I am so done now. Things don’t make sense anymore in this world for me. I spend $600 on a pair of headphones that is supposed to be superior to headphones costing less. I pick up a headphone cost far less than the $600 headphone and it beats them in sound quality and comfort, battery and looks. So I decide to use the software and streaming service designed for the $600 headphone and what happens? The $300 less headphones not only beats the more expensive one again but this time completely destroys the $600 headphone even worse than it did before.
The Bowers and Wilkins sound went from beating the AirPods in sound like 10 vs 8.5 to using Apple Music streaming to now a 12 (on a 1-10 scale ) vs a 8.5. I kid you not people, I am not exaggerating at all. This is not even a subjective statement. It’s that big of difference without a shadow of a doubt. It’s flat out embarrassing. It makes no sense whatsoever. I promised I was preparing to have the Airpod Max just take the lead using their software that they are built for it. But now that this result kicked in and completely destroyed my world and how I perceived the world to work, I have idea where I’m at or how the world truly works anymore:). I would have bet the house that once I used the Airpod max and it spatial audio with its Apple Music software for streaming higher bit rates that the AirPod max would have destroyed the Bowers and Wilkins px7 S2.
I just can’t wrap my head around how good this headphone turned out to be especially using Apples streaming service. Asmr, RNB, House, Rock, Classical, or any other genre will completely blow your mind with the jump in details , impact, and overall tones and decay into the sounds over the Airpod Max especially using Apple Music. The Airpod max have gone from a must have for iPhones for all users to a joke after allowing a headphone not even designed for its streaming service or company to come in and outperform them by a country mile. It’s as big of a defeat as I have ever seen between two headphones compared to one another. A very clear, “nothing to argue about” conclusion. It’s not even a debatable, I swear to you. And anyone that does argue this just hasn’t listened to both on Apple Music or just refused to allow themselves to see truth. It will take you 3 seconds(I kid you not)to know just how much better in every single area the Bowers and Wilkins are.
And I believe we can thank their DSP 24 bit,system built into it. I’m thinking that’s the reason it’s better but regardless Apple should have been better streaming Apple Music better than the BW S2. And with this big of a defeat, all other things like transparency mode advantages, hands free Siri, or better mic’s for phone calls if in noisy areas, mean very little if you can’t remain close or better in sound quality, battery life, and weight or comfort. So once again, as I feared, the Airpod Max was just overpriced and under-delivered for $600. And just like others have said and gave awards to the BW s2, I too give them the “Best Headphone award in 2022 leading into this year for 2023 this far. Congrats Bowers and Wilkins you are the the winner and my number 1 headphone.
UPDATE : Found the Problem
For some reason, possibly something I had set years ago when I used Apple Music with a older device, I had my EQ set to Techno, which was a big no no. For some reason, apples EQ preset all suck. The only one that will allow for any decent reproduction for your Airpod Max is “OFF”. And once I turned it off, the sound was more impactful. While still not as impactful as the B/W S2’s , they were night and day from what they sounded like previous. And I guess it wasn’t seen because I never used Apple Music for years until this test was done. So the EQ was never even seen or used when I just used Spotify.
Now to be fair, while the Airpod Max gave a wider soundstage this also took away from the intimacy. There are those that really like wide and far sounds. I don’t. I like them spacious but not far away. I want a happy medium between spacious, wide, and intimacy. So for me, although this got a little harder to judge now that things were more powerful, the timber, bass, and upper-mids were still better on the Bowers and Wilkins. But I think if you only had the Airpod max you wouldn’t know or complain about its soundstage being too wide or timber being off. All you would get is beautiful music everywhere. So just know if you have either one of these headphones only ….there is nothing to fear from either. You are going to be very impressed. Overall I gave the sound, comfort, looks, battery life and price to the BW S2. AirPods Max, I would give it the soundstage,features, phone quality , transparency modes, ANC, and conveniences. So if you own a Apple iPhone it wins overall. But if all you looking for is something that sounds great and feels amazing on your head that won’t kill you wallet like the Airpod Max does, then the b/w S2 are it.
Tech-N-Things 