Specially created to celebrate McLaren’s unique supercar design, matched with Bowers & Wilkins' audio performance, the Px8 McLaren Edition headphones are the first co-marketing initiate resulting from the long-standing relationship between the two companies. For those who cannot afford to buy one seat of these luxury spots supercars but dream about driving one, maybe the McLaren-branded, high-end headphones will sound like a much more affordable proposition.
The partnership between the two British companies has already been recognized with three iF design awards for the system integrations of Bowers & Wilkins in the McLaren Speedtail, McLaren GT, and most recently, the McLaren Artura sports supercars. Bowers & Wilkins has worked closely with McLaren’s design and engineering teams to create and optimize the audio system found in the company’s first series production high-performance hybrid supercar - the McLaren Artura.
Like its McLaren predecessors, the Artura features the very latest speaker technologies, which are developed in Southwater, home to the Bowers & Wilkins research and development team since 2019 and only 30 miles away from the McLaren global HQ in Surrey, where its supercars and hypercars are hand-built.
From its part, the Px8 McLaren Edition headphones are not just a cosmetic repackaging of the Active Noise Cancelling wireless headphones launched in September 2022. They are built on the reference-standard qualities of the new Px8, while the premium design honors the partnership with the luxury supercar maker, with similarly luxurious finishes and materials.
The specially-designed version of the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 McLaren Edition features a Galvanic grey finish and Papaya orange highlights, the latter inspired by the famous Papaya orange which originated on founder Bruce McLaren’s early racing cars. At the heart of the McLaren Edition Px8 headphones are all-new bespoke 40mm Carbon Cone drive units, inspired by technology used in Bowers & Wilkins reference-quality loudspeakers.
These Carbon Cone drive units are carefully angled inside each earcup to ensure a consistent distance relative to the listener’s ears from every point across the surface of each driver, to produce a more immersive and highly accurate soundstage. The result, the audio company states, is "the best sound quality Bowers & Wilkins has ever delivered from a pair of wireless headphones."
Inside, the Px8 uses Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive wireless technology, and wired high-quality, 24-bit high-resolution audio available from USB-C and 3.5mm analog cable connections, with accessories included in the exclusive matching carry case that accompanies the product.
And the Px8 uses proprietary Bowers & Wilkins-optimized noise cancellation technology to effectively shut out unwanted noise while minimizing the impact on audio reproduction in the process. Six high-performance microphones work together to deliver the best results: two measure the output of each drive unit, two react to ambient noise from the outside world and two ensure voice clarity with enhanced noise suppression.
The Px8 McLaren Edition will use the same recently upgraded Bowers & Wilkins Music App for set-up and use. The new Px8 McLaren Edition is available from the Bowers & Wilkins website, mclarenstore.com and select retailers priced at $799 USD or Euros. More or less the price of a McLaren-branded car keychain...
McLaren Automotive has a longstanding tradition to partner with lifestyle brands and world-leading companies and organisations who push the boundaries in their respective fields. Besides Bowers & Wilkins, these include AkzoNobel, Ashurst, Dell Technologies, Gulf, InfiniteWorld, Pirelli, Richard Mille, Plan International and Tumi.
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