Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 Review

The Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2, though not the best, do sound good. However,what they offer overall can't compete with more impressive earbuds.

Sound Quality

Our panel of experts tested the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 using our extensive GearLab playlist that covers every genre. Despite the limited volume range and non-adjustable bass-heavy EQ, we still enjoyed listening to them, albeit at higher-than-normal volumes. However, at this price point, we expect much more. These earbuds struggle to compete with others in our lineup that cost half as much.

While the overall blend of frequencies is pleasant, with a rich, bass-heavy sound that adds depth, the treble feels underemphasized. The gain needs to be cranked up much higher than the previous generation to reach a similar volume, and the maximum gain seems capped at a lower level.

Thanks to the Pi7 S2's bass emphasis, genres like EDM, hip-hop, and contemporary pop sound powerful and immersive. However, the heavy bass can overwhelm the mix at times. We experienced this particularly at lower volumes, when the strings, electric organs, and cymbals lack the clarity and sharpness they have at higher levels.

These earbuds shine above medium levels, delivering an engaging experience with crisp highs and rich bass. While they aren't perfect, they still perform remarkably well when turned up.

The rich basslines add weight and heft to tracks like “The GLADE” by Sean Leon (featuring Daniel Caesar), “2 million” by Felix Ames, and “Bruise” by Between Friends. However, this bass emphasis gets muddy sometimes or overpowers the higher ranges. In contrast, the mid frequencies are nuanced, layered, and bright, with enough clarity to distinguish between various sonic textures. They work well with dreamy or emotional tracks like “While We're Young” by Jhene Aiko or “Ex-Factor” by Lauryn Hill.

Soundstage

Soundstage refers to how earbuds convey the spatial location of music. While a broad soundstage is new to sound tech, it's common for the music to feel like it's coming from beyond your ears. And these earbuds are capable of creating an expansive soundstage that draws you into a vast sonic world.

A standout example is “Helpless” from Hamilton, where the dueling parts of the Schuyler sisters, Alexander Hamilton's solo at 2:44, and the backing ensemble are all distinct and vibrant. Excellent clarity allows you to appreciate every voice, making you feel as though you're on stage with the cast. “Raspberry Beret” by Prince & the Revolution demonstrates their encompassing soundstage, maintaining impressive clarity between dueling vocals.

To complement our sound quality tests, we use our Head simulator rig with a solid eartip seal. We play a range of frequencies through them, measuring how well each band is reproduced by the earbuds. We compare the data to our frequency response to get a baseline reading of how these earbuds perform.

The Pi7 S2s align well with our GearLab House Curve across the board, deviating slightly in the treble bands. Our experts affirmed this, noting that they sound particularly immersive and have a wide soundstage, with a smooth and warm sound signature. However, the bass is a bit heavy, and the treble lacks presence at lower gain.

Comfort and Fit

These earbuds fit pretty well in a variety of ear shapes; however, they tend to stick out farther in some ears. This might be related to how far the silicon tips fit in the ear canal and may not necessarily be related to ear size.

Stability

These earbuds do not have any sort of stabilization wing or arm. While they did remain stable throughout most activities, longer hair or helmet straps may get tangled in them. Overall, the fit is pretty solid for earbuds without dedicated stabilizers.

Noise Cancellation

To test the noise cancellation abilities of the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2, we used our head simulator with a tight passive seal and played various background noises. We measure the sound that reaches the eardrums. Then we turn active noise cancelling (ANC) on to see the difference.

The Pi7 struggled in our passive seal test, and barely showed improvement with ANC turned on. These buds achieved some of the worst ANC in the competition. The Pi7 don't accomplish much over what they provide with a passive seal alone.

As one of the most expensive wireless noise-cancelling earbuds on the market, this performance is extremely disappointing. If Bowers & Wilkins had skipped ANC and dropped the price, these earbuds would be more desirable.

Ease of Use

We tested the related app functions, battery life, and connectivity.

App Features

The app for the Pi7 S2 leaves much to be desired, especially given the higher price. They are compatible with Apple and Android apps, but offer no ear fit test, adjustable EQ, or location feature.

Connectivity

The Bowers and Wilkins struggle with connectivity, but it isn't the worst, with a reported issue rate of 2.09%. We crowdsourced information from 1-star Amazon user reviews to get a broader view from users with different devices, locations, and environments.

Our research puts the Pi7 on the worse side of the average in our analysis. We had a similar experience, as the Bowers and Wilkins were one of the few pairs we had trouble with connectivity.

Battery Life

We tested the battery life of the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 by setting the volume to 75% and letting them play until they died. They had one of the shortest battery lives in the test group.

The Pi7 S2 life was significantly worse than the manufacturer claims, coming in at 3 hours, with a claim of 5 hours.

The case provides another three charges. The Pi7 S2's one saving grace is that a 15-minute quick charge can net you 2 hours of playback time.

Call Quality

To test call quality for the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2, we set them up in our simulated head test rig and transmitted talking out of its “mouth” while playing various background noises.

Unmute and listen to the videos to hear how these earbuds performed during our tests.

Under the heaviest stress test, these perform well compared to the competition, eliminating more of the louder background noises than others and maintaining clear voice transfer.

When used in an office with lots of background noise, voices remain clear, and the earbuds reduce the amount of background noise transferred into the mic.

These earbuds were clear without any background noise; however, after a few seconds of talking, the microphone gain was inexplicably reduced.

Should You Buy the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2?

We wanted to love the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2, but between the notably reduced gain compared to the previous generation, the lack of in-app customization and depth, and the abysmal ANC and battery life performance, these are really hard to recommend. Even if you love the sound signature, their poor battery life and ANC make them difficult to count on. At best, these earbuds are decent for at-home listening, but at that point, there are many better-sounding wired options. If these earbuds were half the price, they might be worth it, but as they stand, we can't recommend them in good faith.

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