At a special event located in the Wynn Hotel’s McLaren store ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Bowers & Wilkins and McLaren announced their latest collaboration to celebrate a decade-long partnership – the McLaren Edition Px8 S2 Wireless headphones.
The two brands held a fireside chat with representatives from Bowers & Wilkins, McLaren, and special guest Lando Norris, the current lead in this year’s F1 leaderboard standings. They discussed the years-long collaboration between the two companies, and the Importance of high-end sound both in the McLaren vehicle line-up and in their speaker and headphone product lines.
McLaren fans will love the fit and finish of the McLaren Edition Px8 S2s, which feature McLaren’s signature Papaya finish paired with Anthracite Grey, subtle McLaren Speedmark branding, and Napa leather trim. The overall feel and heft give a signal of quality and attention to detail.
And if you’re an audiophile, you will appreciate the new ultra-high resolution 40mm Carbon Cone drivers, which are angled to help lower distortion and improve imaging and resolution. I was able to try them for a couple hours and walked away impressed with the customizability (you can download a B&W app to change the EQ settings to your liking), and the sound quality typical of Bowers & Wilkins products: Crips detail, tight bass and lifelike vocals; I can only imagine how much better they will sound once the drivers are broken in.
Compatible streaming services that you’ll recognize via the Bowers & Wilkins app include Pandora and Tidal, among others – all services that support high-resolution audio streaming. I didn’t see Spotify or Apple Music listed, but that could easily change with future app updates. And for clarification: every streaming service works with the McLaren Edition Px8 S2 headphones, but Bowers & Wilkins has special settings for the aforementioned ones in their app.
You can have the McLaren Edition Px8 S2 Wireless headphones for $899 directly from the Bowers & Wilkins website, and if you want other product themes in the McLaren special edition finishes, the Pi8 and Zeppelin McLaren Editions are also available.
Automobile Magazine-UK
