I tried so many earbuds (RHA Trueconnect, Jabra Elite 65T, Sony WF1000XM3, M&D MW07, Soundcore Liberty Air) and the Sony WH1000XM3 before choosing the 700s over all of them. Some had video lag, some didn't fit comfortably, some had bad sound, some had a combo of issues.The 700's noise canceling is NOT as good as the Sony headphones. But you'd probably only notice if you're comparing them side by side with no other music or sound and just comparing the NC against a vacuum, hood, or some other high volume noise source.The sound quality is good, but many people prefer the Sony's wider sound stage. I felt the Sony's added too much base and it would drown some of the mid and treble details. I don't need (or really like) crazy thumping bass and I feel the Bose provides a more balanced and natural sound. Again, unless you compare them side by side, you will think both sound good.I'm not a huge fan of the app, but fortunately after configuring things, I don't use it very much so it's not that big of a deal. It doesn't matter that it doesn't have an equalizer and isn't as feature rich as Sony's app since I didn't find any value in those with the Sony headset either.What really sold it for me were the mics. I needed an all purpose solution for media consumption and for making conference calls for work. Of the 8 coworkers I polled, they unanimously chose the Bose over the Sony for mic/voice quality.