I recently got these, and my initial impression wasn't so enthusiastic. For my primary ANC headphone I use Sony WH-XM3, and tonally, it's quite different in the highs. Highs are a bit muted in the Sony, and the N700 sounds almost similr to K371 when it comes to having upper-mids emphasized response.
IMO, neither are better. It's because Sony has a more open sound due to more laid back highs, but also LDAC codec if using a quality transmitter, you can get more realistic intricacies in the sound. The problem is, the upper-mids are fairly shallow relative to the thick lower-mids and highly shelved bass. But overall, It works good for movies and games. Not so much for music.
Since N700 focuses on the thighs, the highs pop with music, and it seems to enhance the sound when it comes to music. Bass does seem to be an improvement over the XM3, but not by a whole lot. XM3's mistake is in the lower-mids mostly. It can sound too thick in some instances.
In general, N700 sounds like it was tuned for vocal range focus. Thus, it will either give impression of crisp or too forward highs.
The thing I didn't like about N700 initially was narrow sounding, nasally quality when I was watching regular dialog Youtube vids, movies, or games. XM3 sound more detailed and natural in this regard, but N700 does make music sound more crisp and interesting. This may partially be a streaming quality issue since I can only connect SBC quality with my transmitter. I have no idea how to get AAC. With Sony I can set the mode to LDAC, but not with the N700.
It can be said the N700 is more detaailedd becaause highs are more forward, but it's not that simple. I can say N700 sound more crisp, but not truly more detailed in terms of nuances in the sound. This mainly applies in music.
XM3 and N700 has such contrast in responses that direct swapping for comparison will give too contrasting of impressions. In such instance, you'd have to give time for ear to adjust each headphone, which is also bad for accurate impressions.
As far as ANC, N700 is decent, but not on the level of XM3. WHXM series is the best noise canceling I've ever heard, and I like the weight and comfort for travel and general wireless usage with TV, etc.. N700 isn't quite as light, and it has a bit of clamping force I don't like so much, but build quality in terms of durability is better. The material is not plastic like XM3. But, I generally prefer light weight. I don't break stuff so easily even if it's plastic, especially headphones. I'm not some field worker work in heavy equipment or working out in the field with the wireless headphones.
The new XM5 is out, and I hope Sony has addressed the issues I have with the old XM headphone when it comes to sound.
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