Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2

Luxury wireless headphones with the sound to match

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Bowers & Wilkins' outgoing Px8 set the standard for flagship wireless headphones, offering a potent combination of luxury, performance and wireless convenience that elevated the brand's wireless headphone offering to a new level.

So, how do you improve on the original? Bowers & Wilkins hasn't gone back to the drawing board, but it has made changes in a couple of key areas that should have a significant effect on sound quality.

If it’s classy looks and luxurious feel you're after, the Px8 S2 will not disappoint. They carry over the premium materials and design flourishes of the original, which means they look every ounce a premium headphone - and they feel it in-hand too. The nappa leather that adorns the headband, earcups and earpads is wonderfully soft and plush. Our ears don't feel uncomfortable or start to heat up during long listening sessions and the padding is comfortable enough.

The colour coordinated cast-aluminium arm structures are exquisitely finished, and the movement feels precisely engineered in terms of how they rotate on axis. The Px8 S2 weigh in at 310g, which is actually 10g lighter than their predecessors and well in keeping with rivals around similar money.

A pair of headphones’ drive units obviously dictate the underlying flavour of sound. The headline news for Px8 S2 is that it keeps the same size of dynamic carbon-cone driver used in the original but uses a brand new, stiffer chassis and motor system (including a new voice coil) that Bowers & Wilkins first used in its cheaper, and brilliant, Px7 S3 model.