Got this beautiful Bose NCH 700 for $50 off of Reddit - pristine condition. First pair of ANC cans, and they greatly help with my ADHD and focus issues too!
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First impressions - supremely comfortable, but they sound trash out of the box, even considering the fact that they were launched almost 5 years ago (my unit was manufactured in December 2019). However, after using Wavelet (on Android) to apply auto-EQ and further boosting bass to +3 in the Bose Music app, they sound pretty decent. Soundstage is non-existent without EQ, and slightly better with EQ. Even after applying EQ, I would say that they are still only on par with the Signature Acoustic (SA) Raven earphones, which I got for about Rs. 2000 on Amazon 4 years ago. The soundstage is still smaller than those IEMs even after EQ, but the noise cancellation is well worth it. I like that they have an auto-shutdown feature if they don't detect motion in an hour, and that you can also switch off noise cancellation completely (this is not a feature on many newer ANC headphones).
A quirk is that due to the placement of the buttons, I often pressed them accidentally when picking them up or taking them off. I have gotten better at this, but it still happens sometimes. Another quirk is that the touch controls didn't work out of the box. It took me about 15-20mins to find out the reason why - from Android 14 onwards (so all newer/updated devices), one must go into the Bose Music app and switch the voice assistant from Google Assistant to "Device Assistant". Once that was done, I was quite surprised, and frankly impressed, at how good the touch controls were - definitely didn't expect them to be so intuitive and accurate!
My favourite part of the headphones is definitely the build quality and looks. Never thought I would ever be a form over function guy, but they are so damn beautiful - it's a damn piece of art!
Noise cancellation is great too, and while they obviously don't block out everything, it's more than enough to help me concentrate in busier environments, and to listen to audiobooks in public transit without cranking up the volume. However, they are still 5-year-old headphones with 5-year-old noise cancellation tech, and my partner tells me that her 2-month-old Moondrop Space Travel perform 70% as well in terms of noise cancellation (not surer about SQ since I haven't tested them, but I'd reckon they at least match the Bose with EQ, if not best them). The kicker is that the Space Travel cost just $25 new! For anyone looking for value for money wireless IEMs, I would definitely recommend them if you can somehow get them in India for a reasonable price (I know some members here have been able to get it but can't find the exact thread right now;
found one link to an Indian store but OOS right now). I'm pretty sure that they demolish anything in the under $100 price range in terms of SQ, at least after applying EQ (and maybe even $150 or higher, don't have much experience with wireless buds). They are also insanely feature rich - for example, the Moondrop has auto-pause feature whereas this former flagship doesn't! The Moondrop's only downside (considering the price) is probably the relatively short 4-hour battery life with ANC on, but it's still a mind-blowing package for just $25.
If you are going to ask why I didn't get just the Space Travel, well, I have wanted to get wireless closed back headphones for a while now (I've had a pair of open back Hifiman HE200i v2020 for the last 4 years) as I dislike the fact that wireless buds usually become unusuable after 4-5 years due to battery degradation, and this deal was too good to pass up. Testament to the battery reason for choosing a wireless headphones over buds, this 4.5-year-old Bose still gives me 18+ hours of battery backup!
I can't see myself paying $400 at launch or even $250-$300 while on sale (considering sound quality after heavy EQ is no better than Rs. 2000 IEMs, and stock sound quality is no better than some cheap iBall headphones I had about 8 years ago). For $50 though - definitely an excellent deal haha. They usually go for about $120-$150 used which I think is quite reasonable for the ANC performance and wireless convenience.
Incredible what a premium noise cancellation (and brand name as well, I suppose) commands, and the sacrifices that are made for wireless audio. While I would personally never pay more than $150 for such headphones, I can see for some people convenience is a major factor and they would be willing to shell out more for best-in-class stuff.
TL;DR: Get the Moondrop Space Travel over Bose ANC headphones
