2 days ago
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ZDNET's key takeaways
- The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are available for $449 in Anthracite Black, Canvas White, and Indigo Blue.
- These headphones provide a listening experience and design profile unlike any other headphones in the same price range.
- Although these are the best sounding and looking headphones at this price, they fall behind their competitors at noise cancellation.
When shopping for a new pair of headphones, it's common for the average consumer to avoid luxury brands, either because they omit popular features, cost too much money, or the brand's marketing doesn't align with their lifestyle.
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These brands typically prioritize sound quality, style, and build materials over software features and noise cancellation, making them unfit for commuting, errand-running, or working at a desk. Think about it this way: would you buy a Rolls-Royce when looking for a practical, everyday vehicle?
However, the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are a surprising product by a luxury brand meeting the needs of the everyday person while offering better sound, build quality, design -- and even battery life -- than some headphones within the same price range. If you're looking for new cans, should you pay $449 for the latest headphones everyone is buzzing about, or try your hand with Bowers & Wilkins? Here's my advice.
If there's one generalization I can confidently make about our friends across the pond, it's that they know good music. Listening to one of my favorite British bands, the 1975, with the Px7 S3, felt like a dream. While listening to the band's well-produced She's American, the Px7 S3's 40mm bio-cellulose drivers delivered deep, punchy bass, clear vocals, and highly detailed instrumentals.
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Higher-end brands like Bowers & Wilkins have higher mountains to climb in the sound department compared to consumer brands like Sony or Bose, and the Px7 S3 surmounted them with ease. Out of the box, there's a slight emphasis on the bass, but not enough to overpower the midrange.
The Px7 S3's soundstage is wider than Bose and Sony's, thanks to a natural crispness in upper-range sounds, providing immense detail and clarity across genres. Listening to alternative rock like Don Broco's T-Shirt Song, with crunchy, intense guitar riffs and energetic drumlines, made me feel like I was in the studio with the band.
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These are the kind of headphones that sound so good that, if you're wearing them while trying to complete a task, you can't help but close your eyes and get as deep into the song as you can. Bowers & Wilkins says the Px7 S3 will receive spatial audio later through an over-the-air software update, but with their sound being as immersive and open as it already is, I don't plan on trying to fix something that isn't broken.
These headphones support a wide range of Bluetooth codecs, including aptX Lossless, Adaptive, HD, and Classic, as well as AAC and SBC. You can also wire them through a USB-C cable, but only when the headphones are powered on.
The Px7 S3 are stylish, well-built, and have a dapper air about them. A textured fabric headband, synthetic leather earpads, thinner earcups, and metallic accents create an elevated look without trying too hard to achieve it. They can look casual and classy without being too much of either, making them an excellent option for people who want a sleek and stylish look without looking too formal.
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Sound and design are certainly the Px7 S3's strong suit, as noise cancellation falls behind for these cans. Their noise-canceling capabilities are similar to the Sonos Ace, delivering enough noise reduction to muffle an environment, but not enough to shut you off from the rest of the world, like the Sony XM6 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra.
The Px7 S3 promise 30 hours of battery life, and seven hours on a 15-minute quick charge. They're comfortable enough for hours-long wear, making them a solid option for office workers who take their audio quality incredibly seriously.
The headphones' yokes connect on the side of the earcup instead of the top, allowing the earcups more room to move and conform to your head. However, thinner earcups mean less room inside for larger ears. The earpads are plushy, and the clamping force is firm without being too tight.
The Px7 S3 aren't full of flashy software features, showing Bowers & Wilkins focuses on giving users a simple yet fulfilling experience. The headphones' left earcup has a slider for power and Bluetooth connectivity, a (minimally) customizable multifunction button, and the right earcup has three buttons for volume up, down, and play/pause.
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The Bowers & Wilkins companion app houses your EQ settings and features the company's TrueSound mode, which doesn't alter the headphones' EQ. The app also includes noise cancellation modes, wear detection, and auto-shutoff settings and is the hub for connecting compatible music streaming services like Tidal, Deezer, and Qobuz.
ZDNET's buying advice
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are a solid option for audiophiles who don't want to compromise modern software features and everyday usage for lesser sound quality. Their high-quality build and well-dressed design make them better suited for people who want a pair of headphones with a less casual look.
For $449, the Px7 S3 are the same price as the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra, both of which offer stronger noise cancellation. If noise cancellation is at the top of your must-haves, consider those options instead of the Px7 S3.
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