Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 vs Sennheiser HD558

The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 sets the bar for all other Over-Ear Headphones at the $310 price point. The Sennheiser HD558, however, is merely passable at that price.

The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 managed to impress reviewers from many of the internet's most highly trusted sources, including Wirecutter (NYTimes), Rtings, CNET, Laptop Mag, Tom's Guide, TechGearLab, SoundGuys, and PCmag. It performed really well in their Over-Ear Headphone roundups - it was named "Top Pick" by Wirecutter (NYTimes), "Best Bose Headphones For Business And Travel" by Rtings, and "Excellent all-around" by CNET. That's high praise coming from sources that conduct in-depth hands-on testing.

As for the Sennheiser HD558, it wasn't able to earn a top spot in any roundups from trusted sources that conduct their own hands-on testing. Nevertheless, it managed to impress reviewers at Expert Reviews, TrustedReviews, Head-fi, and What Hi-Fi? enough to make it onto their respective shortlists.

For a direct Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 vs. the Sennheiser HD558 comparison, we first examined sources that tested and scored both. Most of them, including Expert Reviews, have found the Sennheiser HD558 to be the better product, while TrustedReviews and What Hi-Fi? rated both equally.

When we took a look at which sources they managed to impress the most, we discovered that the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 received its best, 10, score from TechGearLab, while the Sennheiser HD558 got its highest, 10, rating from Expert Reviews.

Finally, we also compared their review scores to the rest of their competition - the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 earned an average review score of 8.6 out of 10 points and the Sennheiser HD558 received an average of 8.9, compared to the 7.5 average of Over-Ear Headphones in general.