Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, Black

I own the Sony XM3 and have tried the XM4 so I can compare to these.Connections: Headphones can connect to 2 device at the same time, I find this great as the Sony WH 1000 XM3 couldn't do this. The Sony is a bit more difficult to connect to things in general. Bose 700 connects to Windows PC, Firestick and Android automatically. I always had to manually connect Sony each time on Firestick.Look and Feel: They are slicker than Sony, feel lighter to wear and your ears do not sweat like they do on the Sony. I find them comfortable and I use them for long periods in all inside conditions.Sound: I like the sound better, less bass as has been mentioned. But it worth saying that the Sony has more bass, this bass is not fine tuned in any way. It is loose and gets too much at times. The Bose have an amazing clarity about them.Touch control and buttons: Very responsive and easy to use, took a bit to get used to it. But overall it works better than Sony which can be hit or miss at times. Buttons are instant when you touch them, on Sony to turn on device you have to hold the 'On' for a few sec to turn them on. I prefer the BoseANC: Very little between them, I can't say which is ultimately better. In certain circumstances each one works a touch better than the other. I have owned 3 pairs of the Sony and when you don't play music you can hear a bit of white noise. On certain Sony's this could be a big problem as they used faulty electret microphone capsules that typically crackled when moisture got near them from ear sweat. (yes, I know). The Bose 700 is totally silent so far with no music playing.Battery Life: Sony claim better battery life and it probably is. But I don't really notice that. I tend to be charging a couple of times a week which was about the same I did with Sony.App: Its a pile of rubbish, serves no really purpose. If your going to do an app then it should be worth using and have a few bells and whistles. I simply set up the headphones and can't really see myself needing the app again other than to apply an update or something like that.In general, I find them easier to use, less hassle connecting with great clarity for sound and with hiss free noise cancelling.I got them cheap at £167 so for that they are well worth it.

These are great headphones with a couple of problems. I've compared these side-by-side with the Sony WH-1000XM3 and Bose QC35 II so when I list something as a positive or negative, this is subjective and compared to the others.Positive -* Good sound (see note 1)* Good active noise cancelling* Very comfortable (see note 2)* Fantastic performance on calls* Good battery life and fast charging* Useful alerts such as alerts letting you know how many hours left on the battery* Can connect to multiple devices and switch between them from the appNegative:* App makes you register to use it* Can't use all the features or update unless you register with the app* Issues when connected to multiple devices AT THE SAME TIME (see note 3)Notes1 - Sound. If you have spent this much money on wired headphones, know what flac is and use a dedicated source or DAC then these are not going to blow you away on sound, but compared to the competition they are great. I know so many reviews say the XM3s sound better but they really don't, the XM3 has a very heavy bass which ruins the mids, not just that, it's not even nice bass. The Bose 700 bass isn't missing, there is still plenty of it but it's tighter and clean and doesn't destroy the vocals.The sound isn't going to blow you away, it's comfortable without being boring, doesn't really suffer from feeding it poorly mastered recordings over Spotify either. They are the best sound from an ANC headphone I have heard so far.They sound similar but better than the QC35s, like there is better separation and imaging.The Sony's really shined when I used them with the Walkman connected via LDAC, but my main use case is connected to my iPhone or iPad and the Bose won there.2 - Comfort. This is subjective, people complain that they clamp, I have a big head and don't agree but you do need to extend them down more than you expect to get a comfortable fit. I can wear them for hours with no problems other than getting warm like all closed backed headphones do. The band at the top doesn't press down and I have my hair shaved short. As for getting hot, they aren't as bad as the Sony's but they feel warmer than the QC35s.3 - The App. This is the biggest disappointment but also another winning point for Bose, you can connect these headphones to everything then just turn them off in the app, disable in the app to disconnect and enable the other devices on to connect to them. But... if you connect to two devices at once, for example, iPad and iPhone, you can listen to music on the iPad and if your phone rings it will switch on it's own. The problem is that you get a skip in your music often, this isn't a one off, you can read about it everywhere, I hope Bose fix this because it's annoying, but only having it connect to a single device at once fixes it.I was especially impressed with the Bose 700 letting me know how long I had left on the battery in hours, an actually useful alert, they also tell you what devices you are connected to, the Sony's don't do that.