[Denkmal]

Nope. It's a white noise/static sound. Theres a thread on the bowers and wilkins subreddit where people have experienced the same issue with the PX8.

I'm about to head back out to the shop to return these. I'm still deciding whether to just get another pair or try buy the momentum 4 instead. Seems like this is an issue long term with a lot of bower and wilkins headphones.

Interesting, I have completely missed that - could you please link to any more details on that statement please? Aside from the finicky proximity sensors on Px8 and the occasional battery calibration problem I have not heard much about quality issues on B&W headphones specifically. And I have had almost all models, wired and wireless since P5.

Regarding Momentum 4, it is a nice headphone but in a different league entirely. Definitely good for its price point but if you are looking for something that can be compared to, match or even outperform the Px8 I would check out Focal Bathys, M&D MW75, B&O H95 or even M&L 5909. Out of these I think most people would place Bathys and 5909 highest in ”objective” sound quality. All of these are much more expensive than Momentum 4 but are clearly better in some or many ways. And not as good in some…

 

[TheOnetoWin]

Interesting, I have completely missed that - could you please link to any more details on that statement please? Aside from the finicky proximity sensors on Px8 and the occasional battery calibration problem I have not heard much about quality issues on B&W headphones specifically. And I have had almost all models, wired and wireless since P5.

Regarding Momentum 4, it is a nice headphone but in a different league entirely. Definitely good for its price point but if you are looking for something that can be compared to, match or even outperform the Px8 I would check out Focal Bathys, M&D MW75, B&O H95 or even M&L 5909. Out of these I think most people would place Bathys and 5909 highest in ”objective” sound quality. All of these are much more expensive than Momentum 4 but are clearly better in some or many ways. And not as good in some…

https://www.reddit.com/r/BowersWilkins/comments/zauxjf/px8_white_noise_when_moving_my_head/

And yep, I already know about all of them haha. I sold my 5909 recently (just because I can't use them in the gym), the Bathys I returned due to issues with the ANC cutting in out when walking around, and the H95 which I owned for a year just has anc that doesn't compete with these other cans.

Basically I'm at either buying the xm5 again (I gave the previous one I owned to a family member) exchanging the PX8 and giving it another shot, or buying the momentum 4.

I also have the Liric so if I really want the highest fidilety of music quality when in the office, I can use that as well (also another reason why I sold my 5909).

Thanks for the help though! I came to the conclusion all these headphones have one issue or another, so you just have to weigh the pros with the cons a lot with them.

 

[ngoshawk]

Nope. It's a white noise/static sound. Theres a thread on the bowers and wilkins subreddit where people have experienced the same issue with the PX8.

I'm about to head back out to the shop to return these. I'm still deciding whether to just get another pair or try buy the momentum 4 instead. Seems like this is an issue long term with a lot of bower and wilkins headphones.

I’ve reviewed the Bathys, Px8, Sony XM5, & Momentum 4. I’d opt for one of the first two, as to me the Senns are moving downstream (but still good). As such they cannot compete with the other two sound wise in my opinion.

 

[TheOnetoWin]

I’ve reviewed the Bathys, Px8, Sony XM5, & Momentum 4. I’d opt for one of the first two, as to me the Senns are moving downstream (but still good). As such they cannot compete with the other two sound wise in my opinion.

Thx for the advice! Yeah, but they're also a lot cheaper haha. At this point I don't mind giving up a bit of sound quality if that means a better overall headphone experience.

I'm going to test out the momentums again as I'm heading over to audio46 now. I'll see what they say as well about the PX8. If they let me exhcnage then without any hassle maybe I'll give them one more shot.

 

[ngoshawk]

Thx for the advice! Yeah, but they're also a lot cheaper haha. At this point I don't mind giving up a bit of sound quality if that means a better overall headphone experience.

I'm going to test out the momentums again as I'm heading over to audio46 now. I'll see what they say as well about the PX8. If they let me exhcnage then without any hassle maybe I'll give them one more shot.

No problem. I understand. If that is the price range at which you are looking, you might also want to try the Sony XM5's (if you haven't) and compare them to the Senns. That would at least give you a good comparison at the same price. Cheers and good luck.

 

[Tenlow]

Let’s get this started…

 

[logiclee]

So I just received my PX8's and I'm experiencing a problem (well a few actually) but I'll start with the biggest one. There is no virtually no bass on these headphones. I'm using my Samsung S9, I've tried Spotify and Youtube sources. Music just has no punch. At all.

My mom has the Sony XM5's and while listening to a song (night shift, an oldie but a goodie) there is at least some punchy bass beats that you can groove to, but with the PX8 it's just.... flat. Nothing. The mids and highs are there, but the lower bass is nonexistent and I don't know if my headphones are faulty or if I'm done something wrong. I've kept them with ANC off as ANC on just makes it sound a bit muddier.

Also, when I first got my headphones and turned them on it showed battery at 67%, which I don't know if that is normal either, I've charged them now to 100%. I'm pretty disappointed right now.

The other issue is that when I turn the headphones off, and put them on, the sound cuts in and out when anything is playing on my phone, it's practically unlistenable until I reconnect on bluetooth. Just an annoying inconvenience. Not sure why that is happening.

I was super excited when I got them, but I'm just not sure now - every review I've read has said these headphones have great bass performance. I'm NOT a bass head at all, but when I listen to any music it sounds very... thin.

Just a thought, have you tried adjusting the position of the PX8's on your ears?

I find with the angled drivers if I position the PX8's towards the rear of ear there's little bass. Slide them forward and the bass is back.

I've never had this with any other headphone to such an extent.

As for the PX8, they are keeper for me. I find they are only marginally more detailed than my P7W (That I use wired) but the comfort, build and wireless convenience makes the price justified.
I also have WH-XM3's and WF-XM4's. Sony's have better ANC but lack the detail and soundstage of the P7W and PX8.

 

[Tenlow]

A couple of first impression:

- ANC in a fairly quiet environment seems solid
- Transparency mode is significantly worse than on the AirPods Max but that was about to be expected. I can hear my surroundings quite well but my own voice is clearly not nearly as loud as I'm (still) used to from the APM.
- Not immediately overly comfortable on the head, just ok, but I guess they will get better with use.
- Build quality is very nice (also to be expected, though)
- Very good and solid case - much better than on the APM (but then again...what isn't?)
- 2 cables in the box! Hello, Tim!
- Multipoint so far works flawlessly between an iPhone 13 Pro Max and my MacBook Pro 14".
- Wear sensors so far work fine, surprisingly. No problems yet.
- Unsurprisingly, I haven't been greeted with a firmware update on first use of the app. Has there even been one, alerady? Getting (bad) PI7 vibes here directly

- Sound is very good after the first listening session but not ultra impressive vs. the Max. Needs a bit more time and burn for sure before judging. I remember almost hating the sound on the original PX initally but they became much better after 60+ hours or so. Not that that's the case here, far from it, but it seems B&W headphones can only benefit from burn in
- However, in wired mode on the "new" MPB (with the "high end" headphone jack) the sound is audibly better vs. Bluetooth. That's much more like it!

So, first impressions only of course. Bit of a mixed bag so far considering the high price. Not bad at all but also not really 650€ nice. Goes to show how great the APM are actually (for Apple users that is). It will be interesting to see how things go from here.

 

[Roland de Gilead]

A couple of first impression:

- ANC in a fairly quiet environment seems solid
- Transparency mode is significantly worse than on the AirPods Max but that was about to be expected. I can hear my surroundings quite well but my own voice is clearly not nearly as loud as I'm (still) used to from the APM.
- Not immediately overly comfortable on the head, just ok, but I guess they will get better with use.
- Build quality is very nice (also to be expected, though)
- Very good and solid case - much better than on the APM (but then again...what isn't?)
- 2 cables in the box! Hello, Tim!
- Multipoint so far works flawlessly between an iPhone 13 Pro Max and my MacBook Pro 14".
- Wear sensors so far work fine, surprisingly. No problems yet.
- Unsurprisingly, I haven't been greeted with a firmware update on first use of the app. Has there even been one, alerady? Getting (bad) PI7 vibes here directly

- Sound is very good after the first listening session but not ultra impressive vs. the Max. Needs a bit more time and burn for sure before judging. I remember almost hating the sound on the original PX initally but they became much better after 60+ hours or so. Not that that's the case here, far from it, but it seems B&W headphones can only benefit from burn in
- However, in wired mode on the "new" MPB (with the "high end" headphone jack) the sound is audibly better vs. Bluetooth. That's much more like it!

So, first impressions only of course. Bit of a mixed bag so far considering the high price. Not bad at all but also not really 650€ nice. Goes to show how great the APM are actually (for Apple users that is). It will be interesting to see how things go from here.

I found the APM solid but i can hear the compression in the midrange. It ‘ s really not the case with the px8.

 

[Tenlow]

I found the APM solid but i can hear the compression in the midrange. It ‘ s really not the case with the px8.

Is that using them wirelessly on Apple hardware?

 

[Roland de Gilead]

Is that using them wirelessly on Apple hardware?

Yes, with iphone 13. Good headphones but not the finest you can by at this cost.

 

[tombrisbane]

Have been giving these a good workout over the past couple of weeks along with my other purchases from this year. They're certainly my favourite wireless purchase of the year (with the Beoplay EX just behind, then the Px7 S2). They're a great headphone to just throw on and one of the few that I'm happy to use without an adapter from the iPhone (others being APP/APP2/APM).

The Bathys interest me however think I'll wait for a revision based on reading that thread.

 

[cybergalaxy]

I’ve reviewed the Bathys, Px8, Sony XM5, & Momentum 4. I’d opt for one of the first two, as to me the Senns are moving downstream (but still good). As such they cannot compete with the other two sound wise in my opinion.

Can you share your view on the level of ANC offered by PX8 and M4? I understand XM5 has the best but I don't like its sound, hence opted for M4, but now seeing PX8 coming out it is very tempting. My main use case would be in public transport so comparable ANC to M4 would be important. Actually at times I think the ANC offered by M4 is not sufficient in the loud public transport....

 

[TheOnetoWin]

Can you share your view on the level of ANC offered by PX8 and M4? I understand XM5 has the best but I don't like its sound, hence opted for M4, but now seeing PX8 coming out it is very tempting. My main use case would be in public transport so comparable ANC to M4 would be important. Actually at times I think the ANC offered by M4 is not sufficient in the loud public transport....

Hey! I can answer that as I actually returned the Px8 and went with the M4 (I also use these a lot while commuting to work on the subways). So in terms of ANC, the M4 honestly is not too far behind the Sonys. It's actually close enough to where I can say with confidence that the ANC performance shouldn't be the main deciding factor between these two headphones. I was actually surprised with how good the Momentum's ANC. It pretty much drowned out all the subway noise while I was listening to music with them (Hip-Hop to be specific).

The PX8 has really good ANC performance as well, but it's definitely a notch below both the Sony's and M4's. Hope that helps!

 

[cybergalaxy]

Hey! I can answer that as I actually returned the Px8 and went with the M4 (I also use these a lot while commuting to work on the subways). So in terms of ANC, the M4 honestly is not too far behind the Sonys. It's actually close enough to where I can say with confidence that the ANC performance shouldn't be the main deciding factor between these two headphones. I was actually surprised with how good the Momentum's ANC. It pretty much drowned out all the subway noise while I was listening to music with them (Hip-Hop to be specific).

The PX8 has really good ANC performance as well, but it's definitely a notch below both the Sony's and M4's. Hope that helps!

Thanks so much! You are returning px8 because its ANC is not sufficient for your use case, or simply you prefer the sound of M4 more?