Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This was my first pair of ANC headphones. After years of interest, the features of the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 tipped the scales and I took the plunge. What I was excited about the most was the microphone noise cancelling while making calls. Working in an open office space, this feature alone would make my life so much easier. So, despite the bevy of negative reviews, I hoped for the best. The initial iOS app setup was simple and seemed to work just fine. I connected the headphones to my iPhone and computer with ease. Soon I was taking calls on my phone and listening to music from the computer curtesy of the multiple device capabilities. But then the app indicated I needed to update the headphones, and nothing has been the same since. The first problem was the iOS app. When I tried to connect to change the settings, I would receive a red error stating the app could not connect. I no longer had access to the setting and was stuck listening to the voice prompts anytime a button was pressed. After calling tech support, they told me this was a known issue and were working on the problem. So, I decided to grin and bare the problem until the next app version. In the meantime, I started testing some of the other features, especially the microphone noise canceling. This is where I started to feel I’d made a mistake in my purchase. Basically, it was a “tale of two cities” when it came to audio call quality. While the call quality made from my iPhone sounded very good, when I tried to use the headphones to make a call from a computer soft phone, the quality sounded no better than two tin cans and string. And while that might sound like hyperbole, it was really that bad. I tried the softphone app on my iPhone, and it was not much better. So my conclusion is that the audio call quality was only useful when making calls from my phone and not any other platform or app. Other quirks that happened while I was waiting for the next app version included random power cycles, buttons inexplicably not working any more, and choppy audio while playing music from my computer even though I was 2 feet away. The slow trickle of issues continued to push me toward the conclusion of returning the product, but I held out for the hope that the new app would fix all the issues and I would be a happy Bose fanatic. The app did finally come out and initially I could finally connect to the headphone settings and make the changes I have been wanting to make. But there were clearly still issues. First, even though I was connected to two Bluetooth devices, neither one would play sound while the other was connected. I had to go into the headphone setting and toggle off one device before the second device would play back sound. Also, the audio call quality was still an issue when using it from a softphone on my computer. Finally, a couple days later, when I tried to go into the headphone setting from the iOS app, I was asked to setup the headphones even though they already had an active Bluetooth connection. I played along with the prompts, but it would always end with the same problem I had from the beginning, “Cannot Connect, Please Try Again Later.” After one last attempt to contact technical support (which on a side note, I could never get routed to the correct department on the first try and my call was dropped during one of the transfers) I was told the only solution was to send me out a replacement set of headphones. So, one of the most advanced and admired audio companies in the world, who has had years to refine their ANC technologies to the point of category dominance could not release a new product without so many issues that the only solution was to replace a brand new set of headphones? It was not like these were nearing the end of the warranty period; these were less than two weeks old. Unfortunately, the writing was on the wall and there was no way I was going to miss the return window. Despite all the issues, I really did want to like these headphones, but it seems the rush to market has left too many bugs in the product to warrant hoping they would get fixed in the future. I will wait either for the product to get fixed and then repurchase them or see if any other options exist that might rekindle my interest.