Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700: Terrific Audio Performance

For years, Bose has ruled the active-noise-cancellation (ANC) market with its QuietComfort series of headphones.

- Tim Gideon

The manufacturer wrote the book on noise cancelation and has always seemed a step ahead of the competition. The new Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are the company’s first to exist outside the QuietComfort/QuietControl lineup. They offer a more streamlined, modern look; built-in support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant; an improved mic system for clearer communication on calls; and the best noise cancellation we’ve tested. All that adds up to an Editors’ Choice for noise-cancelling headphones.

DESIGN

Available in black or silver, the stylish, minimalist Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 feature a graceful headband connecting the generously cushioned circumaural (over-ear) earcups. The fit is comfortable even over long listening sessions, and the faux-leather earpads block out plenty of ambient noise even without ANC turned on. The outer surfaces on the earcups and headband have a sleek, eggshell-like finish.

The right earcup’s outer panel houses a touch-sensitive control pad, power/pairing buttons, a voice assistant button, and a status LED. Double-tapping the control pad plays and pauses music, swiping your finger up or down changes the volume, and swiping forward or backward skips tracks. Tapping and holding on the panel gives you a battery life prompt, or you can customize this action to enable or disable the wake word for voice assistants. For calls, tapping once answers, tapping and holding declines, and pressing the voice assistant button while on a call mutes the mic. This is one of the more intuitive and useful control pads we’ve operated on wireless headphones and is easy to learn and use.