[Pitter]

Just did an a/b test
Playing via the case USB C into iPad Pro
Vs iPad Pro
vs iPhone

The case is better by far, night and day difference. Louder, thicker sound, actually just what I was looking for in terms of an increase in overall impact. It’s pretty darn impressive via the case imo.

Does anyone know exactly why this might be? If I was to use a phone or source with Aptx, like the Xperia 1 ii, do you think i’d get a similar result as going via the case?

Also I decided to quickly a/b airpods pro vs PI7 through the case, and damn...it’s hard to go back to the Airpods Pro. Listening to Grimes so Heavy I fell through the Earth, bass, impact, everything was so much more cohesive and powerful on the B&W. It’s a serious upgrade in SQ, and APP sounds thin, rattly and not fully present at all frequencies in comparison.

I have an xperia 1 ii and I am very impressed with the sound, I like it better than with the case, I guess you tried the jack to usb-c. I guess the DAC in the case does a better signal translation before pushing it through bluetooth. I am waiting the spinfit that everyone here has been talking about, to see if that improves even more the sound.

• While using Tidal you can use the "Dolby Atmos" implementation of Sony, so you can equalize your music directly in the source before the sound get pushed to the PI7, which I find very nice as there is no eq in the BW app.
• While using USB Audio Player Pro you can use its "Hifi Driver". There shouldnt be much of a difference but it is nice to have (I will try to test it more in detail). Still you'll have aptx-adaptative instead of aptx-hd, but I don't think there should make much of a difference in terms of sound, but would help with latency and bluetooth connectivity.

BTW: I had this morning the "quiet" issue. I connected them to my computer for a videocall and after back to the phone and the issue was solved. Can someone try that out to confirm that this is not only me? (WIndows 10).

 

[Chetan2412]

100% agree with the sound difference using the case with an iphone vs BT.....But what I don't under is why, because surly the signal going into the case is AAC...

I would assume that simply the case cannot transmit AAC BT so it 'chooses' Aptx for a reason which for now we do not know. The other question is why it chose Aptx and not Aptx-LL or Aptx-Hd.

The Pi7 can receive and play BT AAC off another transmitter fine (like an iOS device) but the case doesnt transmit it.

In my experience, the other aspect is that different DSPs deal with different BT codecs differently especially in terms of volume.

When I used to play my Beoplay A1 off a SBC source, it was always quieter than when i played it off an AAC source. So a difference in 'volume' experience from different people is explainable.

 

[Chetan2412]

I would assume it does not change aptX to aptX HD depending on the content. I am not even aware of phones that operate this way. As I understand it, aptX, aptX HD and aptX adaptive are all separate codecs. When streaming via aptX adaptive, I believe the bitrate and latency is adjusted but still aptX adaptive. This is how LDAC works. On my devices, there appears to be a hierarchy where if your device and receiver support aptX HD (e.g. my LG V60/OnePlus 8T/Bluesound Node 2i --> Shure BT2) then I will get aptX HD regardless of whether I am playing 16/44.1 or 24/192 content. Same would happen when using any of those 2 phones I mentioned above with my Qudelix 5K (i.e. if set to LDAC or aptX adaptive, the phones don't switch to a lesser codec based on content). I would think the case would work the same way unless you are aware of any Bluetooth devices that actually switch codecs based on content. I don't think we have seen anything to indicate the case can do aptX HD yet but will test this out of curiosity once my PI7s get here (hopefully this week).

I am sure you are right. I have as well never seen transmitters work as i described.

This will also mean there is no way to trigger a low latency mode if for example you want to game on a laptop and you do not have a 3.5mm in.

 

[mainguy]

I have an xperia 1 ii and I am very impressed with the sound, I like it better than with the case, I guess you tried the jack to usb-c. I guess the DAC in the case does a better signal translation before pushing it through bluetooth. I am waiting the spinfit that everyone here has been talking about, to see if that improves even more the sound.

• While using Tidal you can use the "Dolby Atmos" implementation of Sony, so you can equalize your music directly in the source before the sound get pushed to the PI7, which I find very nice as there is no eq in the BW app.
• While using USB Audio Player Pro you can use its "Hifi Driver". There shouldnt be much of a difference but it is nice to have (I will try to test it more in detail). Still you'll have aptx-adaptative instead of aptx-hd, but I don't think there should make much of a difference in terms of sound, but would help with latency and bluetooth connectivity.

BTW: I had this morning the "quiet" issue. I connected them to my computer for a videocall and after back to the phone and the issue was solved. Can someone try that out to confirm that this is not only me? (WIndows 10).

I used to have the 1ii, it was awesome. I think I’m going to order a 5 ii now, and grab a 1iii when it comes out in a couple of months. I didn’t realise how big of a jump aptx is, definitely worth it to me. Plus Sony still has a headphone jack.

Guess B&W have broken me out of the Apple ecosystem.

 

[ricthaman]

I very much agree with alle the findings about the sq when connected to the case, but I am also very curious to learn about the technical details of the case.
I ordered the Fiio LT-LT1 cable to connect my case to the iPhone/iPad as I'm not ready to break out of the Apple ecosystem just yet haha!

Cheers!

 

[The Librarian]

Hi everyone, just registered here to collaborate with this thread as I don't think many people own these and some impressions will help others to decide.

I read first about the PI7 in reddit, then of course I looked for the proper thread on head-fi to see some opinions about it I do that always and so far worked for me with my other headphones/iems/etc...

Got them a couple of days ago and so far, I am very happy but at the same time, with a weird feeling that B&W could improve few things for the price.

What I like:

+ Sound is very good, very good. It is the first time I don't miss my other wired IEMS when I am listening music. I have tried many of the ones commented in the "Going Wireless?" thread and no others i tried, have brought me the feeling that I can survive without my wired gear. Until
The PI7 shine in almost every tone if you compare them with any others. Very good separation and a quite decent soundstage. Impressive for wireless earbuds.
+ Case able to stream through Bluetooth (aptx-ll). This is cool and a very nice use case of how a case can be used not only to charge the burs
+ very good calls: at the beginning i was annoyed because no one could hear me. Reason? I wasn't wearing them properly. If you buy those, remember to wear them as it is explained in the manual, the microphones must be in the right position.
+ very nice fit, and very comfortable to wear.
+ Fast Charge and Wireless charging works fine for me aswell.


Where were my doubts before getting those?
-> ANC (Active Noise Cancelling):
The truth is that after reading some comments in this forum, i started to think that my unit was also wrong. So what I did was to get videos from youtube and reproduce them on my speakers and later directly with my DT 1770 pro directly while using the PI7 to see what is the ANC capable of. Some videos like:
-Like Noise In Flight

City noise:

Coffee shop noise:


Well, it works, for me, the whole package (Isolation + ANC) is quite good. In the streets i hear just my music unless i put the ambience sound. For me it is worth the money and I am keeping them very happy.. I know here many people were saying that ANC is a crap, so I accept that there are different sentiments about this in every review I have read. ANC works just for Mids and Lows. Highs are not being processed and i am thankful for that because all the other with great ANC modify the sound while using it, but the PI7 no, there is no difference with it on and off. My conclusions: most likely you will have a great flight but still will hear the baby next to you crying unless you increase your earbuds volume.

-> Battery life: Well, I am fine to put them back in the case at least once every 4 hours , as with 15 minutes you would get aprox the half of it. Battery emptied once after a couple of very long videocalls, other than that, I am happy but i understand that the first days you want to use them extra.

Hi, I am new to the forum and am on the fence about returning these since purchasing them. I am what one might call a power user. I have Master & Dynamic MW08's which quite frankly I love. But.. I fell in love with the Bower and Wilkens PX7 and was intrigued by a few bells and whistles of the PI7s including the ability to change pairing sources via the app. The feature works as advertised. But more importantly, they do sound that good. Anyway, I have a few questions about the PI7. Is the advertised battery life legit or is it actually less or more than what B&W listed? I would be at peace if the battery life does at least last the advertised 4 hours. How is the noise-canceling compared to the Sennheiser Momentum 2's (if you own them)? Don't mention the Bose. Those things are big so they better have the best ANC.

Best regards,

 

[Pitter]

Hi, I am new to the forum and am on the fence about returning these since purchasing them. I am what one might call a power user. I have Master & Dynamic MW08's which quite frankly I love. But.. I fell in love with the Bower and Wilkens PX7 and was intrigued by a few bells and whistles of the PI7s including the ability to change pairing sources via the app. The feature works as advertised. But more importantly, they do sound that good. Anyway, I have a few questions about the PI7. Is the advertised battery life legit or is it actually less or more than what B&W listed? I would be at peace if the battery life does at least last the advertised 4 hours. How is the noise-canceling compared to the Sennheiser Momentum 2's (if you own them)? Don't mention the Bose. Those things are big so they better have the best ANC.

Best regards,

Battery life is about the 4 hours advertised. Please read the posts of other users in the forum, many have had different issues regarding the battery of the PI7. For me is in between 3h to 4h, depending also on calls, but i have had them for few days so I have to test them more to get some conclusions, right now i am like a kid with a new toy and i am turning ANC on / off, ambient sound on/off to try them out, playing with different sourcing to check sound quality, etc. Changing sound source is quite nice and fast for me, and for now, the calls are being of a nice quality, once I learned to plug them correctly in my ear, no issues.

Regarding the ANC, as I said in that post, it works quite good together with their passive isolation. ANC for me only works with mids and lows, i.e. if you check the flight noise video, it works fine with that "inflight noise" but I guess if you have a kid crying next to you, you will hear it. I have tried the Sennheiser some time back but it is hard to tell if it is better or worst. Here there are other owners that have different opinions about their ANC, for some it does not much.

Regarding the sound, I think there is no tws with better sq out there. I think also that most of the issues can be solved with some firmware updates, let's see what does B&W about it.

sorry that I cannot tell you more. They are a 400$ buds and the decision is hard, but I can tell you I am a happy owner. Others here are not so happy.

 

[Pitter]

I used to have the 1ii, it was awesome. I think I’m going to order a 5 ii now, and grab a 1iii when it comes out in a couple of months. I didn’t realise how big of a jump aptx is, definitely worth it to me. Plus Sony still has a headphone jack.

Guess B&W have broken me out of the Apple ecosystem.

better would be if they would implement LDAC, but I guess that would be too much to ask for . It is not going to be a cheap change.

But yeah, I am very happy with my xperia.

I still wonder why you have such a low performance with AAC, if it would be SBC at least... . I think I am going to try it out in my Linux computer as I have them all installed there and I can switch between codecs easily.

 

[TK33]

I am sure you are right. I have as well never seen transmitters work as i described.

This will also mean there is no way to trigger a low latency mode if for example you want to game on a laptop and you do not have a 3.5mm in.

Jeez...laptops without headphone jacks? Didnt realize that was even a thing. Glad the XPS 13 I just got still has one.

You can always get a dongle I guess...but who wants another one of those? Of if you if you are like me, maybe you already have another small USB DAC lying around you can use for that purpose (ES100, Dragonfly, Qudelix 5K, BTR5, etc.). I see your point but not sure that was what B&W was trying to accomplish with these.

 

[Chetan2412]

Jeez...laptops without headphone jacks? Didnt realize that was even a thing. Glad the XPS 13 I just got still has one.

You can always get a dongle I guess...but who wants another one of those? Of if you if you are like me, maybe you already have another small USB DAC lying around you can use for that purpose (ES100, Dragonfly, Qudelix 5K, BTR5, etc.). I see your point but not sure that was what B&W was trying to acc...

Though my laptop has a 3.5mm jack, i will only use the case via usb-c if i had a pi7. Letting my sound be processed by a dac in a laptop followed by being processed again by the on-board dsp is something i would want to avoid.

Definitely though BW was trying to accomplish something much simpler with the case on the pi7. Its just good to know how much more functionality one can extract from it

 

[MaccaUK]

Just did an a/b test
Playing via the case USB C into iPad Pro
Vs iPad Pro
vs iPhone

The case is better by far, night and day difference. Louder, thicker sound, actually just what I was looking for in terms of an increase in overall impact. It’s pretty darn impressive via the case imo.

Does anyone know exactly why this might be? If I was to use a phone or source with Aptx, like the Xperia 1 ii, do you think i’d get a similar result as going via the case?

Also I decided to quickly a/b airpods pro vs PI7 through the case, and damn...it’s hard to go back to the Airpods Pro. Listening to Grimes so Heavy I fell through the Earth, bass, impact, everything was so much more cohesive and powerful on the B&W. It’s a serious upgrade in SQ, and APP sounds thin, rattly and not fully present at all frequencies in comparison.

As others may have mentioned, you iPhone or iPad Bluetooth connection is limited to 256k AAC. However, your iPad 3.5mm is a pure analogue output capable of deliverind 24/192 hi-res music. The Lightning Audio Module restricts output to 24/48, but still hi-res. When you connect the Pi7 Case to the iPad 3.5mm it’s using the full range of whatever music your feeding it and transmitting via AptX LL which whilst not 24/48, is still above CD quality 16/41. Can’t recall if you’re using Qobuz or Tidal, but if so, you will have certainly noticed a huge difference.

I also tried connecting the Pi7’s to my iPhone 12 for comparison, and can say the volume was more than acceptable, but the quality was not anywhere near via my Hiby DAP.

 

[mainguy]

As others may have mentioned, you iPhone or iPad Bluetooth connection is limited to 256k AAC. However, your iPad 3.5mm is a pure analogue output capable of deliverind 24/192 hi-res music. The Lightning Audio Module restricts output to 24/48, but still hi-res. When you connect the Pi7 Case to the iPad 3.5mm it’s using the full range of whatever music your feeding it and transmitting via AptX LL which whilst not 24/48, is still above CD quality 16/41. Can’t recall if you’re using Qobuz or Tidal, but if so, you will have certainly noticed a huge difference.

I also tried connecting the Pi7’s to my iPhone 12 for comparison, and can say the volume was more than acceptable, but the quality was not anywhere near via my Hiby DAP.

IPad pro doesn’t have an AUX output, it’s via the USB-C output. I’m guessing the same applies though. Thanks a lot for this info

 

[mainguy]

Hi, I am new to the forum and am on the fence about returning these since purchasing them. I am what one might call a power user. I have Master & Dynamic MW08's which quite frankly I love. But.. I fell in love with the Bower and Wilkens PX7 and was intrigued by a few bells and whistles of the PI7s including the ability to change pairing sources via the app. The feature works as advertised. But more importantly, they do sound that good. Anyway, I have a few questions about the PI7. Is the advertised battery life legit or is it actually less or more than what B&W listed? I would be at peace if the battery life does at least last the advertised 4 hours. How is the noise-canceling compared to the Sennheiser Momentum 2's (if you own them)? Don't mention the Bose. Those things are big so they better have the best ANC.

Best regards,

I may be able to help, the MW07+ were my goto buds before I got Airpod Pros, I spent a lot of time with them and also grew to love them. Very punchy, fun sound, i think the MW08 isn’t a deviation from that but an incremental improvement from the reviews I read.

If you like the B&W sound then you may well prefer the PI7. In essence it’s a darker, smoother sound, it deals with vocals far better than my MW07+ did (the reason I got rid of it actually). They sounded a bit grainy on the MW07+ and very coloured. Bass is superb on both, PI7, softer, more enveloping, MW07, more punch. M&D are a punchier IEM. PI7 are a more accomplished, detailed and coherent IEM, the music has more body. For sitting and listening consciously to music the PI7 for me at least blow the MW07+ out of the water. For a workout though, I’d pick MW07+, the punchy sound was very fun.

That said you have a great tws. Do you really want to spend another £350? If so, the PI7 does sound great. I also had momentum 2, the PI7 and Airpod Pro noise cancellation is a lot better. The Momentum 2 had awful ANC imo.

 

[MaccaUK]

IPad pro doesn’t have an AUX output, it’s via the USB-C output. I’m guessing the same applies though. Thanks a lot for this info

Sorry My mistake. I have an original 12.9 iPad with 3.5mm & Lightning. So none of these on the new ones?

 

[Chetan2412]

Sorry My mistake. I have an original 12.9 iPad with 3.5mm & Lightning. So none of these on the new ones?

The new ones have a usb-c port that allow the raw uncompressed music stream to pass.