Luxurious Listening

BOWERS & WILKINS PX8 WIRELESS ANC HEADPHONES

- Leslie Shapiro

THERE'S A certain expectation when you pay up for a product. Buy a premium car, and you'll expect a specific feel, fit, and finish to every aspect, from dashboard to tailpipe. Buy a luxury watch, and all components-links, clasp, crown-feel deluxe. The Px8 gives you that instantaneous expectation of quality. The model is Bowers & Wilkins' newest flagship over-ear noise-canceling headphones, firmly placed at the top of their "reference" quality lineup. While the price is a gut-punching $699, the build and sound quality might be worth it.

Every touchable surface of the Px8 oozes luxury. Available in black or tan and gray, the soft surfaces are all Nappa leather, including the padded headband. There is also a specialedition 007 version that celebrates 60 years of Bond ($799), finished in Midnight Blue as a tribute to the dinner jacket worn by Sean Connery in his first onscreen appearance in 1962's Dr. No. (Perhaps my favorite feature on this version is the gun-barrel graphic inside each earcup surrounding the Land R indications.) The leather is extremely soft and pliable, and I imagine it will only improve with wear. The earcups' surface is brushed metal with a polished ring around the edges and the raised Bowers & Wilkins logo.

The adjustable and pivoting metal arms are made of cast aluminum. They feel strong and sturdy yet adjust easily and smoothly. The metal conceals most of the cabling, but if you look closely, you can see into the guide channel and notice that even the cables are wrapped in quality fiber. There is an area of open venting to accommodate the six microphones utilized for the active noise-canceling and phone calls; four of the microphones are for ANC and two are used for calling. The earcups pivot so the headphones can lay flat for easier storage.