Bowers & Wilkins FP43796

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 has a killer party trick with its audio-retransmitting charging case, but it stumbles on the fundamentals. Sound, ANC, and call quality all rank shockingly low in our database for a flagship product. At around $399, you're paying a huge premium for the brand and that one unique feature. Unless you absolutely need the retransmission case, Sony or Bose will serve you much better.

Let's dig into the numbers because they tell a story that the marketing copy doesn't. The sound quality score puts these in the 31st percentile. That means nearly 70% of the earbuds in our database sound better. For a pair of earbuds that uses dual hybrid drivers and individual amplification, that's a real head-scratcher. The tuning seems to be the culprit here, not the hardware's potential. It's a very specific, colored sound that B&W fans might love, but it doesn't hold up against the more balanced, detailed profiles we see from top-tier competitors.

The ANC and mic performance are even rougher. Active noise cancellation is a weak spot, landing in the 32nd percentile. It'll take the edge off a coffee shop hum, but it won't create the cone of silence you get from Bose or Sony. Call quality is the real dealbreaker, though. With a mic score in the 14th percentile, these are some of the worst-performing earbuds for phone calls we've seen. In anything but a silent room, your voice will sound compressed and buried under background noise. For a product that's marketed for 'work and play,' that's a pretty big miss on the 'work' side.

Stacked against the Sony WF-1000XM6, the Pi7 S2 feels a generation behind. Sony's latest offers best-in-class ANC, a more refined and customizable sound, and crystal-clear call quality, all for a similar price. The B&W's only real win is that retransmission case and arguably a more luxurious unboxing experience. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra is another brutal comparison. Bose dominates on comfort and noise cancellation, two areas where the Pi7 S2 really struggles. If you're a frequent flyer, the choice between these two is a no-brainer in favor of Bose.

Even the Technics EAH-AZ100 presents a strong challenge, often delivering a more detailed and controlled sound signature that audiophiles might actually prefer. And then there's the elephant in the room: the Apple AirPods Pro 3. For iPhone users, the integration, spatial audio, and vastly superior transparency mode and mic quality make the AirPods Pro a much smarter buy. The B&W Pi7 S2 is a niche product that loses almost every head-to-head battle on the metrics that matter most.

Pricing on these is all over the map, with a spread of over $70,000 across vendors, which is clearly a data error on the high end, but the real street price hovers around $399. At that price, the value proposition is tough to swallow. You're paying flagship money for earbuds that get smoked on sound, ANC, and call quality by competitors that cost the same or less. The battery life is a middle-of-the-pack 49th percentile, so you're not even getting a longevity win.

The only thing that remotely justifies the cost is that clever retransmission case. If you travel a lot and want to use your wireless earbuds with a seat-back entertainment system without a dongle, that feature is genuinely brilliant and unique. But you're making a huge trade-off in core performance to get it. For pure audio quality per dollar, this is one of the worst values in the high-end true wireless market right now.

Bowers & Wilkins has a reputation for making speakers that look like they belong in a modern art museum and sound like the band is in the room with you. The Pi7 S2 is their second swing at true wireless earbuds, and on paper, it reads like a love letter to audio nerds. You get a 9.2mm dual hybrid driver setup with individual amplifiers, 24-bit aptX Adaptive streaming, and a retransmission case that can pull audio from sources that don't even have Bluetooth. It's a feature set aimed squarely at people who cringe at the sound of standard Bluetooth compression.

But here's the thing about swinging for the fences: you can miss. Our database puts these earbuds in a weird spot. The sound score lands in the bottom third of all earbuds we've tested, which is frankly shocking for a Bowers & Wilkins product at this price. The build quality and ANC scores are also underwhelming, sitting in the 35th and 32nd percentiles respectively. These are not the numbers you expect from a flagship product that's supposed to compete with Sony and Bose.

Who are these actually for? Honestly, it's a narrow audience. If you're deeply invested in the B&W sound signature and you absolutely need the wireless retransmission trick for an in-flight entertainment system or an old turntable, the Pi7 S2 solves a very specific problem. For everyone else, the data suggests you're paying a serious premium for a brand name and a design language, not for class-leading performance.

Anyone who takes a lot of phone calls should run, not walk, away from these. The mic quality is simply not acceptable for a $400 product, and you'll frustrate everyone on the other end of the line. If you're buying earbuds primarily for commuting or office use where ANC is key, skip these too. The noise cancelling is mediocre and won't give you the isolation you need.

Audiophiles chasing a neutral, reference sound should also steer clear. The B&W tuning is very much a 'house sound' with a colored presentation that doesn't aim for accuracy. You'd be much happier with the Technics EAH-AZ100 or a pair of wired IEMs with a good DAC. And if you just want the best all-around earbuds for your iPhone, the AirPods Pro 3 are a smarter, more seamless, and better-sounding choice for less money.

If you're a die-hard Bowers & Wilkins fan who loves the house sound and you've been dreaming of a way to use your nice earbuds with an old iPod or an airplane screen, the Pi7 S2 is your dream come true. The retransmission case is a genuinely innovative feature that no one else is doing this well. For that specific use case, you can overlook some of the sonic quirks and just enjoy the convenience.

For literally anyone else, we can't recommend these. The sound quality is divisive and doesn't measure up to the competition, the noise cancelling is mediocre, and the call quality is frankly embarrassing for a product at this price. You can get a better all-around experience from Sony, Bose, or Apple for the same money or less. The Pi7 S2 is a beautiful, well-built curiosity, but it's not a serious contender for your daily driver.