Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 Review

The Noise Cancelling Headphone 700s are a bit of a reinvention for Bose. Succeeding the iconic Quiet Comfort series, the NCH 700s boast a new name, a new look, and in some ways, a new philosophy. Bose isn't just trying to eliminate noise for you, they're also trying to make the world a bit more quiet for anyone you're talking to.

Noise-cancellation is naturally one of the key reasons you'd consider the NCH 700s, and as you'd expect from Bose, pretty good. The cans offer 11 levels of noise-cancellation, with 0 essentially acting as an ambient mode that filters the outside world into your headphones, and 10 blocking out as much out the outside world as the headphones can. Which is quite a lot. The NCH 700s cancel out just a tad less noise than the Sony WH-1000XM3s, but they still do a great job at making the world a bit quieter.

What's more interesting is that the NCH 700s can also reduce noise when it comes to phone calls; they're smart enough to isolate your voice from any background sounds. This means you'll come across as crystal clear to whoever you're talking to, even if you're in a loud environment like a train station. It's seriously impressive technology, even if you're not the primary beneficiary. Although I guess you could use it to lie about being in the office when you're actually at the pub or beach.

When it comes to audio quality, the NCH 700s are best described as flat and neutral. There's an abundance of clarity, they definitely sound good, and they're balanced. Bass, mids, and trebles are all equally favoured. If you've listened to past Bose headphones, the sound signature is pretty similar. At the same time, this can make the NCH 700s come across as a little sterile, as if something is missing.

Part of this might probably comes down to personal taste; I prefer headphones with a warmer, richer sound, where's just a slight tilt toward lower end frequencies. It's not like the NCH 700s don't sound good, they just don't have a distinct personality. Sadly, the companion app (more on this later) doesn't feature an EQ for adjusting their tuning.

The NCH 700s are a slick piece of kit; they're a lot more elegant than the QC35s they succeed, which feel downright utilitarian in contrast. Bose's new look is completely seamless; there are no visible screws or hinges. Instead, the earcups smoothly slide up and down a stainless steel headband. It's a modern aesthetic, one that almost teeters into the fashion-first territory we've seen on headphones from the likes of Bang & Olufsen.

This new look does have one major trade-off. The NCH 700s fold flat, but don't collapse down into a smaller package. As such, the included carry case is a little larger than what you'd get with previous Bose headphones and similar alternatives.

While the NCH 700s no longer have "comfort" in their name, they deliver it in spades. The pair are a little heavier than their predecessor, but for the most part, I prefer the 700s. The headband is squishier and the pads are plusher.

Many newer headphones have moved to gesture controls for functionality like adjusting your volume, but these can often be finnicky. Thankfully, Bose has kept physical buttons on the NCH 700s, which is a welcome touch.

In terms of battery, the NCH 700s should give you about 20 hours per charge. That's respectable, but not quite as good as we've seen from Sony and Beats, who respectively promise 30 and 40 hours on their top-end noise-cancelling headphones. A 15 minute charge will get you an extra two-and-a-half hour charge.

The NCH 700s can also be used as wired headphones. If you switch off Bluetooth, the battery can last as long as 40 hours, and if they go flat, you can still use the pair passively (with no noise-cancellation and no Bluetooth).

Companion apps are becoming an increasingly common trend when it comes to headphones these days and there's no exception when it comes to the NCH 700s. The app is used for accessing advanced options, like more granular noise cancellation adjustments or selecting which voice assistant you want to use with the cans (you can pick from Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa). That's pretty normal. What's not normal is forcing users to create a Bose account to access these features. There's no technical reason Bose needs to know your email to let you change a setting on its headphones. You can use headphones without the app, but you will miss out on some features.

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 - Final Thoughts

The Bose NCH 700s are slick headphones that cost a little too much for what's on offer. If they weren't $599, they'd be much easier to recommend. For comparison, Sony's WH-1000XM3s offer just-as-good (if not better) noise-cancelling, excellent sound, and better battery for $399. They also available for less, regularly - I've seen them as cheap as $300. This isn't to say the NCH 700s aren't good headphones, they're just not priced competitively. There's a lot to like about the NCH 700s - the design, the fit and feel, and the crystal clear call quality - but you have to really love Bose to justify the premium.

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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