[Havre]

Welcome to the world of TWS. The only ones I have that I did not have issues with are my Samsung Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Buds Live. Also have Sennheiser MTW (original) (batter drain/ case broke and replaced by manufacturer), M&D MW07 Go (battery would not charge fully. Returned and repurchased. Second pair worked fine for a little over one year left bud doesnt always connect and bottons sometimes dont work) and JBL Reflect Flow (no sound if put too deep in ear, replaced by JBL and second paid is a bit better) and I am on my second set for each of them.

Still waiting for my PI7 to arrive but im keeping my expectations low. It does seem like there may be a bad batch as you point out. If it has good SQ/connection and call quality it will be good enough for me. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks

I never expected them to be perfect out of the box, but the number of issues here seem high. There are quite a few issues I haven't experienced which others have as well.

This is a premium product from a premium brand having had more time than any other to make sure that when they finally release something it is good. And you would think they are aware enough to have picked up on the issues Devialet have had - and not wanting to make the same mistakes.

Not wanting to sound grumpy though. I have not given up on them fixing this product. Doesn't seem like it is impossible to fix any of the issues raised. And they seem to have gotten the basics right with the sound. Certainly a million times better than the Jabras I had before.

 

[mainguy]

Thanks

I never expected them to be perfect out of the box, but the number of issues here seem high. There are quite a few issues I haven't experienced which others have as well.

This is a premium product from a premium brand having had more time than any other to make sure that when they finally release something it is good.

Sounds really fair to me. £350 is a huge amount for tws, a historically disposable product.

Kind of like Airpods Max being a big extra chunk of change, but the appeal being they just work.

There’s every chance B&w were trying to catch an upgrade cycle before competitor products. Lots of people like myself dissatisfied with airpod pro audio quality, or xm3s, and with neither sequel out B&W have a perfect window to grab the market. Possible this is why they released an unfinished product, im not sure.

 

[neil74]

So how are the controls on these things? I currently have the airpods pro over the Sony Wfs that I eventually sold purely because I found the controls fiddly and really not usable at least for me and reviews of the PI7s maybe point to similar?

 

[mainguy]

https://www.avforums.com/reviews/bowers-wilkins-pi7-true-wireless-in-ear-earphone-review.18688

Review of PI7, best yet imo. He tests it with apple vs android, either making use of the high bit rate or not. Turns out it does sound better on non Apple devices (arghh, all I have are ipads/iphones). Anyway, will let you guys know tomorrow what I think vs Airpods Pro & MW07+

 

[Havre]

https://www.avforums.com/reviews/bowers-wilkins-pi7-true-wireless-in-ear-earphone-review.18688

Review of PI7, best yet imo. He tests it with apple vs android, either making use of the high bit rate or not. Turns out it does sound better on non Apple devices (arghh, all I have are ipads/iphones). Anyway, will let you guys know tomorrow what I think vs Airpods Pro & MW07+

Thanks. More or less confirms something is off with my buds.

"The case then pairs with the buds to send an aptX HD encoded signal to the buds."

Mine won't.

It also describes an ANC I'm nothing close to getting.

Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on some HD PI7 with ANC. Should be a solid upgrade vs the stuff I now got.

 

[TK33]

Thanks. More or less confirms something is off with my buds.

"The case then pairs with the buds to send an aptX HD encoded signal to the buds."

Mine won't.

It also describes an ANC I'm nothing close to getting.

Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on some HD PI7 with ANC. Should be a solid upgrade vs the stuff I now got.

That aptX HD part doesnt seem accurate based on what others have reported here. Some people on headfi reached out to B&W about this and were told the 3.5mm retransmission is fixed to aptX LL not aptX HD.

 

[Havre]

That aptX HD part doesnt seem accurate based on what others have reported here. Some people on headfi reached out to B&W about this and were told the 3.5mm retransmission is fixed to aptX LL not aptX HD.

3.5mm yes, but USB-C?

For the 3.5mm it makes sense. For example when using ut with flight entertainment systems you probably would want LL.

Obviously he might be wrong in the review. I can connect with HD, but it won't play. With With case and USB-C I'll get regular aptX with no HD.

 

[TK33]

3.5mm yes, but USB-C?

For the 3.5mm it makes sense. For example when using ut with flight entertainment systems you probably would want LL.

Obviously he might be wrong in the review. I can connect with HD, but it won't play. With With case and USB-C I'll get regular aptX with no HD.

My point is I don't think B&W ever said the case will act as an aptX HD transmitter. If it does, that is awesome. The part you quoted was from the portion where he talked about the case.

Agree, if aptX HD does not work when pairing the buds directly to a source that also supports aptX HD then it is possible yours are defective since others have reported aptX HD works fine for them.

 

[mxdemian]

https://www.avforums.com/reviews/bowers-wilkins-pi7-true-wireless-in-ear-earphone-review.18688

Review of PI7, best yet imo. He tests it with apple vs android, either making use of the high bit rate or not. Turns out it does sound better on non Apple devices (arghh, all I have are ipads/iphones). Anyway, will let you guys know tomorrow what I think vs Airpods Pro & MW07+

He doesn't really go into the details of the ANC besides saying that it is one of the best. A lot of user experience on this thread says otherwise, and almost everyone I have heard owning these mention that it lets in almost 100% of the high frequencies.

 

[Havre]

My point is I don't think B&W ever said the case will act as an aptX HD transmitter. If it does, that is awesome. The part you quoted was from the portion where he talked about the case.

Agree, if aptX HD does not work when pairing the buds directly to a source that also supports aptX HD then it is possible yours are defective since others have reported aptX HD works fine for them.

Correct. B&W haven't said anything one way or another. I know at least one other have tested with USB-C and didn't get HD. Such a strange thing go get wrong in a review though- even if it is possible.

As soon as they actually get back to me I will ask about the case and HD.

 

[Pitter]

Thanks. More or less confirms something is off with my buds.

"The case then pairs with the buds to send an aptX HD encoded signal to the buds."

Mine won't.

It also describes an ANC I'm nothing close to getting.

Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on some HD PI7 with ANC. Should be a solid upgrade vs the stuff I now got.

The main codec used in the PI7 is Aptx Adaptative. If Aptx Adaptative is available in the transmitter, it will use that one. If the music players "only" supports Aptx HD, Aptx Adaptative is compatible backwards with Aptx and Aptx HD, so the PI7 is able to use them as well.

For Qualcomm, Aptx Adaptative is the highest quality codec and aptx HD the "older version", and most likely the one is gonna give you the best results.

With my DAC they use aptxHD, with my smartphone Adaptative.

https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/aptx-adaptive-product-brief.pdf

 

[mainguy]

He doesn't really go into the details of the ANC besides saying that it is one of the best. A lot of user experience on this thread says otherwise, and almost everyone I have heard owning these mention that it lets in almost 100% of the high frequencies.

There’s also a guy on this thread who says the ANC is better than his xm3 buds, testing side by side. Looks like there’s more going on than meets the eye, clearly there is a variance in the ANC people are experience and its not a reviewer conspiracy.

 

[Havre]

The main codec used in the PI7 is Aptx Adaptative. If Aptx Adaptative is available in the transmitter, it will use that one. If the music players "only" supports Aptx HD, Aptx Adaptative is compatible backwards with Aptx and Aptx HD, so the PI7 is able to use them as well.

For Qualcomm, Aptx Adaptative is the highest quality codec and aptx HD the "older version", and most likely the one is gonna give you the best results.

With my DAC they use aptxHD, with my smartphone Adaptative.

https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/aptx-adaptive-product-brief.pdf

Thanks.

My player "only" got HD, but it still won't play in HD. My s10+ is regular aptX I guess.

Have you tried the case with USB-C from your phone? Would it then be HD? Adaptive?

 

[Pitter]

Thanks.

My player "only" got HD, but it still won't play in HD. My s10+ is regular aptX I guess.

Have you tried the case with USB-C from your phone? Would it then be HD? Adaptive?

You should be able to change the Bluetooth codec in the developer options of your S10+.

I will try to test more connectivity tomorrow, also with the case, and I will try to give you an answer.

 

[TK33]

You should be able to change the Bluetooth codec in the developer options of your S10+.

I will try to test more connectivity tomorrow, also with the case, and I will try to give you an answer.

Samsung phones generally dont support aptX HD or aptX Adaptive. They are pushing their proprietary Scalable codec. One of the reasons why I switched to a LG V60 and Oneplus 8T after having used Samsung Galaxy phones since the S3 (wife still uses and likes her S10).