So I've had my PX8 for almost two weeks now and would like to share my experience with them as best I can and ask a couple of questions.
Coming from strictly using iems for the past 15 years and never owning a pair of full sized headphones, I thought it was time to try them out. Lately I have been noticing more people wearing headphones in public like on the subway, at the gym, or even just walking around town or shopping. So my thinking was that the sound quality they gave must be much better than earbuds if people were willing to sacrifice the convenience of a smaller form factor. The ones I noticed people wearing the most were Sony XM4s and XM5s, AirPod Max and Beats by Dre. I explained in an earlier post how I came to settle on the PX8 so I won't go into depth on that but a few weeks prior to receiving them I bought B&Ws in ear PI7 S2. I really loved its sound signature and my hope was that the PX8 would retain a similar sound on a larger, grander scale.
When I first put the PX8 on, my thought was that they sounded ok. I expected them to blow the PI7 out of the water but initially I preferred the sound of the PI7 over the PX8. The PX8 of course had a more out of your head soundstage but I found the PI7 having more detail in the highs and mids with a deeper and more accurate bass. The PX8 sounded a little less lively and veiled in comparison. I was listening to both on my Samsung Galaxy S22+ and Apple Music's Lossless Audio. (Although the best I can get on the Samsung is the basic Apt-x so it's not truly lossless but it still sounded better than all the other codecs I had at my disposal.)
I remember hearing about burn in time that's needed for some headphones, whether it be physically, mentally or both. I decided to give the PX8 more listening time to see if they would improve. When I was looking at reviews about the PX8 on Youtube one reviewer stated that he required at least 400 hours of burn in time on headphones before he would comment on them. I was only a few days in before the sound began to improve a little for me. What I noticed was the sound becoming a bit warmer, fuller and more fun to listen to. Especially with dance and electronic music. However, I also noticed that on other genres like classical, jazz and acoustic music the mid bass was just a little overpowering. At this point the PI7 S2 still sounded more revealing but the PX8 had definitely closed the gap.
After about a week though, the mid bass hump was starting to get to me with some songs. My PX8 came with firmware version 1.0 and I read in this forum that 3.0 had recently been released that was supposed to improve the sound quality among other things. Although the majority seemed to love the new sound I saw that a few preferred the older version. I decided I would try out 3.0 to see if I would like it but just in case I didn't, I installed B&W's headphone app on my back up phone, a Samsung Galaxy S9+, that would retain firmware 1.0. (Not thinking that this shouldn't be possible but more on that later.) I listened to several of the same songs on both phones before doing the update on my primary phone to make sure there was no difference and they sounded identical. Both with noise cancellation off and equalizer set to 0.
It took about 20 minutes for me to install the new firmware, pretty simple to do with the app. On first listen I was disappointed. The warm, fun and intimate sound I was growing accustomed to now sounded more airy and analytical. The mid bass was now less prominent but it also took some of the body of the mids with it, most noticeably with vocals in the lower mid range. What it lost in those areas it gained in being able to hear more detail in the mids and highs. The soundstage also sounded more spacious but in a strange way. Instruments and vocals seemed to be pushed out to the edges on the side and front of me in a semi circle like soundstage, leaving a slight void where the mid bass had previously filled and making the music sound a bit disconnected and less full. After listening to a few songs and with fingers crossed I switched to my backup phone hoping the original firmware could still be heard and I was relieved that I was somehow still able to. I was told this was impossible but I had spent many hours during that first week becoming familiar with that sound signature and just had an extended session with it prior to the update, as well as listening to it on both phones. It was also suggested that I was possibly listening to two different codecs on each phone from the way I was describing the different sound profiles. So I checked what both phones were displaying as the selected codec when connected to the PX8 and both displayed Apt-x. I also went into the Apple Music app and they also both displayed the same settings. Another way I believed that I wasn't imagining things was that when I looked at the B&W app while listening to the PX8 on the phone that still played firmware 1.0 sound profile, under "Products" I was being prompted to update the software. On the phone where I installed 3.0 it said my software was up to date and when I looked under "Details" it showed that I had firmware 3.0. Going back to the other phone with firmware1.0, I attempted to connect the PX8 to the B&W app since up to that point I had been listening to music on there without doing so. Which was now more difficult to do for some reason. Once I did get a connection the sound immediately changed to the same profile I was getting with the 3.0 update, however the music would keep skipping every few seconds. While I was connected I saw that the app was telling me the software was up to date and that I had version 3.0. I then turned the PX8 off as well as the bluetooth connection. When I turned them both back on the PX8 went back to playing 1.0's profile on the backup phone and the B&W app was again prompting me to update the software. Since this shouldn't be possible as I was told, I don't know any other way to explain why I was still hearing firmware 1.0's sound profile with the back up phone. So whether I was actually hearing it or something else was going on, I will refer to it as 1.0 going forward.
After a few days of going back and forth between the two phones I found that I was beginning to prefer firmware 3.0 for classical, jazz and acoustic music while liking firmware 1.0 more for dance and electronic music. During this time I was thinking about what 3.0 was missing for me and what would make it sound better. I came to the conclusion that if the bass was a bit fuller I would be happier with it across all genres. The bass with 3.0 seemed to hit a bit harder than 1.0 but was also much tighter. It was close but not quite there to the sound I was hoping for. I thought about my floor speakers and how I could see the speaker heads vibrating slightly when playing bass heavy songs. Although I couldn't see the PX8s carbon drivers while listening to them, I imagined that they were stiff and the overall sound would open up if they were just a bit looser for a lack of a bitter description. I was also thinking that the ear pads would soften the more I wore them and may eventually affect the sound as well. So if there is any truth to burn in time I was hoping it would eventually come to fruition.
One evening as I was listening to one of my favorite songs something happened. Normally I'm listening to music passively while working on my computer but since I really liked this song I paused for a moment to focus on the details I was hearing. Halfway through the song the music suddenly became much more full and lush sounding. Now this was what I imagined and hoped the PX8 would sound like when I bought them! The best way I could describe the sound change is comparing it to a flower that is somewhat closed overnight until the morning sun comes up and it slowly fully opens, only it happened instantly with the PX8. The bass became less tight and more full sounding and the music overall sounded smoother, more musical and more connected as a whole. Mids became fuller and smoother with the highs remaining clear. I switched to the other phone that played firmware 1.0 to find that the sound had changed there as well. The mid bass was still prominent but it also sounded more dynamic and musical. At that point I would describe the sound of 1.0 as being in a nightclub where 3.0 was more like being in a concert hall. And for the first time I preferred dance and electronic music with 3.0 over 1.0 as with the other genres. After a few days of listening to the PX8 exclusively with the phone that played 3.0 I decided to check on the back up phone to compare the sound on a dance track I was listening to. But I couldn't get the Apple Music app to play, which happened occasionally even before I got the PX8. My fix for this was to restart my phone and this always corrected the problem. What it also did was change the B&W app to now show that the software was up to date with firmware 3.0. I had no problem connecting the PX8 to the app and the sound signature was now identical to my primary phone whether connected to the app or not. I was briefly saddened by this but as I've stated I was already preferring 3.0 over 1.0 for all genres at this point anyway. It was nice to have the option while it lasted though. Overall I would say that 3.0 has a more balanced, spacious sound compared to 1.0 while still retaining much of the warm yet detailed signature. It also sounded more similar to my PI7 but on a bigger and fuller scale. Just as I had hoped for.
A few other observations I made with the PX8 is that although they sound great at moderate listening levels they sound even better when played loud. That night when the sound finally changed to my liking I got a bit carried away as I listened to some of my favorite songs at near maximum volume for almost 3 hours. The next day I knew I had gone too far when I put my PI7s into my ears that I use to commute with. The highs sounded harsh and splashy with a bit of sibilance that wasn't there before, the mids sounded recessed and muted and the bass was muddy. Same with the PX8s when I got home later that evening. It was also a little painful to listen to music at the same volume level I had the previous night with no issue. I had a similar experience once before and what I did was to take a break for a couple of days or listen at very low volumes until things got back to normal. Which is where they are now. I just read that listening to music at 80% volume or higher for more than 90 minutes at a time will cause temporary hearing loss and I'm sure I was well over that. So the rule is that the longer you listen to music with headphones the lower the volume should be. I'm now at about 65 to 70% volume most of the time.
I also now prefer to listen to the PX8 with the equalizer set to 0. The PI7 does not come with an equalizer but they sound great as is. I find that with the noise cancellation on the PX8 sounds better but the PI7 sounds better with it off. The background between the notes seems clearer and blacker with NC off on the PI7 if that makes sense. Plus they also offer enough passive isolation when music is playing for my needs. I don't want to be completely shut off from my surroundings, especially when I'm commuting. I have only used the PX8 at home so far, so I haven't had a chance to compare its ability to block out noise to the PI7.
So saying all that I'm very happy with my purchase and would once again like to thank everyone that contributed to this thread as I read all 280ish pages that were available at the time. Since I've had my PX8s for only a couple of weeks, my question to everyone who's had them for several months is if you've heard any changes in the sound signature due to burn-in or would you say they sound pretty much the same now as they did out of the box, excluding the firmware update. I'm wondering if I should expect any more changes on my pair. I'm guessing that I'm at about 90 hours right now. I know that some people do not believe in burn in time but I'm still curious to know your thoughts.
