New Bowers & Wilkins PI7 and PI5 Bring True Sound to True Wireless Intraural Headphones
True Wireless (TWS) Intraural Headphones are immensely popular, but the majority of designs currently available represent the fruit of a compromise in which sound quality is sacrificed in favor of wireless comfort. Bowers & Wilkins has always insisted that this problem should be corrected before it could consider launching its own TWS products.
Now, after a long period of development, Bowers & Wilkins is proud to bring two new products that bring the brand’s celebrated promise of True Sound with absolute performance to the True Wireless Intraaural Headphone category. Both the PI7 and PI5 offer all the sound quality that music lovers should expect from a Bowers & Wilkins signed product combined with a wide range of practical and intelligent features, extreme transparency in phone calls and a design as beautiful as exclusive.
Two new and impressive models
The reference model is the PI7, equipped with the wireless transmission system from Qualcomm aptX Adaptive compatible mobile devices, which allows listening to high-resolution music via streaming from services such as Qobuz. The PI7s accompany this “Hi-Res” compatibility with a 24-bit / 48 kHz wireless transmission between helmet and helmet. Together, these two technologies make the PI7 one of the very few True Wireless headphones that support high-resolution audio all the way from the music source to the user’s ears.
In addition, while the enclosure of each of the PI7’s headphones is compact enough to fit comfortably in the ear, these headphones exhibit technical characteristics that are remarkably close to those of an advanced conventional speaker. Each hull incorporates a 9.2 mm diameter transducer made to measure by Bowers & Wilkins which is complemented by a “balanced frame” type exclusively dedicated to high frequencies, each of the four transducers in the system being excited by its own amplifier. This configuration ensures exceptional control, superlative dynamics, and deep, accurate bass.
The PI7s also include Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) to monitor and analyze their environment so that they can automatically adapt to it and thus ensure the best possible listening experience. This system is complemented by six microphones – three in each helmet – to guarantee crystal clear sound quality for telephone calls. The PI7s are accompanied by the equally new PI5s, which use TWS + technology for robust, high-quality sync between hulls, coupled with the use of a single 9.2mm full-range transducer custom made by Bowers. & Wilkins on each helmet. The PI5 can reproduce CD quality sound from compatible mobile devices thanks to the inclusion of the aptX high quality wireless audio transmission system. The PI5s also incorporate user-selectable noise cancellation features, as well as an ambient pass-through mode and two microphones to ensure high-quality sound during phone calls.
Smart Features
Both the PI7 and PI5 can be configured through the Bowers & Wilkins Headphones App, as well as including a simple user interface formed by a single button – capacitive type and that allows to perform multiple tasks in a simple and elegant way – and support for voice control via Apple Siri or Google Assistant depending on the connected device.
Likewise, it is possible to wirelessly synchronize – pair – multiple devices to each model, thus allowing the user to reconnect easily and comfortably to each source – for example, switching from listening to music on a phone to an online conference on a phone. laptop- depending on your needs.
Finally, both models offer the convenience of a wireless recharge compatible with a wide range of accessories, as well as boxes / charging cases that can recharge the battery of each helmet when it has been depleted. The PI5s will work for four and a half hours before it requires a recharge, while for the PI7s this autonomy is four hours. From that moment, the respective charging boxes will provide up to four full recharges to each helmet, so that the user will have guaranteed entertainment for long hours. In this sense, the PI7s offer a genuinely unique feature that will make even the longest trips more bearable: the ability to connect your Smart charging box to an external audio source – such as an inflight entertainment system – via cable. with 3.5 mm plug or USB and then wirelessly retransmit sound from said source to both helmets, all with extraordinary quality.
Both full specifications and images for each product – in all finishes – are available on the Bowers & Wilkins Hub. Available from April 21, the PI7 and PI5 aim to achieve the same impact in the TWS category previously achieved by the celebrated and award-winning Bowers & Wilkins headphones. The company has taken the time to create its first True Wireles Intraaural Headphones, but we think the result has been worth the wait.
PI7: Available in White and Charcoal RRP: € 399 €
PI5: Available in White and Charcoal RRP: € 399 €
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