Im going to start off this video by saying that I like the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 headphones
and I think the PX5 on ear headphones are pretty good as well.
However when it comes to the Bowers and Wilkins PI7 and PI5 truly wireless earbuds… for
me these are a hard pass.
Personally I hate how these earbuds sound, but also I have been suffering rampant connection
issues with these earbuds and the ANC on the PI7’s makes me nauseous.
Now regarding pricing the PI5’s retail for $250, putting them in direct competition with
the AirPods Pro, Sony WF-1000XM4’s, Sennheiser Momentum 2’s, Jabra Elite 85T’s and Galaxy
Buds Pro.
And then there’s the PI7’s which retail for $400.
And really all you’re getting is slightly better active noise cancelation which personally
makes me feel nauseous and you’re also getting this feature where you can use the charging
case as a transmitter which really is just a gimmick.
Overall if you’re looking for a pair of earbuds and sound is your main priority I
highly recommend the Galaxy Buds Pro, Sennheiser Momentum 2’s, and even the Sennheiser CX’s…
or if active noise cancelation is your main priority then I highly recommend the Jabra
Elite 85T’s or even the Sony WF-1000XM4’s but you’re going to have to get silicon
earbuds for them.
All of these earbuds will be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about the PI5’s and PI7’s cases.
Now these cases are okay….
But they are a little on the bigger side when compared to the AirPods Pro, Galaxy Buds Pro,
Jabra Elite 85T’s and Sony’s cases.
So both the PI5’s and PI7’s cases are rather noticeable when they're in your pocket.
However the PI5’s and PI7’s cases are less noticeable than the Momentum 2’s case
which are due for an upgrade.
However I do want to point out that given that Bowers and Wilkins is a premium brand…
you do expect a certain level of luxury.
And with that being said, these cases do feel rather flimsy and they're mostly made out
of plastic.
Where as for comparison sake, there’s the Master and Dynamic MW08’s.
Now personally I’m also not a huge fan of these earbuds… but I will admit I absolutely
love their stainless steel case.
So overall, handling the PI5’s and especially the PI7’s which have a retail price of $400
just doesn’t feel any more premium than all of these other options that we’ve got
here.
Now when it comes to battery life, both the PI5 and PI7’s have an advertised battery
life of 20 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on.
The earbuds themselves can go for up to 4 straight hours and the cases can supply about
4 full charges.
However just keep in mind if you were to use these earbuds with their active noise cancellation
turned off you’ll be able to extend their battery life a little bit.
Now overall a combined battery life of 20 hours is fine… but it is less than the AirPods
Pro, Jabra Elite 85T’s and Sony WF-1000XM4’s which all have longer battery lives and in
smaller packages.
Now when it comes to actually charging the PI5’s and PI7’s they both charge via a
USB C port as they should.
But these cases also have wireless charging.
Now personally I don’t really care for wireless charging but I do want to point it out either
for the people that have a phone that supports power sharing or if you’ve already invested
in a few wireless charging mats.
But I also want to stay unbiased here and I got point out that the Momentum 2’s don’t
have wireless charging even though they do have a pretty large case.
But now lets talk about the earbud themselves.
Both the PI5’s and PI7’s have the exact same sculpts meaning that these earbuds fit
exactly the same.
Now both of these earbuds fit like your standard pair of in ear earbuds as in they actually
go into your ear canals a decent amount like lets say the Sennheiser Momentum 2’s or
Galaxy Buds plus.
And the PI5’s and PI7’s come included with silicon ear tips, so these ear tips don’t
tend to get itchy after long use sessions like the Sony WF-1000XM4’s which only come
included with foam ear tips.
Now overall the PI5’s and PI7’s fit pretty well and they have good lock down.
However these aren’t a pair of earbuds that id workout with.
Now over all fit is very subjective but I do want to say that I find either the Jabra
Elite 85T’s, AirPods Pro, and Galaxy Buds Pro more comfortable than these PI earbuds
cause they have a shallow fit to them making them feel less intrusive.
But now lets talk about wireless connectivity.
On both the PI5’s and PI7’s each earbud establishes a connection with your phone.
So if you just want to use one earbud at time you can use either one it doesn’t matter.
And this is the connection set up that we expect to see on our earbuds nowadays.
However I am going to have to say that I have been suffering from rampant connection issues
with both of these earbuds.
I can have my iPhone sitting on the table a foot or 2 away from me and I’ll get a
little bit of stuttering from time to time.
And if my phone is in my pocket that stuttering is a little more frequent.
Now stuttering earbuds was a problem in like 2018 early 2019… but now stuttering is just
unacceptable.
However if you’re not getting any stuttering these earbuds do have zero latency across
the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone
or an android device… and when it comes to audio codecs the IP5’s have support for
SBC, AAC, and APTX which is a standard stack…
But with the PI7’s you’re going to get SBC, AAC, APTX, APTX Low Latency, APTX HD,
and APTX Adaptive.
But now we’ve got to talk about a feature that exclusive to the PI7’s and these being
able to use the charging case as a transmitter.
Basically you get a USB C to Audio jack cable which you can use to plug into whatever media
source you’ve got.
And if you put on your earbuds you’re going to hear your music.
Bowers and Wilkins says that this is good if you’ve got a DAC that you want to plug
into or you can even use it on the airplane.
Now personally I think using this feature on an airplane is a stretch cause you can’t
hear anything if you’re using earbuds.
But you can also connect a pair of headphones to the transmitter if you want.
However you can only do this with another pair of Bowers and Wilkins headphones… which
it think is just arbitrary.
So overall I think that this using your case as a transmitter is a gimmick that most people
will never use.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds.
Like I said at the top of this video I don’t like how either of these earbuds sound.
And in general these earbuds sound the same.
For me these earbuds have way too much bass, and the mids are pushed down a lot.
Which makes it very hard to hear the lyrics in your music and in general these earbuds
sound very narrow and shallow.
And I’ll even say this…
I would rather listen to music with my AirPods Pro over the PI5’s and PI7’s cause even
though the AirPods Pro have flat bass… you can at least hear the vocals and they sound
more open.
And unfortunately even though both the PI5’s and PI7’s have an app you can’t directly
adjust their EQ to your liking.
So like I said, sound quality wise both the PI5’s and PI7’s are a hard pass for me.
Now if you’re here and looking for a pair of great sounding earbuds then personally
I highly recommend with the Galaxy Buds pro, Sennheiser Momentum 2 or even the Sennheiser
CX’s.
I don’t know how Sennheiser did it, but the CX’s actually have even harder hitting
and more defined bass than the Momentum 2’s.
And after using the Sennheiser CX’s I’m even more excited for the Momentum 3’s.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancellation on these earbuds… now for starters I do
want to taper expectations here.
The ANC on these truly wireless earbuds isn’t going to block out as much noise as a proper
pair of premium over ear ANC headphones like either the Bose NC 700, Sony 1000XM4 headphones
and especially the AirPods Max.
Now the Sony WF-1000XM4’s are close to blocking out as much noise as the 1000XM4’s headphones
but they’re still not quite there yet.
Now the short of it is yes, the PI7’s block out more noise than the PI5’s.
But the thing about the PI7’s is that they have a noticeable amount of cabin pressure
and they make me feel nauseous.
Where as with the PI5’s not so much.
Now when it comes to ranking the Sony WF-1000XM4’s block out the most amount of noise here and
they do have an advantage cause they are using foam ear tips.
But under them are the Jabra Elite 85T’s which I personally prefer cause they're more
comfortable… below them are the PI7’s but keep in mind these make me nauseous.
Below them are the AirPods Pro and Sennheiser Momentum 2’s which I feel are neck and neck.
Below them are the PI5’s and in last place are the Galaxy Buds Pro.
So like I said at the top of this video, if active noise cancellation is a big deal to
you personally I would recommend either the Sony WF-1000XM4’s or Jabra Elite 85T’s.
Personally I prefer the Jabra’s cause they're way more comfortable cause of their shallow
fit and silicon ear tips, where as the included foam ear tips on the Sony’s can get itchy
very quickly.
And finally there’s the ambient modes on these earbuds.
Now the microphone arrays on these earbuds do a great job of blocking out wind noise
when walking out doors.
However this ambient mode sounds both robotic and shallow.
Its usable… but there’s better.
But finally here’s the microphone test… now for the most part these earbuds preform
very similar to one another.
But I will admit the PI7’s sound a little better.
The PI5’s have 4 microphones where as the PI7’s have 6 microphones.
Nonetheless I do wish that both of these microphones would amplify my voice more like either the
Airpods pro or Galaxy Buds pro do.
And when it comes to blocking out noise… the PI5’s block out some noise but you can
still hear chatter in the back ground and my voice can sound a little more shallow.
And then there are the PI7’s which block out a little more noise than the PI5’s and
my voice doesn’t sound as shallow.
But nonetheless I am going to have to say that both of these microphones are behind
cheaper more main stream options like either AirPods Or Galaxy Buds.
So with all the being said, for me its very hard to justify getting or recommending either
the Bowers and Wilkins PI5 or PI7’s.
Foremost I do not like how these earbuds sound.
You thought beats had too much bass?
Then you’ve seen nothing.
These things have way too much bass and they sound super shallow.
But also there’s the connectivity issue on both of these earbuds which is just unacceptable.
And build quality wise these earbuds don’t stack up to what you’d come to expect from
Bowers and Wilkins, especially the $400 PI7’s.
So like I’ve said a few times already, if you’re looking for sound just pick up either
the Galaxy Bud pro, Sennheiser Momentum 2’s or maybe even the Sennheiser CX’s if you
don’t want fancy features… and if you’re looking for ANC go with either the Jabra elite
85T’s or Sony WF-1000XM4’s.