Since I don’t have that long and storied relationship with Bowers & Wilkins, I can’t tell you if this is the best 805 ever, or how it’s different than the first three versions. That’s probably best since I don’t like making endless guesses about comparisons made at different times and different places, not to mention different systems.

The 805 D4 is also excellent at rendering subtle details, and thankfully it does so in a natural, unshowy way. I suspect this is down to the diamond tweeter.

The Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature speakers are some of the best I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. With a hefty price tag of $55,000, they are certainly an investment, but they deliver performance that matches the cost. Whether you’re listening to music or watching a movie, these speakers deliver in a way that makes them competitive with even more expensive models in the market. It’s clear that Bowers & Wilkins has crafted a speaker that delivers on its promise, making it an AVSForum Top Choice for 2024.

The 805 D4 is as technically accomplished as we'd hope an 800 Series speaker to be but it's also a genuinely joyous thing to listen at the same time. It balances accuracy and realism with levels of engagement its predecessors never matched and offers class leading build and finish into the bargain.

Not a match for low-powered tube amps, but driven firmly the new B&W flagships are capable of a sound as informative as it is vivid. They bring to life everything from driving rock to the most subtle of solo instruments and voices, with breathtaking insight into performance and music alike. Yes, they're demanding of both amplifier and system quality, but get it right and they will thrill and entice like almost no other.

Bowers & Wilkins’s 805 D4 is many things. It’s gorgeous. It’s incredibly well built. Its proprietary diamond tweeter and Continuum midrange-woofer are sensational when considered in isolation, with the former being right up there with some of the best beryllium-dome tweeters I’ve heard and the latter yielding the kind of microscopic definition that I’ve come to expect only in loudspeakers that go for twice its price. Its bass control was similarly exemplary

The 805 D4 is also excellent at rendering subtle details, and thankfully it does so in a natural, unshowy way. I suspect this is down to the diamond tweeter.

The new 802 D4 is not a cheap loudspeaker but offers value for money, nonetheless. Think of it as a high-end design for all seasons, as it works so well across such a wide range of music. It is large but not huge, whilst having a bandwidth and a physical scale of sound that's wide enough for pretty much anyone except wild eccentrics. The new D4 version shows up the D3 as being cruder than I had suspected. It retains the great skills of the older design whilst polishing things to an even more lustrous shine – and the result is that everything sounds more natural and less 'hi-fi'. The technological improvements that Bowers & Wilkins have made are real and not just marketing waffle. A quantum leap over what came before, current 800 Series owners and B&W newbies alike owe it to themselves to hear this.

The new 802 D4 is not a cheap loudspeaker but offers value for money, nonetheless. Think of it as a high-end design for all seasons, as it works so well across such a wide range of music. It is large but not huge, whilst having a bandwidth and a physical scale of sound that's wide enough for pretty much anyone except wild eccentrics. The new D4 version shows up the D3 as being cruder than I had suspected. It retains the great skills of the older design whilst polishing things to an even more lustrous shine – and the result is that everything sounds more natural and less 'hi-fi'. The technological improvements that Bowers & Wilkins have made are real and not just marketing waffle. A quantum leap over what came before, current 800 Series owners and B&W newbies alike owe it to themselves to hear this.

The Bowers & Wilkins 802 D4 is more expensive than its forebear but so is everything else around us, including the competition, which in all honesty struggles to compete. Bowers & Wilkins makes more high-end loudspeakers than anyone else in the world, 6,500 pairs of 800 series models a year in fact, and this gives them an economy of scale that means the 802 D4 costs half as much as its nearest serious competitor. It may not have the snob appeal of boutique brands but it has a phenomenal R&D dept that produces world-class loudspeakers, and the 802 D4 is certainly that.

Overall, however, I found the 804 D4's sound seductive. This is a loudspeaker you need to audition.

The Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 is a unique speaker. It is big and rough, but still watchful in its own ingenious way. And it sounds really fantastic.

Between their great looks and perfectionist performance, the 805 D4s seduced me. I fell in love with these speakers, like no other bookshelf speakers I have heard. The qualities that produced this reaction were present from day one: An exquisitely detailed, effortless delivery unencumbered by coloration, distortion, or compression at the listening levels I use.

The Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 are beautifully made and sonically accomplished, and for that, they deserve a place on the shortlist

Placing the 802D4’s into service marks the 5th landmark improvement in sound quality I have experienced in my audio journey of 40+ years. They are precise, visceral, and highly recommended.