Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 review: My new favourite earbuds for sound quality

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8, like all of the British manufacturer’s audio products, are very expensive. At £349, they’re among the priciest true wireless earbuds you can buy, eclipsing popular flagship options like the Apple AirPods Pro 2, Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and Sony WF-1000XM5.

They’re designed for a different demographic, however. Bowers has always prioritised sonic performance and lavish aesthetics above noise cancellation and mainstream appeal, meaning its wares typically find a home with audiophiles and the style-conscious. The Pi8 are absolutely on-brand in this regard; they sound superb and a successful design overhaul elevates their appearance above that of the B&W Pi7 S2 they’re replacing.

That’s not to say they’re devoid of the features you’d expect of wireless earbuds costing a small fortune. Far from it, in fact. The Pi8 have an impressive set of specifications and a couple of tricks up their sleeve to stand out from the crowd.

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 review: What do you get for the money?

With the exception of spatial audio support, the Pi8 offer everything you could ask for from a pair of true wireless earbuds. They operate wirelessly over Bluetooth 5.4 and support multipoint pairing with two devices, codec compatibility covers aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, aptX Classic, AAC and SBC. There are also active noise cancellation and transparency modes for controlling how much external sound makes its way to your ears.

Capacitive touch controls and wear detection are present and correct, an IP54 rating certifies the earbuds are dust-protected and water-resistant and the accompanying charging case can be topped up using a Qi wireless charging pad or USB-C cable. That case offers 13.5hrs of audio playback in addition to the 6.5hrs you’ll get from the buds with ANC on. Total playtime of 20hrs is a little lacklustre by modern standards, but the Pi8 are part of a tiny group of earbuds with a case capable of doubling as a Bluetooth retransmitter, which makes them great for frequent flyers.

READ NEXT: Best noise-cancelling headphones

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 review: What did we like about them?

As far as unique selling points go, their capability is a strong one and one of the things I like most about the Pi8. By connecting the case to an analogue output via the included USB-C to 3.5mm or USB-C to USB-C cables, you can use the buds as you would over a normal Bluetooth connection. This is incredibly handy for enjoying the in-flight entertainment system on long-haul flights.

Bowers was the first established audio brand to bring this feature to market with the B&W Pi7 but hasn’t rested on its laurels. Previously, Bluetooth retransmission used aptX Low Latency. However, if you use the USB-C to USB-C cable rather than the 3.5mm option and connect the case to say, your MacBook, it will default to aptX Adaptive. This makes high-resolution audio a lot more accessible as long as you’re subscribed to a streaming service that supports it.

Bluetooth transmitters often suffer from lag issues when you’re watching video content but this wasn’t a problem I experienced with the Pi8. Video and audio were perfectly synced when I watched an episode of House of the Dragon on my MacBook Pro and it was the same story while I was playing Elden Ring on the PlayStation Portal, which doesn’t support Bluetooth.

It’s going to take a lot more than Bluetooth retransmission to convince you to part with the kind of money Bowers wants for the Pi8 but, fortunately, the buds deliver in spades where audio quality is concerned. The buds house 12mm carbon cone drive units that are distant relations of the tweeters used in the company’s 700 Series speakers and are effectively scaled-down versions of the drivers found in the over-ear PX8. What they’re able to serve up is nothing short of superb.

There’s impressive scale to the soundstage they create and they exhibit a great degree of skill when articulating dynamic transitions. As Lady Gaga’s Applause progressed, I was struck by the wave of sound that gradually swelled before crashing down into the chorus.

Their ability to clearly communicate subtle details also stood out. Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer is a song I’ve heard hundreds of times but the Pi8 managed to draw my attention to elements of the backing track I’d previously been oblivious to. And they did so naturally without compromising the cohesiveness of the composition.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the potency of the Pi8’s low-end response. While it would be unfair to suggest that other B&W headphones I’ve tested have fallen short in this department, I did note that the PX8 lacked a bit of visceral impact at lower volumes. However, a few seconds of Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy was all it took to cast any fears I may have had aside. The throbbing bassline pulsated with controlled energy and the Pi8 proved equally adept when handling the diverse low-end rhythms on Sub Focus’ self-titled album from 2009.

High-resolution support of course plays a part in the Pi8’s success and a lot of my testing was done listening to 24-bit//96kHz recordings via aptX Adaptive on the Nothing Phone (2). To hear the Pi8 at their best, then, you’ll need to feed them the right material, ideally from a phone with Snapdragon Sound, but there was little to complain about while streaming via AAC on an older iPhone.

This sonic excellence was to be expected given how good the Pi8’s predecessors sounded, so the strides Bowers had made with the earbuds’ design are perhaps an even greater achievement.

While the Pi7 and Pi7 S2 looked luxurious, they were a rather odd shape and not all that comfortable. The Pi8 are a different beast. They’re still eye-catching, particularly if you choose the Dove White, Jade Green or Midnight Blue colourways, but are less bulky and fitted better in my ears. B&W has also wisely included a new extra-small pair of eartips and made the case more pocketable.

A more comfortable fit isn’t the only benefit of the redesign. Bowers has shifted the position of the telephony and noise-cancelling microphones so that they’re no longer obstructed by the folds in your ears. I noted improvements to both ANC, which also benefits from a more snug in-ear fit, and voice clarity on calls, but wouldn’t consider these as areas of great strength for the Pi8.

READ NEXT: Best bone-conduction headphones

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 review: What could be improved?

There’s still room for improvement in the ANC and call clarity departments, but these remain secondary to the B&W true wireless experience. The brand openly admits it prioritises audio over noise cancellation and feels the level of attenuation the Pi8 provide is sufficient for the majority of users. I agree to an extent – they take enough noise out of your environment to let you enjoy music in relative quiet – but the gulf between them and the cheaper, class-leading Bose QC Ultra Earbuds is stark and I’d like to see B&W make a greater effort to close the gap. The transparency mode also needs work. While it does provide a level of ambient awareness, it occasionally felt unbalanced across the left and right earbuds and required me to take one of the buds out and put it back in again before working correctly.

The Pi8 lag behind some of their closest competitors in a couple of other areas, too. In-ear battery life isn’t too shabby at 6.5hrs, beating out Bose and Apple but trailing Sony. Total stamina of 20hrs, including the case, is relatively meagre. Again, this is ground B&W is willing to concede – it feels most people bake topping up their headphones a couple of times a week into their routine – but if you’re not of that mindset, these aren’t the earbuds for you.

They also won’t be for you if you’re looking for spatial audio support. This has become a staple inclusion on flagship earbuds over the past couple of years, with certain manufacturers doing it far better than others. I consider Apple and Bose’s takes on the format the most successful and feel that spatial audio can really enhance immersion in certain content, specifically songs and film soundtracks mastered in multi-channel formats like Dolby Atmos. While Bowers & Wilkins is exploring spatial options for its headphones, for better or worse, it hasn’t taken the plunge just yet.

My last grumble about the Pi8 relates to their limited customisation options. Sometimes less is more where this is concerned and I want to applaud Bowers & Wilkins for finally adding support for a five-band equaliser to its Music app. However, the limited touch control customisation pains me.

Basic commands like play/pause and track skipping are handled sensibly enough via single, double and triple taps but you’re forced to choose between assigning either ANC and voice assistant activation or volume controls to the tap-and-hold interaction. Phone calls can be rejected with a double tap and hold, so why not allow us to assign more useful commands to that action?

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 review: Should you buy them?

If I had to pick a pair of earbuds on audio quality alone, the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 would be that pair. The Pi7 S2 were already up there for me and the Pi8 sound even better. No matter the genre of music, I always felt I was getting the full picture delivered with precision and passion.

They’re also more comfortable than their predecessors, retain considerable aesthetic appeal and offer genuinely useful functionality in the form of high-resolution Bluetooth retransmission. However, they’re not quite the complete package you might rightfully expect given how much they cost. Superior ANC and longer battery life are available elsewhere for less and restrictive touch controls add an admittedly small fly to the ointment.

So, while I’d recommend the Pi8 to wealthy individuals seeking a profoundly premium audio experience (which just so happens to be most of B&W’s clientele), I can’t easily extend that recommendation to many others.