The Pi8 McLaren Edition, a new version of the award-winning Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 wireless earbuds has been unveiled, developed in collaboration with McLaren Automotive and the McLaren Formula 1 Team. The new earbuds build on the success of the award-winning Pi8, integrating the famous McLaren Papaya orange together with Galvanic Gray into the design.
Studio-Grade Sound Neets Iconic McLaren Design
Reflecting the two brands’ shared technical and performance-led aesthetic, the Pi8 McLaren Edition offers the high-performance sound quality synonymous with
Bowers & Wilkins, coupled with a design that connects fans of McLaren cars to the visual identity of the McLaren brand.
The Pi8 is the Bowers & Wilkins multi-award-winning flagship earbud combining reference-standard hi-res audio performance, elegant design, premium materials, exceptional comfort and fit, as well as enhanced connectivity and features, including Wireless Audio Retransmission.
F1 is well-known for its globetrotting nature, so Bowers & Wilkins products will play a crucial role in both the team’s extensive travel from race-to-race, relaxation and recovery, as well as any pre-race preparation needs throughout the season.
Speaking on behalf of Bowers & Wilkins, Giles Pocock, Vice President of Brand Marketing, said: “We are thrilled to collaborate with the McLaren team once again. This reimagining of our award-winning earbuds elevates our long-term partnership even further by combining the unmistakable design DNA of McLaren with our industry-leading audio products to create an attention-grabbing version of our Pi8. We’re excited to see how it’s received by Bowers & Wilkins and McLaren fans alike.”
A long-standing partnership rooted in prestige and performance
Since 2015, Bowers & Wilkins and McLaren have partnered to develop the high-performance audio systems found in McLaren’s supercars. The relationship is built on firm technical foundations and rooted in the brands’ shared values of delivering the highest levels of performance. More recently, the strategic long-term multi-year partnership was extended to see Bowers & Wilkins’ become McLaren’s Official Audio Partner across McLaren Automotive and the McLaren Formula 1 Team.
Bowers & Wilkins’ pursuit of perfection, inspired by founder John Bowers, mirrors the unyielding precision and performance demanded in Formula 1 racing and the audio brand’s engineering team worked closely with their counterparts at McLaren Automotive to create and optimise the audio system found in the McLaren W1, the company’s new high-performance supercar. The audio system in the W1 features the latest advanced speaker technologies developed at the Bowers & Wilkins’ Southwater research and development centre, including the Continuum Cone, as found in the brand’s flagship 800 Series Diamond loudspeakers.
The Pi8 McLaren Edition is available with limited pre-sale availability and for pre-order from April 3,2025, via the Bowers & Wilkins website www.bowerswilkins.com.
An Audiophile History of Bowers & Wilkins Loudspeakers
The Bowers & Wilkins story begins in 1966 in Worthing, West Sussex, England, where John Bowers and his business partner Roy Wilkins ran a radio and electronics store called Bowers & Wilkins Ltd. But John Bowers wasn’t content simply selling other companies’ products—he wanted to improve on them. Using his earnings from a grateful customer’s inheritance, Bowers built the company’s first true loudspeaker, the P1. It didn’t take long for Bowers to realize that if you want truly high-performance loudspeakers, you need to control every aspect of the design and manufacturing process.
By 1968, B&W had opened its own factory and was producing the DM1 and DM3, speakers that laid the groundwork for the company’s dedication to detailed sound and elegant design. The “DM” stood for “Domestic Monitor,” signaling B&W’s ambitions to bring studio-grade sound into the home. In fact, it was B&W’s unique relationship with professional recording engineers that helped the brand stand out. By the 1980s, the company had already placed loudspeakers in Abbey Road Studios, lending enormous credibility and opening the door to international recognition.
In 1979, Bowers & Wilkins introduced the 801, the flagship of their new 800 Series. It was a revelation. Designed with a separate, spherical midrange head and a matrix-braced cabinet, the 801 wasn’t just a good home loudspeaker—it was a tool for mastering engineers. It quickly became the speaker of choice at leading studios around the world, from Abbey Road to Skywalker Sound. Even decades later, many audiophiles still consider the original 801 one of the greatest loudspeakers of the 20th century.
That 800 Series has since gone through multiple iterations—each one pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in loudspeaker design. Kevlar cone midrange drivers, aluminum Nautilus tube-loaded tweeters, and more recently, Continuum cone technology and diamond tweeters, have all helped B&W maintain its leadership position in the high-end speaker game. The use of Kevlar, in particular, became a signature of the B&W sound, prized for its detailed, natural midrange reproduction.
In 1993, Bowers & Wilkins opened Steyning Research Establishment, a state-of-the-art R&D facility named after their hometown. This lab became the breeding ground for many of the company’s now-iconic technologies. The effort that went into engineering the Nautilus loudspeaker—released in 1993—exemplifies B&W’s no-compromise philosophy. With its unmistakable seashell-like shape and four separate drivers in individual tapered tubes, the Nautilus was more than a speaker—it was a design manifesto. It also didn’t hurt that it sounded completely unlike anything else, offering time alignment, perfect driver integration, and jaw-dropping imaging. Even today, the Nautilus remains a visual and sonic symbol of the brand.
As the audiophile market evolved, so did Bowers & Wilkins. The brand never sat still. In the 2000s and 2010s, the company launched the CM Series (a step below the 800 Series) and the entry-level 600 Series, which brought much of B&W’s engineering to a wider audience. Their continued dominance in the premium home theater market, especially with custom installation speakers, architectural in-wall options, and subwoofers, cemented the brand’s relevance well beyond the two-channel space.
They also leaned into digital and lifestyle audio in ways few traditional audiophile companies dared to explore. The B&W Zeppelin, a high-style iPod dock/speaker system, became a huge success in the late 2000s, opening the brand up to a new audience. Their PX and PX7 headphones entered the active noise canceling game with strong design, competitive sound, and Bluetooth fidelity that stood up to industry giants like Sony and Bose.
Ownership has changed over the years—first when the company transitioned into employee ownership after John Bowers’ death in 1987, and later when it was sold to EVA Automation in 2016. By 2020, B&W was acquired by Sound United (now Masimo Consumer), joining other legacy brands like Denon, Marantz, and Polk. While corporate ownership always brings questions from hardcore purists, Bowers & Wilkins has largely maintained its identity and product quality under this umbrella.
