Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e: hear your music as the artist intended

We see a lot of headphones each year here at Stuff. But one pair that stood out from the rest recently: the brand-new Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e.  

Not only are these headphones the evolved version of a pair we gave a dazzling 5-star review to, the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e also take on features of the top-end Bowers & Wilkins Px8 headphones.  

But before we dig into the tech a little more, let’s answer the first question you might have: why choose Bowers & Wilkins in the first place?  

Bowers & Wilkins: Making music history since 1966 

You may know Bowers & Wilkins as one of the premier luxury audio brands. But did you know its tech is found in some of the world’s greatest music studios? If you’re ever lucky enough to step into the hallowed ground of Abbey Road Studios, a studio so important to The Beatles they named an album after it, you will see Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series speakers proudly perched in front of the mixing desk, 

The recording processes of some of the greatest albums of all time were monitored on Bowers & Wilkins speakers. Audio heritage doesn’t come much better than that.  

Bowers & Wilkins says its philosophy is centred on “True Sound,” where we humble listeners get to experience reference-grade audio wherever we go. This approach has now come to the company’s headphones, as part of the “Hear True” initiative. And, yep, that includes the brand new Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e.  

The “e” in their name stands for “evolved”. It represents how much closer Bowers & Wilkins’s engineers have got these mainstream headphones to the performance of the top-tier Bowers & Wilkins Px8.  

An evolution of greatness 

Their 40mm drivers have be retuned to make their reproduction of music even closer to that of the original recording. The drivers are also carefully angled inside the cups, for the most direct path to your ear canal. You might not think a few degrees of tilt would make a difference, but it really does.  

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e also have the latest wireless tech on-board. This ensures there’s no quality loss from the source to the headphones themselves. They support both aptX Adaptive and aptX HD. Adaptive dynamically shifts the wireless parameters used to suit the content and streaming environment, while aptX HD unlocks incredibly high-resolution 24-bit streams.  

If you’re among the people who claim Bluetooth audio can never sound truly great, it’s time to think again.  

However, when we’re out and about with a pair of Bowers & Wilkins headphones on, we appreciate something else even more: active noise cancellation (ANC). Bowers & Wilkins has nailed this crucial aspect in recent generations.  

In case you’re new to this area, ANC uses a series of microphones to separate outside noise from your music. And those unwanted sounds are blasted using inverse sound waves that, just as the name suggests, cancel the noise out, to your ears at least.  

This tech has been around for decades. But the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e refines it and perfects it using an advanced 6-microphone array. It helps out massively with calls too. ANC is a stress-reducing godsend for city types, But the same underlying tech also helps get rid of noise on the other end of the line when you take calls.  

It also unlocks the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e’s brilliant transparency mode. This lets you hear the outside world without taking the headphones off, and without it trampling all over your music. And why would you want to take them off?  

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Touches of sophistication 

Like all of our favourite Bowers & Wilkins headphones of recent years, the Px7 S2e have sumptuously soft memory foam earpads. These hug your head with just the right balance of squish and tension.  

Comfort meets class here. You get Bowers & Wilkins’s iconic headphone design with a part-fabric outer matched with “diamond cut” metal detailing on the cup caps.  

You can choose your finish too. Classic Anthracite Black or the more chilled-out Cloud Grey? We’d be tempted to go bolder with Ocean Blue or Forest Green. But, as ever, trust your eyes on this one.  

For all their class and distinction, though, the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e are blissfully low-maintenance. They last 30 hours off a charge. And their Quick-charge support means you’ll get a handful of hours from just a thimbleful of minutes plugged in. The more headphones we try, the more we realise these ease-of-use fundamentals really matter.  

That extends to the software too. You can use the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e like a standard pair of wireless headphones if you like. But the Bowers & Wilkins Music app also collates your favourite streaming services for easy access.  

The app lets you toggle features like the transparency mode, and EQ the sound if, say, your personal tastes favour a little more or little less bass.  

Getting to know the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e a bit better has made us realise these headphones are a bit of a steal. You get the core features and sound closely inspired by the brilliant Bowers & Wilkins Px8, at a more approachable price.  

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e are available to order now, for $399/£379. The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 are available from $699/£599.