Yamaha YH-L700A review 2024: great sound quality

Yamaha makes the YH-L700A, a wireless noise-canceling headphone that competes with Apple’s AirPods Max. The difference should be made by a retro-futuristic look, surround sound, and head tracking.

The Yamaha headphones are sometimes great, sometimes good, and sometimes not that great. The audio performance is very strong and full, and the 3D function is interesting. However, the ANC is not very good. If you’re looking for wireless headphones with a unique style, the new Yamaha YH-L700A is a good place to start.

The first thing that stands out about the Yamaha YH-L700A is that it has a unique, if not unusual, look. The dark grey cloth covers the padded headband and the outside sides of the square earcups, while the black fake leather covers the inside sides.

Yamaha YH-L700A review: Comparison Table

Yamaha YH-L700A review: Design and comfort

The YH-L700A is just too big to miss. They don’t just sit there when you put them on your head. The top part of your head is covered instead. People with smaller heads and ears might want to look into headphones that aren’t as big.

Even though it’s big, the Yamaha fits well. The locking force isn’t too tight, the padding is thick, and the look and feel of the cloth-wrapped helmet are both good. The fit of the L700A headphones is fine, but the ear cups don’t move enough. After that, you can listen to the L700A for a long time before your ears get tired of it.

Yamaha YH-L700A review: Sound quality

We checked the sound quality when the Listening Optimizer and 3D Audio modes were turned off. We left the ANC on because without it, the sound is tinny and lacks bass. But once again, you shouldn’t need ANC in order to get good sound.

Bill Callahan’s song “Drover,” which has much less deep bass, gives us a better idea of how it sounds. But the drums never quite go into a bass zone that sounds so deep it’s almost booming.

Callahan’s vocals have a good mix of presence in the high mids and richness in the low mids. On this track, the headphones make the sound better and change it while keeping the rhythm.

Yamaha YH-L700A review: Performance

It seems most normal to start using the YH-L700 in stereo as if they were “just another” pair of wireless active noise-canceling headphones. And it doesn’t take long for them to show that they are a full-bodied, robust, and energizing way to listen to a TIDAL Masters digital audio file.

The Yamaha sound is real and convincingly matched. The bass is meaty, powerful, and has a lot of information at the lowest frequencies. It is not ponderous at all. The control and movement are impressive, and the fine detail is very clear.

Yamaha YH-L700A review: Noise Cancellation

Yamaha’s noise-cancelling technology isn’t as good as that of Bose, Sony, or Bowers & Wilkins, but it’s good enough to keep people listening to music. The company says that these headphones have mics built in that can pick up background noise.

And use an algorithm to figure out what should be taken out of the music signal. The point of this is to keep the sound quality clean. But there’s no way to change the EQ, and they’re not the best noise-canceling headphones out there.

And to get right down to it, they’re pretty big—certainly too big for many people who might not have thought their heads were all that small before. Also, did we say how much it costs?

Yamaha YH-L700A review: Battery Life

The YH-L700A has a great battery life of 34 hours when noise cancellation is turned on. We found that if you don’t use the noise reduction, you can hear a lot more than if you do. The surround features have the biggest effect on the battery life, since you have to charge it after 11 hours.

No matter what, 23 hours and 35 minutes is enough time to get through any listening session. I can listen for a week before I need to recharge, but that depends on how long and how much I listen. With the USB-C wire that comes with the headset. You can get this from its officially website.

Yamaha YH-L700A review: Price and availability

Even though the Yamaha YH-L700A over-ear headphones cost $499.95, they are neither audiophile-friendly nor high-end noise-cancelling. They sound good for some genres, but their poor active noise cancellation (ANC) and lackluster.

The 3D audio don’t come close to making up for how much they cost. You’ll be much happier with the $329 Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones instead. Even the more expensive Apple AirPods Max, which cost $550, are a better choice, especially for Apple fans.

Final Words

The L700A has a lot of cool features, and the sound quality is great. It does have a few problems, though, like a shorter battery life, ANC sound that gets worse over time, and no EQ. I think there are too many 3D options, which is a smaller problem. Only a few of them really change the way you feel about listening to music.

Yamaha YH-L700A review: The Good and Bad

FAQs