Bowers & Wilkins - PI7 True Wireless

>I am seeing the pi 7 being sold on eBay new for £100 are they worth it. Pi7 had decent sound quality, but they had poor ANC, and lots of people reported they were very uncomfortable to wear. The new Pi8 earbuds have much better ANC and more comfortable. Sadly, this group is mostly a mix of audio enthusiasts and students on a budget. You'll get some audiophile opinions, but most opinions will come from those who shop on a tight budget. You have given us minimal information to go on aside from your budget. You haven't told us what is important to you and your needs. There is no "Best". Heck, I wear different earbuds depending on what I need them for.

Lol yeah, Acoustical engineering was the first of many passions in my life that never left me. The B&W Pi7 and Pi7s2 were garbage. Sound quality good, but fit was terrible, ANC terrible. The Pi8 are great.....except I hate the style - I preferred the Pi7 styling much more. But if they are not comfortable (many reports), I can't justify the price (even when they were on clearance at $250). The B&W Pi8 get great marks all around - improved sound, more comfortable, improved ANC, better call quality. So overall worth the money it seems. The B&O EX earbuds were a first gen product. Great sound quality, no complaints about comfort from what I gathered. But ANC was pathetic for the price tag and age of the product (no excuses, much cheaper $150 earbuds at the time had better ANC software and that should not have been the case) The B&O Eleven again fixed all those issues and made a great earbud. Personally if I were in the pursuit of premium sound quality, the Nobel and B&O earbuds would be high on my list. But yeah I really personally can not justify going to that level of premium earbuds just yet. I don't feel like we've reached the pinnacle of design to justify these prices. Because for me, it's not just about performance. When you're spending $500 on an ear piece, it better f*cking look good. I don't want some ugly tacky plastic piece on my ears. Why don't we see more metals and such in premium earbuds? I'd love some silver, gold or titanium trim accents! Let's make these fashion pieces instead of trying to hide them (or make them white to blend in with all other airpods..... sigh). Ok, stepping off my shoebox now haha

New for 100£ is great Technics AZ-80 and 100 are good too or Denon Pearl pro, but the pi7 for that price is crazy new

same n i 100% agree. i also have Jabra Elite 8 Active, Pixel Buds Pro, Status Between 3ANC, Bowles & Wilkins, it's insane how much better the Epic Labs sound than ALL of those wit a bit of EQ tweaking. they definitely punch above their weight class

This is an issue with almost all of the dozens of earbuds I've tested, including many of the "premium" models: Pi8, Pi7, MTW3/4, Sony XM4/XM5, AZ80/AZ100, APP2/3; the Beats Studio, Fit, and Powerbeats lineup; the list goes on. The only two earbuds that haven't had this issue are the Denon Perl Pro and the JLAB Epic Lab Edition. The Denon's have an underrated feature where the case shows a charging indicator for not just the case, but each bud. If you don't see a light, it means the bud isn't making contact. Thankfully I haven't relied on this much, as I've never had charging issues with the Denon's. Most of the other cases will display an indicator light when each bud is seated properly; on the AZ100s, a blue LED displays when the buds are charging. This helps mitigate charging issues somewhat, but I've often had to reseat the Technics multiple times. In fact, of all the sets above, the AZ100s and Pi8s are probably the two biggest offenders for finding out the hard way that one or both buds didn't charge when I expected them to. Outside of call quality and charging issues, I still recommend the AZ100s often, but it's definitely an issue most manufacturers need to sort out.

My experience with b&w earbuds is there bluetooth connection always falls off after using it for a while, a staffmember from hifi klubben said they fixed it with the pi8 Ps i had pi7 and pi7 s2 and pi5. Very good sound and the pi8 is rather loud compared to older models but not bad tbh

Same. Those WERE my second fave after the Bowers PI7... Then came the 8's, which were good but not like the Sennheiser MTW3. Currently using my tried and true Bose QC II and the Technics AZ80's. This is my second pair of the Bose. I sold the first ones and picked up another after about a year of missing them and toying with other brands along the way. Still want to grab a set of Beoplay EX just out of curiosity. I've had the EQ's but i still want to see what it's all about with the stem form.

I own Bowers & Wilkins noise canceling earbuds, and they are good 8/10. The sound quality isn't as good as Bose and sometimes they are a bit PITA to connect but it keeps all the noise away. I've had them for a couple of years now. Once these are dead, I'll get back to Bose. I'm sure it does well with noise canceling and the sound quality is amazing. If you buy directly from Bose, you can try them out and return them if you don't like them. Look into other brands you can do the same. There's more to that than just the noise canceling feature. There's comfort fit, sound quality and how user friendly they are. All of these will be unique to you.

Hey! Just to clarify. I rated them 8/10, not 2/10 😊 They’re great overall, but not quite perfect. Sometimes when I take them out of the case, they’re a bit slow to connect, and occasionally I have to put them back in and take them out again to get them to sync properly. Sound-wise, I'm used to Bose, which has really crisp, clear audio with just the right amount of bass. The Bowers & Wilkins are close, but not quite at that level for me. That said, I’ve kept them because the noise canceling is excellent... you can even adjust how much ambient sound you want to let in, and they’re really comfortable. I can wear them for long stretches and move around a lot without them falling out or hurting my ears.

I have the B & Ws as well as the Bose and the AZ100, and of those at least, I would go AZ100s over the others. The B & Ws sound really nice, but noise cancelling and transparency leave a lot to be desired. They do have the equalizer but it’s only minimal improvements (for me). Bose will be Bose, and you already know what to expect. The AZ100s have been my go-tos for the last year. Transparency is just ok (I have the APP3s and the noise cancelling/transparency is awesome) and sound metallic and forced. NC is good but the seal in your ear makes the difference. The EQ gives a lot of options, which I particularly like.

I’ve got the Pi8’s and had a bit of buyer’s remorse when I got them. Until I put my Sony XM4’s back in and realised just how much better the B&W’s are. They are absolutely incredible, different class to anything I’ve ever heard

I replaced mine 3 times, shit quality really. I gave up and went with Bower and Wilkins