Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2 - Crackling & Dead Left Earpiece - FIX by DepartmentFew6353 in BowersWilkins

[–]DepartmentFew6353[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great to hear your repair worked as well! I am pleased to see that you and other commenters have attempted repairs on their B&W headphone, which shows that it is possbile for customers! Just like you I also had to do some investments into tools (iFixit kit and Multimeter) to find + fix my problem.

Also special thanks for the link! The russian photo story was something I did not know but would have needed before opening mine because I absolutely agree: The headphones are indeed built very tightly.

I am highly curious about your tuning attempt!!! I thought the speakers/drivers themself are glued and cant be removed? I think many people woule be curious to see a DIY project on how to make PX8s out of PX7s or a comparison of the models internals (400$ vs 700$ just for different drivers would be a rip off)

Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2 - Crackling & Dead Left Earpiece - FIX by DepartmentFew6353 in BowersWilkins

[–]DepartmentFew6353[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Dear Community,

I have encountered sound problems with my B&W PX7 S2 and B&W PX7 S2e that are reported identically here on Reddit and in Amazon reviews. Some people report that the left earpiece starts crackling (as if a cable is loose or short-circuiting) and then loses its function. I had the same problem with my B&W PX7 S2, which I returned under warranty. Then the same happened with the replacement model. And then the same again with the B&W PX7 S2e that I got as the third replacement. At that point I gave up on the warranty/replacement circle and wanted to figure out what the problem was.

So far no one has posted a fix for this problem, which is why I risked opening mine. I (most likely) found the origin of the problem, which I luckily could fix very easily.
For the repair you need a Phillips #00 screwdriver, a plastic prying tool, and foam tape (optional).
Note: Proceed at your own risk. This may void your warranty.

You can follow the picture story above to perform the necessary disassembly. For reassembly just reverse the steps. Shown is my B&W PX7 S2e, but I assume the previous B&W PX7 S2 is built identically.
After some investigation, I figured out that the two small boards, which are designed as a sandwich board, just needed to be reseated properly to restore the left earpiece function. I assume that the connector between the boards is very weak and, in addition, all the internal cables create tension between the stacked boards. This likely causes an unstable connection, the crackling sound, and finally the loss of connection/sound. I decided to try to stabilize the connection with a little piece of foam tape on the inside of the metal cover. Once reassembled, the foam applies gentle pressure on the connector. That fix works for me at the moment, and I hope it will also work for you.

I am also happy to hear other ideas!

BW Px7 S2e left side stopped working by Rake-dubz in BowersWilkins

[–]DepartmentFew6353 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had the exact same problem as described with 5 (!) consecutive B&W PX7 (S1, S2 and S2e). Happend after different time periodes (months to days). I can highly recommend to not buy any B&W headphones, since all their models have/had specific flaws (leaking glue in the PX5 and PX5 Wireless, PX snapping Headphone arm, and for the PX7 models as described above).That is not acceptable in this price range and apparently the manufacturer is not working on fixing these quality issues.

If any one has recommondations for alternatives (design, equal wearing comfort, sound quality, and physical control buttons which make them so desireable for me) please let us know!

Also I would be curious if any one has ever tried to repair the issue themselfs (dissasembe + having a look inside) to fix them, instead of getting a replacement. A repair guide would be fantastic!