Bowers & Wilkins is one of the best known brands in the field of high-end headphones. We are talking about products that are mainly purchased by enthusiasts, people who are very attentive to the sound experience, who do not want to compromise with quality.
The headphones we talk about today, the PX7 model, are the current flagship product of the British company's portfolio. It is a circumaural wireless headset with noise cancellation and adaptX adaptive support, which is sold at a price of 329.00 euros on Amazon Italy.
Design and packaging
The B&W PX7 arrive in a white package that shows a render of the product on the front and all the details of the case on the back. By opening the box, you immediately notice the presence of a comfortable hard case for transport, as well as obviously headphones. Excellent Quick Start Guide, which briefly explains to the user how to use the buttons and connect headphones via Bluetooth. There is also the usual manuals relating to guarantee and safety.
For the rest, the cables in the package are two: 3.5 mm jack / jack for connection via cable and USB Type-A / USB Type-C (length of about 125 cm) for charging. In conclusion, a no frills packaging which contains everything you need.
The PX7 refer to the British company from all points of view. If you have already focused on headphones of this brand in recent years, you know perfectly what you will find on an aesthetic level. However, do not think that there is no news: net of the now classic fabric finishes, excellent construction solidity and pavilions with the B&W logo in plain view, this model has made interesting steps forward from the point of view of ergonomics.
Indeed, now the structure is in woven carbon fiber and no longer in metal. This choice gives the headphones a weight of just 310 grams, which make themselves feel positive compared to the 335 grams of the previous model. During our tests, we did not have any problems and the headphones never went to "press" on the head too much. The headband is padded properly and the build quality is very high.
No problem for using these headphones paired with glasses. The previous model, the PX, had been a little "criticized" because it created some problems from this point of view: the bearings were a little too rigid. In this case, however, comfort is improved. Going to find the needle in the haystack, we are talking about noise canceling headphones and it is clear that theuse of glasses may affect the sound quality and the degree of noise cancellation. We have performed tests with and without glasses and we can guarantee that the PX7 can maintain a good "seal" in most situations. It must be said that, as often happens in these cases, the use of "bars" of a certain thickness can have repercussions.
As for the buttons, the right pavilion houses the power-on slider (if you hold it up for five seconds, the pairing mode starts), the status LED, the USB Type-C port, the input for the 3.5 mm audio jack and the buttons for managing the volume, song playback and calls. In particular, the upper and lower keys are used to raise and lower the volume respectively, while the central one is multifunction. Just press it once to play the song or pause it, while with a double press you go to the next song and with a triple press you go back to the previous one.
Call handling is very simple: one press to accept and one press to put it down. A long press, about two seconds, is used to reject an incoming call. On the left pavilion there is a single button, that is the one to manage the cancellation of the noise. The ANC modes available are High, Low, Auto and Off. By keeping it pressed, the room transmission mode is activated, which allows you to hear what is happening outside. Obviously, there is also an integrated microphone. To underline the fact that inside the pavilions there are presence sensors. This means that audio playback is automatically paused when the user removes the headphones, then resumes when he puts them back on.
One aspect that could make your nose a little twisty are the headset size, which is not the smallest.
User experience and audio quality
The B&W PX7 are primarily designed for use via smartphone. In fact, the product gives its best in this context, thanks also to theBowers & Wilkins Headphones application, available for both Android and iOS. This is a fundamental element for the user experience, as both the headset configuration and the software updates pass through this app. When you start Bowers & Wilkins Headphones for the first time, you are asked not only to connect the headphones to the smartphone via Bluetooth, but also to enable the position. This is of fundamental importance to ensure the correct functioning and detection of the headphones.
Speaking of Bluetooth, the standard used is 5.0 and we have never had any problems whatsoever in reception, even wandering around the house while listening to music. Returning to the first start of the app, everything happens in a very simple way: once the required permissions are guaranteed, just press on "Add new earphones", tap on the box linked to the PX7, choose the name of the headphones and you're done.
At this point, the app lists all the possibilities, from the use of the multifunction button for songs and calls to the cancellation of noise. About the latter, the main screen allows you to manage its profiles, from Low to High, and the transmission of the environment, which can be adjusted manually. The management of the devices is interesting: using only the physical button for pairing, it is possible to associate only one smartphone, while another can be added via the application (the history of the associated devices is also maintained, which can be reactivated). To make you understand how much B&W has studied these headphones in detail, there is the possibility of manage the sensitivity of the presence sensors, so that they detect as precisely as possible when the user "pulls" off the headphones.
There is no shortage of features to disable voice prompts (which are in English), to choose within which idle time to put the headphones on standby (Never, 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes or an hour) and to restore associated devices and all settings. There is also the option to check for software updates (our test was carried out with version 1.1) and an indication of the remaining charge. In short, the experience is quite customizable and everything has always worked properly during our test.
B&W PX7s last up to 30 hours. During our test, we often stopped a little earlier, but obviously it all depends on the use of the headphones. Generally speaking, the product is reliable from this point of view USB Type-C port allows you to have several hours of use compared to a few minutes of charging (e.g. in just 15 minutes you get about 5 hours of use). As for audio, we find 43.6 mm drivers, the largest available from the British company's headphones collection.
In short, the general quality can only be of high caliber: the highs are clear and the rich mids, with basses are well present and harmonious. Generally speaking, we are facing an excellent result. Basses sometimes tend to slightly exceed other frequencies. Nothing transcendental and, among other things, we are on better levels even compared to other high-end headphones. In short, we are really talking about minutiae, which will be noticed only by those who have a very attentive ear. So don't worry: all shades are well "controlled" in general.
Do not underestimate the presence of the aptX Adaptive support. For the uninitiated, we are talking about Qualcomm's most advanced technology, which aims to provide an experience via wireless closer to that via cable. The main benefits are the almost total absence of latency (using the headphones for the user is all in sync, we have not noticed any problems), the adaptive bit rate (it is "adjusted" in order to guarantee a fluid experience in almost any context) and some general audio quality improvements.
According to a test conducted by Salford University, there would be no significant difference between the use of the aptX Adaptive at 420kbit / s and the audio at 24bit / 96 KHz. In short, you understand well that the support for this technology is a plus not insignificant. The other supported Bluetooth codecs are SBC, AAC, aptX and aptX HD.
The PX7 are among the first headphones to support the aptX Adaptive, but the presence of support also for the "old" aptX and aptX HD is excellent for all smartphones, since now these are particularly widespread standards. If you are wondering which streaming service to use to use headphones properly, we invite you to take a look at our in-depth analysis on Tidal HiFi (there is also the Master option).
By the way, the B&W PX7 can also be used via the jack in the package. Everything works as it should, but you still need to keep the headphones on to take advantage of them, an aspect that could make the most demanding users turn up their noses a bit. As for noise cancellation, the quality is excellent: by setting it to High, the most "annoying" noises are "removed". Auto mode also works well. Of course, the wind noise can in some cases "filter" and there are more advanced solutions from this point of view, but we are still talking about one of the best results we have ever had the opportunity to find.
As for the microphone, the calls work well and the other person can hear our words clearly, even if the background noise is slightly more audible than other high-end headphones. We would like to reiterate that they are minutiae, but these are headsets for particularly demanding users and it is therefore good to be picky.
