B&W Pi7 S2 vs The BEST! 🔥 vs Bose, Apple, Sony and more

Today, we’re looking at the B&W Pi7 S2. It’s got a reputation of being one of the best sounding earbuds out there, with a new dual driver system that supposedly improves clarity.

But it is very expensive, costing far more than the Bose QC II Earbuds, the AirPods Pro 2, or the Sony WF-1000XM4. So in this review, we’re going to compare the Pi7 S2 to those earbuds, to see if it’s any better in terms of features and performance such as its sound, noise cancelling and call quality.

No more issues?

One of the complaints that people had about the first version is that the signal drops a lot. But I’m happy to report that in my time using this new model, the S2, its connection is very stable. It still uses a proximity sensor in the earbuds which cuts the signal when it senses that one bud is further away than it should be. But as long as both buds are within range the signal does not drop, which is great.

Wireless dongle

What I like is that its case doubles as a wireless transmitter, which you can connect over USB, or a 3.5mm jack. This also lets you get wireless audio from non-Bluetooth devices, such as plane entertainment systems, old TVs, or even an old Hi-Fi system. Basically anything with a headphone jack can be connected to the Pi7 S2. For the PC though, if you don’t want to connect over Bluetooth, perhaps because the case does offer extended wireless range, I recommend connecting the case to your PC over USB-C.

And the reason for that is, compared to the regular 3.5mm connector, if you connect the case over USB-C, the volume is louder, and it sounds cleaner. In fact, its quality is quite similar to a phone Bluetooth connection streaming over aptX. And it also charges the case at the same time. A win - win situation.

Sound Quality

Speaking of sound quality, after listening to them with tracks from various genres like R&B, lofi hip hop, Jazz and Synthwave, I think these sound amazing in the sense that they sound very versatile and accurate. An overall smooth, non-fatiguing sound with a heavy emphasis on sounding clean and detailed. Here is a sound sample comparing them to some of the best sounding earbuds right now.

I feel that it also sounds very tight and dynamic, not sluggish and bloaty. And vocals on the Pi7 S2 sounds smooth, prominent, and well separated from the rest of the music regardless of the genre. For bassheads, the Pi7s are very clean in the low frequencies. Its bass can sound punchy and vibrant, or heavy and resonant depending on the music. There was very little to no bloat without losing impact.

In terms of soundstaging, I would not describe it as airy and spacious, but rather intimate and punchy. The one area which I didn’t quite like about the Pi7 S2’s sound is this spike here above 10 khz, which you can see in the frequency response chart above. This makes hi-hats sound a bit too sizzly, too sibilant for my tastes compared to many other earbuds.

And there isn’t any official way to tone down its treble either. Yes! In spite of its price, there is no way to tweak its sound using the native B&W app. No EQ presets, no graphic EQ.

App

And the app doesn’t allow you to customize much else either, such as its controls. So if you want the option to add volume controls to it, you can’t. It’s a nice app and it does have some custom options, but not the ones that really matter to me personally.

Call Quality

Its call quality in quiet conditions is actually very good. Other earbuds tend to have an echo-ey quality to their mic pickups, but these sound tight. In noisy conditions though, its noise-gating was set very low so it lets a lot of background noise in, which isn’t very good. But if you were to make phone calls, most of the time, in quiet conditions, this has easily one of the best mics pickups. Listen to the call quality test here.

Active Noise Canceling

Its active noise cancelling is actually pretty decent. It does cut quite a bit of low frequency noise. But it doesn’t tackle as much mid-range noise as the likes of the Bose QC II earbuds, or Sony WF-1000XM4s. So outside voices will sound a bit louder compared to these earbuds. Listen to the following sample recorded in the same noisy conditions as the other Jabras.

There is also an Adaptive noise canceling mode which senses how noisy your environment is and adjusts accordingly. For me, I just prefer a fixed setting because it’s just much more straightforward.

Transparency Mode

In terms of transparency mode or audio passthrough, it works. As in, you can definitely have a conversation with someone using the Pi7 S2. But it doesn't exactly sound transparent because it’s got a lot of hiss. It’s definitely not as clean as transparency modes in Bose, Sony’s, and Apple’s earbuds. You can tweak its transparency in the app, but the hiss gets louder the higher you go, and the lower settings have little to no transparency. That’s not really a big issue, like I said, it still works if you really need transparency.

My biggest issue with it though, is that you can only activate passthrough in the app! Yes! Not from the earbuds. The touch controls only let you toggle between ANC on and off. So if you want to quickly hear through your earbuds, you have to take out your phone, unlock, open the B&W app, then tap on “toggle passthrough”. Other earbuds, you just tap, or tap and hold on the buds. So given that B&W’s charging so much for the Pi7 S2s, this is a huge misstep.

Pros and Cons

So comparing them to the best earbuds in the market, what are the arguments FOR the Pi7 S2?

First, it sounds fantastic. Easily one of the best sounding TWS earbuds I’ve ever tried. It makes me want to go back and listen to all my music, which, to be honest, I really did.

Number 2, charging case doubles as a wireless transmitter. I’ve only ever reviewed one other product from LG that has this feature, but this one here has better sound quality by a mile. And you won’t be disappointed with its ANC either.

Cons? Well.

It doesn't have custom sound and control options. Doesn’t have volume controls. No passthrough toggle on the earbuds. Below average transparency, and it would have been great if it had Multipoint pairing too. At least have the option to connect the phone AND the PC with the case.

Its battery life is not as great as the competition. We’re talking up to 5 hours in the buds, and an extra 16 hours in the case. And it’s not a small case either, about twice the size of the AirPods Pro 2’s case. So it’s probably a trade off between a bigger battery, or extra space to fit more tech in it, like a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), and a discrete Bluetooth transmitter.

That battery life is not bad actually, it’s good enough for my daily commute. But this means that I’ll have to charge the case more often compared to the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the Bose QC II earbuds. So there are things that the B&W Pi7 S2 nailed, and things that can be better.

At this price level, I’m expecting the user experience to be higher quality. But if there is one reason to definitely try, or even buy the Pi7 S2s, it’s because it sounds real awesome. Possibly one of the best sounding TWS earbuds I’ve ever tried. If you’d like to check the latest price for it, and the other earbuds, click on the Amazon links below.

B&W Pi7 S2 on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3JSC3ba
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II - https://amzn.to/3gHBWmq
AirPods Pro 2 - https://amzn.to/3VbAmsW
Sony WF-1000XM4 - https://amzn.to/3zbNN12

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