Bowers & WilkinsPi8 Wireless Earbuds (Midnight Blue), in-Ear Bluetooth Earphones with Qualcomm Chipset & aptX Lossless, Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds, 3 Built-in Mics, 15-Min Quick Charging

The Bowers & Wilkins PI8 are the best wireless earbuds in the market hands down the bass clarity treble is mind blowing alongside the sound loud sound great volume comfortable in my ears and better life is great I definitely recommend this product especially if you have the money

These earbuds are a 10/10, best on the market. I have Rex 5 and I think these are way louder .

So, somehow I found myself on this quest to find the perfect earbuds. After all the usual suspects like Apple AirPod Pro 2, Bose QC Ultra, Sennheiser Momentum TW 4, Denon Perl Pro and others; the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 joined the crew. Reviews on audiophile websites are mostly very positive. Up to this point, however, the Sennheiser generally won any competition or came in a very close second. Time to dethrone?At 400 the Pi8 are certainly getting into a stratosphere where one simply has to expect the exceptional. Not everyone is an audiophile (or pretends to be). I am not sure where I fall on that spectrum, but the search simply seemed not over even after crowning the both the MTW4 and the Perl Pro as my favorites, while none could ever match the massive functionality in the AirPods Pro 2. I don’t need the Spatial Audio, even if it’s cool at times, and so it happens that none of my favorites have it. Figure that!Anyway, as I previously bought a pre-owned pair of Px8 (over the ear headphones), impressed by their stellar audio performance and delicate materials, a preowned offer of the Pi8 broke my resistance to adding another set of earbuds to my collection ($130 in “savings”). Pre-owned in both cases (thru Amazon) had the side effect that both pairs had to be hard reset as they were paired and not reset. For the Px8 that was easier to figure out than the tiny reset button in the charging case. (The manual does not mention that.) Make sure to press the button well past the orange light.Once reset (blue LED blinking) the app pairs fairly quickly. At this point, no software update is available. The Bowers & Wilkins app offers minimal options. there is an “advanced EQ” (5-band equalizer) and an equally minimal setting for the touch controls. I am no fan of double triple taps and combinations, so this is fine, even if the options are limited. You have no control of which AptX is being used and apparently it’s lossless by default.The storage case is easily the most advanced of any of mine, despite being one of the smaller ones. It does charge the earbuds and itself can be charged via USB-C port (cable) or wireless (Qi). That seems commonplace these days, even if the Bose QC Ultra somehow did not include this feature. (The Bose also have no case charge level reported to the App, while the B&W do.) The B&W, however, have another unique feature since it can be connected to a 3.5 mm audio jack (headphones) like in the airplane entertainment system. If it also had a speaker (like the AirPod case) to find it, it would be perfect.The design is beautiful, both for the case and the earbuds. The sound, however, is the big deal and I must admit that my expectations were high. First stop ANC. It’s good and some say it doesn’t match the Bose. It may be true but it sure isn’t far. I noticed a similar thing with the Sennheiser and the Denon. Just like them, the B&W heavily depend on the seal of the tips to my ear. Find the perfect fit, and the ANC is fairly effective.With (too) high expectations, the sound at first seemed to not deliver. Not sure if it was just the fit of the tips, but a bit later a second attempt (after fully charging) revised that first impression. Yes! These sound great and are surprisingly loud! Whereas I am setting for almost all others the volume to about 70%, the Pi8 are about the same volume at 50%.The differentiation of instruments is nothing short of amazing. Easily the best I encountered so far. It’s not, however, as if the MTW4 are far behind. It’s just that I am starting to understand what reviewers mean by sound signature. It happens to be different between the MTW4 and the Pi8, and that makes it a bit of personal preference. Specifically, the Pi8 seem more pronounced in the upper middle frequencies, which makes them crisp. They also have a good base, and what happens in between apparently is due to signature differences. (There are no tools in the B&W app to find a personal profile like in the MTW4 or the magic Perl Pro.)The excellent sound makes up for the missing features the AirPods Pro are so rich of: conversation awareness, Find my compatibility, head gestures, Spatial Audio, hearing aid … and so on. If you need those, the AirPods are still unmatched. If you insist on the best sound possible, the Pi8 are strong contenders.

So if you’re looking for the best sounding earbuds, and you’re between the BnO EX, the momentum 4s, the Perl pros, and these: full stop. Buy these now. Think nothing of it. Absolutely think 0 about it. These sound better. I have owned them all. They don’t sound super open like the EX, or super warm like the momentums, but the… I guess for lack of a better term cleanliness of the sound, is unparalleled. Flat out, these sound better. I would say EX is a close second.But let’s get to the NEXT big reason you should buy these. Of all the headphones I listed above, these are absolutely the most comfortable. This point is not up for debate. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. I would have kept the other headphones if they were anywhere near as comfortable.Lets get to the cons:Microphone is okay, it’s boosted, and a little bit robotic - not metallic - but digitized for sure. Not unlistenable but just something to keep in mind. Very much usable. Very much a good microphone, just not competing with the AirPod pros or anything like that.Noise cancellation is downright average - if not below average. Not saying nothing is blocked out, it definitely works, and preserves your sound quality for sure. It works better in loud areas (not sure if there’s an adaptive feature or not haven’t investigated in the app too much as this is not a high priority for my tastes) but in quiet areas sometimes I can’t tell if it’s on or off (usually I can…. But every now and then lol.) but it does work much better in loud environments so it could very well be the way they’re designed to function so they don’t give you any cabin pressure.Overall: sound and comfort - These are absolutely unmatched. Get them. Don’t think twice about it.