B&W launches its first wireless, noise-cancelling headphones
British hi-fi brand Bowers & Wilkins launched its first wireless headphones, the P5 Wireless, in 2015, and followed up with the larger and more luxurious P7 Wireless.
But both of those lack a key feature in the world of wireless headphones: active noise cancellation.
Now, B&W has remedied this with the PX, the company's first pair of wireless, noise-cancelling headphones.
Design-wise, the B&W PX most closely resemble the company's P7 Wireless over-the-ear headphones, and indeed, they seem to have replaced that model, which isn't listed on B&W's website anymore. However, they are far from a simple upgrade to the P7.
First, B&W says the PX's angled drive units are "derived" from the company's flagship headphones, the P9 Signature, whose sound is a couple notches above the P7 (and most other closed, circumaural headphones I've heard).
B&W also claims that the PX have a 22-hour wireless battery life when noise cancellation is turned on, which extends to 33 hours in wired mode. This is a big improvement, on paper, over P7's 17-hour wireless battery life.
The PX also have a new gesture-based control system, which includes the headphones automatically switching on when you pick them up and pausing the music if you lift an ear cup or hang them around your neck.
And then there's the noise cancellation feature, which finally gives B&W a model to compete with the likes of Bose QC35 II or Beats Studio3. The B&W PX have three adaptive noise cancelling modes with self-explanatory names — city, office, and flight. The headphones come with a mobile companion app on Android and iPhone, which enables you to switch between the three noise cancellation modes and tweak other settings.
Finally, the PX support the aptX HD Bluetooth standard, which is important if you want your music to sound great when listening wirelessly.
None of these features are new, but it is a very complete feature set that, combined with B&W's hi-fi pedigree, should be enough to make the PX a very interesting choice.
The B&W PX are available in Space Grey or Soft Gold etched-aluminum finish for the price of £329.99 in the UK or $400 in the U.S.
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Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
