Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds (Midnight Blue), in-Ear Bluetooth Earphones with Qualcomm & aptX Lossless, Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds, 3 Built-in Mics, 15-Min Quick Charging

I've found there's a pretty direct relationship between the price of wireless earbuds and their performance. This is a case in point. These are very expensive but the sound quality is stellar - exceptionally clear, full, rich sound. As it should be, considering their technical specs. The excellent fit and comfort surprised me, given that they look kind of big and awkward in photos. They are surprisingly light and fit well in my ears, with no movement. I don't share the negative opinions about the NC on these. I found it to be perfectly fine. Not Bose quality, but more than adequate. The one really cool feature that you won't see on cheaper earbuds is the streaming case - you can connect the case to any sound source via USB-C or aux and it will stream the sound to the earbuds in Apt-X lossless, which is essentially CD-quality sound. It's surprisingly useful. As for the app, it is perfect for me. Nowhere near as full-featured as Sony's app or Technics' app, but I think that most earbud apps are way too complicated and have a lot of functionality that I will never use. This app just has the basics, easily organized: EQ, noise cancelling, updates, and button programming. Whether these are worth the money is up to you - you have to really value sound quality above just about everything else.

The noise cancellation blocks all outside sounds, they fit in my ear snuggly and don't fall out during sleep, small case that easily fits into a small purse or pocket, the quality is outstanding and I can hear high, mid and low range notes. Very high quality and adjustment capability.

What a disappointment after loving my B&W 685 S2 speakers for years (they're still GREAT!). I have tried: Technics EAH-AZ100 and EAH-AZ80 Jabra Elite 10 Bose QuietComfort Ultra SAMSUNG Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Denon PerL True TOZO Golden X1 And many other cheaper earbuds. Pro: 1) The sound quality is very good.... FOR EARBUDS. (which is necessary because there are NO features in the app that allow you to change the sound other than a basic EQ). But over-ear headphones are still much better. Cons!: 1) The app, which is necessary to begin using them, has fewer features than ANY earbuds I have tried at ANY price point that has an app. 2) PRIVACY: What does the app do???? NOTHING except collect information on you so they can sell you more stuff! To B&W: "NO B&W you don't get to surveil every action on my phone just so I can use your useless app which I MUST INSTALL to get them to work. Basic functions SHOULD work straight out of the box with NO APP for this price. I should NOT have to give you ANY personal information since I ALREADY paid you $500! $500 WASN'T ENOUGH???" This is straight out of the LG playbook. I VALUE MY PRIVACY and for the prices B&W and LG charge for their products I EXPECT PRIVACY. I DON'T WANT MY TOASTER CONNECTED TO MY EARBUDS SO THEY DO SOMETHING "FANCY" WHEN MY TOAST IS DONE!!! 3) ANC is GARBAGE!! There is litterally MORE white noise/hiss when it is ON than when it is off in a quiet room. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?? These can't even block out a very quiet air filter in a bedroom. They must be USELESS on an airplane!! THE WORST ANC OF ALL TIME! 4) You can't even adjust the ANC in the app like you can with most earbuds in this price range. I have $60 earbuds that allow you to adjust the ANC to tune out higher or lower frequencies. And the ANC is superior on ALL OF THEM compared to these. 5) Connecting these things is a NIGHTMARE! Once they are connected, they constantly have glitches. Read other people's worst reviews on the connectivity issues; whatever they say, they're ALL CORRECT! 6) Battery recharging is INSANELY SLOW! Mine came fully dead. It took 45 minutes of charging just to have enough charge (15%) to even begin to use them!! After 4 hours of charging they were only at 50%. 7) You can't customize what different taps and holds of the earbud "buttons" do!! The app has 2 different presets that change what press-and-hold does, but it is not customizable. 1 tap, 2 taps, or 3 taps cannot be changed on either earbud. 8) These earbuds came with no charge. That's ok. What ISN'T OK is they had to get all the way up to 15% charge just to get a beep or ANY SIGN OF LIFE to tell me that is why they weren't working!!! 2% SHOULD BE ENOUGH to give an indication they are working!! A beep, a flashing light, a voice prompt; SOMETHING SHOULD WORK WITH JUST 2%!! So, I guess the last 15% of a charge is actually 0% because they don't work below 15%, WHAT???? 9) There's nothing special about the build quality or anything else. 10) No indicator lights on the earbuds. 11) How can they possibly handle a high bandwidth "lossless" codec when they can't even handle a much lower bandwidth "lossy" format without glitches???? I don't buy it, litterally and figuratively because these are going back. 12) DON'T SUPPORT DOLBY ATMOS OR ANYTHING ELSE!! For $500 they should have every feature available on the market. 13) WHO CARES IF THEY HAVE GREAT SOUND IF THEY ONLY SOUND GOOD IN A DEAD QUIET ROOM?? THAT'S WHAT OVER-EAR HEADPHONES ARE FOR AND THEY WILL SOUND BETTER. 14) ONLY ONE LIGHT FOR EVERYTHING (on the case). There are NO OTHER LIGHTS on the earbuds or case to tell you things like "trying to connect" "connected" "charging" "charged" or simply, "WORKING!!!" Yes, the ONE LIGHT tries to do all those things, but fails miserably. Even the app doesn't tell you how much charge EACH earbud has. If one earbud isn't charging, there is no way to know!! NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR $500!! TAKEAWAY: NOBODY WOULD PAY MORE THAN $80 FOR THESE IF THEY WERE GENERIC "NO NAME" EARBUDS. YOU'RE JUST PAYING FOR A NAME. B&W SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO SELL THESE EARBUDS WITH THEIR NAME ON THEM. IT MAKES ME QUESTION IF THEIR NEWER SPEAKERS ARE STILL ANY GOOD.

So, somehow I found myself on this quest to find the perfect earbuds. After all the usual suspects like Apple AirPod Pro 2, Bose QC Ultra, Sennheiser Momentum TW 4, Denon Perl Pro and others; the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 joined the crew. Reviews on audiophile websites are mostly very positive. Up to this point, however, the Sennheiser generally won any competition or came in a very close second. Time to dethrone? At 400 the Pi8 are certainly getting into a stratosphere where one simply has to expect the exceptional. Not everyone is an audiophile (or pretends to be). I am not sure where I fall on that spectrum, but the search simply seemed not over even after crowning the both the MTW4 and the Perl Pro as my favorites, while none could ever match the massive functionality in the AirPods Pro 2. I don’t need the Spatial Audio, even if it’s cool at times, and so it happens that none of my favorites have it. Figure that! Anyway, as I previously bought a pre-owned pair of Px8 (over the ear headphones), impressed by their stellar audio performance and delicate materials, a preowned offer of the Pi8 broke my resistance to adding another set of earbuds to my collection ($130 in “savings”). Pre-owned in both cases (thru Amazon) had the side effect that both pairs had to be hard reset as they were paired and not reset. For the Px8 that was easier to figure out than the tiny reset button in the charging case. (The manual does not mention that.) Make sure to press the button well past the orange light. Once reset (blue LED blinking) the app pairs fairly quickly. At this point, no software update is available. The Bowers & Wilkins app offers minimal options. there is an “advanced EQ” (5-band equalizer) and an equally minimal setting for the touch controls. I am no fan of double triple taps and combinations, so this is fine, even if the options are limited. You have no control of which AptX is being used and apparently it’s lossless by default. The storage case is easily the most advanced of any of mine, despite being one of the smaller ones. It does charge the earbuds and itself can be charged via USB-C port (cable) or wireless (Qi). That seems commonplace these days, even if the Bose QC Ultra somehow did not include this feature. (The Bose also have no case charge level reported to the App, while the B&W do.) The B&W, however, have another unique feature since it can be connected to a 3.5 mm audio jack (headphones) like in the airplane entertainment system. If it also had a speaker (like the AirPod case) to find it, it would be perfect. The design is beautiful, both for the case and the earbuds. The sound, however, is the big deal and I must admit that my expectations were high. First stop ANC. It’s good and some say it doesn’t match the Bose. It may be true but it sure isn’t far. I noticed a similar thing with the Sennheiser and the Denon. Just like them, the B&W heavily depend on the seal of the tips to my ear. Find the perfect fit, and the ANC is fairly effective. With (too) high expectations, the sound at first seemed to not deliver. Not sure if it was just the fit of the tips, but a bit later a second attempt (after fully charging) revised that first impression. Yes! These sound great and are surprisingly loud! Whereas I am setting for almost all others the volume to about 70%, the Pi8 are about the same volume at 50%. The differentiation of instruments is nothing short of amazing. Easily the best I encountered so far. It’s not, however, as if the MTW4 are far behind. It’s just that I am starting to understand what reviewers mean by sound signature. It happens to be different between the MTW4 and the Pi8, and that makes it a bit of personal preference. Specifically, the Pi8 seem more pronounced in the upper middle frequencies, which makes them crisp. They also have a good base, and what happens in between apparently is due to signature differences. (There are no tools in the B&W app to find a personal profile like in the MTW4 or the magic Perl Pro.) The excellent sound makes up for the missing features the AirPods Pro are so rich of: conversation awareness, Find my compatibility, head gestures, Spatial Audio, hearing aid … and so on. If you need those, the AirPods are still unmatched. If you insist on the best sound possible, the Pi8 are strong contenders.

Having tried several high end earbuds, I can honestly say that these are the best sounding earbuds I have ever used. the sound is rich, deep, clear and loud. For comfort, I would rate these as on par with the wf-1000xm5, Quietcomfort QC and AZ100. That is to say comfortable, but you never forget you're wearing them. One huge advantage is the retransmission case. Plug the included 3.5mm to USB cable into a device with a 3.5mm port and you are connected to your earbuds. This means you can listen to music on your earbuds using any device that has a 3.5mm port. THis is especially useful on flights. Where these earbuds fall short is, well, everything but sound and the case. The app is okay, but often can't find the earbuds, the controls are limited and the ANC is not impressive. Also, there is no spacial sound support which I use on other earbuds to add depth. Overall, there are other earbuds that offer everything these do (including the retransmission case) that have more options for less money and with a bit of EQ adjustment can sound nearly as good as the Pi8s.

UPDATE: After fiddling with these things for a couple of weeks, trying to get them to be more stable somehow, it didn’t work out and I eventually had to return them. It hurt me because the sound was so good but they are just too flaky when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity, random disconnects, random bells and chimes going off when you don’t know why. Bottom line is they are quirky and unreliable. The sound is magnificent when they work, but when they’re not working, they’re a pain in the butt. You shouldn’t have to deal with these kinds of issues at this price point. Very disappointing. Ok, are they perfect? No. But, if sound quality is your primary objective, then these are what you want. These sound better than any other earbuds I’ve ever tried. The fullness of the sound is so good, and stays that way at full volume. The bass is deep and full, but never overwhelms. The mids are nicely balanced and the highs are clear and crisp, but never too hissy or sharp. The phone app is good for dialing in the sound with its 5-band EQ, and integrates with hi-res/lossless streaming services like tidal and others. Another cool feature is the case and its ability to act as a wired headphone! It takes the audio signal from your device’s headphone port (headphone cable included) and re-transmits it to the earbuds. Why? Because this way you aren’t using Bluetooth, which is flakey and limits the audio quality. Probably the coolest feature and an example of the extra effort this company puts into the quality of sound. Now, like I said, they aren’t perfect. When using Bluetooth and doing anything besides sitting in the same spot, the buds will have some kind of connection stability issue at random. They’ll connect/reconnect seemingly for no reason. And it happens more than you might think. It happened about 3-4 four times during a 30-minute walk. I don’t think I’ve had a pair of Bluetooth headphones ever do that so often. So, for such a pricey pair of buds, it’s quite surprising and disappointing that they have so much trouble maintaining a solid connection with your phone. That’s my main gripe with them. I’m waiting for a lightening adapter I ordered to try the wired headphone case method with my phone to see if that works. If so, then they still won’t be perfect since I’ll have to always tether the case to the phone with an audio cable. But I’m willing to endure that extra hassle because the sound quality I get by doing so makes it well worth it.

Wow, I’ve had 3 sets of Powerbeats Pro, one side would fail after a year and a half or so. They were ok but these, these are incredible sounding. Deep dynamics, high and low range is amazing. I’ve had Airpods, pros, all different kinds of cheap ear buds, these anre top of the line. App is easy to use and for the price in comparison to the Powerbeats Pro, they’re worth every penny. The sit in the ear comfortably and don’t fall out. 5/5

So disappointed in these headphones. I had the Sony Wf1000XM4s. Lost those, then got the XM5s. I'm not necessarily an audiophile. But I listen to headphones 10 hours every day at work, so I appreciate listening to something nice. To get a sense of how I like my music, I like things flat and neutral sounding, on the bright side. I like detailed analytical sounding stuff. As pictured I also own an older pair of JH Audio 13 pros, which years ago were 1200$. So I know what good sound sounds like. I'll start with the pros of the Pi8s, which isn't many. No wireless earbud Ive ever listened to compared to a quality wired IEM sound wise. And that's the case here. That said, the Pi8s definitely sound good. Compared to the XM5s, the sound is much "fuller" sounding. Every note hits harder with more slam. I feel it's on the warmer side compared to the sonys. Going back to the sonys, they sound hollow and thin by comparison. That said, I don't think they sound leaps and bounds better. Which is the whole reason you're buying these. I actually had to play with the equalizer and ton to dial them in. I wouldnt say they more detailed either. Disappointingly, in the B&W app is a setting I was excited for called natural sound. It overrides the EQ to present the flattest most natural sound possible. To me, it is a big fail. It makes the bass dominate the sound. The mids get extremely recessed and the treble is rolled off tremendously. Detail is completely lost. The volume of these buds is the loudest I've ever heard in wireless buds. My XM4s were always set to about 75%. The XM5s about 60%. The PI8s I only need about 40%. They're actually painfully above this. Fit is extremely personal, but I found the fit on these to be AMAZING, once you get rid of the garbage stock tips and grab complys, which we'll get to later. Lifting weights and running these don't budge. Super solid. Battery life is just okay. Definitely less than both the XM4s and 5s. What helps is the fast charging feature to keep them going. Now the cons and why I'm returning them. Connectivity issue galore. I'm using the Galaxy 24 Ultra. When I first got them, they kept cutting out again and again. Sometimes id pull them out of the case and they wouldnt connect with the phone. Sometimes they'd just cut out completely and wouldn't reconnect till I put them back in the case and out again. Updating the buds to the latest version as of this review date, 3.0, resolved the random connection drops. What is did not resolve, is the AWFUL connection range of the buds. Walking away more than 30 ft introduces intense static and dropped connections. Even the thinnest wall will completely block the connection. The Sonys have no exaggeration, quadruple the range of these. These alone for me is a huge fail. Second, the stock earbuds FOR ME, is absolutely terrible. They don't get a good seal no matter the size tried. And they don't block sound good. I had to upgrade to expensive complys. But, even with the complys the noise cancelation is not in the same class as the Sonys. No way, no how. If Sonys are a 10, these are 7.5. I work in a loud manufacturing environment, and need the best cancelation possible. The app is pretty barebones and does not have the features Sonys has. A small nitpick, but why did they put the USB c port on the bottom of the case? It's silly. Sonys is in the back so they case can stand upright as they charge. The noises they buds make as you hit play on them and turn noise cancelation on/off are absolutely terrible. The worst I've ever heard. Ultimately, the Sonys feel like a dramatically more refined mature product. And theyre half the price. They still sound really good, are very loud, much better noise cancelation, infinitely better range and next to no connectivity issues.