Bowers & Wilkins’ new noise-canceling headphones are lighter than ever

Bowers & Wilkins’ original PX noise-canceling headphones were some of the best-sounding (and expensive) around, and today the company is following that up with two new models: the PX7, an over-ear successor to the original, and the PX5, a new on-ear model that promises to bring similar sound and noise cancellation to a smaller and cheaper form factor.

The changes here aren’t huge, at least for the flagship PX7: B&W was already ahead of the game by offering USB-C headphones back in 2017, although the PX7 now supports USB-C fast charging, with B&W promising five hours of playback off a 15-minute charge. The design has also been tweaked to include “custom carbon fiber composite arms,” which make the new model lighter than the original PX.

Sadly, the price is unchanged. At $399.99 (or £349.99), they’re still among the priciest active noise-canceling headphones around — the same price as Bose’s Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, and $50 more than Sony’s 1000X M3 headphones.

Joining the PX7 are the PX5 headphones, which look to offer many of the same features as their larger cousin: ANC, USB-C fast charging, and a carbon fiber design. But they’re smaller (thanks to an on-ear design) and at just $299.99, far cheaper than the PX7.

In addition to the PX successors, B&W also has two new wireless earbuds — the PI3 and the PI4. Both share a similar, connected earbud design (as opposed to more modern truly wireless headphones), with the key difference being that the PI4 model offers active noise cancellation, while the PI3 does not. The PI3 buds are set to cost $199.99 — the cheapest of the four new models — while the PI4 earbuds will cost $299.99.

B&W says that all four of the new headphones will be the first commercial devices available to support Qualcomm’s Bluetooth aptX Adaptive technology, which promises 24-bit 48 kHz sound over a wireless connection.

The PX7, PX5, and PI3 are all set to release next month in October. The PI4 earbuds, on the other hand, won’t be out until January 2020.