Bowers & Wilkins PI7 in-ear headphones review – the best we’ve ever heard

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• VERDICT

The Bowers & Wilkins PI7 true wireless in-ear headphones are the best we’ve ever heard. The company has delivered the sound quality and accuracy we’ve come to expect from its excellent speakers and shrunk that technology to fit into these fine earphones. And we’re glad they took their time doing it – it was definitely worth the wait. The Bowers & Wilkins PI7 wireless in-ear headphones are truly in a class of their own.

The Bowers & Wilkin PI7 true wireless earphones were not the first true wireless earphones released – there were many that came before it – but these are the best we’ve heard.

While the wire-free earphones category was exploding, every audio company was rushing models to market.

But not Bowers & Wilkins.

It wasn’t going to release a product of this kind until it could offer their iconic sound quality in this form factor without compromising the audio quality that its customers have come to expect from the brand.

And that’s exactly what Bowers & Wilkins has achieved with the PI7 True Wireless in-ear headphones.

Not only do they sound amazing – but they also include a range of smart and convenient features as well.

On the design side, the earphones are remarkably compact considering how much technology that’s been packed inside.

There is a small button-shaped aluminium housing on top of the bud which is shaped to fit comfortably and securely in your ear when twisted into place.

It’s impressive seeing how small these buds are.

Frankly other brands have larger earbuds and they don’t sound anywhere near as good as the PI7 so Bowers & Wilkins have pulled off an engineering feat here.

These earphones support the Qualcomm aptX Adaptive wireless transmission from compatible devices so you are assured you’re getting the best quality stream especially when listening to high-resolution music services like Qobuz.

The earphones support 24-bit/48Khz transmission between the earbuds.

So this means from the source all the way to your ears, you’re getting high resolution audio all the way.

We were listening to hi-res audio on the PI7 earphones using the QoBuz music subscription and we can’t recall hearing a better sound through a pair of in-ear earphones.

What does all the heavy lifting is the 9.2mm bespoke Bowers & Wilkins drive unit and a high frequency balanced armature driver with each of the four drive units (two in each bud) actively driven by its own amplifier.

And the result is plain to hear – silky smooth and clear dynamics and deep and hyper accurate bass.

We listened to a variety of hi-res music on QoBuz – and it was hard to go back to listening to regular music.

The combination of high-res audio with the Bowers & Wilkins PI7 is a winner.

If there’s a better sounding pair of true wireless in-ear headphones on the market – we haven’t heard them. The PI7 earphones are nothing short of amazing.

The attention to detail also goes beyond just listening.

The adaptive active noise cancellation is also second to none and locks out the outside world through the six microphone array so you can only hear your music.

This can adapt to your surroundings depending on the sound level and can also be manually toggled on and off as well.

And the noise cancellation also comes in to play when we’re making and receiving calls while connected to the PI7 earphones so they were crisp and clear at both ends.

The people we spoke on the phone wearing the PI7 had no idea we were wearing earphones – nor the did many radio stations we spoke to during our regular tech segments.

There is a companion app that helps to pair the earphones and also select your voice assistant but it doesn’t do much else. Having equaliser settings in there would have been interesting.

The charging case for the PI7 not only provides a charge on the move but it can also double as a Bluetooth transmitter.

This means you can connect the case to an external audio source like an in-flight entertainment system with a 3.5mm or USB-C cable and wirelessly retransmit the audio source to the PI7 earbuds without any reduction in audio quality.

On the battery side, the PI7 will run for four hours before it needs a recharge.

This doesn’t match the battery life of other earphones on the market but we suspect Bowers & Wilkins prioritised larger and better drivers and amps over a larger battery – and we’re comfortable with that.

But the case has enough battery capacity to recharge the earphones up to four times so you’re not left without power.

The case can also be charge wirelessly with a Qi compatible charging mat as well as with a USB-C cable.

The Bowers & Wilkins PI7 earphones don’t come cheap.

They are priced at $599.95 so are aimed at the audiophile who’s willing to pay for quality – and that’s exactly what you get.

There would no shortage of customers who are music fans who would only be too happy to pay this sort of money to get a result like this.

The Bowers & Wilkins PI7 are available in white and charcoal and are priced at $599.95.

VERDICT

The Bowers & Wilkins PI7 true wireless in-ear headphones are the best we’ve ever heard. The company has delivered the sound quality and accuracy we’ve come to expect from its excellent speakers and shrunk that technology to fit into these fine earphones. And we’re glad they took their time doing it – it was definitely worth the wait. The Bowers & Wilkins PI7 wireless in-ear headphones are truly in a class of their own.