AKG N700NC Noise Canceling Headphones [Review]

The AKG N700NC are good wireless noise cancelling over-ear headphones for a variety of uses. They have a high-end appearance and feel well-made. They feature good audio reproduction and ANC performance, making them a good commuting option. Unfortunately, they have a significant latency, which makes them unsuitable for watching movies, although they can be used wired to eliminate the problem. On the plus hand, they offer a decent battery life and are reasonably adaptable headphones for casual use.

Style

These headphones have a premium look and feel to them. The headband has an unusual form, with curved hinges that keep the ear cups in place, widening the headphones. The cups are dense and have thick cushioning, but they are only available in silver and do not come in a choice of colours to suit your personal style.

Comfort

Because of the good padding on the cups and headband, the AKG N700NC are very comfortable headphones. They’re not too tight, and they’re not too heavy on the head. They are, however, heavier than comparable over-ear headphones. The cups are deep but not overly enormous, which should accommodate most ears but may squeeze larger ones.

Controls

The AKG N700NC has a good control scheme. Common features such as play/call management, volume buttons, talk-through modes, and the power/pairing slider are all available. The buttons are simple to operate and provide excellent feedback. You get audible feedback for play/pause, max/min volume, and track skipping as well, but not every time you alter the volume, which is convenient.

Breathability

The AKG N700NC, like other over-ears, traps heat behind the ear cups and gets warmer than standard in-ears. They provide a good seal around your ears, limiting airflow and possibly making you sweat more if you use them for sports. For casual listening, this shouldn’t be an issue, especially if you take pauses now and then.

Portability

Because they are hefty over-ears, the AKG N700NC aren’t the most portable headphones. They do, however, fold into a more portable configuration that fits into a bag or the supplied case. The cups also swivel to lay flat if you want to wear them around your neck when not in use. Check out the Audio-Technica ATH-DSR9BT for a more quality build.

Case

They come with a nice sturdy case that should keep your headphones safe from scratches, water, and bumps. The case is sturdy, but it adds bulk and makes it more difficult to store the headphones. On the plus side, the case’s interior is moulded with a plastic partition to suit the headphones, which may provide further protection.

Build Quality

The AKG N700NC have a good build quality, and when you hold them in your hands, you get the feeling that you’re holding luxury headphones. They’re made of sturdy plastic, with a thin metal plate on the headband for reinforcement. The headphones are a little heavier than average, but they’re still pretty adaptable. The padding on the cups and headband is pleasant to the touch, although the leather fabric may wear out over time.

Stability

They’re solid enough for light running, but their thicker shape won’t be perfect for more intensive workouts or sports, but they’re very snug on the head. You won’t have to worry about a wire getting caught on something and tugging the headphones off your head because they’re wireless.

Bass Accuracy

The bass response of the AKG N700NC is excellent. Their LFE (low-frequency extension) is 10Hz, which is excellent. The whole frequency range is flat and well-balanced, resulting in a neutral bass with excellent low-bass for the thud and rumble found in bass-heavy genres like EDM and hip-hop. Mid-bass, which gives bass guitars their body and kick instruments their punch, is also flat and within 1.5dB of our target, which is fantastic. The bass range is excellent overall, punchy and deep.

Mid Accuracy

The AKG N700NC has superb mid-range performance. The response is consistent and flat throughout the range, and it’s within 1.5dB of our target, which is excellent. As a result, vocals and lead instruments are accurately reproduced.

Treble Accuracy

The treble section is excellent. It’s a little uneven, but it’s mostly flat across the board. However, it is around 3dB above our neutral target curve, making the sound a little too bright and crisp. The vocals, main instruments, and cymbals would be the most affected. They sound well overall and have a good treble range.

Imaging

The imaging quality of the AKG N700NC is good. Their weighted group delay is 0.28, which is fantastic. In addition, their group delay is almost all below the audibility threshold, according to the graph. As a result, the bass reproduction is tight and the treble is transparent. Our test unit’s L/R drivers were also remarkably well-matched in terms of amplitude, frequency, and phase response. This ensures that things (voices, instruments, and footsteps) are accurately placed and localised in the stereo image.

Passive Soundstage

The soundstage isn’t up to snuff. Although the PRTF graph shows a lot of ear activation and interaction, it’s not very accurate, and there’s no 10KHz notch. This, combined with the headphones’ closed-back design, creates a soundstage that appears to be inside the listener’s skull.

Noise Isolation

The isolation performance of the AKG N700NC is average. In the bass range, the active noise cancellation achieves an average isolation of 10dB, which is crucial for cancelling out aeroplane and bus engine rumbles. However, they achieve good separation in the mid and treble areas, with 17dB and 34dB, respectively. This shows that speech and sharp sounds like S and Ts are well isolated.

Leakage

The AKG N700NC has an average leakage performance. The majority of their leakage occurs in the mid-frequency band, which is roughly 400Hz to 5KHz. Even in somewhat noisy locations like a bus, people near you will be able to hear your music if you blast it, even if the aggregate level of their leaks is not extremely high. They should be fine for use in a typical office environment at moderate volumes without bothering coworkers.

Recording Quality

The microphone of the N700NC has mediocre recording quality. The LFE of 269Hz results in a rather thin recorded/transmitted speech. Speech is muffled and lacks detail when the HFE (high-frequency extension) is set to 3KHz. It should be noted, however, that the Bluetooth protocol restricts the HFE of all microphones to roughly 3.5KHz.

Noise Handling

The noise-cancelling ability of the built-in microphone is average. They scored a 12dB speech-to-noise ratio in our SpNR test, indicating that they are best suited for quiet areas and will struggle to distinguish speech from ambient noise in moderate and noisy contexts.

Battery

They have a decent battery life, with roughly 18 hours of continuous listening when Bluetooth and ANC are turned on, and charge in about two and a half hours. If you use the headphones wired, you can use the ANC feature for up to 36 hours, according to AKG’s specs page. Even if the battery is dead, you can use them passively using the included 1/8” audio line, which is convenient. To save even more energy, turn on the auto-off timer in the compatible app. Our test result is lower than the promised amount for battery life. We intend to re-test them, and if the new number is considerably different, we will update the review.

App Support

The AKG N700NC may be used with the AKG Headphone smartphone app, which has limited customization options. You get a rudimentary parametric EQ, but no presets, and you can’t alter the noise cancellation level in the app, which is disappointing. You can choose between ambient and talk-through modes, but you can’t completely turn off ANC. When you’re not using the headphones, you may also set an auto-off timer to save battery life.

Bluetooth

Unfortunately, these headphones lack NFC for faster and easier pairing, and they can’t connect to many devices at once, which would have been useful.
These headphones, like most Bluetooth headphones, have too much delay to view video or play games. They also have a higher-than-average default latency for Bluetooth headphones and don’t have any low-latency codecs. They can, however, be used passively using a 1/8″ TRRS connection to eliminate latency difficulties.

Wired

Even if the battery is dead, you can use these headphones passively with the included 1/8″ TRRS audio connection. If the battery is dead, you won’t be able to use the ANC feature. For audio and microphone functionality, the cable is compatible with consoles. Track skipping backward with the in-line button, on the other hand, does not appear to operate on all Android phones, but it does on some.

Verdict

Their excellent audio reproduction makes them excellent critical listening headphones, and the useful ANC functions allow you to concentrate on your music. They do a good job of isolating noise, which isn’t ideal for commuting but is still useful in the workplace. For sports, they are fairly snug and stable over-ears, although their bulky shape may not be ideal for vigorous activity. Their wireless design introduces too much latency when viewing TV or playing games, however they may be utilised wired to eliminate the latency issues.