AWESOME sound! But... 🤔 B&W Pi8 review vs Pi7 S2, Denon, Sony, Technics, Melomania M100

It sounds awesome! But...

The B&W Pi8 is one of the best sounding earbuds I’ve ever tested. Its sound signature is more or less the same as the Pi7 S2, with a few differences that I’m going to get into later. They’ve also made them much louder than the Pi7 S2. It’s ridiculously loud because for other earbuds, even the Pi7 S2, I keep the volume at 50-60 percent. But these ones? I keep them at 30-40 percent, which means these are probably the loudest earbuds that I’ve ever tested.

B&W has also addressed some complaints about the Pi7S2. For example, previously you couldn’t toggle into passthrough on the Pi7 without using the app, now you can do it straight from the earbuds. They’ve also now done away with the proximity sensor method of ear detection which stops the audio when the buds are too far apart. This often caused connection issues for those who have a larger than usual head. Now, both earbuds will always stay connected regardless of distance.

While the controls are more customisable than before, it’s still quite restrictive. You have to choose between volume or ANC toggles, and it’s orientation locked, meaning you can’t have ANC toggles on the right earbud, only the left. And although you do have a graphic EQ now which allows you to customise the sound to your preference, but you don’t get any presets for quick adjustments, and for people who aren’t so confident at working the graphic EQ. So even though you do get more custom options now compared to the Pi7S2, the app is still very restrictive compared to what’s available out there from rival audiophile brands like Sony, Technics, Denon, or Cambridge Audio.

Wired Connection Differences

One cool feature of Pi8 is that the case, just like the Pi7’s case, can be used as a wired bridge. This means you can connect the Pi8s to any source with a wire. You can do this either with a 3.5mm AUX connector for analogue sources like an old CD player, an old TV, or an old iPhone with the 3.5mm jack. Either that, or you can connect it via USB-C.

Now, with the different connectors, is there a difference to sound quality? Interestingly, yes! The 3.5mm jack input will give you more bass and lesser gain in the mids and highs compared to either USB-C or Bluetooth. The volume level is also different on different connectors too. Both wired connections also deliver higher volume than Bluetooth. The USB-C’s louder by about 9dB, whereas the AUX connector is louder by about 12dBs in the bass and 2dBs in the mids and highs.

👉 Let’s listen to the difference between inputs.

There’s more to talk about the Pi8, but first we’re going to see how they compare to competitors in terms of sound, noise canceling and microphone quality. Later on I will also talk about some of its quirks, which I find quite interesting given that B&W is a well established audiophile brand with a rich heritage.

Microphone Comparison

In quiet conditions, my voice sounds very legible but a little too soft, would be great if it’s more amplified like the Sonys. In noisy conditions, although its noise gating is pretty good as we saw in the shopping mall recording, but can be a bit too aggressive under extremely loud settings. It cuts too much into my voice, causing it to fade in and out. It would be better to leave a bit of noise in there and not cut too much, so that people can at least hear more of my voice, more of what I’m saying, just like how it was on the Pi7 S2. But I want to know what you think. Which one did you think have the best mic pickup? Let me know in the comments.

👉 Have a listen to the mic pickup samples.

(Mic pickup to the Pi7S2 and the others in both quiet and noisy conditions using really loud cafe noise and wind noise from a fan.)

Active Noise Cancelling Comparison

In terms of noise cancelling, it’s not one of the Pi8’s strong suits. It is pretty effective and can definitely give you great silence, so that you don’t have to raise the volume of your music, but it’s a step down from what the Pi7S2 had, and others too. That being said, it’s still better than the M100 from Cambridge in terms of ANC.

👉 Have a listen to the ANC samples.

Transparency Mode

Its transparency mode is another feature that many people say is not great, but I think it’s not bad. It is transparent enough to give you more ambient awareness, with very little occlusion. In fact, it’s clearer than the previous version, though my own voice did sound a little occluded, I am still able to have face to face verbal exchanges with people with transparency mode turned on. So overall, not too bad.

Sound Quality Comparison

Regarding sound signature on their default settings, I said that they sound largely similar to the Pi7 S2. But, let’s break it down a bit further. Frequency sweeps show that compared to the Pi7S2, it’s a little more gentle on the bass frequencies. This is not something you can hear easily if you’re listening to the usual rock or RnB music, but if you listen to music with deeper bass extension, you won’t feel as much LFE rumble.

And it does have more gain in the mids and highs without that big dip in the 6khz region. How my brain interprets this difference when I A-B compare them is that the Pi7S2’s separation in the mids is a little cleaner, but it also doesn’t have as much excitement or energy in the vocals as the Pi8.

Apart from that, they sound very similar. It’s still that sound that I love, the same super clean separation that makes even audio that’s more intense or messy sound clean and relaxed. The Pi8 has the same smooth bass and vocals, and they resolve so much background detail in the soundstage that you can hear more of the recording, especially transient details like reverbs. Indeed, the Pi8’s are some of the best sounding earbuds I’ve tried, even compared to the most popular audiophile earbuds.

👉 Have a listen to the sound samples.

It's not perfect yet...

Overall, I do think these are the best sounding earbuds aside from the Pi7 S2. But sadly, it’s not quite ready for prime time yet, and there are several reasons for that.

First, the app. Aside from the fact that it’s not as rich in custom settings or features as competing brands, at first it can be tricky getting it to recognise the earbuds even if the buds are already connected to my phone. And even when it is recognized, it takes a while for the app to load the earbuds in again if you restart the app. So the user experience isn’t so smooth. 

In terms of Bluetooth connectivity, it does support APTX Lossless, which is a very good codec for lossless listening, but not all Android phones support it, which means for most people, you’ll either be using the regular aptX on Android, or AAC on iOS. A more common Hi-Res codec like LDAC would have made more sense for Hi-Res listening. 

Codecs aside, I didn’t really encounter any big signal drops on iOS, but on Android, it’s quite an issue. I was using a Pixel 9 Pro XL, and there was a lot of stuttering, especially on the right earbud, be it with multipoint or without. Hopefully, this can be fixed quickly through a software update. (Edit: Though I have yet to test it on that device, some of you in the comments have pointed out that its connection is pretty reliable on other Android devices, specifically the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.)

Battery indicator in the app never shows the buds at 100% even after it’s fully charged, that is also widely reported.

So although these sound so phenomenal in my opinion that everyone should listen to it in person at least once, it’s getting weighed down by these little software issues. That is unfortunate, because with TWS, software is just as important as sound quality. However if these issues ever get fixed through a firmware update I’ll be happy to revisit the Pi8 because they sound very enjoyable.

Check latest prices:

B&W Pi8 - https://amzn.to/3U8n9lT
B&W Pi7 S2 -    • B&W Pi7 S2 vs The BEST! 🔥 vs Bose, Ap...  
Denon Perl Pro - https://amzn.to/3Gyb8ia
Cambridge Audio Melomania M100 - https://amzn.to/4alhOOa
Technics AZ80 - https://amzn.to/3JCNQcK
Sony WF-1000XM5 - https://amzn.to/3JGI1uN

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