Bowers & Wilkins, the renowned British audio brand, has launched a McLaren Edition of its newest flagship wireless headphone, the Px8 with luxury British supercar maker McLaren Automotive.
The Px8 McLaren Edition is built on the reference-standard sound quality of the new Px8, while the premium design honours the partnership with the luxury supercar maker. Since 2015, Bowers & Wilkins has beenresponsible for the development of the high-performance audio systems found in McLaren’s supercars and hypercars.
The partnership is built on the foundation which has been recognised for three iF design awards for the system integrations of Bowers & Wilkins in the McLaren Speedtail, McLaren GT, and most recently, the McLaren Artura.
Like its McLaren predecessors, the Artura is 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.
The 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.
“We are delighted to unveil the Px8 McLaren Edition, which builds on the award-winning and long-standing collaboration between McLaren and Bowers & Wilkins. The shared ethos of pushing the boundaries, innovation and the pursuit for perfection is apparent in all products that both brands have collaborated on to-date. With the new headphones, the immersive audio experience that all receive in our supercars can now go beyond the road” stated George Biggs, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, McLaren Automotive.
The heart of the McLaren Edition Px8 features an all-new bespoke 40mm Carbon Cone drive unit, inspiredby technology used in Bowers & Wilkins reference-quality loudspeakers. The Carbon Cone drive units in the Px8 McLaren Edition are 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 Px8 uses Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive wireless technology to ensure the best possible sound qualityfrom compatible phones, tablets and computers. USB-C and 3.5mm analogue cable connections are alsosupported with both cable types included in the specially matching carry case that accompanies the product.
Whether using wireless or wired connections, the Px8 combines its ultra-high-performance drive unit configuration with powerful Bowers & Wilkins-developed Digital Signal Processing (DSP) to deliver 24-bithigh-resolution sound quality from leading streaming services.
The Px8 uses proprietary Bowers & Wilkins noise cancellation technology and six high-performancemicrophones: two to measure the output of each drive unit, two react to ambient noise from the outsideworld and two providing voice clarity with enhanced noise suppression The Px8 McLaren Edition will use thesame recently upgraded Bowers & Wilkins Music App for set-up and use. The Music App allows Px8 usersto stream their chosen music directly from their mobile device to their headphones, with Deezer, Qobuz and TIDAL all supported.
As before, the Music App also simplifies connection of the Px8 to a mobile device, supports fine-tuning ofthe sound through adjustable EQ, and allows owners to configure their preferred noise-cancelling mode, all while monitoring the headphone’s charge level.
“We are tremendously proud of our long-standing relationship with McLaren Automotive, which is rooted in a shared desire to lead in performance. The Px8 McLaren Edition celebrates this partnership, extending theappeal of our industry- leading sound performance and McLaren’s DNA to outside the car stated DanShepherd, Vice President, Licensing & Partnerships for Bowers & Wilkins.
The headphones will be available in the Canadian market starting December 7th at a suggested retail price of $999.99
.