Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Earbuds Review: A Must-Have for Any Music Lover

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 are fingers-down the glorious wireless earbuds I’ve listened to this year—and for $400, they higher be. These top price earbuds are compact and sturdy, with the total proper looks and comfort one expects from a flagship product. The companion app is unassuming to utilize, and the buds possess solid ANC.

However the Pi8’s negate to popularity entirely lives in its reference-grade sound quality. No matter what you’re listening to, this might per chance well presumably sound unparalleled – even podcasts. The highs, mids, and lows are effectively-balanced with a plentiful soundstage. The earbuds are a must-possess for the audiophile in your existence.

That’s no longer to negate that the Pi8 is without its flaws. The determination quality can be higher, and the battery existence isn’t so long as that of its opponents. However in case you’re having a see for earbuds designed to will let you hear tune the attain tune producers and sound engineers assemble, the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 earbuds form it occur.

News Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: To find and Fit

Despite its charging case (1.6 oz., 2.6 x 1.1 x 2 inches), which in all fairness higher than other top price earbuds, the Pi8 earbuds are on the minute aspect. At 0.24 oz., they’re nearly as light as just a few of my all-time favorites, the Sony WF-1000XM5 (0.21 oz.), and nearly as compact.

The Pi8 is a shapely pair of earbuds mixing vivid and matte plastics with a skinny vent keeping aside the 2. The tops of the Pi8 are vivid and possess Bowers & Wilkins within the center, while the relaxation of the housing is matte sunless with four gold-coloured connectors, a sensor, and a mic vent. It ends with one of the most smallest silicone ear guidelines I’ve viewed. Bowers & Wilkins functions three additional guidelines to make certain that a factual match. My evaluate pair of the Pi8 came in Anthracite Gloomy, which is magnificent, however man, I need I got either the Jade Green or Heart of the night Blue editions, as they seek shapely. And for fans of white objects, the earbuds are also readily available in Dove White.

The Pi8 aren’t simply shapely, they’ve got moderately of sturdiness built in with an IP54 ranking, meaning the earbuds possess ingress protection against dirt and water. And by water, I suggest light sprays or even some sweat. Don’t lag dunking these in water; you’ll be unhappy and $400 poorer. The Pi8 is more difficult than the XM5, which is glorious rated IP4 (light water sprays).

Motivate to the charging case. Worship the earbuds, the Pi8’s case is made of matte Anthracite Gloomy plastic with a thick band stamped with Bowers & Wilkins. A standing light sits straight below. A USB-C charging port is straight on the backside of the case. The case eclipses the XM5, which weighs 1.4 oz. and measures 2.5 x 1.8 x 1.04 inches.

With my odd, tiny ears, I below no conditions thought I’d survey the day I’d need to swap out ear guidelines for higher ones, however here we’re. The Pi8 ships with the extra minute ear guidelines on default. They had been too minute, forcing me to shift to the minute guidelines. From there, I changed into golden. The seal changed into real sufficient that I tackled the beast, my elliptical machine, and they also stayed keep. I stopped up comfortably wearing the Pi8 for six hours straight.

News Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Controls

Not like other flagship earbuds, the Pi8 has simply just a few faucet controls to learn. Play/waste and answering calls are performed by a speedy single faucet while skipping forward on a note, and ending a name requires a double faucet. You wish to press and protect the upright bud to entry the recount assistant. To alter between Passthrough and ANC, press and protect the left bud.

My glorious gripe is that you ought to utilize the app for the preliminary pairing. As soon as the free Song|Bowers & Wilkins app is keep in, you ought to protect either bud for three seconds. It’s a minute quibble, however now and then of us are searching for to dive into listening as an replacement of facing a companion app. However as a ways as companion apps lag, this isn’t a atrocious one.

The interface is trim, with an adjustable equalizer with a Passthrough and active noise-cancelling modes. The app also capability that you can mixture a lot of streaming companies, at the side of Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, TuneIn, NTS, and Soundcloud, granting entry and administration to the companies during the app. You’d also additionally compile a two-month free trial of Qobuz. Though it’d be good to possess a procure my buds characteristic for the form of expensive pair of earbuds, Bowers & Wilkins will substitute misplaced buds if one goes missing.

Characterize: Bowers & Wilkins

With regards to connectivity, the Bluetooth 5.4-effectively matched earbuds also possess multipoint capabilities and might per chance well presumably connect with two separate devices.

News Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: ANC

Bowers & Wilkins integrated three microphones into each earbud. Two of the mics are designed to smash out ambient noise, while the remaining one is there to develop recount for conversation. Mixed with a proper seal, the mics can put into effect some extremely efficient active noise cancellation. Is it as proper because the Bose QuietComfort Buds or the Sony WF-1000XM5? No, however the Pi8’s ANC smooth does a bang-up job of keeping the noise of Contemporary York Metropolis at bay.

I walked around my neighborhood with ANC enabled. I could per chance well per chance hear many of the conversations around me with none tune taking part in, simply at a muted quantity. And when the yelp handed overhead, I heard each crick, crack, and bump. Turning on the tune straight drowned out any exterior NYC din. Motivate home, the Pi8’s ANC might per chance well per chance glorious drown out my television if the quantity changed into method to four. Compare that to the XM5 (quantity 6) and the QC Extremely (quantity 7). Total, that you can use the Pi8’s ANC to in vogue noise in put of residing of entirely soundless ambient noise. However, there are very few earbuds that can negate that feat.

The Pi8 has a passthrough mode for letting the exterior world in. Here is to hand when exercising outdoors or at the same time as you occur to pray to need to stay before your atmosphere.

News Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Review: Performance

Reference earbuds? Whew, Bowers & Wilkins, that’s a mountainous negate. The firm says that while it’s no longer going a studio engineer would rob a pair of wireless buds to grasp work. However, these earbuds raise basically the most simply performance Bowers & Wilkins can squeeze from a wireless instrument. Which implies fans of enhanced bass and treble needn’t note. I prefer a flat tuning as it lends itself higher to skipping genres at will. And since I keep my playlists on stir, these earbuds had been apparently made for me.

So, how does Bowers & Wilkins assemble it? The answer lies within the cone drivers. The firm has created mini variations of its carbon cone drivers, typically in loudspeakers or headphones. The Carbon Cone pressure unit is stiffer and therefore behaves more accurately at increased frequencies on chronicle of it doesn’t bend as grand as a outdated cone would. Plus, with its lightness the cone driver can answer sooner to dynamic changes in your tune resulting in a more extremely efficient and practical sound. I rapid learned that the resulting 12mm carbon cone drivers are impressive, offering a warm, balanced performance no matter vogue. As with all my testing, I ragged Tidal with Hi-Fi and Master quality tracks.

To kick things off, I started with Jamirquoi’s “Time Won’t Wait” and changed into straight grooving to sturdy bass, a active guitar, silky horns, and perky percussion. The soundstage is plentiful, with everything having its method, even the spacey sound effects that ring out now and then. Simplest of all, I didn’t need to push the quantity increased than 50-60%, searching on the ambiance, to attain a full shutout of Contemporary York Metropolis.

The vocals on Doechii’s “ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL” sounded downright ethereal, the lilting soprano balanced by a spunky alto and a eager tenor. And I in point of fact wish to negate, I changed into so spicy about how Snoh Aalegra’s “DO 4 LOVE” that I listened to the note four times before I let it lag. The strings sounded so fat, constructing into a dazzling crescendo that offers attain to a forward-facing keyboard and a solid, plaintive vocal backed with dazzling choral backgrounds. These are without be troubled one of the most glorious wireless earbuds I’ve listened to this year.

News Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Review: Name Quality

Whereas the Pi8 earbuds excel in tune and podcast audio quality, their name quality needs enchancment. I called a lot of different folks with the buds and even participated in just a few video conferences. However, out of three calls and two video conferences, glorious one produced proper outcomes. My callers rapid remarked that I sounded muffled within the total other calls and conferences.

It changed into my main criticism, as I now and then had to strain to listen to other folks clearly. However, after a application update, I got higher outcomes, however no longer grand.

News Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Review: Battery Life

Bowers & Wilkins estimate the Pi8 will remaining 6.5 hours with ANC enabled. The firm doesn’t checklist an estimate for using the earbuds sans ANC. However, I hit 8 hours without noise canceling. The charging case brings an additional 13.5 hours of battery existence to the combo, bringing full battery existence to 19.5 hours with ANC and 21.5 hours without. As a staunch supporter of active noise canceling, I squeezed 6 hours and 35 minutes out of the Pi8 streaming tune, staring at episodes of “Invincible Fight Woman,” and taking calls before I got the low-battery warning.

That’s no longer too shabby, however it surely can’t match the WF-1000XM5’s staying power, which lasts 8 hours with ANC enabled and 12 hours without. The charging case adds one more 24 hours, for a full of 32 hours of ANC and 36 hours without noise canceling.

News Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Review: Verdict

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 has flaws – uncomfortable name quality, lack of procure my buds characteristic, and proper, however no longer huge, active noise cancellation. However the Pi8 has few competitors with its reference-grade drivers for stellar musical audio quality. Plus, they’re durable, compact, and glossy-having a see, exactly what you’d seek information from from a pair of flagship earbuds. As a reviewer, I’m in a position to negate that these will be my main earbuds for a minimal of the first quarter of 2025. It’s as much as the replacement flagships to form me keep them down.