We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-22 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
If you want one pair of wireless headphones that can carry you through a long-haul flight, a commute, and a workday without a charging cable in sight, choose Bowers & Wilkins PX7; if you need a wired, open-back planar headphone built for serious listening at a desk, choose SENDYAUDIO Apollo Open-Back Planar.
These two are not really competitors. One is a battery-powered travel companion with adaptive noise cancelling. The other is a wood-housed planar magnetic headphone that plugs into a cable and asks you to sit still. The right answer depends entirely on where and how you listen — not on which one is "better."
• Bowers & Wilkins PX7 — biggest strength: 30 hours of playback on a charge, plus adaptive noise cancelling that adjusts to your surroundings automatically.
• Bowers & Wilkins PX7 — biggest trade-off: It's a wireless consumer headphone, so it leans on Bluetooth codecs and internal processing rather than a direct wired signal path.
• SENDYAUDIO Apollo Open-Back Planar — biggest strength: A 68mm planar magnetic driver in a wooden housing, wired via a 6N OCC braided cable, with a frequency range that reaches 40KHz.
• SENDYAUDIO Apollo Open-Back Planar — biggest trade-off: It's wired only, has no noise cancelling at all, and its open-back design means it leaks sound both ways.
• Pick the PX7 if you listen on the move, on planes, in offices, or anywhere the outside world is loud.
• Pick the Apollo if you listen at a desk or in a quiet room and want an open, spacious presentation from a wired planar driver.
The PX7 is a headphone designed around movement. Its 43mm dynamic drivers are the largest in Bowers & Wilkins' headphone range, and the company says they're tuned by the same engineers behind its 800 Series Diamond speakers. That's brand context rather than a spec you can measure, but it explains the positioning: this is meant to be a premium-sounding wireless headphone first and a travel tool second — or maybe the other way around.
What actually makes it useful day to day is the feature set. Adaptive noise cancelling reads your environment and adjusts itself, so you don't have to fiddle with modes when you move from a train platform to a quiet carriage. Wear sensors in both earpieces pause playback and drop the headphone into standby when you lift a cup off your ear, then wake and reconnect when you put it back. Ambient pass-through lets announcements through without removing the headphone. Two devices can connect at once, and it remembers up to eight paired devices, so switching between a laptop and a phone isn't a re-pairing ritual every time.
Battery is the headline number: 30 hours of average life, and a 15-minute quick charge reportedly adds around 6 more hours. Charge time for a full top-up isn't listed, but the quick-charge figure is the one that matters when you're boarding a flight.
Buy it if you want one headphone for commuting, flying, open-plan offices, and casual listening at home — and you value not thinking about cables. Skip it if you primarily listen critically at a desk, want a fully wired signal path, or prefer the open, airy character that only an open-back design can give you. Also note the physical reality: 302g is a real weight on your head for hours, and the 3.5mm jack means you can go wired when the battery runs out, but the drivers and tuning remain those of a closed-back wireless headphone. It's also Bluetooth 5.0 with a 10-metre range, which is fine but not the newest generation.
The Apollo is the opposite philosophy. It's a wired, open-back, over-ear planar magnetic headphone with a wooden enclosure and a round earpiece shape. There's no battery, no Bluetooth, no noise cancelling — the data sheet lists noise control as "None," and it connects through a pair of 2.5mm jacks, one per cup, with a 6N OCC braided cable that SENDYAUDIO says is built with a spring relief design to extend cable life.
The core of the headphone is its driver: a 68mm planar magnetic diaphragm. Planar drivers use a flat diaphragm with conductors printed across it, suspended in a magnetic field, which is a fundamentally different approach from the moving-coil dynamic drivers in the PX7. SENDYAUDIO says the magnetic circuit and magnet distance were developed over three years of experimentation to balance resonance, and that a high-damping base material in the composite diaphragm contributes to the sound. Take the marketing language for what it is, but the physical description — large planar diaphragm, tuned magnetic gap — is a recognizable recipe for the smooth mids and textured bass that planar fans look for.
The specs tell you who this is for. Impedance is 16 ohm, which is low, and the frequency range runs from 20Hz to 40KHz. A 16-ohm load is easy to drive — most phones, dongles and laptops will get it loud — though planar headphones often reward a dedicated amplifier with better control, especially in the low end.
Two things matter more than any spec: it's open-back, and it's wired. Open-back means the rear of the driver is exposed, so sound escapes outward and outside noise comes in. That's the trade-off for the wide, transparent sound stage SENDYAUDIO describes. You will not want these on a plane, on a train, or in a shared office. And because there's no wireless option, you're tethered to whatever is feeding the signal.
Buy it if you listen at a desk, in a quiet room, or in a dedicated headphone setup, and you want a large planar driver in a wooden housing with a proper wired connection. Skip it if you need portability, isolation, or a microphone for calls. The headband is described as ergonomic and light for long sessions, and the warranty is 12 months through SIVGA.
• Best for commuting, flights and noisy spaces → Bowers & Wilkins PX7. Adaptive noise cancelling and 30 hours of battery make it the only one of the two that works in public.
• Best for quiet-room, critical listening → SENDYAUDIO Apollo Open-Back Planar. The 68mm planar driver and open-back design are built for exactly this.
• Best for wireless freedom → Bowers & Wilkins PX7. Bluetooth 5.0, two simultaneous device connections, and memory for up to eight paired devices.
• Best for wide frequency extension → SENDYAUDIO Apollo Open-Back Planar. Its range reaches 40KHz versus 20KHz on the PX7.
• Best for easy driveability from modest sources → SENDYAUDIO Apollo Open-Back Planar. At 16 ohm it's a light electrical load, though planars still benefit from decent amplification.
• Best for convenience features → Bowers & Wilkins PX7. Wear sensors, auto standby and wake, ambient pass-through, and a quick charge that adds hours in minutes.
• Best for sound isolation → Bowers & Wilkins PX7. It's closed-back with active cancelling. The Apollo is open-back and has no noise control at all.
• Best for a wired-only, no-battery setup → SENDYAUDIO Apollo Open-Back Planar. No charging to think about, ever.
In my opinion, most people asking this question should buy the Bowers & Wilkins PX7. It does more things well in more places — noise cancelling, 30-hour battery, wear sensors, dual-device Bluetooth — and it's the one that fits an actual daily routine rather than a dedicated listening corner.
I'd recommend the SENDYAUDIO Apollo only if you already know you want an open-back planar for quiet, wired, at-home listening and you're comfortable with its limitations. If that's you, the 68mm driver and wooden housing are the point. If it isn't, the PX7 is the safer, more versatile buy. Either way, check the current price on Amazon before deciding, since that's the one variable this comparison can't cover.
Both. It's primarily a Bluetooth 5.0 wireless headphone, but it also includes a 3.5mm aux cable, so you can run it passively when the battery is empty or when you want a cable connection.
No. Its data sheet lists noise control as "None," and as an open-back design it lets outside sound in and lets your music escape outward. It's meant for quiet rooms.
Yes, technically. At 16 ohm it's easy to drive, and it terminates in dual 2.5mm jacks through its included cable. You may need an adapter for a standard 3.5mm or balanced output, and a dedicated amp will get more from a planar driver.
The Bowers & Wilkins PX7, without question — it offers 30 hours of average playback and a 15-minute quick charge for roughly 6 extra hours. The SENDYAUDIO Apollo has no battery because it's a passive wired headphone.
The PX7, clearly. Adaptive noise cancelling, wireless operation, wear sensors and a carrying case make it the travel-capable option. The Apollo is open-back and wired, which is the worst possible combination for a plane or train.
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