If you’re looking into getting a pair of ANC headphones… then chances are you’re
probably looking into getting something from Bose.
Now both the NC 700’s and QC45’s are great headphones… however these headphones are
very different from one another.
They look, fit, and perform very differently.
So lets see which one is right for you.
Now regarding pricing…
I kinda wish there was a larger delta between these two headphones.
The QC45’s retail for $330 where as the NC 700’s will sometimes retail for $400
and other times retail for $380.
Nonetheless…
I’d feel more comfortable picking up the QC45’s if they're on sale for $300 or less.
But overall if you want to pick either of these two headphones up they’ll be linked
down below.
Now first lets talk about these cases.
Now both of these two headphones come included with decent hardshell cases that are going
to have no problem keeping your headphones safe if you cram them into an over stuffed
backpack.
However for my constant travelers… the QC45’s case is a little smaller than the NC 700’s
specifically cause the QC45’s are completely collapsable.
Where as the NC 700’s can only be laid down flat.
Now this isn’t a huge deal but I’d thought id point it out.
Nonetheless both of these headphones come included with great cases… no complaints
here.
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves.
Design wise the NC 700’s have always been a little polarizing.
Now personally I am over the NC 700’s design… but then there are the QC45’s which have
a more traditional look to them.
However build quality wise the NC 700’s do feel a little more premium.
Now the NC 700’s have mostly plastic ear cups that slide up and down.
From these mostly plastic ear cups we then transition into the headband which is mostly
exposed stainless steel up top and underneath there’s just a whole lot of padded silicon
which really does help when it comes to the comfort of these headphones.
And once we make our way back down to the ear pads… the leatherette on these ear pads
feel phenomenal.
Its very smooth and its very supple.
But then there are the Bose QC45’s which also have great build quality.
But they don’t feel as premium as the NC 700’s.
Their body is mostly made out of this composite material and then we’ve got leatherette
on both the headband and ear pads.
Now like I mentioned in the full review, the leatherette on the QC45’s is decent.
But it doesn’t feel as luxurious as the leatherette on the NC 700’s and it doesn’t
feel as good as the leatherette on their predecessors… the QC35’s.
But nonetheless, both of these headphones are very well built… but I am going to have
to say that NC 700’s do feel a little more premium where as the QC45’s feel a little
more durable.
But now lets talk about fit because both of these headphones fit a little differently.
For starters when it comes to clamping force both of these headphones are big head approved
SHIRTS DOWN BELOW.
However, the QC45’s do have a little less clamping force than the NC 700’s.
So if you’re someone that really wants a loser fit on their headphones, maybe you’ve
got a big head or you like to wears hats… then you’ll might want to go with the QC45’s.
But also the ear pads on the QC45’s are a little more spacious than the ear pads on
the NC 700’s.
Now don’t get me wrong.
Both of these headphones have very spacious ear pads and neither of them are going to
have any problems accommodating large ears or ears that stick out a lot.
But I can’t help but notice that that QC45’s feel more spacious.
But also the earbuds on the QC45’s do a slightly better job of staying cool for longer
because their ear pads have less surface area coming in contact with your skin compared
to the ear pads found on the NC 700’s.
And finally there’s their weight.
Now the NC 700’s weigh in at 264 grams.
Which is average for a pair of ANC headphones like these.
So you forget that you have these headphones on when you’re working at your desk and
they aren’t super noticeable when you’re walking around with them on.
But then there are the QC45’s which weigh in at 235 grams.
29 grams less than the NC 700’s.
And personally I would categorize the QC45’s as a pair of light weight ANC headphones.
Now I know this 29 gram difference will might not seem like much… but you really notice
a difference when you’re wearing these headphones.
Theyre just even less noticeable than the NC 700’s which is great.
So overall both of these headphones fit fine and they should be able to accommodate everyone.
But the QC45’s are a little more comfortable.
They have less clamping force, they’re lighter, their ear pads are a little more spacious
and their ear pads stay a little cooler for a little longer.
But now lets talk about tech specs.
Regarding battery life… both of Bose’s headphones are a little behind when compared
to the rest of the competition.
The NC 700’s have an advertised battery life of 20 hours with their ANC turned on
which is okay… where as the QC45’s have an advertised battery life of 24 hours with
their ANC turned on which is a little better.
Now when it comes to charging these headphones, they both charge via a USB C port.
And this is actually a notable upgrade for the QC45’s.
And when it comes to fast charging… if you were to charge these headphones up for 15
minutes from a dead battery the QC45’s are going to get you 3 hours of playback time
where as the NC 700’s will get you 2 hours of playback time.
Overall both of these headphones can hang… but I feel bose needs to step it up a bit.
Now when it comes to connectivity, both of these headphones can be simultaneously connected
to any two bluetooth devices at the same time regardless of operating system so you can
easily hot swap from one device to another.
Which is great for power users.
And when it comes to performance both of these headphones have zero latency across the board
when watching movie or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android
device.
And when it comes to audio codecs, both of these headphones have support for SBC and
AAC.
Now SBC and AAC is perfectly fine if you’re streaming your music and if you’re using
an iPhone.
But a lot of other headphones these days are now starting to have support for higher quality
audio codecs.
Sony has LDAC which they license out to other manufactures… and then other brands like
sennheiser or bowers and Wilkins are big fans of APTX.
But
now lets talk about actually listening to music with these headphones.
For starters I gotta say that both of these headphones perform the same.
Even though the NC 700’s are the more premium model here… they don’t sound a perform
any better than the QC45’s.
And I’ve also gotta stress that both of these headphones are going to be better suited
for people who like a more neutral or vocals focused EQ.
If you’re trying to physically feel your music or if you want the bass on your headphones
to rattle your head… then neither of these two headphones are going to do it for you.
The bass on these headphones is mostly on the audible side.
If you want your headphones to rattle your head you’re either going to be better off
with the Sony 1000XM4’s or Sennheiser PXC 550 two’s.
However the Sony’s are going to rattle your head more than the Sennheiser’s.
Now both the QC45 and NC 700’s sound more open and have better instrument separation
than the Sony 1000XM4’s.
But neither of them sound as detailed as the sennheiser’s.
Now even though I just said that both of these headphones sound and perform the same… they
do have different stock EQ’s.
With their stock EQ’s both NC 700’s and QC45’s have the same emphasis on the vocals.
However the bass on the QC45’s does like to come in harder than the bass on the NC
700’s.
But the key difference between these two headphones sound quality wise is that the NC 700’s
have an adjustable EQ.
And I found that if you were to raise the bass on the NC 700’s to plus 3 they sound
identical to the QC45’s.
Now I think that its great and all that the NC 700’s have an adjustable EQ… but I
do have to stress that even if you were to raise the bass on these headphones to 10 they're
still not going to physically rattle your head.
And honestly they end up sounding a shallow.
So overall both of these headphones perform the same and they're both better suited for
someone who like a neutral or vocals focused EQ.
But I am going to have to say that the NC 700’s are the better option here when it
comes to sound just because they have a customizable.
And like I said in the full review I feel that the reason the QC45’s don’t have
an adjustable EQ is just because bose wants to compel you to upgrade to the NC 700’s.
Because there’s really no reason why the QC45’s couldn’t have an adjustable EQ.
So hopefully bose adds it in a future firmware update.
Now when it comes to the media controls on these headphones… this alone could be a
deciding factor for some people.
The NC 700’s have a touch pad.
And this touch pad is easy enough to use and its fairly accurate.
Now its not perfect… but its definitely not problematic.
But then there are the QC45’s which are using physical buttons.
And plainly said, physical buttons are just going to be more accurate.
So over all the touch pad on the NC 700’s is good, but if you don’t want to have to
deal with a touch pad you can go with the QC45.
However I do have to point out that neither of these two headphones have wear sensors.
So they aren’t going to automatically play or pause your music if you take them off or
put them on.
Now personally I don’t care for wear sensors on my headphones and I usually just turn them
off.
But I do want to point this out for the person that just needs to have all of the features.
And when it comes to voice assistant integration… the NC 700’s have support for Google assistant
and Alexa so you can make this button a dedicated voice assistant button if you want.
And I think that having voice assistant integration on your headphones is great specifically if
you’re an android user.
Where as the QC45’s don’t have voice assistant integration.
So this button is strictly used for toggling between your ANC settings.
But you can always active your phone’s default voice assistant by just pressing and holding
on the QC45’s multi purpose button or pressing and holding on the NC 700’s touch pad.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones.
Plainly said, the QC45’s do in fact block out more noise than the NC 700’s.
However the NC 700’s have noticeably less cabin pressure than the QC45’s… making
them for comfortable.
Cause with the QC45’s you will feel like you gotta pop your ears from time to time.
But so that you can hear
for yourself, we’re going to jump into an ANC test.
Now first off, I decided to include the AirPods Max in this ANC test because they currently
block out the most amount of noise here because they brutally go after constant low frequency
sounds.
However the AirPods Max do have a lot of cabin pressure, more cabin pressure than the Bose
QC45’s.
So for that reason these aren’t my preferred headphones when it comes to Active Noise Cancelation.
But like you may have just seen, over all the QC45’s block out more road noise and
more chatter than the NC 700’s.
But since they have more cabin pressure they aren’t as comfortable as the NC 700’s
which still block out an impressive amount of noise.
Now every one will might be as sensitive to cabin pressure… but I am.
So by default I do prefer the ANC on the NC 700’s.
But one pet-peeve that I do have about the QC45’s is that you can’t use them with
the Active noise cancelation turned off.
You either gotta use them with their Active noise cancelation or ambient mode turned on.
And sometimes you do want to be able to use you headphone with their active noise cancelation
turned off because number one it does extend battery life, sometimes your music does sound
better, or sometimes you just wan to take a break from the cabin pressure on your headphones.
Which is especially true with the QC45’s.
So bose in the next firmware update can we please get a simple off mode.
But next up, lets talk about the ambient mode on these headphones.
Now I think its great and all that the QC45’s have an ambient mode but I feel this ambient
mode pales in comparison to the ambient mode found on the QC45’s.
For starters you can adjust how much noise the NC 700’s let in where as with the QC45’s
its just one set amount.
And again this is something that I feel bose left out of the QC45’s just to compel you
to upgrade to the NC 700’s.
But more importantly the Ambient mode on the NC 700’s sound way more natural and their
microphone array does a much better job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors.
Where as with their QC45’s, this microphone array picks up a noticeable amount of wind
noise… and this ambient mode just mostly lets in noise pollution.
I find it very hard to understand what people are saying even when they're talking directly
at you.
So plainly said the NC 700’s have the superior ambient mode here.
And finally the NC 700’s have a conversation mode where is you press and hold this button
the headphones will automatically lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the
ambient sound around you so that you can quickly talk to someone without having to take your
headphones off like this.
So yeah this is a useful little feature especially when you’re flying and this is another feature
that bose just didn’t add to the QC45’s just because.
But finally here’s the microphone test.
Now overall both of these headphones have decent sounding microphones for phones.
And both the QC45 and NC 700 have very similar sounding microphones…
But I can’t help but feel that the Bose QC35’s have a slightly better performing
microphone.
While in a quite room the Bose QC35’s do a much better job of focusing on my voice.
But the real difference is when it comes to blocking out noise pollution.
Now right now you can definitely hear a noticeable amount of road noise in the back ground…
but my voice is front and center.
Where as with the QC45’s… even though you can hear my voice pretty well.
It doesn’t sound as clear as with the QC35’s.
With the QC45’s my voice sounds shallow and hallow.
And the same thing can be said about the NC 700’s.
My voice also sounds a little shallow and hollow.
And the same thing can be said about chatter.
Yeah you can hear my voice… but its not super clear and I can’t help but feel that
there’s a little bit of static in the background when im talking.
And the Bose QC45’s sound very similar to the NC 700’s under the same circumstances.
Where as with the QC35’s my voice is much more prominent.
So even though the both the QC45 and NC 700’s have a good sounding microphones on them…
I am going to have to say that their predecessor have the better performing microphone.
But with all that being said, both the Bose NC 700’s and Bose QC45 are good pairs of
ANC headphones to consider.
However, if you want all of the features that you’d expect from a pair of premium ANC
headphones today…
I say that you have to go with the Bose NC 700’s.
I just can’t help but feel that Bose is deliberately holding features back from the
QC45’s to compel you to upgrade.
However… the QC45’s are the more comfortable headphones here.
And that alone could be a deciding factor for some people.
The QC45’s have less clamping force, more spacious ear pads, and they're a little lighter
as well.
I just hope these headphones get some firmware updates that will unlock their full potential.