I’m a musician and these are the Prime Day earbuds I’d sell a guitar for

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I own too many guitars and not enough amazing earbuds. If only there were some solution…

B&W PI7 earbuds on brown background with sign saying Price Cut
(Image credit: Bowers & Wilkins)

I'm very glad there haven't been any nice guitars among the Prime Day deals, because I've already got more guitars than I can really justify. But if I hadn't spent all my money on things with strings, I'd be looking at this really great deal on high-end audiophile earbuds: the Bowers & Wilkins PI7 True Wireless Noise Cancelling In Ear Headphones are just £194 (was £349). That's the lowest price I've seen on these B&W buds and it's a good £40 less than the firm itself is currently charging.

I'm drawn to the very best wireless earbuds for two musical reasons. The first is that I want to crawl inside my favourite songs to work out exactly what the artist is doing: what's that sound? How can I recreate it? Is it time to buy another guitar? 

And the other more sensible reason is that when I'm mixing music I want to hear it sound as good as it possibly can be. I've found that high-end earbuds make it easier for me to spot my mistakes or bad production, and almost without exception I've found that a mix that sounds good on expensive earbuds will also sound good on cheaper ones. The reverse rarely applies.

I wouldn't recommend wireless earbuds for recording – Bluetooth is too laggy, and you'll find yourself drifting out of time as a result – but for mixing, mastering or just kicking back with your favorite playlists they're excellent for the musically minded.

When these B&W launched they were mind-blowingly great-sounding earbuds that arguably cost too much money. Today they've jumped down a whole price bracket, but the sound you get is still top-tier. Given the choice between these and AirPods Pro or Beats Fit Pro buds, I'd go for the B&Ws any day for music quality – the sound is on a whole different level.

Today's best Bowers + Wilkins PI7 earbuds deal

Bowers & Wilkins PI7 True Wireless Noise Cancelling In Ear Headphones: 349 Save £155.99

Bowers & Wilkins PI7 True Wireless Noise Cancelling In Ear Headphones: £349 £194 at Amazon
Save £155.99 on these first-class noise cancelling earbuds with 24-bit connection between the two buds, active noise cancellation, dual hybrid drivers and effortless integration with in-air entertainment systems. These are serious buds with spectacular sound quality, and with six microphones for call and sound quality they'll make you sound pretty good too.

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In our Bowers & Wilkins PI7 review, we noted that there are flaws with them, but they still earned four and a half stars anyway. That's all down to the sound, which is the only thing I really care about – and these earbuds sound absolutely incredible. The lows are deep but never descend into mush, the sound stage is absolutely massive and the mids are assertive without being obnoxious. Guitars are brilliantly crunchy and you can feel the rattle of the snare with every hit. 

If noise cancelling is more important to you then you might be better off with the frankly uncanny noise cancellation of the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. But if music is what really matters, you're going to love these.

They also have a feature that few other earbuds do – you can plug the case into either a USB or 3.5mm port and it'll stream sound to the buds from a wired source using high-quality aptX streaming!

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Carrie Marshall
Carrie Marshall
Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.