Comparison: Apple AirPods Max vs Bose 700 – Which One You Should Consider

It was only a matter of time before Apple decided to take the leap of faith into the gaming headset market. They have done a phenomenal job with the Airpods Max. Apple has managed to retain their glossy name and polished reputation nearly in every segment they have plunged.

Today, we will be reviewing two unique models from Apple and the other from another reputed maker, Bose. They are the Apple Airpods Max vs Bose 700 gaming headsets. The gaming headset market is growing like never before, and you can notice that in the last two years.

The previous Airpods were not up to the mark and came with a few noticeable flaws. Despite that, they managed to be one of the best sellers in the market for gaming headsets. So, can they beat the competition in the form of the Bose 700 model?

Are they overpriced? It will help if you read the complete review to find that out. The Apple Airpods is a solid option if you are somebody who loves using their products. Let us not deny it. Though they come very expensive and can make a huge dent in your bank account, they are worth it.

They can easily last more than a decade if you handled them carefully and provided them; they do not get lost somewhere or misplaced by you. The same can be said about the MacBook, iPad, and iPhone.

The Airpods Por is a sublime unit but comes with several flaws in it. Besides, wearing an over-the-ear headset gives you the thrills. Though the portability factor of the Airpods Pro cannot be denied, the feel-good factor of any headset is always there for gamers and users.

Additionally, when you are keen on using noise cancellation headsets, then this is your best option. You would be delighted to know that the Max comes with more stupendous noise-canceling abilities than most of the models found, like the Bose 700 and the Sony WH-1000XM4.

That does not mean the Bose 700 gaming headset is inferior to the Apple headset. Bose is a very reputed headset manufacturer in the market. They have been around for decades and are known especially for their headsets.

It comes with a colossal step forward for the Bose because the unit has 11 levels of adjustment. This feature allows you to work on the amount of noise you want to hear and do not want to.

It comes with a sleek design, a balanced audio quality, 20 hours of battery life, and incredible support for Alexa Assistant. Though the under $400 price point may make some of you pause. We can assure you that it is quite cheaper than the under $426 Apple Airpods Max headset. Keep reading the comparison review to find out who the winner is in the end.

Apple Airpods Max	Bose 700
PROS	PROS
The earpads are quite comfortable, and so is the fabric headband. The audio quality is good, with no distortion. It has an excellent design and solid build quality. It comes with a fantastic active noise canceling. The battery life is breathtaking.	The gaming headset is slick and has an attractive design. Its build quality is superb. It comes with a balanced audio performance. The noise-canceling on calls is exceptional. The buttons and touch controls are intuitive.
CONS	CONS
There is no 3.5mm headphone jack.	The product comes priced expensive.

SPECIFICATIONS	Apple Airpods Max	Bose 700
Name	AirPods Max	Headphones 700 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-the-Ear Headphones
Brand	Apple	Bose
Noise Cancelling Active	Yes	Yes
Connection Type	Wireless	Wireless
Wireless Connectivity	Bluetooth	Bluetooth
True Wireless	No	No
Built-In Microphone	Yes	Yes
Carrying Case	Yes	Yes
Headphone Fit	Over-the-Ear	Over-the-Ear
Adjustable Headband	Yes	Yes
Battery Life	20 hours	20 hours
Warranty	1 Year	1 Year

DESIGN & COMFORT

The Apple Airpods Max is undoubtedly comfortable to have on your ears for a long time. Its design is not very confident in looks. In this sense, it looks as if they have got inspiration from a few decades ago.

They are incredibly premium to look at, thanks to the material and durability factor in them. They also come clean and crisp to see. Unlike most of the oval-shaped gaming headsets that you can see from other makers, they are slightly rectangular in shape.

The frame is produced from stainless steel, and the stems meet the top of the earcups. Our tester noted that the headband is different as they come with a mesh canopy at the top. The model does not come with touch controls, but you can notice a button for noise cancellation.

You can see a digital crown that is similar to the element on the Apple Watch. The Bose 700 headset comes with a hard case for enabling you to place the earcups lie flat on them. They are easy to move around, and it has a compartment where you can find an audio cable, airplane adapter, and a charging cord as well.

The unit can be got in two colors, black, and silver-tone. Its headband is produced from stainless steel that can be found in the middle of the cans. We liked the top and the bottom feel of the headband because it was soft.

It is perhaps the signature move from Bose. The headband is so nicely done that the headband is evenly distributed around your head. This aids for a comfortable and prolonged fit on your head for gaming, listening to music, and just about anything you want to.

When you want to adjust the earcups, you can slide them up or down. There is no need to manipulate the band at all. Though it takes some getting used to, the overall movement comes quite simple.

The placement of the buttons on the earcups is stunning, and you can effortlessly touch your devices. On the left side, you can find the noise cancellation button, and on the right side, you can find the power and Bluetooth buttons, along with the USB Type-C charging port.

BUILD QUALITY

The AirPods Max comes with a premium look and feel. There is no denying that you will pay close to $450 for this headset. The last thing anybody wants is parting with $500 for a cheap-looking device.

Apple has managed to come with sheer quality on the devices thanks to the materials used in them. They do not shy away from providing consumers with the best, hence those high rates. The headband is made from stainless steel.

If you look closely, you can notice the earcups are produced from light but strong aluminum. They do not feel breakable but are incredibly sturdy. The metal used in the headset provides you with a weight of close to 390 grams, making it slightly heavy, which is a good thing.

You can feel it as you hold it because it is much heavier than most of the headsets. That padding used on the headband and throughout is astounding. They can be comfortable too, removed off as and when you want from your head.

A distinct feature of the headset is that the earcups come quite deep, and that is important. This provides you with a lot of room around your ears too. It helps in making noise isolation seamless to accomplish.

We were slightly disappointed with no folding hinges present on the model. Though not a must-have feature, it can do wonders when you are on the road. Nobody likes to place an expensive headset in a backpack that occupies a lot of space.

Are they waterproof? Sadly, they are not. That means you do not want to take them out during rain or storms. They are sure to get wet and ruined, most likely. There is nothing wrong with the maker not providing you with this feature.

To be honest, top-end models do not come with it. Perhaps, they are just not possible to design an utterly waterproof model for consumers. It comes with a distinctive appearance to it. The headset is immensely comfortable.

Though it weighs close to 9 pounds, they are much lighter than its closest competitor, the Sony WH-1000XM3 headset. The headband also comes with a fantastic cushion that provides you with a stunning pressure and clamping force after wearing it for few hours.

Its earpads are produced from memory foam that comes wrapped in black leatherette. The oval shape seals nicely around your ears, and you do not feel that it is too heavy around it. When you reside in a hot area, then the sweat might gather around it rather quickly.

The water-resistant aspect might come to haunt Apple because the Bose 700 has the feature. You would be delighted the Bose 700 noise-canceling unit has IPX4 water resistance. The Max comes with stunning tones like the Space gray, Silver, Sky blue, Green, and Pink for colors.

The Bose 700 unit comes in mature colors like Black, Triple Midnight, Luxe Silver, and Soapstone.

AUDIO PERFORMANCE

It goes without saying that the Apple Airpods Max audio quality is stunning and beyond your imagination. They are outstanding and come with impressive sound performance. This aspect of it was crucial for the maker because makers like Sony and Bose provide similar sound quality almost.

You can wear them at work, at play, or even when you are outside; you won’t be able to hear anything outside. The sounds that come around your building, the fan inside your room, the roaring machines when you are traveling in the subway or traveling in the car with somebody.

Our tester found that you cannot turn it off without using the Apple device. This once again highlights how Apple-centric their devices can get. While we understand that this is a marketing ploy to bait consumers into using their products, many Android users might not be too pleased.

The model’s ANC is really tremendous. If you have read our reviews, you might know by now that we place a lot of importance on noise cancellation. In this case, it can do so with much help from the figure that we saw below the 1000Hz that most units fail to achieve.

For example, the Sony WH-1000XM4 and the Bose 700 do well too. Hence, that is why they come right at the top of noise-canceling headsets. However, the Max has a suitable transparency mode.

Using the feature, you can hear the song or whatever you want to use the headset for and beware of your surroundings. The unit sounds opulent and comes with an excellent audio profile that will appeal to most of you.

The Bose 700 gaming headset provides you with incredible audio quality. Our tester felt that they are not as loud as most competing models. But they do what they have to without much hassle, which everybody wants from it.

The music session with the unit was spectacular. It was simply marvelous as the tones hit the right kind of cord with the music. The model provides you with a clean presentation and keeps the bass in soundcheck.

You would adore the fact that Bose did not load the model with several buttons. Our tester wanted to mention about the Bose music app that is flawless. It comes packed with features. Its noise-canceling feature provides you with the ability to listen to music powerfully.

MICROPHONE PERFORMANCE

The Apple Airpods Max gaming headset has a good microphone. However, when you use the Bluetooth sound performance, it provides you with some abnormal options during processing. It is quite accurate for the Airpods Max.

The audio performance is good enough. But the same cannot be said on the microphone. It becomes apparent on the kind of devices that actually work well with the gaming headset. You might want to make use of the Apple devices for getting the right kind of experience.

We may want to tell you that the audio performance depends on the handling of the wireless communication.

We used the Android devices on it and found that it came with low performance. Nevertheless, your voice is audible to the person at the other end. This is a default and unfortunate process when you use Apple devices.

The devices work just fine. But when you want to have proper voice-hearing capabilities on the headset when using the microphone, then you should use the right kind of device for that. Phone talks were absolutely sublime on the devices, with a slight echo coming from Android.

The Bose headsets always came with a sublime audio quality for you for a model of its caliber. Using the Bose 700 gaming headset, things went uphill from there. If you have read our reviews, then you might agree with us on that.

You can find 8 individual microphones on the unit. Out of them, 6 are capable of blocking the incoming noise. The other 2 can amplify your voice tremendously well if you use them for a call or the digital assistant.

We thought that the microphone enabled your voice to sound much better than what it should be able to. This aspect is something that you do not usually get to see. They are able to design the proper separation.

Our tester worked with them in several scenarios and was happy with the results. He was stunned when the person at the other end was able to hear them sublimely. This is again something that we don’t often tell about the headset.

The need to raise the voice was not there, and, in some instances, though he did not raise his voice, the person could hear him loud and clear. It is safe to say that Bose has taken things up another level with the astonishing microphone talking capabilities.

COMPATIBILITY

The compatibility features of the Apple Airpods Max are exceptional because of the H1 chip. This is the same chip that is found on the AirPods Pro, and the experience was the same in all. Users can also find Bluetooth 5.0 with the AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs.

Our tester found that it came with those rare snags when he was listening to Spotify using iPhone SE2. It got weird when he was not able to connect to podcast audio though they were paired.

For those of you who are not aware, the Bluetooth codec is a mode of communication between two Bluetooth devices. They help in the connectivity of the devices. The Airpods Max utilizes much better AAC but does not reveal its genuine powers on Android devices.

So, you might want to use Apple devices to enhance your abilities. Though you might be owning the latest Android models with high codecs, including aptX or LDAC, they may not be worth it here. Using the iOS is beneficial as iOS devices can default to AAC anyways.

Our tester could effortlessly work on the iPhones, iPad, and even MacBook. You will be delighted to know that it can connect on devices up to 30 feet, which is a good thing. You won’t lose the signal at all.

Similarly, the Bose 700 comes with an opulent connection ability. They have removed the micro-USB port and replaced it with the USB Type-C. It enables you to charge the headset. Talking about the charge, it takes close to 4 hours.

It is a decent figure considering the fact that you can have 20 hours of usage on it. Our tester wore it almost for a week with 75% volume and found the battery at 20% remaining. Of course, you must turn off the device when you are not using it.

In that case, you can off tweak the auto-off feature present in the Bose music app. This element aided you in setting the model to automatically shut off after 5 minutes when it is not in use. It makes use of Bluetooth that provides you with a signal for more than 32 feet that is good.

When you use it inside the home or an apartment, the signal is quite good because the signals stay firm.

PRICE

The Apple Airpods Max is priced under $426. The gaming model is $50 more than the Bose 700. Can that make a huge difference? The Bose 700 is priced under $380. These models come under the premium market.

This refers to the models priced under $500, which is considerable for the ordinary mortal. Unless you are a professional gamer or somebody who is keen on listening to opulent sound quality, you have a barrage of other choices to make.

The Bose 700 model is the best in the market from the Bose maker. One cannot expect to get deals on these models anytime soon. Yes, the Bose model is expensive but remains under $400.

Apple Airpods Max vs Bose 700: Verdict

There you go, we have ended the review between the Apple Airpods Max vs Bose 700 gaming headsets. They both are sublime models and come with outstanding audio performance. The Apple Airpods Max gaming headset is an excellent pair of the model.

It has best-in-class active noise canceling and a top-notch sound signature. The unit does display few frustrating elements that make it an Apple model. When you like your Apple ecosystem and do not mind paying more for the pleasure of life, then it is okay.

Like most Apple devices, they have remarkable features infused in them and provide you with eloquent sound performance. The comfort is good, and the build quality is fantastic. Bose 700 gaming headset has raised the standard for noise cancellation headphones.

It comes with eight microphone effects that can effortlessly silence the outdoor environment. You can be heard clearly whether you are talking to somebody on the phone or chatting. They do not skimp on average sound performance.

The audio is clear and natural. You can hear those tones, lines, and words very clearly. Using the adjustable noise cancellation, things can be kept quiet without disturbing your music. Our tester felt that the Sony WH-1000XM4 might be a good alternative for both models.

It comes with a lower rate, a better functioning app, and higher battery life. Our winner in this review between the Apple Airpods Max vs Bose 700 gaming headsets is the Bose 700 model. Though Airpods are expensive, they provide you with advanced computational audio and phenomenal integration with Apple devices that most units cannot.

We feel that it may not be sufficient to enter the Bose market. Besides, the price difference of $50 may not be much but can add up when you have to purchase more Apple products to experience the best performance. That is something no required with the Bose models.