[TK33]

I agree it should be better in certain regards, but as consumers we need to recognise companies strengths too.

Apple charge a big premium for Airpods Pro, and developed them for ages. Do they sound good? Well, not really. Is the tech good? Perfect.

Similar idea really. I agree though at £350 I'd want every function to be pretty much working. For me at least everything is, I've had no problems. That said, I wish transparency mode was better so I could use them for calls, as it is, it's useless.

I think comparing them to Airpods Pro at £250, it's a fair price imo. People tend to pay more for SQ as opposed to tech, which is what the pods offer.

If you dont mind, do you mind testing yours out to see if yours exhibit the same behavior as described in my original post and as asked in my post to which you responded? If it is not clear, I like B&W and am not trying to bash them. I am trying to determine if there is something wrong with the units I received. I have an email to B&W support as well.

 

[Chetan2412]

I am extremely surprised by how diverse the feedback is about call quality and ANC. Its as if people are talking about different products.

The hardware is definitely there to have good microphone pickup quality.

My old PX had fewer mics and was at the very least usaeable.

 

[Atjt]

I have tried everything to get them to work on the node2i such a shame, but at least i can take a little comfort knowing its not my set up, I have ordered the creative BT-W3 dongle just see if my pi7 are working in aptx hd mode. Bluesound are adamant its an issue with the PI7, thank you for posting

So at least I have aptx hd working with the creative w3 dongle, so I await the logs analysis from bluesound on the node2i

 

[Chetan2412]

Even this guy is talking about 24bit streaming from the case just like a LOT of big tech websites who previewed the Pi7.

BW sent marketing material with typos to reviewers

 

[mainguy]

I am extremely surprised by how diverse the feedback is about call quality and ANC. Its as if people are talking about different products.

The hardware is definitely there to have good microphone pickup quality.

My old PX had fewer mics and was at the very least usaeable.

The ANC feedback is baloney. These cancel more noise than airpods pro, what people are 'annoyed' about is the subtle change when you turn it on. That's merely because passively they filter so well. I've tested it extensively with my airpod pros, they're better.

Calls is another thing. Taking a call or doing zoom with airpods is just miles better than these. Completely different league of experience, shallow ear design lends itself to comfort while you talk, better mics, transparency, etc. It's all relative.

 

[TK33]

Even this guy is talking about 24bit streaming from the case just like a LOT of big tech websites who previewed the Pi7.

BW sent marketing material with typos to reviewers

Yes I agree. There is a lot of misinformation out there on these. I think you are right and some of the marketing material and messaging got messed up or misinterpreted along the way (kind of like the game of telephone). I tested the case and just get aptX over USB C from my Dell XPS 9310 as well. 3.5mm has been confirmed to be aptX LL by B&W as well. It works great though and I really like the idea.

 

[Chetan2412]

Yes I agree. There is a lot of misinformation out there on these. I think you are right and some of the marketing material and messaging got messed up or misinterpreted along the way (kind of like the game of telephone). I tested the case and just get aptX over USB C from my Dell XPS 9310 as well. 3.5mm has been confirmed to be aptX LL by B&W as well. It works great though and I really like the idea.

If so many reviewers who had early access to the product are mentioning Aptx-Hd and the final product does not have it, perhaps its a last minute licensing issue? Usually those who get early access get a list of pre determined things to highlight in the product, i doubt all or so many of them misread what was given to them.

Besides everything on the product page is about 24 bit, 24 bit, 24 bit, HD, HD, HD.... It seems so weird that the case breaks that chain.

 

[TK33]

If so many reviewers who had early access to the product are mentioning Aptx-Hd and the final product does not have it, perhaps its a last minute licensing issue? Usually those who get early access get a list of pre determined things to highlight in the product, i doubt all or so many of them misread what was given to them.

Besides everything on the product page is about 24 bit, 24 bit, 24 bit, HD, HD, HD.... It seems so weird that the case breaks that chain.

The case was never advertised as aptX HD (as far as I know at least) but as convenient and new feature that allows you to use the PI7 or other B&W headphones with nom-bluetooth sources (such as in-flight entertainment). I think B&W could have been clearer in its marketing materials but perhaps that was a choice they made since they technically never said the case was capable of aptX HD (not sure they would necessarily want to highlight that fact anyway).

I think many reviewers who were just reading spec sheets misspoke. The earbuds themselves seem to use aptX HD with certain devices and adaptive with others, although aptX HD does not seem to work with all aptX HD capable devices (such as the Node 2i streamer discussed previously).

 

[mxdemian]

The ANC feedback is baloney. These cancel more noise than airpods pro, what people are 'annoyed' about is the subtle change when you turn it on. That's merely because passively they filter so well. I've tested it extensively with my airpod pros, they're better.

Calls is another thing. Taking a call or doing zoom with airpods is just miles better than these. Completely different league of experience, shallow ear design lends itself to comfort while you talk, better mics, transparency, etc. It's all relative.

I've also tested it extensively with my airpod pros, and I feel that they are worse. I'm not sure what you mean by passively they filter so well, but when I get ANC I want them to be able to remove certain frequencies, and the PI7s definitely are very weak with high and mid frequency noise.

I agree with you that the call quality is much better.

 

[ACD8008]

Had mine for about 2 weeks. Haven't used ANC, however I have used them for aptx-hd and the connection has been solid with no problems. Although they become proximity dependent when using HD protocols. The source for this Tidal "HiFi" streaming through my DAP. Volume wise, connected to my Samsung S20 Ultra, very loud, loud enough. Connect to my A&K DAP, not so much, I would like more volume. So I suspect the volume is source dependent. Lots of detail, nice sound stage and typical B&W warmer tuning. Very pleasant to listen to for extended periods . Battery life, for me, has been great. So again, source dependency will color others experience and judgement. Pros, these are very happy connected to my Samsung S20, Cons, not as happy with the A&K DAP, but sounds wonderful when connected. Like others, the B&W site kept saying they were in Pick stage, yet showed up on day 3. They probably are pricier than most, yet the build and BT function of the buds and case made the extra cost acceptable for me.

 

[Atjt]

Went a long walk today using the iPhone 12 Pro and the creative w3 aptx hd adaptor sounded great but every time I turned my head to the right it static popped like a drop out, iPhone was in my left pocket, I know aptx hd has proximity limits but this was no more than 1.5 ft. Also when I started my walk it was dropping out all the time on standard Bluetooth aac, I had to forget this device in Bluetooth settings and repaired, and then seemed fine, anyone else have problems with drop outs

 

[Chetan2412]

Went a long walk today using the iPhone 12 Pro and the creative w3 aptx hd adaptor sounded great but every time I turned my head to the right it static popped like a drop out, iPhone was in my left pocket, I know aptx hd has proximity limits but this was no more than 1.5 ft. Also when I started my walk it was dropping out all the time on standard Bluetooth aac, I had to forget this device in Bluetooth settings and repaired, and then seemed fine, anyone else have problems with drop outs

You should try your BT-W3 with another lightning to usb-c dongle to know for sure that's not causing these issues.

 

[Atjt]

Interestingly if I wrap my hand around the bt w3 dongle I loose signal immediately just shows how sensitive aptx hd is to proximity and line of sight, could be a hint of the problem with node2i and other connection problems people have had with aptx hd , unless you can force the connection it will always default to a lower codec if the connection is not 100% true

 

[Chetan2412]

Interestingly if I wrap my hand around the bt w3 dongle I loose signal immediately just shows how sensitive aptx hd is to proximity and line of sight, could be a hint of the problem with node2i and other connection problems people have had with aptx hd , unless you can force the connection it will always default to a lower codec if the connection is not 100% true

I was aware that LDAC was extremely sensitive to proximity and would hardly even trigger its highest bitrate mode in most practical situations. However, I never heard anything similar about Aptx-HD. In fact, I have heard the opposite; how stable it is.

It would be interesting to hear other's feedback regarding this, especially those streaming Aptx-HD directly from their phone. I doubt it has to do with the receiving range of the buds or the transmitting range of the BT-W3. I prefer to believe everything is just firmware related

My Pi7 will be with me in a couple of days but my BT-W3 will likely take a week more. My setup will be similar to yours except I will not need a adapter to use the BT-W3 so your experiences are very interesting to me.

 

[mainguy]

So my xperia 1 ii arrived for anyone interested in aptx vs aac, or iPhone vs Android.

It's about 20% louder than the iPhone with dolby atmos enabled, vocals are a lot more present. Without atmos I'd say it's maybe 10% louder, not very noticeable.

SQ wise, you get more clarity, but less warmth. Sounds a tad clinical. Could be the Sony sound signature there. I prefer the iPhone sound signature personally, it's suits these a bit better.

As an aside, it could also be the volume bump is small because the Sony has low output volume, I tried the headphone jack and the volume was woefully low, unacceptably actually. So this might be a factor. But indeed, an aptx device with dolby atmos will give a nice bump in volume over an iPhone with these.