Key Takeaways
- Impeccable sound high quality with balanced lows, mids, and highs.
- Glorious noise cancellation, excellent for busy environments.
- Comfy match with luxurious touches, however dear at $400.
I have been fairly outspoken earlier than in regards to the construct and audio high quality you’ll be able to anticipate from Bowers & Wilkins. The English audio firm has been producing top quality audio system since 1966, later coming into the headphone market in 2010 with the P5s. Since then, Bowers & Wilkins has launched various over-ear and in-ear headphones, with the newest being the Pi8 noise-cancelling in-ear wi-fi earbuds.
As a self-ascribed audiophile, I used to be thrilled to check out the Pi8 and see what Bowers & Wilkins have delivered to the desk because the Pi7 in 2020.

Editor’s Selection
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8
Bowers & Wilkins’ up to date Pi8 in-ear earbuds are probably the most sonically spectacular earbuds I’ve ever examined. The Pi8 is what occurs when one of the crucial revered audiophile manufacturers on this planet units their sights on noise-cancelling, travel-friendly, and fantastically engineered high-fidelity in-ear wi-fi earbuds.
- Impeccable sound high quality
- Excellect noise cancellation
- Comfy match

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Value, availability, and specs
The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 can be found from Amazon, Finest Purchase, and straight from Bowers & Wilkins on-line. They retail for the hefty value of $400, and to date I’ve not come throughout any gross sales.
What I preferred in regards to the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8
Thoughts-blowing sound high quality for earbuds
I am going to admit I got here into testing these with pretty excessive expectations. I am fairly conversant in Bowers & Wilkins on their speaker facet, and so they have not dissatisfied me but. As I began setting them up, which featured a reasonably easy pairing course of, I discovered myself considering, “How good might they actualy be?” and pondering how greatest to extract the perfect sound from such small drivers. Effectively, regardless of the secret sauce is, Bowers & Wilkins have it.
I opened up Tidal and began listening to Rush’s 1981 traditional, Crimson Barchetta. Instantly, the slowly constructing guitar opening had wormed its approach into my ears, and because the music crescendoed and Neil Peart’s drums began filling the area, I used to be met with a full and wealthy soundstage. Whereas the Bowers & Wilkins app has an equalizer for personalisation, it was fully pointless. The sound was balanced, the instrument separation was glorious, and the lows, mids, and highs all had correct illustration, which is tough to tug off in earbuds.
As I went about my day listening to all kinds of ’80s rock and pop, I turned more and more impressed by the Pi8’s active noise cancellation. The heavy synths and drum beats on Phil Collins’ album No Jacket Required mixed with the Pi8’s built-in noise cancellation totally shielded me from the hum of passing vehicles on a stroll and the fixed chatter and buzz of a busy Costco.

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Whereas testing and exploring the Pi8 earbuds, it wasn’t misplaced on me that these have been a $400 pair of buds. So, holding that in thoughts, I actually appreciated a few of the extra-mile touches that Bowers & Wilkins included right here, like the truth that the Pi8 case helps wi-fi charging and that the sunshine on the case modifications colours to point battery standing and Bluetooth connectivity. I am fairly choosy about earbud match, so I used to be pleased to see the Pi8 included 4 totally different sizes of earbud ideas, making it more likely for customers to search out the right match.
There are numerous different little particulars, like put on sensors that pause your music if you take away an earbud, contact controls on the earbuds for simpler management over your media, and an ambient pass-through mode to higher hear the world round you whereas nonetheless having fun with no matter it’s you are listening to.
What I did not like in regards to the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8
Paying a premium for the title
The sound high quality and general efficiency of the Pi8 are simple, however at $400, its value level is a troublesome capsule to swallow for a set of headphones. Whereas the Pi8’s constancy and acoustic efficiency are far superior to a $130 pair of Apple AirPods, whether or not it performs greater than thrice as nicely is debatable. In brief, the one factor I do not like in regards to the Pi8 earbuds is their value. A few of this is because of Bowers & Wilkins’ glorious fame for luxurious, high-quality audio gear, and a few of it’s maybe that $400 simply is not what it was once.
Earbuds today are available in all sizes and styles, and the Pi8 are considerably blocky and huge. They don’t seem to be in any respect cumbersome or uncomfortable when worn on the workplace, on public transportation, or whereas strolling at a traditional tempo when out and about, however their bigger footprint would not lend itself to train or very heavy exercise.
Not solely would I be nervous about their match on a run or throughout movement-heavy train, however they’re so costly that I cringe at even the considered them falling out of my ears and bouncing throughout the asphalt.

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Verdict: Do you have to purchase the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8?
Look, I attempt my greatest to keep away from overly broad or gushing platitudes when reviewing tech merchandise. I put lots of time, thought, and background into critiques for our readers, and I take it fairly significantly. However on this case, I actually do imply that these are the best-sounding earbuds I’ve ever used. If the Pi8 are comfortably inside your funds, and audio high quality is necessary to you when having fun with your tunes, then I might encourage you to select up a pair and provides them a hear.
In case you are searching for earbuds for train or extra energetic use, or just will not be thinking about dropping this type of dough, then there are many different choices in the marketplace right now, simply none that I am conscious of that sound fairly pretty much as good.
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