The Px8 is a sound-first luxury headphone, not an ANC champion. Published reviews agree on its detailed, controlled sound and its Nappa leather and aluminium build, while rating its noise cancelling below Sony and Bose. The thin app and 320 g weight are real compromises. Buy it for listening pleasure, and check the current price on Amazon first.
— THE VERDICT · JUDGEANY EDITORSBowers & Wilkins launched the Px8 in September 2022 as its flagship wireless over-ear headphone, and it held that role until the Px8 S2 arrived in September 2025. This review brings together Bowers & Wilkins' own specifications and published reviews from What Hi-Fi?, TechRadar, ZDNET, RTINGS, Sound Advice, Louder and Expert Reviews, plus Amazon buyer ratings. JudgeAny runs no test lab, so every measurement and listening impression here belongs to one of those published sources, and the scores below are an editorial judgment based on that public evidence.
Sound: detailed, controlled, and at its best played loud
What Hi-Fi? gave the Px8 five stars even at its launch price, praising clarity, precision and detail, with a midrange it called crisp and clear at communicating vocal nuances — all presented in a musically cohesive way. TechRadar comes at the same sound from a different angle, calling it big and bold, balanced and naturalistic, exciting and musical in every circumstance. Louder credits the bespoke 40 mm Carbon Cone drivers with controlled, accurate bass, superb vocal tonality and plenty of treble detail, and notes that the Px8 likes to be played loud, growing more dynamic as the volume rises. Sound Advice hears the same character, describing the Px8 as faster and more agile than the Px7 S2, with head-rattling low end that still integrates with the rest of the frequency response. RTINGS describes the Px8 as warm-sounding, with a slightly more even response and better stereo matching than the Px7 S3. One reservation keeps recurring, and it is about low volume: What Hi-Fi?'s summary notes that some sparkle and energy fade during quieter listening, so the Px8 rewards listeners who turn it up.
Build and comfort: luxury materials, a bulky carry
The Px8 wraps Nappa leather around the headband, earcups and earpads, with a cast-aluminium arm structure and diamond-cut bright edges on the earcup logo plates, per Bowers & Wilkins. What Hi-Fi? calls the design classy and the comfort supreme, and TechRadar says the Px8 stays comfortable even over longer listens. At 320 g, per Bowers & Wilkins, it is not a light headphone, and Louder calls it a tad chunky: the earcups lay flat but do not fold down, which makes the Px8 a handful in transit despite its discus-style carry case. RTINGS makes the same trade-off from the other side, calling the Px8 bulkier and less handy for travel than the Px7 S3. Comfort on the head and bulk in the bag are two different questions, and the Px8 answers the first better than the second.
Noise cancelling and calls: good, not class-leading
The Px8 uses six microphones, per Louder: two reacting to ambient noise, two measuring the output of each drive unit, and two assigned to voice clarity. The published verdict on the resulting noise cancelling agrees in outline but not in emphasis. What Hi-Fi? calls the ANC decent but not outstanding, especially against newer rivals. TechRadar puts it more bluntly, placing the Px8's noise cancellation in the average category. ZDNET agrees, calling the ANC good but not great, and reporting that bus and subway rumble seeped into the listening experience. Sound Advice is the warmest of the four, calling the ANC very good, praising its adaptive handling of varying noise and a pass-through mode that works well for platform announcements. The middle position is the honest one: the Px8 quiets steady background noise well, but buyers who rank silence first should look at Sony or Bose instead.
Battery: 30 hours rated, and a fast top-up
Bowers & Wilkins rates the Px8 at 30 hours of playback with noise cancelling on, with a 2-hour full charge and a 15-minute charge worth 7 hours of playback, per Bowers & Wilkins and Crutchfield. ZDNET's reviewer found that figure held up in daily use, reporting about a week of listening on a single charge, in line with the 30-hour claim, and noting that the wear-detection sensor, which pauses playback when the headphones come off, helped battery life. Thirty hours covers a working week of commuting and office listening, but longer-rated rivals exist, and the Px8's case is a simple carry case rather than a charging case.
App, controls and wired listening: simple hardware, thin software
Controls are physical: Louder lists Bluetooth, volume and transport controls, plus a customisable button on the left earcup. The Bowers & Wilkins Music app is the thinner half of the package. ZDNET notes that the equaliser only adjusts bass and treble, and wishes for adjustable ANC strength, which the app does not offer. Sound Advice adds that the app works well but feels intrusive if the Px8 is the only Bowers & Wilkins device the owner has, since it also serves as a front end for the company's streaming services and other products. Codec support covers SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD and aptX Adaptive, per Louder and Bowers & Wilkins, but not LDAC, per Louder, and there is no spatial audio, per TechRadar. Wired listening is well covered: the box includes a USB-C to USB-C cable and a USB-C to 3.5 mm cable, per Bowers & Wilkins, but Crutchfield notes the headphones must be powered on for wired listening, with no passive listening mode. TechSpot's summary of the RTINGS review also lists imprecise wear sensors among the Px8's drawbacks — a reminder that the auto-pause feature does not always behave.
The conflicting evidence, and why the verdict still holds
The published record disagrees most sharply on noise cancelling. Louder calls the Px8's noise cancelling up there with the very best, while TechRadar calls it average, What Hi-Fi? calls it decent but not outstanding, and ZDNET reports bus and subway rumble seeping through. The verdict survives that disagreement because it does not claim ANC leadership: it claims sound and build leadership, on which the same outlets agree, and it names the ANC gap plainly. A second tension is comfort against bulk. What Hi-Fi? calls the comfort supreme while RTINGS calls the Px8 bulkier and less handy for travel, but those claims describe different things — comfort while wearing against size while carrying — and the Px8 can be both. A third is the wear sensor, which ZDNET credits with helping battery life while RTINGS, via TechSpot, calls imprecise; a sensor can save battery on average and still misfire on occasion. None of these conflicts touches the core claim, which is that the Px8 is a luxury listening headphone first and a silence machine second.
Who should buy it
Buy the Px8 if sound quality and build come first, if you listen mostly at home or in an office, and if you want physical controls plus USB-C and 3.5 mm wired listening. It suits listeners who play music loud enough for the Px8's dynamic character to show, and who are happy with a simple bass-and-treble equaliser. Skip it if noise cancelling is your top priority, if you want LDAC or spatial audio, if you need a folding pair for tight travel bags, or if you want deep app customisation. One buying note matters more than any other: What Hi-Fi? calls the newer Px8 S2 better-sounding, so compare the two models before buying, and check availability as well as the current price on Amazon. Amazon's UK listing for the Tan finish showed 4.4 out of 5 stars from 532 ratings, a buyer picture that matches the published reviews' emphasis on sound and build more than any single complaint does.