Bowers & Wilkins Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 Over-Ear Wireless Review

The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 is a beautiful leather-clad status symbol with thoroughly average sound and features. Save your money and buy a Sony WH-1000XM5 instead; it's better at everything except looking expensive on your head.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 is a luxury headphone that feels like a $800 fashion accessory first, and a high-performance gadget second. The one thing you need to know is that you're paying for the Nappa leather and the brand cachet, not for class-leading sound or features. It's a beautiful object, but our data shows its performance is solidly average across the board, landing in the 48th to 50th percentile for sound, ANC, and comfort. That's a tough sell when the competition is so much cheaper and better.

What surprised us was how unremarkable the performance is for the price. With a sound quality score in the 49th percentile, it's not bad, but it's not the revelatory experience you'd expect from a flagship. The ANC and microphone performance are also hovering around the 48th percentile, which is fine for casual use but gets trounced by the Sony WH-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra. For $800, you'd want it to be a standout, not just another player.

The value proposition here is broken. At $799, it's competing with headphones that cost $200-$300 less and score higher in almost every measurable category. You're buying the Bowers & Wilkins name and the leather finish, not superior technology. If that's worth a massive premium to you, go for it. For everyone else, it's a hard pass.

This is where the Px8 S2 falls apart. The Sony WH-1000XM5 ($399) destroys it on ANC, battery life, and features for half the price. The Apple AirPods Max ($549) offers a more cohesive ecosystem experience and better spatial audio if you're in the Apple garden. Even the Bose QuietComfort Ultra ($429) has superior noise cancellation and a more comfortable fit. The Px8 S2's only real advantage is its aesthetic and build materials, but that's a luxury, not a performance feature.

If you're looking for the best-sounding or best noise-canceling headphones, this isn't it. Go get the Sony WH-1000XM5. If you need a great headphone for work calls, skip it immediately—the microphone is its weakest point. This is purely for the luxury goods shopper, not the tech enthusiast.

We can't recommend the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 to anyone who prioritizes performance per dollar. It's a niche product for the buyer who values luxury materials and brand prestige above all else and has the budget to indulge. For 99% of people looking for the best wireless over-ear headphones, the Sony WH-1000XM5 is the objectively better choice in every way that matters, and you'll have $400 left over.