There’s a lot of excitement around the new Bose NC 700’s… but unfortunately Bose’s
newest product launch hasn’t been all that smooth.
For starters, when I got my first pair of NC 700’s no matter what I did they wouldn’t
connect to Bose’s Music center app on iOS… which you can actually see in my first impressions
video.
But since I did have to get a review out in a timely manner I decided to return my first
pair of NC 700’s and got a second pair.
Now I didn’t mention it in my full review cause it probably only affecting a small amount
of people.
So if you’re having the same issue I say don’t bother and just swap them out for
another pair.
But a lot of Bose QC35 owners are now claiming that the Active noise cancelation on their
headphones is blocking out less noise after upgrading to firmware 4.5.2.
This problem apparently is affecting a good amount of people cause a single post on Bose’s
Forum has already garnered over 20 thousand views.
Now Bose has come out and has said that this shouldn’t be happening but there are some
people that are starting to accuse Bose that they’ve down graded their QC35’s to make
the NC 700’s look good.
So to get to the bottom of this I’ve decided to put together a new ANC test.
The Bose NC 700’s are running firmware 1.1.4.
The Black Bose QC35 series 2 are running firmware 4.5.2 which is the problematic firmware right
now.
And the Sliver Bose QC35 series 2 are running Firmware 4.1.3 which was released back in
September of 2018.
Way before there was any mention on the Bose NC 700’s and they don’t even have Bose
AR installed yet.
But before I show you my findings I do think its important I tell you where I’m coming
from.
Personally I think the NC 700’s are a decent pair of ANC headphones, but personally I still
prefer and recommend the Sony 1000XM3’s.
Now Im not here to make either of these companies look good or bad.
I’m not sponsored by either one of these and I’ve never received a free product from
either of them.
I’m just trying to make content that has been heavily requested and it is rather easy
for me to make.
So without further a do, lets get into the ANC test.
So after looking over my findings, personally I do think the Sliver Bose QC35’s are out
preforming the NC 700’s.
During the road noise portion even though the Sliver QC35’s sound a little more high
pitched, if you look at the audio levels they are a little lower than on the NC 700’s.
But when it comes to the coffee shop portion, its not even close.
The silver QC35’s are clearly blocking out more noise than the NC 700’s.
But something else I also noticed was that even though the Silver QC35’s blocked the
most amount of noise here they also had slightly more cabin pressure than the Black Bose QC35’s
running the newer 4.5.2 firmware update.
Now like I’ve mentioned in the past, one of the reasons why I don’t use the Bose
QC35’s is because to me they have a lot of cabin pressure.
That my not be the case for everyone but it is the case for me and a good chunk of other
people.
So personally if I still had to choose between the Bose QC35’s and NC 700’s I would still
choose the NC 700’s cause of their reduced cabin pressure and extra features.
But like I’ve mentioned in my past videos all I want from bose right now is the QC35’s
body with the NC 700’s tech specs.
But personally I do think there is something going on with the Bose QC35’s newest firmware
update, I’m not trying to stir up drama I’m just trying to shine a lite on it so
Bose can put out a fix soon.