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It’s time for renewal for Bowers & Wilkins, which has presented the brand new version of its reference helmet, the PX7 S2. As its name suggested, its role will not be to shake up the recipe of its predecessor.
After connected speakers and sound bars, the English audio manufacturer is tackling headphones and its PX line. This is now represented by the PX7 S2, Bowers & Wilkins’ new figurehead in the segment of active noise reduction Bluetooth headphones, replacing the PX7 launched in 2020. To read the technical sheet, the new venus simply positions itself as a potentially refined and improved version of the first version.
No overzealousness in terms of design and use, the PX7 S2 roughly resumes the same look with very slight changes in its size, synonymous according to B&W with a gain in both comfort and insulation, while allowing better sound performance. The PX7 S2 is announced with a weight of 307 g, against 310 g for its predecessor: we would not have been against a really more marked development in this direction so that it can be completely forgotten on the head. Other than that, the headset retains the same finish and over-ear design, as well as its non-folding headband.
The helmet retains its extremely rich connectors and its complete buttons which allow both to use it in a totally fluid and versatile way. Connection via Bluetooth (support for the aptX Adaptive codec, among others), multipoint, the USB-C port (charging AND connection) and the 3.5 mm mini-jack input are still in the game. The promised autonomy has also not changed with 30 hours, as have the functions of active noise reduction, listening to surrounding sounds and hands-free kit which remain integrated. That said, Bowers & Wilkins, certainly aware of the weaknesses of the PX7 on this last point, announced that it had repositioned and reoriented the integrated microphones (four for active noise reduction, two for voice pickup). This change will also have an impact on the performance of active noise reduction, which we hope will therefore be even more impressive.
Finally, the PX7 S2 would also have been designed to erase the sound defects of its predecessor, we hope to obtain a reproduction that is much less colorful, more punchy in the bass, but just as precise on the rest of the spectrum. Unfortunately, B&W does not say more, so we will not fail to verify all this through a complete test.
The PX7 S2 hits the market in three different finishes: blue/gold, black and light grey. The launch price of the helmet has unfortunately been revised upwards: the PX S2 is indeed launched at €429, against the €399 requested at the time of the launch of the first PX7.