The Px7 S2e is the audiophile's noise-cancelling headphone: What Hi-Fi five-star sound, premium build, and battery that outlasts its 30-hour rating in published testing. The noise cancelling is genuinely good but a tier below Sony and Bose, so buy it for the music. With the Px7 S3 out, falling street prices make it an easy value pick.
— THE VERDICT · JUDGEANY EDITORSWhy the Px7 S2e exists
The Px7 S2e is Bowers & Wilkins' second pass at its mid-range flagship — the 'e' stands for 'evolved,' meaning a retuned acoustic profile and a DSP reworked with lessons from the flagship Px8. It arrived in September 2023 at $399, keeping the Px7 S2's 40mm drivers and premium materials with a refined tuning. This review pulls together published measurements and expert opinion; we run no test lab, and the scores below are editorial judgments built on that evidence.
Sound: the reason to buy
This is why you'd buy it. What Hi-Fi awarded the Px7 S2e five stars for sound, calling it tremendously detailed for wireless headphones at this level, and its successor comparison names sound quality the S2e's biggest talent. The hardware backs that up: carefully angled 40mm drivers with a 24-bit DSP, and aptX Adaptive for hi-res wireless on Android. Flipping ANC on doesn't touch the tonal balance — Tom's Guide found no hint of it altering the sonic characteristics. One lab disagrees on degree: Consumer Reports calls the sound merely 'very good,' a bit bassy and grainy, though it notes the same tuning as the well-regarded Px7 S2.
Noise cancelling: good, not class-leading
Every source lands in the same place on this. SoundGuys' lab data shows roughly 20dB of cancellation from 40Hz to 2kHz, rising toward 50dB near 9kHz — more than adequate for commutes, but not among the best they've tested. RTINGS-derived comparison data via AVNation puts overall attenuation at −22.33dB, behind the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (−27dB) and the Sony WH-1000XM5 (−25.81dB). Tom's Guide calls it 'good rather than great' and notes ANC is strictly on or off, with no level adjustment or adaptive modes. The one outlier is Consumer Reports, which rates the active noise reduction 'excellent across the entire frequency range.' The measurements weigh heavier: the S2e is genuinely effective, just a clear tier below Sony and Bose — if silence is the priority, they remain the safer picks.
Design, comfort, and battery
At 307 grams the S2e sits between the chunky flagship rivals and the featherweights, and owners consistently praise the fabric-and-metal build and memory-foam earpads — T3 slept through a 7-hour night flight in them without complaint. Battery life is a real strength: B&W claims 30 hours, and SoundGuys measured 41 hours and 10 minutes with ANC off in its standardized test. A 15-minute charge adds about 7 hours. Playback and the Quick Action toggle run through old-school physical buttons, and the box includes both a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to 3.5mm cable for wired listening.
Who should buy it — and the successor question
The Px7 S3 arrived in 2025, and that has pushed the S2e into genuine value territory — What Hi-Fi reported a Black Friday 2025 Amazon deal at £196, the lowest it had seen. Buy the S2e if sound quality is the priority and you want it for less than flagship money; What Hi-Fi calls it 'a wonderfully complete package,' and it remains the audiophile-leaning pick next to Sony and Bose. Skip it if maximum noise cancelling is the goal, or if you need maximum plushness for glasses. Check the current price on Amazon before deciding — street prices move fast on a superseded model.