Bowers and Wilkins—known for high-performance sound equipment—just entered the world of true wireless earbuds with the introduction of the PI7. They have a unique transmitting case that directly connects to in-flight entertainment, The company also announced the more affordable PI5 earbuds.
The case for the PI7 earbuds doubles as an audio transmitter, making it directly usable with in-flight entertainment systems. Bowers and Wilkins claims this is an industry first. Similar earbuds—namely the AirPods Pro—offer similar functionality but still requires you to use a third-party dongle. The PI7’s case might also allow the earbuds to work with other non-Bluetooth devices.
By far, the case is the standout feature of the PI7 true wireless earbuds. While its other features are more commonplace than exciting, there’s still plenty worth talking about. It has noise cancellation and six microphones for making crystal clear phone calls and accessing your voice assistants. The earbuds also use Qualcomm AptX Adaptive standard, allowing dynamic audio compression for a more stable connection.. Battery life lasts for around four hours and the case adds an additional 16 hours, plus it can charge wirelessly. And with an IP rating of IP54, they can even handle light amounts of liquid and dust.
Likewise, the PI5 earbuds also boast noise cancellation but are limited to four microphones so you might not sound quite as clear on your calls. No specific mention is made on the company’s site about the PI5 having a case with an audio transmitter, and these earbuds only use standard Qualcomm AptX instead of AptX Adaptive. However, Bowers and Wilkins tries to make up for this by boosting the battery life up a bit to about 4.5 hours, which is more than the PI7.
You can grab either today on Bowers and Wilkins’ site. The PI7s are priced at $399, and the PI5s are going for $249.
via The Verge