Gone are the days when Bose reigned supreme over the kingdom of noise reduction headphones. To stay in the race against fierce competition, the manufacturer is launching the Headphones 700. A worthy successor to the very eminent QC 35.
Despite its completely changed design, the Headphones 700 represents, in essence, only a change in continuity for Bose. Neither really better nor worse than the QC35 (and by extension the QC35 II), very similar to the latter in its sound and noise reduction, it simply offers different compromises: on the one hand, slightly less royal comfort, on the other, clearer and more transparent audio reproduction… That’s enough anyway to make it one of the best wireless headsets on the market – which will particularly attract the favor of phone addicts, thanks to the breathtaking quality of its hands-free kit.
Points forts
- Clear and very well defined sound reproduction.
- Good precision mids and highs.
- One of the best noise reductions on the market.
- Amazingly effective hands-free kit, even in noisy environments.
- Very comprehensive controls, intuitive and responsive touch controls.
- Royal Bluetooth ergonomics (automatic multipoint connection, automatic latency compensation).
- Good autonomy (20 hours).
- Very comfortable (but a little less than the QC 35!).
Weak points
- The heavy emphasis on the upper mids won’t be to everyone’s taste.
- Lack of explosiveness in the bass.
- Conception non pliable.
- Mobile app unusable without creating a Bose account with a valid email address.
NB: The reported price drop is calculated by comparing the lowest price of the day with the average of the lowest prices charged by all merchants for the product last month, with security rules to exclude prices from shops whose the VAT policy is not clear (known as “grey” shops, typically in the case of imports from China).
An alternative
First successful foray into the world of wireless headphones with active noise reduction for the Elite 85h. This model is a very serious alternative to the tenors that are the QC35 II and WH-1000XM3, even if it is still a little behind in terms of comfort, rendering at the highest frequencies and active noise reduction. Those who can invest a little more for the very best comfort and listening experience will turn to the WH-1000XM3, except where multipoint pairing is absolutely essential.