Almost every time I talk to someone about how my job involves testing out all the best wireless earbuds, they’ll ask me whether expensive models are really that much better than the ones they already own. I’ll usually be diplomatic and say it can depend on their experience with high-fidelity music, the device in use, the streaming service they use, and the kind of music they listen to. In essence, price is rarely the only factor when it comes to quality. That’s true, most of the time.
But with the latest Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 earphones, you’re getting what you pay for – and it’s a lot. These buds deliver a level of quality you won’t find in the rival models from the mainstream tech brands. They’re high-end in-ear headphones for those of us who love the intricacies and subtleties of music.
The sound quality experience is sensational, and the British hi-fi brand hasn’t skimped on all the extras too – they’re redesigned, ultra-comfortable, capable, and long-lasting. They connect to a sleek app for managing settings and music playback too. They have our wholehearted recommendation – if the £349 price doesn’t put you off.
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: At a glance
Pros
- Stunning sound quality
- Wide and detailed soundstage
- Optimised fit for comfort
- Refined design
- Bluetooth multipoint
- Audio transmission feature
- Great app for control and playback
- Impressive noise-cancelling
Cons
- Incredibly expensive at £349
- Rivals have longer battery life
Key specifications
| Noise-cancelling | Yes, adaptive |
|---|---|
| Battery life | 20 hours (6.5 hours on a single charge) |
| Charging | USB-C and wireless charging |
| Weight | 7g per earbud (60g with the case) |
Jump to:
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Design
These have had a big design revamp compared to the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2. The new Pi8 buds are better in every single way.
They’re more compact and the charging case is far more pocketable (while still having wireless charging support). It’s a bit like a beefier AirPods case, and it doubles as a wireless audio transmitter too (more on that later). The buds themselves have a thoughtful design with a subtle stability wing and softer material to keep them locked in place and comfortable for long listening sessions.
I also applaud Bowers & Wilkins for recognising that “premium” doesn’t always have to mean only black or white when it comes to colour finishes – these come in Anthracite Black, Midnight Blue, Jade Green and Dove White. While the pair reviewed here is in the black shade, I’ve seen the rest of the range except the green, and they all look like stunning colours.
The overall experience of using the buds is highly convenient and the case is easy to slip in a pocket – I’d struggle to come up with any serious downsides but I did notice it can pick up fingerprint marks on the case. It’s a tiny issue and not something I’d worry much about, though.
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Sound quality
This is where the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 stand out from the crowd. I already love the B&W sound signature from their premium over-ear headphones like the PX8 and the Px7 S2e – it’s smooth, refined and textured.
These buds now feature the same “Carbon Cone” drivers from B&W’s loudspeakers and its PX8 over-ear headphones. They have a single 12mm driver in each bud instead of the predecessor’s dual driver setup with 9.2mm drivers and high-frequency balanced armature. It’s a clear sound quality upgrade.
Several great-sounding earbuds can deliver an impressive sound with detail and richness, and many audiophiles will spend their time measuring and evaluating headphones based on frequency response graphs. There’s much more to quality than that, though, and once I listened to these I could tell they’d taken the audio reproduction a step further.
You can hear the precise positioning of instruments in space and a wide soundstage. A real indication of the calibre here is that I can discern slight guitar twangs and subtle vocal quivers in tracks I know well. I’ve listened to my favourite soundtracks, classic rock, pop music, electronic and classical music along with my normal rotation of podcasts. Everything sounds its best through the Pi8 earbuds.
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Comfort and control
The redesign of the buds has the most notable benefit when it comes to comfort. I’ve spent long train journeys with these in and I’ve listened to music for full days in the office, and I can confirm that the fit is fantastic.
I’ve got no complaints, and they come with four ear tips – extra small, small, medium and large – to make sure they’re snug for everyone’s ears. This is the same number of tip sizes that you find included with Apple’s AirPods Pro but fewer than come with the Technics EAH-AZ80.
When it comes to control, they use simple touch input. It’s a shame you can’t fully customise what each tap does, but I’m quite happy with the default control setup. On either bud, it’s one tap to play or pause, two taps to go back, and three to go forward. Holding the touchpad on the left will cycle through noise control modes, while the right calls up your phone’s voice assistant. In the app, you can change this “tap and hold” behaviour to manage volume control, if you prefer.
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Noise-cancelling
Much like how the Pi8 now have the same driver technology as the brand’s flagship PX8 headphones, they have similarly impressive active noise-cancelling (ANC) performance too.
Now, I should be clear that this isn’t quite on the level of tech brands that have made noise-cancelling a top focus – like in the class-leading Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds – but it’s certainly a powerful degree of noise-cancelling that silences the low rumbles of London Underground trains as well as it does the chatter of my colleagues.
They get a lot of that noise-cancellation from the updated design because the passive isolation is now greatly improved compared to the old Pi7 S2. Get a good seal with the ear tips, and the noise-cancelling effect doesn’t need to be so aggressive.
It’s an effective level of ANC to keep me engaged with my music or podcasts without leaving me completely cut off from the outside world. The “pass-through” mode gives you a sense of ambient awareness but isn’t on the same level as something like Apple’s “transparency” or JBL’s “TalkThru” that’ll allow you to hold a conversation without taking the buds out.
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Extra features
Keeping travellers in mind, one of the best features of the Pi8 earbuds is one that was already present in the predecessor and it’s that the case doubles as a wireless audio retransmitter.
That means you can connect the charging case to any source via the USB-C cable (or a headphone jack to a USB-C cord – both come in the box), and it’ll then send high-resolution music over to the buds. This is streamed in high-quality codecs. It’s ideal for getting the best possible sound experience from an analogue source like a CD player or record player. Also, frequent flyers will love connecting this to the inflight entertainment system.
There are several useful extras within the companion Bowers & Wilkins Music app too. You can connect several streaming services (like Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon Music and others) for direct playback and for picking up right where you left off on other B&W speakers you might have. You can also see a list of paired devices, access an equaliser to tweak the sound and turn the wear sensor on or off (in use, we found this worked well for pausing playback when you take one bud out).
Some other rivals do have more app-based features, including ear tip fit tests and call controls, but I don’t feel like any of the essentials are missing here. They also support multipoint connectivity for staying connected to two devices at once – I set this up with my iPhone and iPad and it worked perfectly.
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Battery life
These earbuds have a competitive rather than class-leading battery life. I think six-and-a-half hours with noise-cancelling turned on is going to be more than enough battery life for most of us, although you’d find competitors now offering up to eight hours of playback on a single charge.
It’s worth having a hard think about whether you’d ever have your earphones in for that many hours without putting them back in the case, though, as they’ll always top up their batteries each time you put them away.
The case holds an extra 13.5 hours of battery, so these will definitely see you through a trip well. Reviewing headphones is in my job description and it’s rare for me to listen for longer than five hours in a typical day, if that helps. So, I wouldn’t focus too much on the battery life!
When you need to recharge them, it’s as speedy as you’d like. They’ll fully refuel in two hours, and if you’ve got limited time, a 15-minute charge will reward you with two hours of listening. They’re also convenient to recharge on wireless charging pads as well as via a USB-C cable, so you’ve got options whether you’re at home or on the go and using a power bank.
Bowers & Wilkins Pi8: Price
There’s no way around it. These are seriously expensive luxury earbuds. The price is £349, and that puts them in a completely separate tier compared to most of the competition. I can recommend the investment for audiophiles and those wanting to experience sumptuous sound quality and comfort. However, for most of us focused on getting good value for money, these can be a little harder to recommend.
I haven’t yet experienced the new Pi6 earbuds from Bowers & Wilkins, but these offer many of the same features as the Pi8 with a more competitive price of £219 – I’ve got a feeling those could end up being fantastic AirPods Pro alternatives that are a more palatable price for those seeking the B&W sound without spending loads.
Good Housekeeping’s verdict on the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8
If sound quality and the enjoyment of music are your absolute top priorities, this pair is the kind of brilliant competitor that you’d expect it to be with its high-end luxury price. Justifying that cost might be tough, but the investment is worth it if this is within your budget.
I’ve tested many of the rival buds in this price tier and many put style slightly ahead of performance. The new B&W Pi8 outclasses its predecessor and sets a new standard ahead of the likes of the Devialet Gemini II (which has an uncompetitive battery life), the Montblanc’s MTB 03 (which has software issues) and Astell&Kern’s AK UW100MKII (which lack noise-cancelling and don’t always fit well).
The Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 are the new best pair of premium wireless earbuds for music lovers, and they earn their high price.
Simon Cocks is Good Housekeeping UK’s Technology Editor, overseeing tech shopping content and strategy for the title. He previously also worked across other titles including Esquire UK, Digital Spy, Men’s Health UK and Women’s Health UK.
Simon specialises in testing the latest smart gadgets, home entertainment gear, headphones, speakers, portable chargers, radios, e-book readers and smartphones. He's reviewed top tech products from brands including Google, Apple, Amazon, JBL and Bose.
A magazine journalism graduate from Kingston University in 2014, Simon also worked on the Discovery and Silkroad inflight magazines. He then gained experience writing about entertainment at SFX and Total Film. He also contributed reviews and interviews to TwitchFilm (later ScreenAnarchy), CultBox and Frame Rated.
He joined Good Housekeeping UK as the Editorial Assistant for Special Projects and was part of Good Housekeeping’s Consumer Affairs Team between 2014 and 2019. In this role, he conducted price comparison research, wrote detailed household and money-saving advice guides and edited thousands of in-depth reviews for the Good Housekeeping Institute.
He has focused on technology and gadgets since 2020, where he started by testing out power banks and instant cameras. He writes reviews, roundups, news articles and deals updates, and also covers top tech deals during sales like Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
When not testing out the latest gizmos, you’ll find Simon either catching up with the newest releases at his local cinema or out shooting with his beloved compact camera.
You can follow Simon on Instagram, on Bluesky, on LinkedIn and on Threads.
