The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 boasts the best sound quality among wireless noise-canceling headphones.
Combined with the superior fit and improved active noise-canceling performance, these headphones are among the best all-around headphones you can buy today.
Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 Review
Bowers & Wilkins is constantly improving its design and sound, and the Px7 S3 is a great example of this. These headphones offer an excellent fit, design, sound, ANC, and a host of features.
If you’re looking for premium ANC over-ear headphones, the Px7 S3 are a must-have.
Design
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 has a design that’s both familiar and new. While it looks similar to its predecessor, there are subtle differences. I love it.
First off, the Canvas White colorway I’m reviewing is stunning. It’s also available in Anthracite Black and Indigo Blue. All the colors are stunning.
The first thing you’ll notice is that it’s much slimmer than its predecessor—at least on the outside.
The metal outer earpieces are much sleeker, boasting more beautiful lines and a more flowing design. The outer rim of the earpieces features vents that add an industrial feel to the design.
Sound Quality
Bowers & Wilkins is renowned for its exceptional sound quality, and the Px7 S3 doesn’t disappoint.
The warm, perfectly balanced audio boasts exceptional clarity across the entire frequency range, allowing you to hear even the subtlest details often lost in a mix.
Furthermore, the wide soundstage allows each instrument and vocal to shine.
The highs are bright and clear without being harsh, and the lows are expansive, regardless of whether you’re listening to the highs or mids.
The lows are also rich and deep, ensuring even bass-heavy tracks are solidly reproduced without distortion or muddiness.
But the real star of the show is the midrange. Rich clarity and rich vocals create a warm, rich sound that consistently delights the ears.
As mentioned, these headphones support aptX Lossless, but your music playback device must also support it to benefit from this codec.
While many phones on the market support aptX Lossless, big brands like Apple, Google, and Samsung aren’t on the list.
Therefore, I haven’t been able to test it myself, and many people who buy these headphones in the near future will likely do the same.
The noise-cancelling has been significantly improved, and the additional microphones significantly improve noise isolation, allowing you to hear clearly even on a busy Saturday morning.
The pass-through mode also works well, allowing you to enjoy your music while remaining conscious of your surroundings.
During calls, the noise-cancelling function effectively blocks out external noise and even reduces wind noise, resulting in a clear and satisfying call experience for both parties.
ANC and Call Quality
The noise-cancelling performance of the Px7 S2e was quite good, as was the third-generation model of the British brand’s premium over-ear headphones.
Thanks to the carefully placed eight-microphone array, the Px7 S3 creates a remarkably strong barrier between you and the outside world.
While it doesn’t have the perfect bubble effect of Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones, the organic sound of B&W is quite satisfying, but not class-leading.
While road noise and general low-frequency noise are significantly reduced, they fall short compared to competing products in reducing traffic noise or conversational noise.
Sometimes, we’re surprised by how clearly the squeak of car brakes, nearby conversation, and the high-frequency sound of the air conditioner can irritate our hearing.
In such cases, we instinctively check whether we’ve accidentally activated Voice Recognition mode or turned the noise cancellation feature on completely.
Sadly, that’s never happened. However, when we intentionally enable Voice Recognition, we notice train announcements and other conversations are much more audible.
Voice calls are handled adeptly. The repositioned microphones and B&W’s ADI Pure Voice audio processing technology boast outstanding voice clarity, and while we won’t go into too much detail, conversations are effortless.
Speech sounds natural, without being muffled or mechanical, and aside from the occasional minor interruption during testing, ambient noise rarely interferes with conversations.
Battery Life
Bowers & Wilkins doesn’t claim incredible battery life with the Px7 S3. Instead, it offers a “decent” 30 hours of battery life. This should be sufficient for most people, as they’re likely to be near the charger most of the time.
This battery capacity falls somewhere between Sony and Bose. The WH-1000XM5 boasts 34 hours of battery life, while the Bose QuietComfort Ultra offers a slightly shorter 24 hours.
If the Px7 S3’s battery runs out, a 5-minute charge will give you an additional 7 hours of use.
Conclusion
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are excellent over-ear headphones. They offer a clear, detailed, balanced sound with a wide soundstage.
The noise-cancelling is comparable to Bose’s in terms of blocking out external noise, and they’re lightweight, comfortable, and offer a long battery life.
Honestly, you wouldn’t expect much from a pair of headphones, so naturally, the price tag is quite high.
Also read: Sony WH-1000XM6 Review 2025