilkins has a playlist on Qobuz for its PX8 full-size headphones, so I ran by a bunch of these tracks. Some of them included Taylor Swift’s Vigilante Shit, Athletes of God’s Don’t Wanna Be Normal, Anna B Savage’s Since We Broke up, Orbital’s Dirty Rat and Pixies’ Vault of Heaven. The high quality of the bass was a degree up — extra visceral with added girth and punch — and there was slightly extra sparkle, depth and nuance to the music throughout. I got here away feeling my Spotify wanted an improve. 

Good noise canceling however not best-in-class

As with the sound, you will want a decent seal to get optimum efficiency for noise canceling, which will be set to on, off or an “auto” mode that adapts the noise canceling in accordance with the ambient sound in your atmosphere. You can even alter how a lot “passthrough” sound you wish to let into the buds, which is often known as an consciousness or transparency mode.

The buds’ transparency mode is not fairly as pure sounding as among the others I’ve used (in the intervening time, the AirPods Pro 2’s transparency mode is the gold normal). I settled on a halfway level for the slider setting in between “min” and “max” for what I felt was the most effective transparency expertise. 

The noise canceling is sort of efficient and does a pleasant job of lowering an honest quantity of ambient sound, notably within the decrease frequencies. However, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 do a greater job lowering noise throughout a broader vary of frequencies (increased frequencies are tougher for noise-canceling headphones to muffle). So whereas the PI7’s noise canceling is clearly respectable, it isn’t in the identical class because the earbuds’ sound. 

The PI7’s voice-calling capabilities are at an analogous degree — excellent however not best-in-class. The buds did a pleasant job of lowering background noise on the streets of New York. While callers mentioned they may hear a little bit of background noise, it was lowered significantly, they usually mentioned my voice got here clearly with none warbling. I might additionally hear them fairly effectively, and there is a little bit of sidetone so you may hear your voice within the buds as you converse. 

Bowers & Wilkins PI7 S2 closing ideas

Yes, the PI7 S2s are technically a second-gen product, however they really feel extra like a era 1.5 product. Bowers & Wilkins has basically smoothed out among the tough edges on the unique buds (I imply that metaphorically, not actually). The further hour of battery life and prolonged Bluetooth vary (with seemingly a barely extra dependable wi-fi connection) are welcome adjustments. And the setup and integration with the Bowers & Wilkins Music app creates a greater general consumer expertise, regardless of its considerably bare-bones high quality (in comparison with Sony’s Headphones app anyway). 

If you are evaluating the PI7 S2 to the PI5 S2, which additionally sound wonderful however not fairly pretty much as good because the PI7, you will wish to regulate the PI5 S2’s worth, which ought to dip extra rapidly than the PI7 S2’s worth. The unique Pi5s are promoting for as little as $150, or $100 off their listing worth of $250, so we’ll see the place every thing shakes out. The PI5s might find yourself being the higher worth, although it is unlucky that Bowers & Wilkins added $50 to their listing worth. 

Needless to say, $400 is quite a bit to spend on a set of earbuds. And while you spend this a lot, you ideally need the newest expertise and options (aptX Lossless, for instance). But if nice sound is your precedence, the PI7 S2s ship it. And with the buds paired to the suitable system and streaming service, they will sound downright particular.