Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 Midnight Blue

As a fan of high-end audio brands like Bang & Olufsen and Sennheiser, I usually prefer Sennheiser’s neutral, true-to-recording sound profile. Out of the box, these Bowers & Wilkins earbuds are quite bass and mid-forward, but using the companion app to tweak the EQ is a game-changer. Backing off the lows and mids opens up the soundstage, allowing the instruments and subtle "ear candy" to really shine. Also I was pleasantly surprised by how lightweight they are, they stay secure during weightlifting, effectively making my Powerbeats Pro 2 obsolete. The battery life is just average, but the standout feature is the case, which acts as a wireless transmitter for lossless audio. Since my iPhone doesn't natively support high-res bluetooth codecs, this feature is a massive plus that pushes these earbuds ahead of the competition. I now use them for everything: gaming, work calls, gym sessions, and dancing around the apartment. Even though a next-generation model is rumored for later this year, I have zero regrets. They look and sound incredible.

Son unos audífonos increíbles en sonido.... Solo si realmente te gusta la música y quieres sentirte en un estudio de grabación de londres o en los Abby road La aplicación abre rápido.. Son los audífonos menos prácticos del diario que he tenido Tienen todo lo que te puedes esperar por el precio y ya.. No destacan La cancelación de ruido es aceptable Mas inembargo no destaca y los controles y gestos tampoco destacan... Todo esta en el sonido y la calidad de materiales.

El producto tiene excelente calidad de materiales y el sonido es muy bueno, podría decir que es claro y profundo detectando mejor el origen de los sonidos de manera espacial que unos AirPods de segunda generación que son los que tenía previamente. Al conectar el estuche de manera alámbrica al iPhone el aumento de calidad y potencia de audio aumenta de manera sustancial. El sistema de cancelación de ruido es mejor en los AirPods sin duda pero cumplen con su objetivo en un vuelo de avión por ejemplo. Si eres de los que gusta disfrutar el detalle en la música con alguna aplicación como Qobuz mientras descansas o viajas estos auriculares son para ti ya que además nos se sienten pesados y son cómodos cuando los usas por mucho tiempo.

There are connectivity issues that are a nuisance and then there are connectivity issues that make a device unusable. These are pretty much unusable. They sound great when they connect but they don't stay connected reliably. It seems to be a mix of software connectivity issues and an inability to handle interference from nearby phones. Either way, it's ridiculous. I never had these problems with my Sony XM4s. UPDATE: Android 15 has significantly improved the connection reliability. I had to unpair and repair before it improved. It still has its issues which are unacceptable at this price point but I'm upgrading it from unusable to mediocre. I've noticed a few things. The single barely hangs on when I put my phone under my arm. This tells me the buds have a poor minimum signal strength threshold. Also, I swear I can hear the transmission bursts of the phones around me. This tells me the buds have a poor signal to noise interference threshold. iPhones seem to be particularly bad. I'm waiting to see how frequent the problems are at the gym to decide whether to buy Pixel Buds Pro 2. I'll use these at home. They really do sound great when they work. 2nd Update: About two weeks after the Android update, there was a B&W update. The update fixed all connectivity problems. It's been about five weeks and the buds have been fine except for one instance where they didn't wake up when I opened the case. They also dropped very quickly once but that could have been the phone. They've been very reliable since the update. Now, performing the update itself was clunky. The first attempt failed. After the second attempt was successful, I needed to factory reset them and forget them on my phone. After repairing, they became great earbuds. They now each have an individual chime and then the one that was there before. They're still at 4 stars because they whistle sometimes. It appears that the tips do too good of a job at sealing and the buds whistle when air flows through them. I just adjust them so they aren't sealed so well to fix the problem. However, they're somewhat frustrating on flights.

What a disappointment after loving my B&W 685 S2 speakers for years (they're still GREAT!). I have tried: Technics EAH-AZ100 and EAH-AZ80 Jabra Elite 10 Bose QuietComfort Ultra SAMSUNG Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Denon PerL True TOZO Golden X1 And many other cheaper earbuds. Pro: 1) The sound quality is very good.... FOR EARBUDS. (which is necessary because there are NO features in the app that allow you to change the sound other than a basic EQ). But over-ear headphones are still much better. Cons!: 1) The app, which is necessary to begin using them, has fewer features than ANY earbuds I have tried at ANY price point that has an app. 2) PRIVACY: What does the app do???? NOTHING except collect information on you so they can sell you more stuff! To B&W: "NO B&W you don't get to surveil every action on my phone just so I can use your useless app which I MUST INSTALL to get them to work. Basic functions SHOULD work straight out of the box with NO APP for this price. I should NOT have to give you ANY personal information since I ALREADY paid you $500! $500 WASN'T ENOUGH???" This is straight out of the LG playbook. I VALUE MY PRIVACY and for the prices B&W and LG charge for their products I EXPECT PRIVACY. I DON'T WANT MY TOASTER CONNECTED TO MY EARBUDS SO THEY DO SOMETHING "FANCY" WHEN MY TOAST IS DONE!!! 3) ANC is GARBAGE!! There is litterally MORE white noise/hiss when it is ON than when it is off in a quiet room. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?? These can't even block out a very quiet air filter in a bedroom. They must be USELESS on an airplane!! THE WORST ANC OF ALL TIME! 4) You can't even adjust the ANC in the app like you can with most earbuds in this price range. I have $60 earbuds that allow you to adjust the ANC to tune out higher or lower frequencies. And the ANC is superior on ALL OF THEM compared to these. 5) Connecting these things is a NIGHTMARE! Once they are connected, they constantly have glitches. Read other people's worst reviews on the connectivity issues; whatever they say, they're ALL CORRECT! 6) Battery recharging is INSANELY SLOW! Mine came fully dead. It took 45 minutes of charging just to have enough charge (15%) to even begin to use them!! After 4 hours of charging they were only at 50%. 7) You can't customize what different taps and holds of the earbud "buttons" do!! The app has 2 different presets that change what press-and-hold does, but it is not customizable. 1 tap, 2 taps, or 3 taps cannot be changed on either earbud. 8) These earbuds came with no charge. That's ok. What ISN'T OK is they had to get all the way up to 15% charge just to get a beep or ANY SIGN OF LIFE to tell me that is why they weren't working!!! 2% SHOULD BE ENOUGH to give an indication they are working!! A beep, a flashing light, a voice prompt; SOMETHING SHOULD WORK WITH JUST 2%!! So, I guess the last 15% of a charge is actually 0% because they don't work below 15%, WHAT???? 9) There's nothing special about the build quality or anything else. 10) No indicator lights on the earbuds. 11) How can they possibly handle a high bandwidth "lossless" codec when they can't even handle a much lower bandwidth "lossy" format without glitches???? I don't buy it, litterally and figuratively because these are going back. 12) DON'T SUPPORT DOLBY ATMOS OR ANYTHING ELSE!! For $500 they should have every feature available on the market. 13) WHO CARES IF THEY HAVE GREAT SOUND IF THEY ONLY SOUND GOOD IN A DEAD QUIET ROOM?? THAT'S WHAT OVER-EAR HEADPHONES ARE FOR AND THEY WILL SOUND BETTER. 14) ONLY ONE LIGHT FOR EVERYTHING (on the case). There are NO OTHER LIGHTS on the earbuds or case to tell you things like "trying to connect" "connected" "charging" "charged" or simply, "WORKING!!!" Yes, the ONE LIGHT tries to do all those things, but fails miserably. Even the app doesn't tell you how much charge EACH earbud has. If one earbud isn't charging, there is no way to know!! NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR $500!! TAKEAWAY: NOBODY WOULD PAY MORE THAN $80 FOR THESE IF THEY WERE GENERIC "NO NAME" EARBUDS. YOU'RE JUST PAYING FOR A NAME. B&W SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO SELL THESE EARBUDS WITH THEIR NAME ON THEM. IT MAKES ME QUESTION IF THEIR NEWER SPEAKERS ARE STILL ANY GOOD.