First of all, Bowers & Wilkins announces that the Pi8 True Wireless headphones, like the Pi6, are completely new and have been developed by the engineering team behind the Px7 S2 supra-aural and Px8 circumaural models.
B&W PI8, new ergonomic specifications££££
The B&W PI8 incorporates the latest chip dedicated to TWS products signed by Qualcomm. The latter, more energy-efficient, gives 6.5 hours of autonomy to the Pi8, 20 hours in total including the 13.5 hours of autonomy contained in the transport/storage case.
The quality of phone calls benefits from the technology already in place in the B&W Px7 (Alango). In the Bluetooth chapter, B&W engineers have completely revised the antenna section (exit the NFMI process implemented on the B&W Pi7 S2) to improve their range and robustness in order to avoid cuts in a saturated RF environment.
Another optimization, that of the wearing sensors. Thus, the detection of wearing in B&W Pi8 in the ears is optimized for automatic management of the cut/resume of music without fault. The same goes for the touch buttons of the headphones which always work perfectly on the Pi8 even in humid or cold conditions. The active noise reduction is based on an exclusive algorithm signed B&W and the location of the microphones has been modified for a better rendering of the Transparency mode. Precision, the MFi (Made For iPhone) and GFPS (Google Fast Pair) labels are in place. The same goes for the IP54 certification.
Finally, the shape of the Pi8 earphones has evolved considerably. It is no longer necessary to rotate the Pi8 in the ear canal to secure their fit. Their curves and the four different-sized adapters provided allow all users to wedge them very easily in their ears.
B&W PI8, acoustic package££££
The B&W Pi8 are equipped with 12 mm carbon cone diaphragm speakers (compared to 9.2 mm for the Px7 S2) and Bluetooth 5.4 APT-X [abc]Lossless[/abc] is included for the management of [abc]Hi-Res Audio[/abc] 96 kHz/24-bit files. An EQ setting (five bands) is available through the application. Overall, the headphones are closely linked to the Bowers & Wilkins Music app, which allows setup, configuration of noise-cancelling modes and adjustment of the wearing sensor. It also supports high-resolution [abc]streaming[/abc] directly from the mobile device to the headphones via music platforms such as Qobuz, Tidal and Deezer.
Available in Dove White (white), Anthracite Black (black), Jade Green (green) and Midnight Blue (blue). RRP: €399.
Reminder of the key characteristics of the Bowers & Wilkins PI8:
• Type: 12 mm dynamic True Wireless earphones
• Speakers: dynamic
• Frequency response: 10 Hz-20 kHz
• Total harmonic distortion (THD): <0.3%
• Connectivity: [abc]Bluetooth[/abc] 5.4
• Supported Bluetooth profiles: A2DP/AVRCP/HFP
• Codecs: SBC, AAC, APT-X Adaptive
• Certification: IP54
• Active noise reduction: yes
• Voice assistants: Google Assistant, Apple Siri
• Battery life: 20 h (13.5 h for the earphones + 20 h for the case)