I'm hoping this post will help someone out there with similar circumstances.

For reference, I work primarily from home, though I go into the office occasionally (quiet work environment with my own office). My spouse also works from home, we have a large dog who is occasionally startled by wildlife in the yard, and a rabbit who lives in my home office. The latter isn't loud by any means, but does like to zoom around the office from time to time, and can be heard over video calls when she does so. I also have sensory issues that make noise cancelling very helpful to concentrate.

I already owned Sony WH-1000XM2's, Beats Studio3 Wireless headphones, and AirPods Pro (1st gen). I am mostly in the Apple ecosystem, but use a PC for work and have a PS5 and Nintendo Switch.

Lastly, I can't consider myself an audiophile by any means, but I do appreciate high quality sound for music, and notice when sound is tinny or muffled on cheaper headphones.

So, getting into it, I started researching noise-cancelling headphones recently. Of the headphones I already owned, the AirPods are my favorite, but I can't use them all day since the tips start to hurt my ears. Like many others, I also found the ANC degrading after the last firmware updates. It's still fine, but since I can't wear them all day and they have relatively short battery life and don't play super-nice with my PC, I was searching for something that could work well across devices, was very comfortable, had ANC, and would also work well for video calls and recording lectures (so I didn't have to restart a recording every time our pup decided the squirrel threat was too much to handle). I first looked into AirPods Max since I have mostly Apple devices, but found too many reviews that said they didn't work terribly well with non-Apple devices (to be expected), and many, many cases where folks reported their AirPods failed fairly soon after their warranty expired. I care for my electronics almost obsessively, and have owned several devices for a decade or more without too much issue, so I expected if I was going to drop another several hundred dollars on headphones, I'd not have to worry about replacing them for at least 5 years. I also read that their weight was uncomfortable for many. I would have tried the new Sonys, but my XM2s are very uncomfortable for me; I have several piercings in my ears and the cups don't cover them or sit perfectly on my head, often sliding down even completely retracted and causing pain after only an hour or two. I couldn't find anything on this, but the shape of the new Sony headphones look quite similar, so I can only expect I'd have the same issues.

In comes Bose with the NC 700s. I've never owned a Bose product before, but being an 80s child, I know of their reputation and spent hours in the Bose store marveling at the sound quality, so I decided to give them a shot.

After having them for a week, I'm happy to report how well they fit my use case. The sound is quite a bit clearer than anything else I've ever owned. Music is crisp and "bright," for lack of better description. I've never had headphones that sound like this, and even though I listen to a lot of electronica and house music, I really enjoy them for instrumental and soft vocals. I've worn them for 6 hours at a time thus far, and they still feel like clouds on my head. The noise cancelling still isn't as good as my AirPods Pros used to be, but I do find that they block out most of the noise I have at home. I do like that I can choose my NC level on these headphones. Sometimes, my AirPods blocked out too much, which is great when I'm in long work sessions, but not so great when I'm playing video games and my husband sneaks up behind me (in other words, walks down the stairs totally normally and shouts my name). Unfortunately, wired, the Bose headphones aren't my favorite for video game sounds; they sound a bit hollow to the point where I'm frustrated, so I still use my old Beats for the purpose for now until I decide to bite the bullet and buy the Playstation headphones (seriously, Sony, it's 2022 - can we please get native support for Bluetooth headphones?).

Now, the ability to connect to two devices simultaneously fits my use case perfectly. I'm connected to my phone and my computer at the same time, and don't have to worry about asking the other party to hold on while I switch devices on my headphones. My voice comes in loud and clear, and is great for recording lectures, as evidenced both by sound and by how well audio transcription is working. I can't hear barking in the background anymore, and no one complains about my voice being distant or too quiet. So far, I've worn them for six hours at a time with no issues. I can still feel them on my head, but I don't feel like my earrings are being smashed into my skin and I don't really notice the weight. I do wish they had a sensor to pause when I took them off like my AirPods do, but the touch controls for volume and pausing are great. I also like the conversation mode quite a bit, though I haven't had real use for it yet.

At this point, my only real complaint is for battery life. Despite the 20 hour battery claim, I'm finding that I'm getting more like 6-7 hours, which lasts most of the workday, but does require me to take them off to charge as I get towards the evening. I suppose this is because of my heavy use of ANC and connecting to two devices, but I like how quickly they charge and can live with it, since they're still lasting longer than my AirPods, and are significantly more comfortable. I also like that I can order new ear cups from Bose, since, as I've said, I tend to hold on to electronics until they're dead or unusable.

In short, I'm very happy with my purchase, and look forward to using these for many years to come.