Sweet talk: Bose’s new 700 headphones sound great and make hands-free calls a dream

A comfy pair of headphones that allow you to have a conversation in central London? Tell us more 
Bose's new headphones come in two colours: black and silver
Bose
Amelia Heathman11 July 2019

In a world dominated by wireless earbuds - à la​ AirPods - is there still room in our cluttered tech arsenal for a pair of overhead headphones?

Bose, creator of the ever-popular QC35 wireless headphones, think there is and is launching a new pair, the 700 headphones, today to prove it.

Time to tune in...

Sound’s up

The noise-cancelling tech beloved on the QC35 II headphones has been upgraded on the 700 headphones. Now, the phones feature eight microphones, with six focused on cancelling the noise around you so you can listen to your favourite album or podcast without being bothered by a loud tube screech or noisy conversation.

There are 11 different noise cancellation settings: 10 being almost oppressively quiet, with 0 meaning you can hold a normal conversation without taking the headphones off. Choose your preferred three presets in the app and then switch between the different options by pressing a button on the left side of the headphones.

On the right-hand earcup, you can stroke the front side of the headphone to lower or increase the volume without having to reach for a phone.

If you need to call on a voice assistant, Siri and Google Assistant both work with the 700s, whilst Amazon’s Alexa is accessible with only a wake word.

Call factor

Social media and messaging apps led to a decline in phone calls until FaceTime and the like placed them back on our radar. Phone calls increased nearly 10 per cent between 2016 and 2017 according to Deloitte, but as anyone who has tried to carry out a call on a busy London road will know, making yourself heard is only half the problem.

The new headphones have a total of eight microphones for noise-cancelling
Bose

Bose has re-engineered its noise-cancelling tech to isolate your voice during phone calls, so you don’t have to keep repeating yourself. Four of those eight mics improve voice pickup, suppressing other sounds to ensure your message is received loud and clear.

If you want to move the sound of a call from your phone to your headphones, the transition is seamless too.

Design details

Available in black or silver, the 700 headphones feature a stainless-steel design, with efforts to ensure there are fewer visible screws or joints than in other headphones on the market, offering a sleek, futuristic look.

The driver (the part that directs the electrical signals into your ears) has been angled so there is space between the tech and your ear in the headphone cup – this ensures wearers get the best of the Bose sound but without it becoming uncomfortable after long usage.

And given these headphones offer 20 hours battery life, though not as long as Sony’s WH-1000XM3’s 30 hours, you can be safe in the knowledge they will last through that long haul flight. If you do need to carry out a top-up charge, 15 minutes of charging should lead to three hours listening time so you can power up and go.

Bose.com, £349.95

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