Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 review: great buds, but rivals offer more

Introduction

A couple of years on from the first-gen Pi7 in-ears comes a successor. Bowers & Wilkins has overhauled its flagship true wireless earbuds with improved connectivity, longer battery life, and even more stand-out styling.

As with the Pi7 S2, there is also a Pi5 S2 to sit underneath them, launched in March 2023 and following up the previous version from early 2022. The original Pi7s were launched back in 2021.

Design & build

As before the Pi7 S2 ‘buds are pretty big in the ear, but they do have dual drivers in each earpiece to make room for: a 9.2mm unit alongside a balanced-armature driver for the higher frequencies.

Still, they’re really light and comfortable, as long as – and this is key – you get the fit right.

Features & battery life

Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive tech is at the core, with adaptive ANC thanks to six mics and transparency mode.

We didn’t experience any dropout issues as some did with the old model, but B&W has redesigned the antenna system anyway to ensure connectivity consistency this time around. And it seems to have worked.

One of our bugbears with in-ear buds generally is touch controls – and here they’re just a pain. They’re so easy to activate by mistake if you adjust a bud in your ear.

Another downside is that the battery life is so-so by today’s standards – 5hrs maximum from the buds and an uncompetitive 16hrs from the large case (which can fast-charge).

The B&W Music app enables you to adjust the transparency mode, although not EQ settings, which will be a downer for some. You can adjust whether you want playback to stop when you remove a bud, though.

Sound quality and noise cancellation

Unfortunately, the ANC isn’t the best. Rivals work better – and on a flight we found they weren’t blocking louder noises at all, though
low-level stuff was fine.

Thankfully, the Pi7 S2s excel in the one area where they need to: audio quality. You’ll find the sound of these earphones absolutely stunning. It’s really focused and punchy for heavier tracks but also deft and warm for the lighter stuff.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 verdict

We can’t speak highly enough of the Pi7 S2’s sound, which feels worth the high premium Bowers & Wilkins demands. That said, a star is knocked off for the imperfect noise-cancellation and so-so battery life.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 technical specifications

Drivers	9.2mm dynamic + balanced armature
Active noise cancellation	Yes
Connectivity	Bluetooth
Bluetooth version	Bluetooth 5.0
Codecs supported	SBC, AAC, AptX
Battery	5hrs + 16hrs (buds + case, ANC on)
Weight	7g (buds)