Let's me start with: I'm not an audiophile. I appreciate good music and good sound, but overall I know quite little about your beautiful hobby. Thanks for letting me pretend for a second while I share my excitement with you, "dear journal"-like.

I've been rocking V-Moda Crossfade M-100s since 2015. In the past few years they've been relegated to my work-from-home setup, and I use a pair of Jabra Elite 4 Actives for running. Honestly I'm really impressed with how the V-Modas have held up over the years, especially since they were used quite heavily in the pre-pandemic years. But I've missed listening to music, you know? And I got tired of plugging/unplugging the V-Modas from my workstation to lug them around.

I read a ton of posts and reviews, learned the difference between closed-back and open-back headphones, read about amps and DACs, wired vs wireless pros and cons, and tried any headphones I could at the store just to start getting an idea of what different prices and types sounded like. After considering what I was really looking for, I ultimately landed on deciding between the Focal Bathys and the Bowers and Wilkins Px8 S2, both priced at $999 CAD. I found no deals on the Px8 S2, found the Bathys for $799 CAD... and then found an Amazon Warehouse deal on the Px8 (not S2) for $560 CAD (like new; originally $949 CAD). The only caveat was they were green; not my first choice but they still look really good. I honestly don't like the look of the Bathys, and I can almost guarantee my peasant ears won't hear the difference between the S2 and the original Px8. They were just about the same price as the Sony MX5/6 I tested out at Best Buy, and consensus online seemed to be the B&W sounded much better. Seemed like a no-brainer to me.

Holy hell, friends. These things are amazing. Comfortable, a breeze to setup, build feels nice and sturdy. I've not travelled on a plane with them yet, but for general use around the house the ANC seems very competent and enveloping, like I'm in my own cocoon. I've been using them around 5 hours per day, and the battery lasts me a full work week. I also really enjoy the "Wear sensor" setting, where the headphones auto-pause if you remove them from even just one ear. Very useful in a house with dogs and children.

And I've never experienced headphone sound like this. I know wireless closed-back headphones are not the optimal audiophile experience, but for me it's been a revelation. I've been playing with the Px8 EQ preset in the Wavelet app but I've not yet quite decided if I prefer it on or off. The headphones are definitely bassier on their own, but I don't think I dislike it. I also am not able to tell a difference using the USB-C vs Bluetooth. In either case, I'm discovering new facets to songs I've heard thousands of times. Some highlights so far:

Sleeping Sickness - City and Colour: There's a warbly quality to Gord Downie's voice that I had never noticed and it adds a warm extra layer of feeling to the song.

Holy Road - Bones Owen: The headphones add a whole layer of ... space (?) to this song. I'm getting lost in the reverb on the vocals. The song just feels so much airier than I ever noticed.

Angel - Massive Attack: There's a whole entire super low bassline at the beginning of the song that I had straight up never noticed!

Descending - Tool: It's pretty easy to follow bass guitar lines in most Tool songs, but now it sounds so much tighter and clearer than I've ever heard it before. Very enjoyable. And the "waves" at the start of the song feel very realistic compared to my previous listens.

Anyway, thanks for reading - and thanks to this community for all the discussions and helpful comments I was able to read through to educate and inform my purchase. Y'all are awesome, and I'm super stoked. Cheers!