Bose Noise Cancelling Wireless Bluetooth Headphones 700, with Alexa Voice Control, Black

1.0 out of 5 stars

By achase - Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2019

Surprisingly Unacceptable Demands from Bose

I had been eagerly waiting for this new model to be released, but I have to say that it's going right back. First, I was shocked to discover that Bose forces you to download their app to even make the headphones work at all - the headphones will not function at all without it. Good luck if you are in an area without a live internet connection. I was not happy having to do this, but I downloaded the app. I then found out that you are FORCED to open a Bose account or your new headphones will stay non-functional! Further, unless you agreed with their privacy policy, AND give your headphones full-time access to your microphone, AND allow your location history to be downloaded, etc., YOUR HEADPHONES ARE NON-FUNCTIONAL!!! Even the new design is a step backward in my opinion as it tries to make the headphones do too many things with swipes and taps to the ear cups, etc. Sure, you can vary the volume by "swiping", but good luck in making small changes to get a desired level.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Honest Reviewer - Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2019

The Pros, Cons and Oks for Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 (HR).

Pros: • Beautifully designed. It looks like it’s made from one sheet of stainless steel and feels pretty dam solid. No visible screws, no joints, very sleek. • There is a soft touch plastic on the device. It’s a nice feel and I have to believe they went this way to reduce weight. • Adjusting the speakers is purely simple. You just slide the ear cups up or down to your choosing. • The touch panel on the speaker is very quick. It didn’t take long to know how to use it because Bose provides a simple layout on using the touch features. • One highlight of these headphones is the voice speaking system. Inside this machine, you’re getting 8 individual microphones. 6 are for the noise canceling and the last two are for your voice. I sat in my busy office (an open floor layout) and began to make calls using this. This function is excellent. The noise canceling blocks out 80-90% of my surroundings while anyone I talk to, using this headphone, had no idea that I was in the center of my office space during our rush hour. Very clean in speaking with it, and my colleagues on the phone notice it as well (doesn’t really go both ways because they don’t have the 700, but you can’t win them all). • What’s really cool about the noise canceling feature is that you have levels on how much you want to block the outside world. This is a great treat to have because there were times that I needed to forget the world when I was on my break, and there were times that I was waiting for someone to call me. The layout is a high, medium, to full transparency. I always stick to medium when I’m not at home, and go to the high levels when I know I wouldn’t be needed. My advice is to use the full transparency when walking because this headphone’s noise canceling system is so good that it can be dangerous if you don’t know your surroundings. • With the noise canceling feature, I’m also not getting any distortion from playing music. • I will only use the highest noise canceling settings either at home or on a plane. You can’t hear anything going on when this feature is active. • Overall the system is built to never leave your head. • You can use all the AIs if you want (Google, Alexa, Siri). I have each one of them on a different product, and all were able to hear me clearly after I turned an external speaker extremely high in order to see how the headphones will take with a large amount of external sound coming at it. • I’m getting around 4 days of use (that’s around 4 hours a day). Battery life is respectable. • Bluetooth is fast and I’m happy to also note that that having the Bluetooth feature on all the time doesn’t drain the battery. I know some headphones and phones have this issue. But not this one. • The case it comes with allows the headphones to fold flat and has a small pocket for the cable. Very premium • You do have a wire mode if the battery does die. Surprisingly now the issue is finding a phone with a headphone jack. • Comfort is spot on. I was never an ear cover headphone type of guy because my ears start to get hot. The comfort that it provides me makes this a minimal issue at most. • The app is very customizable to these headphones. One example is the battery life of the headphones. On the app it will not only tell an accurate battery lifetime frame, but you can make the headphones shut off automatically if they're not in use within a specific time frame that you created. • The app also allows you to create a number of sound profiles. As I said, very customizable • You can also get to battery life, told to you, from the headphones themselves. • The charging on these headphones are really quick. I did a 15-minute charge and that gave me an extra 2 hours of battery life. • The sound is very smooth, clear, and what you get from any headphones from Bose (will explain more below). Cons and Oks: • You can’t fold up this device. It’s a sleek design but there are no hinges as the only option of storage using the case that it comes with. • No aptX or aptX HD support • Bose hasn’t yet found a solution in allowing the option to temporarily amplifying your surroundings when you need to. Sony has done this in their past headphones, but Bose has yet to get on board. • I notice that these headphones do get off heat. When you’re using the noise canceling feature, the heat will grow. • Bose headphones always provide the best in smoothness, but not in the bass. The bass is strong, but you expect a little more than what it offers. Obliviously this depends on the type of music you’re listening to. But for real hardcore beat music, you might get a step down in performance because the bass sounds a little tighter. • These headphones tend to sand down the music you’re playing to (Listening to Kayne West, Lady Gaga, Jay Z songs that require a full range of sounds). It’s the signature way of what Bose does, but it’s still incredible to listen to it them. Note that the noise canceling feature really does help. • Speech to text works pretty well. There is some miscommunication, but this is hard to go out on the headphones as it also depends on the program you’re using (was just using a basic voice speech program on my mac). • There is a weight to these headphones, but fortunately, the weight is scattered evenly. • The touch swipe feature is a nice change of pace, but I know those who live in cold environments will not enjoy this. Having mittens/gloves on won’t work with the touch sensor, so you’ll need to remove them in order to use it. The climate region on where you live may be an impact if you want to buy these. • Make sure you download the right app. Bose has so many of them and it’s easy to download the wrong one since they all have similar names. • It does deliver a suburb voice assistant support but I didn’t focus on this since 1. You have Goggles, Siri, and Alexa on standby and 2. This is new, and I already saw some bugs in this layout. Bottom Line: It’s Bose. Bose is the father of premium sound for decades so you’re getting the best of the best in sound. The design is sleek, the sound is great, and the noise canceling is excellent. One of the best features is using the microphone/calling setup. I recently reviewed the Denon AH-GC30, and the microphone/calling setup is the way for these new headphones. There is not much to complain because anyone who has a Bose knows that everything you spent on a Bose comes from the hardware within. Yes, I wish the bass was a little better, and the design issue of not being able to fold it is annoying. But the overall sound is a Bose sound, so if you have the money, pick these up for yourself. Overall: It’s Bose, the Ferrari of sound. A need for music lovers and a must for those who want quiet in a busy world. Hope I was a help to you. Love, Honest Reviewer.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Daniel James - Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2019

A well rounded ANC wireless headphone

Received these Saturday from Bose after I pre-ordered them when they were announced. I am thoroughly impressed so far. Packaging is simplistic and straight to the point with two peel back tabs that let you inside. From there, you will see the NCH 700's case which was smaller than I thought because they don't fold up like the QC35II's. The case fits in my work bag just fine. However, I do have say it's not as small overall as the QC35II's case. The NCH 700 case has a little magnetic flap inside that stores the audio and USB-C cable. No airplane adapter. Thank you Bose for going USB-C with the NCH 700's. What's left is manuals and warranty cards. The feel of the NCH 700's is nice. It's a streamlined design that grew on me and looks very modern. Weight is slightly more than the QC35II's. Build quality is significantly superior with more metals being used and most importantly, the comfort is similar. I would maybe give the slight edge to the QC35II in comfort due to the lower weight, but the NCH 700's is still a very comfortable headphone. The headband adjustment is smooth and should accommodate a wide variety of head sizes just fine. Ear-cup openings is similar to the QC35II with the left and right labels inside the ear cups for easy notation on how to put the headphones on. Controls are great and I can say the touch controls are very responsive and intuitive. Swipe up for volume increase. Swipe down for volume decrease. Swipe forward for the next track. Swipe backward for the previous track. Double tap to play and pause. Tap once to accept and incoming call. Tap and hold to reject the call. Tap and hold to go to a shortcut predefined in the app. The current shortcut available was to have the voice prompt alert you of the current battery life in which she tells you the estimated time until the battery is dead. There's 3 dedicated buttons on the NCH 700's. The two on the right is responsible for Power on/Bluetooth pairing and voice assistance/mute mic. The one on the left is to cycle between the 3 preset noice cancelling modes defined with the app. The right earpiece houses the USB-C port and the left earpiece houses the audio input port. The app provides a lot of functionality control. You can on the fly scroll though the noise cancelling/ambient modes from 0-10. 0 being like having no headphones on at all and 10 being in your own little acoustical chamber. You can launch Bose AR apps and experience augmented reality with he NCH 700's. Pretty cool. You can select the sources that are connected and add a new source or remove an existing source. The NCH 700 can connect to up to 2 devices at once. You can set your voice assistant between Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa. You can set how much of your voice is heard during phone calls or voice assistant interaction. If you're familiar with the QC35II's Bose Connect app, it's pretty much similar settings you can control. Sound on the NCH 700's is clean, open and balanced when at moderate volumes. No frequency really stands out so you get an accurate representation of your music. I would say they sound similar to the QC35II but with a tighter bass. The Sony WH1000Xm3 in comparison sounds more warm and full with a more engaging and alive presentation similar to being at the concert. The Bose sounds more accurate and clear and more like being in the studio. A flat and accurate sound will not sound exciting to everyone however so do keep that into consideration if you're eyeing the Bose.. Sound is subjective overall so you can't go wrong with what you enjoy listening to. I really enjoy the NCH 700's sound. It's a smooth and clear sound that plays well with all genres. The main issue I have with the Bose NCH 700 sound is that when you want to crank the volume, the bass literally begins to disappear in the mix due to the active EQ implementation from Bose. I personally do not like this as it makes these headphones sound harsh and tinny. Noise cancelling is insanely good on the NCH 700's. The Sony WH1000Xm3 is still a bit more effective at reducing outside noises especially in the midrange and treble frequencies. Unfortunately, both headphones get those distortion artifacts when the ANC pressure within the ear cups is disrupted from sudden vibrations to the headphones. For example this can be caused by being on a bus while on a bumpy road or running with your headphones on. The ambient aware mode is very natural feeling on the NCH 700 and it's great being able to have awareness while listening to audio in situations where you don't want to blocked completely from the world. Would be cool if it had the Sony's right hand palm over the ear cup feature where it seamlessly kicks in ambient sound and lowers the music volume so you can quickly hear someone or something and then once your hand leaves the right ear cup, everything reverts back to normal. The Bose NCH 700 does this with the button on the left ear cup. If you press and hold the button for about 2 seconds, it pauses the music and pipes in the nosies around you. When you press the button again, it reverts back to the previously set ANC setting and resumes playing audio. The NCH 700's perform exceptionally for voice mic quality on calls and interacting with your voice assistant. It's amazing how clear your voice is projected onto the other line while using the NCH 700. These are killer for conference calls even if you dare take them in the middle of Times Square, NYC. Overall, the NCH 700 is a welcome evolution to the Bose headphone line up and I'm sure these will win the hearts of many. Highly recommended!