The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 are a formidable and delightful pair of over-ear noise-cancelling headphones that combine the best design elements of the Px8 (and indeed Px7 S3), while levelling up the sonic capabilities even more – and hang it all, that hard-to-quantify pride of ownership one feels when wearing them. With extra design accents and flourishes, solid ANC, a slightly lighter build and an excellent companion app, there’s so much to love about these headphones – if you can afford them.
Pros
- Class-leading ANC
- Excellent audio quality
- Highly intuitive touch controls
- They’re foldable again!
Cons
- Price increase over previous model
- Slightly bulky earcups
- Similar design overall, though
Absolute wall-of-silence noise-cancellation and a plethora of immersive profiles that make source- and device-agnostic spatial audio listening a head-turning joy, these headphones are both fun and supremely talented. Did we mention how comfortable they are on? If you want hours and hours of uninterrupted listening in your own little noise-nixing cocoon, they're hard to beat for the money – that is, until you get to the fairly rudimentary app support. And while the audio quality is good, for just a little more money, it can be beaten, if that's where your priorities lie…
Pros
- Great noise cancellation
- Very good sonic performance
- Smart ambient features
- Far cheaper now
Cons
- Less portable design
- Weaker sound and ANC than the XM6
- No spatial upscaling
