It's 9pm on a Monday and the rain in Chelsea is hammering the sixteenth notes into the skylights. Down the King's Road, black taxis trace wet S-curves, their windshield wipers counting the beat of an imaginary drum loop. I'm in London, at least mentally. My head is hidden in steam Black Onyx Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 full-size with noise-canceling Bluetooth headphonesJames Blake's “Retrograde” flows. My body is in the 23rd row, somewhere above the Atlantic. As the song stretches out, the tenderness becomes architecture, creating air pockets and exposed beams between long pauses. I float towards the thin edge of morning in a gravitational well of weightless pain.
A day later I'm on a black bus heading north from Shepherd's Bush to North Kensington. I step out into Ladbroke Hall, a genuine West London brick and iron Edwardian building converted into an exhibition space that tonight feels part celebration, part sacrament. Inside, Bowers & Wilkins is blessing the Px8 S2, the company's updated flagship wireless headphones. James Blake sits at the Steinway, fingers sliding across the keys and his falsetto rising like steam from a stone. The stage is small, and the gap between each silent consonant and the piano's hammer is the size of a cathedral.
Blake And David Beckham be present as brand ambassadors – the soundtrack and face of Px8 S2 Advertising campaign “On a journey” mapping sonic and solitary travel topography. I'm on quite a road trip, with a one-day stopover in London as I drive the Px8 S2 through the hustle and bustle of JFK and the bustle of Heathrow, not to mention the chaos of CDG. The question is simple: Is this bold $799 upgrade worthy of beating the already established Px7 S3? released earlier in 2025?
Tony Ware
On stage before the show, B&W director of marketing and communications Andy Kerr says the Px8 S2 was the result of 15 years of trial and error, “but there was also a lot of genius in it.” The company's advantage, it is not shy to say, is that its headphones can be compared not only to world-class speakers that reproduce music, but also to speakers that help create music in the first place (as I saw on previous Abbey Road Studio Tourwhere the B&W 801 D4 speakers are the control room monitors).
What follows is a fireside chat about shared love and longing, with Blake revealing that after moving from Los Angeles to London, he installed black and white speakers in his personal studio. He adds that he wrote “Make Something Up,” a track that highlights the temporary freedom of the Px8 S2, on a guitar he could barely play, an experiment that opens up new patterns. And this goes double for the Px8 S2: headphones, like guitars, are a familiar source that can unleash new expressions when revisited.
Assembly
Px8 S2 builds on the platform introduced in Px7 S3 (a set released in April 2025, which we quickly awarded top honors in review of our best travel headphones). Px7 S3 is an experienced starter. It's chic, energetic and $479 more affordable. But the Px8 S2 has even more refined finishing around this optimized architecture, while also improving the internals.
The Px7 S3 has proven itself with an updated motor: the voice coil, suspension, and magnet placement have been redesigned for smoother transients and less depth of distortion. All this is housed behind a 40mm bio-cellulose driver, specially positioned under acoustically transparent fabric inside a thinner chamber to improve fit and image quality. The buttons were tactile without feeling fake, a quiet resistance to the UI with a ghostly swipe. The Px8 S2 is a tight hug to the chassis, even more finely chiseled.
Launching in September 2022, the Px8 has already turned heads with its confident leather casing and metallic accents. And the Px8 S2 combines attractive and practical design. The comfortable ear pads and headband still feature Nappa leather, as opposed to the fabric and leatherette of the Px7 S3. But the Px8 S2's profile is both stylistically pared down and electronically embellished, with a new eight-microphone array built into it so gate operators and conference calls sound human rather than like talking to a fan.
While B&W claims that the earcup dimensions of the Px7 S3 and Px8 S2 are the same and that the foams and styling materials chosen do not bulk up or weaken the headphones in any way, the Px8 S2 feels a little roomier and a little more isolating. And, with a well-distributed weight of 310 g, it is comfortable for long listening sessions. An exposed nylon-sheathed cable runs from the laser-etched earcups and logo along a polished channel in the die-cast aluminum arms. It's a distinctive aesthetic, more couture than consumer…distinctive, a nod to the design elements of the black-and-white headphones of a decade ago, although divisive to some. Like all luxury goods, the design is tight tolerances, no flexibility, no fuss.
Inside is a 40mm carbon-cone driver and bespoke 24-bit DSP that will turn rush hour into a private mixing room. Bluetooth 5.3 with AAC support and aptX Adaptive/Lossless provides wireless resolution up to 24/96 with a compatible source, but still lossy. The USB-C connection ensures consistent fidelity. On paper this may look like a gradual increase; on the head it is monumental. According to Bowers & Wilkins, this is a transition from high-performance headphones to a reference sound design that wears beautifully.
Px8 S2 (first and second images) compared to Px7 S3 (third and fourth images) and the original Px8 (fifth and sixth images).
Sound
It's seven in the morning on a late September day and the light can stop you in your tracks as it hits at a charming angle that is the perfect ratio of light and shadow. Well-tuned headphones can also create this impression. The Px8 S2 captures that feeling.
This is how he visualizes space, not just objects. Transient processes are clean; Cymbals and hi-hats turn into sighs before they can become harsh… air, no glare. Compared to the original Px8, which had a hint of undisciplined warmth blanketing the low-mid transition, there's an audible tightness and more defined timing across the entire spectrum. Bass is still abundant and consistent, just more defined. The mids invite you in rather than asking to be let out. Up top, micro-details make the songs feel lived in rather than exposed.
Compare the Px8 S2 to the Px7 S3 and the S2 demonstrates tireless composure. The Px7 S3 democratizes good taste, but with a funnier twist. The Px8 S2 has slimmer dimensions. It's not an analytical approach, just a more decisive one… the kind of eloquence first, forensics second approach that wins over 15 tracks rather than 15 seconds.
Take a track like James Blake's “Limit To Your Love,” a rare, unusual cover of Feist's original with its subterranean wobble and triple haze. The Px8 S2 brings its low-voiced, wide-spaced chords to an intimate, textured stage. This allows the wood and wire to breathe through its trembling resonance. Arcs from soft to loud appear continuous. A slight reduction in the upper bass/lower mids of the 5-band EQ in the B&W Music app may provide a bit more openness, but the main goal remains immediacy at the controls.
Ladbroke Hall, where James Blake performs.
Conclusion
Across the Atlantic and back, the Px8 S2 proved it could keep its tone and stay calm. And modernized active noise cancellation excellent, although not an absolutist. He doesn't suppress the world like Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd generation)or even AirPods Pro 3. It won't make you vibrate in a vacuum like a more bass-heavy and boosted ANC. Sony WH-1000XM6. The Px8 S2 successfully (re)directs your attention to clear, layered sound against a pitch-black background. It keeps the tone pure, whether songs are played back with 808 sounds or with reverb. A 30-hour battery ensures long-lasting performance.
There are headphones with character and clarity that can be an alternative for those who want even sharper treble response, e.g. Focal Batis MG. But that edge of the top row in the first row costs almost twice as much. The upcoming flagship from another brand is designed for those who prefer smooth, spacious vocals and surgical tone control.
Where the Px8 S2 really excels is in character, similar to James Blake's performance: the ability to prioritize presence over display, to command attention without demanding it. B&W says an OTA update in late 2025 will bring its own immersive mode without changing the main voice acting. At this moment, Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 headphones stand out for their undeniable mastery of texture and timing.
Amazon Prime Day Sale
.jpg?disable=upscale&width=1200&height=630&fit=crop&w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1 "Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki, 58 passes away")
