- So, possibly the most frustrating thing about these headphones is the name.
The Bose QC700.
Essentially the successor to the QC35 which I've had for the last two years of my life.
Do they live up to the name?
Let's find out.
So, as a general synopsis around Bose headphones, they've never quite been the overall king as far as
I'm concerned with audio quality but they've definitely been the king in noise cancelling
and that's simply because of their background in aviation.
They're used to make headphones for use on planes to drown out engine noise for long
flights and all of that sort of research has trickled down in to these consumer products
that you can buy off the shelf in the shop right now for £350.
So, are these £350 cans worth it?
Well, we'll check that out right now.
Let's start with the looks.
Now the problem that Bose were facing with this is that they had to make a better set
of headphones than the already amazing QC35 generation II, so they renames it to the 700
and took a totally different swing at things.
We've literally got a pair of the QC35 right here that we can bring in and put them head to head.
So every aspect is essentially upgraded.
Let's start with charging.
Micro USB on here, living in the past.
USB C here - we're in the 21st century.
Now there's still this really strange sort of port that I've never actually really used.
These headphones come with a cable - actually, the 700 doesn't (it's an optional extra) - where
you can plug in to here and then plug in to an aeroplane or a 3.5 millimeter phone or
tablet if you don't want to rely on janky old Bluetooth.
It's present here on the new headphones but the cable isn't included in the box.
Something that I want to add is that's a bit of a disappointment.
At £350, they should throw in a cable.
So next up, actually, incorporated in to the 700 are the buttons or how you actually use this thing.
There's no physical buttons on here except for the power on switch and a Bluetooth connection button.
All of the controls on here are essentially done via this Bose logo.
You swipe forward to skip a track and you swipe back to go backwards.
It's pretty self-explanatory - you know what I'm going to say next; volume up and volume
down, tap to play and pause.
Literally, my grandma could do it.
Whereas actually on these, thinking about it, using them over the last two years and
you can see that they're absolutely battered, I never use the controls on these headphones
except for the volume up and down because I could never really find the buttons whereas
on here, when I've been using them, it's super easy just to find that part of the Bose logo
and swipe.
This is definitely better and you do feel like you're in the future as well.
It's really kind of cool.
So going back to the 35, noise cancelling was always a strong point.
They were the king up until now.
Four microphones can be found - two in each ear cup on the 35 - and they've gone up and
doubled it with the 700.
There's eight microphones, four in each ear cup in this case, to make for an ever better
noise cancelling experience.
We'll get on to what I think about that a little bit later.
But next; design.
Well, design is a preference thing.
Take a look.
No complaints whatsoever and also adjustable.
And I like how they adjust - it just sort of builds in to the design.
Yeah, I'm happy.
I'm happy with how these things look.
But looks are subjective.
And as you guys can see, the leather on these is absolutely - well, it's taken a beating
- and I think that Bose have really seen this happen with their headphones and tried to
mitigate against that happening by installing some rubber instead so hopefully this is going
to be a little longer lasting.
It feels like it will be as well.
They don't feel like in a year's time they will have any damage because it is literally
just rubber, on the top as well.
Interesting.
However, the ear cups are still really soft touch leather.
Proper high quality.
I mean, they are £350 at the end of the day.
These do feel incredible to wear.
Okay, so what else makes these different or worth the upgrade.
Well, there's a couple of things that make the 700 stand out from the old 35 and those
go with the two buttons that are on here on each ear cup.
The one on the left cycles through ten different stages of noise cancellation and you can define
three of those stages for quick access and then with a long hold of this button, you'll
actually let all of the outside world in so that you can have a conversation with somebody
without actually taking your headphones off.
It's really, really cool and I found it especially useful when I was in the gym.
And now the button on the right hand side, before you thought it couldn't get any better...
Just started playing music as soon as I put them on my head.
That was pretty cool.
(Laughing)
The button on the right can do three different things essentially.
You can access your assistant on your phone, so if you have an iPhone, it will access Siri
which is absolutely awesome but I don't have it do that.
I have it re-routed to Google or you can do it to Alexa as well.
So I can walk around my house with my Google Assistant essentially on my head so I can
hold the button and say "turn off the lights" and off the lights go.
I can change my temperature, control my blinds - all from my headphones whilst I've got insane
sounding audio at the same time.
These make me feel like I'm in the future combined with all the swipe gestures on the
side, USB C and also, you've got to appreciate the matt black everything, like, they just
look phenomenal.
I think you can kind of tell that I like them but £350 - come on man.
These are cheaper now than these and for quality to performance, diminishing return, these
are better every day and night but these, well, if you've got the cash to spend then
I'd buy these.
That is essentially what I'm saying.
But they are very expensive but they are very, very good.
But just very expensive.
But with that being said, my name has been Alex, this has been TechFlow and we'll catch
you in the next one.
Adios.