Tech-N-Things

Let’s do this again, shall we?

Look, I’ve been doing some soul searching these last 5 days. I’ve been away from the North American’s shoreline and in deep waters and visiting islands. At night, under the stars, in peace, away from the everyday stress of life, finally. When you are away, you get a chance to understand what is important to you and what isn’t. You find out that things that you believed to be so important aren’t as important as they once were. And find yourself relying on things you find a connection to naturally because you are not in a trusting and controlled environment when you are away from the things you know.

One of the first shocking moments that took place after packing my Noble Audio Rex5 despite all my complaints was that I took the Bowers and Wilkins Pi8’s and Px7 s2’s with me on this journey. Why would I do such a thing, right? It was almost instinctive and natural. I mean, I didn’t even wrestle with myself about this. I think I convinced myself that they would serve as a back up(PI8) to my Rex5 and that the Px7 was just so darn great feeling and great sounding that I just couldn’t leave them behind vs any other headphones like my Bose.

As the ship left off port after port, I started to notice a pattern I was not proud of. Day after day, hour by hour, I was reaching for my Pi8’s or Px7 s2e’s over and over again. I mean, here I was, away from the stress of life, and all I could do in every beautiful moment was reach for the brand I swore never to trust again. The most shocking of the two variances, the PI8’S, was the most used. Yes, the Pi8’s who have that annoying battery drainage problem if you don’t use it daily, yes, that one. Yes, I had the newer and more exciting Noble Audio Rex5 that I have deemed the greatest sound in the world of Audio right there. And yet every single time, I would put the Rex5 back in the case and grab the Pi8’s just before leaving my room for events.

At first, I believed this was occurring because of concern I had over damaging the Noble Rex5 case I’ve been so fund of. But that was not it. Then I believed this was because the fit of the Pi8s had a smaller design and easier fit into my ears. While this was a change from my previous belief of the Rex5 being more comfortable(it isn’t), this turned out not to be the reason either.

What I found out was something I previously stood on when I first got the Pi8s, something forgotten through all the noise and complaints I had. While the Rex5 has the most power in dynamics and bass, the Pi8’s dominance in sound stage, imaging, volume impact, and flat-out ability in separation actually defeated the Rex5 easily in sound quality. When I played songs like Lisan al Giab by Hans Zimmrman, the difference in the two earphones’ ability to play this song was shockingly overwhelmingly in favor of the PI8’s. Not only was the PI8’s easily the best resolution and treble extension but mid range, shockingly was done so masterfully that it made the Rex5 seem like it was missing drivers from its 5 driver set.

Look, I totally understand if you want to just write this article off as a bout of sickness or something. Maybe I even got water in my ears that affected my brain and opinions. As I write this article, I’m still in disbelief, too, if not remembering my previously wrote article on the abilities of the PI8’s. Even then, I understood what true power it had and how it had this ability to overwhelm any other earphones. I remember writing this one important section about the Pi8 review.

This is the truth and reason why the Pi8 stands as the best sounding earphone in bluetooth, I’ve rediscovered. This is why I couldn’t leave it home or stop using it on the trip, even with the Rex5 in my backpack. Every sound, instrument, or voice was way more immersive on the pi8. Frankly put, they never left, I’ve been so mad at them for the battery issues and how they treated me that I stopped spending time with them and had forgotten about what made them the most addicting, most wrote about earphones I’ve ever had on this site. But once I got away and just relied on them again, allowing myself to just allow the music to speak and forget about the battery issues, it was very clear that even today with the Rex5’s driver set, nothing has truly beat the Pi8 in sound. You get details and balance unmatched anywhere. You get very controlled and natural bass, which I prefer over exaggerated bass, though not always honest with myself about when it came to the Pi8’s. Yes, they still suck for draining battery. This still exists if you don’t use them daily. But on this trip, I never felt I needed more battery life or worried about it draining out because I used them every day. Yes, they suck in ANC still, and no, they are not better than the Rex5 or Az100 in phone calls.

No, the Pi8’s didn’t transform into something they are not. This trip just made me remember what I knew earlier before I got caught up with all the complaints and disappointments I got from their companies’ steps to handle my exchange. This is not a perfect earphone, and I still recommend the Az100 over these for overall better price, results, and boxes checked. Not everything is completely forgiven for this $399 bluetooth earphone. But one thing is for sure, when you think of purly sound, Bowers and Wilkins is the name you want up front over all others, I am sad to admit this after telling many that the Rex5 was that champion. And if I’m honest with myself and looking back over my reviews for the Pi8’s,  I really shouldn’t be surprised about where things ended up. I should have known I was playing from a standpoint of hurt and anger more than objectivity, and for that, I am truly sorry.  Again, this doesn’t mean they replace the az100 as the overall best, nor does it mean subjectively you might not have your own best of sound that is different. But I needed to make things right.

My top 5 Earphones for Sound(redacted)

• Bowers and Wilkins Pi8’s
• Noble Audio Rex5
• Devialet Gemini 2
• Technics Az100’s
• Denon Perl Pro’s

My favorite suggested earphones for overall usage/features/ price/ realibillity

• Az100 
• REX5
• Gemini 2
• Denon perl Pro
• PI8’S

At the end of the day, sound remains subjective to the person. But I would easily say that if any of these are your only choice and direction for your life, I would not dispute that conclusion from anyone. These earphones represent the very best and are easily endgame worthy bluetooth earphones(for as long as the battery recharging health last:))