New McLaren Edition brings supercar style to Bowers & Wilkins' top earbuds

It was late last year that Bowers & Wilkins' top-end earbuds, the Pi8, launched to much fanfare. We called the 'buds "the most competitive true wireless in-ear headphones so far" in our review.

Now there's a new special edition in town, the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 McLaren Edition, the first product to be revealed following the extension of the companies' partnership – now including the F1 team – as revealed in March this year.

It may therefore be of little surprise that the most swish earbuds on the market have come dressed in the most swish supercar-style livery. Deploying the famous McLaren 'Papaya orange with Galvanic Grey' into the earbuds' design, these are one sharp-looking product.

It's a familiar tale and one that Bowers & Wilkins products have long offered – including the last-gen Zeppelin wireless speaker, also in McLaren colours, among the Px8 special and other audio products. I suspect a Zeppelin Pro Edition McLaren Edition (probably with a smoother name) can't be long off.

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I've briefly previewed a pair of the new earbuds, too, at a private Bowers & Wilkins event – as you can see in the image gallery above.

But the Pi8 McLaren Edition don't mess around with the engine of the originals – it's entirely an aesthetic offering. That means you get all the same pros, of course, with "detailed, full-bodied and entirely convincing sound" – again, our review's words, just to hit home how impressive these 'buds are.

These new Bowers & Wilkins McLaren Edition Pi8 earbuds will be available with limited pre-order availability from today, via the company's own website. Pricing is set at £449/$499/€499 (no AU$ visibility at this time) – crossing the finish line with a £/$100 markup compared to the base model.