Bowers & Wilkins is back with another McLaren collaboration, this time giving its new Px8 S2 wireless headphones the same motorsport-inspired treatment that made the original 2022 Px8 McLaren Edition a standout. The 2025 Px8 S2 McLaren Edition keeps the upgraded acoustic platform of the S2 model but wraps it in a design meant to turn heads — even if your car doesn’t cost seven figures.
And if it feels like a fresh coat of paint or a luxury-branded finish has become the big innovation of 2025, you’re not imagining things. This year has been a parade of “new” products that amount to cosmetic upgrades wrapped in marketing gloss. Don’t believe it? Take a look around — premium brands are trying every aesthetic trick they can to lure a new generation of buyers, especially when the underlying hardware isn’t changing fast enough to justify a full refresh.
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 McLaren Edition
The Px8 S2 carries over the McLaren-inspired design cues, doubling down on a decade-long partnership that’s given Bowers & Wilkins plenty of runway to blend its audio engineering with McLaren’s racing aesthetic.
Developed with input from both McLaren Automotive and the McLaren Formula 1 team, this special-edition model doesn’t rewrite the Px8 S2 playbook — it refines the presentation. You’re getting the same updated drivers, improved tuning, and upgraded wireless platform found in the standard S2, just wrapped in a finish meant to signal that you know your way around both a soundstage and a pit lane.
The McLaren Edition applies the brand’s familiar Papaya accents alongside a muted Anthracite Grey, creating a cleaner, more understated take on the Px8 S2’s industrial design. The McLaren Speedmark appears on both the headband and earcups, integrated in a way that feels deliberate rather than decorative.
The elliptical logo plates get a simple diamond-cut edge for contrast, while the memory-foam pads and headband are covered in Nappa leather for a comfortable, refined finish. It’s a straightforward aesthetic upgrade — nothing over the top, but clearly distinct from the standard Px8 S2.
Sound Quality and Design
Bowers & Wilkins pairs its updated Px8 S2 acoustic platform with McLaren’s visual identity, creating a model that aims to appeal to both audio listeners and McLaren loyalists without compromising the core performance. The tuning, driver configuration, and wireless architecture remain the same as the standard Px8 S2, so the sound quality is driven by engineering rather than branding.
The Px8 S2 McLaren Edition delivers the same refined, detailed presentation B&W is known for, along with the company’s latest noise-cancellation system. It’s designed to cut down external noise without flattening dynamics or smearing detail — a balance many ANC headphones still struggle with.
As the third collaboration between the two companies, this edition doesn’t reinvent anything, but it does push the S2 platform forward with incremental improvements and a design that ties cleanly into McLaren’s Formula 1 and automotive identity.
What’s on The Inside
Inside the McLaren Edition, the changes mirror what Bowers & Wilkins introduced in the standard Px8 S2. The headphones use upgraded 40mm Carbon Cone drivers supported by a revised chassis, voice coil, suspension, and magnet structure. The drivers are angled toward the listener’s ears to maintain a consistent path length across the driver surface, which helps with imaging precision and overall spatial coherence.
As expected, the McLaren Edition carries over the same wireless platform: Qualcomm aptX Adaptive for up to 24-bit/96kHz transmission, aptX Lossless where supported, and Bowers & Wilkins’ in-house DSP. The result is the same high-resolution performance as the S2 — the acoustic upgrades are identical, and the McLaren badge doesn’t alter the tuning or signal path.
The Bowers & Wilkins Music App
As with the rest of Bowers & Wilkins’ current lineup, the Px8 S2 McLaren Edition works through the B&W Music app for setup and control. The app covers the essentials: adjusting or disabling noise-cancellation and transparency mode, checking battery levels, setting wear-sensor sensitivity, and customizing the Quick Action button so it does something useful instead of whatever the factory default thinks you want.
The app also includes a five-band EQ with the option to save presets. It works well for basic tonal tweaks, but it’s still fairly limited compared to what other brands offer — enough to nudge the sound in your direction, not enough to reinvent the tuning.
Battery Life
The Px8 S2 McLaren Edition keeps the same battery performance as the standard model, offering up to 30 hours of playback on a full charge. That’s enough to cover a full day of use without hunting for an outlet. When you do need a boost, a 15-minute quick charge adds roughly seven hours of listening time, which is more than enough to get through a commute or work session.
From Lyle Smith, President of Sound United at HARMAN: “This exciting new edition of our exceptional Px8 S2 headphones perfectly celebrates our long-term partnership with McLaren, and gives fans another industry-leading audio product showcasing McLaren’s design DNA to express their passion for their team.”
The B&W–McLaren Partnership
Bowers & Wilkins and McLaren have been working together since 2015, when B&W began supplying audio systems for McLaren’s Supercars and Ultimate Series models. The partnership centers on shared engineering priorities — efficiency, precision, and performance over flash.
In recent years, the relationship has expanded into a long-term agreement that makes Bowers & Wilkins the Official Audio Partner for both McLaren Automotive and the McLaren Formula 1 Team. The Px8 S2 McLaren Edition is an extension of that collaboration, translating the partnership’s design language into a consumer product rather than a cockpit.
Bowers & Wilkins’ pursuit of precision — a throughline dating back to John Bowers — lines up cleanly with the demands of Formula 1 engineering, where small improvements actually matter. The two companies have been refining McLaren’s in-car audio systems since the 540C debuted in 2015, carrying that work forward to the new McLaren W1.
In the W1, B&W incorporates technologies pulled directly from its Southwater R&D center, including the Continuum Cone material used in the 800 Series Diamond lineup. It’s the same engineering DNA, just adapted for a supercar cabin instead of a listening room.
Comparison
| Px8 S2 / Px8 S2 McLaren Edition (2025) | Px8 / Px8 Mclaren Edition (2022) | |
| Product Type | Wireless Headphones | Wireless Headphones |
| Price | $799 / $899 | $519 / $849 |
| Wearing Style | Over-ear | Over-ear |
| Drive Units | 2 × 40 mm full-range carbon cone drivers | 2 x 40mm dynamic full-range custom carbon driver |
| Noise Cancellation | Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) | Hybrid Noise Cancellation |
| Bluetooth Version | 5.3 | 5.2 |
| Bluetooth Codecs | aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, aptX Classic, AAC, SBC | aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, aptX, AAC, SBC |
| Multipoint Connectivity | Yes | Yes |
| Microphones | 8 total (4 per earcup) for ANC and voice calls | 4x mics for ANC, 2x mics for telephony |
| Voice Call Technology | ADI Pure Voice | Not Indicated |
| High-Performance DSP | Dedicated amplifier/DAC, True 24-bit audio, 5-band customizable EQ + TrueSound mode | Dedicated amplifier/DAC, True 24-bit audio |
| Battery Life (ANC On) | 30 hours | 30 hours |
| Quick Charge | 15 minutes = 7 hours of playback | 15 min charge = 7 hours battery life |
| Charging & Audio | USB-C (audio and charging) | USB-C (audio and charging) |
| Apple MFi (Made for iPhone) | Yes | No |
| Google Fast Pair | No | |
| Finishes | Onyx Black Warm Stone | Black Leather Tan & Grey Leather Galvanic Grey & Papaya Orange Dark Forest |
| Dimensions (Carry Case WDH) | 177 × 60 × 234 mm 6.97 x 2.4 x 9.21 inches | 189 x 63 x 233mm 7.44 x 2.48 x 9.17 inches |
| Weight (Headphones) | 310 g / 11 oz | 320g / 11.1 oz |
| Included Accessories | 1.2 m USB-C to 3.5 mm stereo cable 1.2 m USB-C to USB-C cable Carry case | 1.2m USB-C to 3.5mm stereo jack audio cable 1.2m USB-C to USB-C cable Carry Case |
The Bottom Line
The Px8 S2 McLaren Edition takes the already-strong S2 platform and gives it a clean, motorsport-flavored finish for buyers who want something visually tied to McLaren without altering the sonic DNA. We’ve already reviewed the standard Px8 S2, and it delivered exactly what we expect from Bowers & Wilkins: excellent comfort, reliable ANC, and a balanced, resolving sound signature. The McLaren Edition keeps all of that intact — it just wraps it in a design package aimed squarely at enthusiasts who want their headphones to match the key fob in their pocket.
If you already own the Px8 S2 and you’re happy, there’s no technical reason to upgrade. The drivers, wireless platform, and tuning remain the same. But if you’re a McLaren owner, a McLaren hopeful, or you simply like the branding, the McLaren Edition adds a bit of personality without taking anything away.
The ecosystem angle is growing, too. The Pi8 McLaren Edition wireless earbuds bring the same styling to a portable form factor, and the Zeppelin McLaren Edition extends it to a home wireless speaker. These follow a partnership that began in 2015 with the McLaren 540C and now reaches all the way to the flagship W1 supercar, complete with B&W’s Continuum Cone technology baked into the in-car systems.
Worth noting: McLaren Automotive is separate division (now within the same company, CYVN Holdings) that has collaborated with Klipsch on special editions of the T5 II wireless earbuds and several Heritage and powered speakers including The One, The Nines, Forte, and the MCL-905.
A McLaren Edition Nautilus someday? Well… stranger things have happened — the internet, and half the audiophile world might actually implode.
Price & Availability
The Px8 S2 McLaren Edition is available for $899 at Amazon and selected retailers
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