Bowers & Wilkins Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 True Wireless Noise Review

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 are comfortable, well-built earbuds with a great mic, but their battery life is poor and their sound performance scores are shockingly low for the price. You're paying for the brand name, not class-leading performance. Skip these unless you're a die-hard B&W fan who doesn't mind frequent charging.

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 are premium wireless earbuds that promise high-fidelity audio and a luxury experience. They come packed with features like aptX Adaptive, a slick app for direct music streaming, and a design that feels premium in the hand.

But here's the thing: our data shows a massive disconnect. They're marketed as an audiophile's dream, yet their sound quality percentile ranking is shockingly low. They're comfortable and well-built, but the battery life is among the worst we've tested. It's a classic case of a product that looks great on paper but has some real-world quirks.

Let's talk numbers. The Pi7 S2 scores incredibly high in comfort (94th percentile) and microphone quality (93rd percentile), so they're great for long listening sessions and calls. Connectivity is also top-notch. The active noise cancellation is solid, sitting in the 82nd percentile. Now, the bad news. Battery life is in the 13th percentile, meaning you'll be charging the case a lot to get through a day. Most damning? The sound quality score is in the 6th percentile. For a $399 pair of buds from a brand like B&W, that's a hard pill to swallow. The specs promise hi-res audio, but the overall performance data tells a different story.

At $399, these are firmly in luxury earbud territory, competing directly with the Sony WF-1000XM5. The problem is the value proposition. You're paying for the Bowers & Wilkins name and a beautiful case, but you're getting bottom-tier battery life and middling sound performance according to our aggregated scores. For this price, you should expect best-in-class everything, and that's just not what the data shows. It's a tough sell unless brand prestige is your top priority.

Stacked against the competition, the Pi7 S2's weaknesses become clear. The Sony WF-1000XM5 costs about the same but delivers best-in-class ANC, much better battery life, and consistently top-tier sound scores. The Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless offers a similar premium audio brand at a significantly lower price point. Even the CMF Buds Pro 2, at a fraction of the cost, beats the Pi7 S2 in battery life and sound performance in our tests. The Pi7 S2's only clear advantages are its exceptional comfort and mic quality, which are great, but not enough to justify the price tag for most people.

If you need all-day battery life without constant charging, look elsewhere immediately. Also, if pure audio performance for your money is the goal, our data shows you'll get better sound from several cheaper competitors. These are a luxury accessory first and a performance product second.

Buy these only if you absolutely must have the Bowers & Wilkins branding and you prioritize call quality and all-day comfort above everything else—including battery life and value. They're like a luxury sports car that looks amazing in the driveway but has a tiny gas tank and an engine that doesn't quite deliver the horsepower you paid for.