New York City's Union Square is a noisy, cacophonous place. Commuters and tourists produce a din that makes it just about impossible to have a phone conversation under normal circumstances.
Bose's noise-canceling 700 headphones(opens in a new tab) filter out the chaos in the background, as you might expect. But their noise rejection feature also cleans up the audio for the person on the other end of the call — so they can hear you loud and clear, even if you're standing in one of the busiest intersections in NYC.
That kind of technology doesn't come cheap. These are Bose's most expensive headphones at $400. That being said, after using them on a daily basis for a couple of weeks, it's easy to see why someone would pay so much for them.
What's new?
Like the existing Bose QuietComfort series of over-the-ear headphones, the NC 700s aim to deliver high-quality audio while canceling out the noise around you.
But the main reason to get these headphones over the others in Bose's lineup is to make talking to people easier, not to enhance your listening experience.
Bose gave me a demo of this feature earlier this year, and it was super impressive. We also tested it on our own and are pleased to report it worked as intended. I stood in New York's bustling Union Square during the middle of a daytime farmer's market and the recipient of a phone call said it sounded like I was by myself.
This is achieved with a four-microphone system that isolates your voice. When we tried it, a bit of outside sound briefly penetrated to the other side a few times, but overall, the feature worked.
This might be a niche feature, especially seeing as younger people seem to be(opens in a new tab) ditching voice calls. But if you're keen to do business from a Starbucks or noisy airport, it's legitimately useful.
Function and form, all in one
The Bose 700s are pretty handsome. I was a fan of the aesthetic of the last pair of expensive, noise-canceling headphones I reviewed, the Beoplay H9s. I think the sleek, utilitarian look of the Bose 700s works better.
The stainless steel headband feels reliable and the rubber padding on its interior rests well on the top of your head. Additionally, its foam earcups are pretty darn comfortable, even when worn for long sessions.
The Bose 700s are as easy to use as they are to look at. Pairing is as simple as with any other Bluetooth device. Once you're done with that, there's a typical array of touch commands for skipping songs, accepting phone calls, and other basic actions on the right side.
Then there are three important buttons. The power/Bluetooth button works as intended. After that, there's a dedicated voice assistant button that activates your computer helper of choice, including Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.
Where the 700s really won me over is the dedicated noise-canceling button on the left ear. A tap will cycle between your three favorite levels of noise cancellation (more on that in a bit), while a hold will pause whatever you're listening to. That's aptly called "Conversation Mode" and it works well enough.
Making it easy to adjust noise cancellation with the press of a button is a very nice touch.
Drown out the world
As far as noise cancellation goes, the 700 headphones do it well. I've tried these out in the lively Mashable office, on the busy streets of New York City, and even in a particularly noisy bar. In every scenario, I couldn't hear much, except for what I chose to listen to.
As far as general sound quality goes, I don't think many people will be disappointed. Vocals and individual instruments sounded great in pretty much everything I listened to. I suppose serious audiophiles could make a case for headphones like the Beoplay H9s over the Bose 700s in terms of sound clarity, but most people will be satisfied with these.
I will heap praise on the 700 headphones' noise cancellation gradient feature. You can manually adjust the level of cancellation from zero to 10, cycling between your three favorite levels using the aforementioned button on the left ear. By default, the three favorites are zero, five, and 10, but you can change those to whatever you want in a mobile app.
It's a super nice feature because total noise cancellation can be jarring to some people. Giving users that level of control is more than welcome. By the way, you can do all of these things for up to 20 hours thanks to a fairly generous battery.
As an aside, the Bose mobile app, where you adjust these settings and otherwise manage the 700s, is a little iffy. You can easily see a list of devices the headphones have paired with, change noise cancellation settings, and set up a voice assistant, which are all great. The only problem I faced was keeping the headphones paired to the app; even when they were paired to my phone, the app didn't always recognize them.
You can totally use the headphones to your heart's content without messing with the app, which might be preferable.
Is the price justified?
The only real reservation I have about wholeheartedly recommending the Bose 700s is the $400 price tag, especially since Bose's QC35 headphones offer a similar set of features(opens in a new tab) for $350.
That extra $50 gets you more control over noise cancellation and the ability to drown out noise in phone calls. Those happen to be my two favorite features in the 700 headphones, but they aren't going to add up to another fifty bucks for every customer.
