New B&W Noise-Canceling Headphones Give Glimpse Into Future Product Direction

The PX headphones, delivering a “reimagined headphone user experience,” are an answer to why Silicon Valley startup EVA Automation acquired the high-performance audio company last year (see 1605030054), Campbell said. “For the first time, we can answer that in a different way with the launch of PX.” B&W engineers could have made a “perfectly good set” of noise-canceling headphones that were “acoustically great” in the tradition of the company, but it's the user experience of the PX that takes the product to a “new level,” he said.

B&W is touting the angled driver in the PX, the same one used in its flagship $899 P9 Signature headphones, but Campbell was most jazzed about the PX user features. After initial setup, the headphones turn on when placed on the head and pause when removed, and they reconnect to the last device played. “If I was listening to Spotify, they automatically pick up and play the last song I listened to,” he said. Up to eight devices can be connected via Bluetooth, he said.

At $399, the PX noise-canceling headphones are geared to frequent fliers, and, while other headphone makers have built-in features allowing users to pause music to hear pilot announcements or to speak with a flight attendant while still wearing the phones, Campbell cited B&W’s preference for physically removing the headphones to pause music because “it’s not rude.” For consumers who switch among devices while traveling, having multiple device connections is useful, he said, citing his experience of switching from an iPhone to an iPad to a plane’s sound system seamlessly. If a phone call comes in to the phone while the tablet is playing a movie, the PXs automatically will pause the movie, and users can press a button on the headphone to accept a call, or accept it on the phone, he said.

The PX headphones have three noise-canceling settings for different environments: "City" allows traffic noise through as a safety feature for those who need to hear what's going on around them; "office" removes typical background noise and allows voices through so users can hear colleagues; and "flight" is designed to cancel out engine noise. Users can select modes by the PX app, which also enables firmware updates for future modes and features.

The PX headphones give a glimpse into how B&W wants to evolve the brand, said Campbell. “Changing the way consumers interact with headphones is exactly what we want to do with performance audio products in the future.” He declined to say how that strategy will play out in speakers and other categories going forward, other than to say, “there will be ways for us to improve the user experience for these types of products.” He cited the value of integration between EVA automation and B&W, calling the energy between the two companies' teams “tremendous.” Integration of the companies is now complete, with the little-known EVA name giving way to the half-century-old Bowers & Wilkins brand.

The high-performance audio channel has been on edge since the announcement last year that a Silicon Valley technology company was buying a revered audiophile brand. Dealers told us they’re concerned that new strategies will make the products more mainstream and dilute the high-end brand's product and reputation.

On what changes the company is planning, Campbell repeated questions he’s heard from the sales channel. “Are we still going to be in performance audio space and are we expanding distribution from where we are today? Are we going to damage the brand? Why would we?” The company has hired more engineers in its Steyning, U.K., facility and added to its product management staff. “You don’t hire people for short-term gains and needs,” Campbell said. “We have a long-term vision and strategy to bring the best-performing audio products to market, and you have to make those investments to do that.”

A day before our interview, Amazon addressed CEDIA members in a keynote, appealing to them to work with Amazon Home Services (see 1709080010). We asked Campbell about Bowers & Wilkins' interest in the smart home and in voice control, and he cited “a tremendous amount of potential” in both. “Everybody and their brother’s trying to figure out how to stake claim and have a play,” he said, and B&W is “as interested as anybody in trying to figure out our role in that space.”

But, Campbell cautioned, “You need to make sure it works the way consumers would expect it to work, and consumers have high expectations. A lot of lessons have to be learned,” he said. “If and when” B&W moves into smart home or voice control, it needs to know how to navigate the playing field, he said. “It’s easy to talk about smart home; it’s more difficult to deliver the right execution.”

On other brands under the Bowers & Wilkins umbrella, Campbell confirmed that the company stopped development of the Delta series in the Classe Audio line. B&W is supporting existing products in the portfolio with service and has re-upped certification of some products with external partners, he said. The company is producing additional units of Sigma series products to fill product demand, he said.

Classe will take a different direction, Campbell said. “We need to make sure we’re bringing products to market that meet the needs of the market.” That includes looking at opportunities and “figuring out what the right decisions are,” he said. B&W will continue to distribute the Rotel brand, meanwhile, Campbell said, and the company has no plans to change that relationship, “except sell more.”