YH-E700B: Yamaha changes the look of its high-end Bluetooth headphones

After making a detour to very high-end wired headphones with the YH-5000SE, which sold for a whopping €5,499, Yamaha is once again looking into the market for Bluetooth models with the YH-E700B. The latter replaces the YH-E700A in the catalog of the Japanese manufacturer.

New look for a new life ?

If there’s one thing the YH-E700B differs from its predecessor in, it’s its design. Farewell to the huge round ear cups, make way for a more conventional elliptical format, which has the advantage of making the headphones much more compact than the TH-E700A. Despite this space saving, the YH-E700B is a bit heavier than its predecessor: 335 g against 325 g, a significant weight which should unfortunately impact the feelings of comfort.

This drastic design change has of course impacted the architecture of the acoustic part of the headphones, which has been completely redesigned according to Yamaha. However, the 40mm speakers used sound identical to those already present in the YH-E700A. Let’s see what it will sound like.

Innovations that can be counted on the fingers of one hand

If the design of the helmet has been revised from top to bottom, this is absolutely not the case for the on-board functionalities. Like the YH-E700A, the YH-E700B features all of Yamaha’s advanced technologies, such as Listening Optimizer (automatic equalization based on ear shape), Listening Care (automatic equalization based on volume) and active noise reduction and listening to surrounding sounds functions designed by the Japanese manufacturer.

Thus, the only two notable new features are the addition of a “low latency” mode to play with complete peace of mind and the update of the Bluetooth chip from version 5.0 to 5.2. We regret that Yamaha misses the opportunity to go directly to Bluetooth 5.3 to benefit from the new features brought by the Bluetooth LE Audio standard. In addition, the YH-E700B is compatible with the aptX Adaptive codec and still has a mini-jack auxiliary input.

In addition to only offering a limited number of new features, the YH-E700B allows itself to do less well than its predecessor on the promised autonomy. The headset promises to operate for 32 hours with active noise reduction engaged compared to 35 hours on the previous model. Even the supplied charging cable is shorter: 20 cm compared to 50 cm before!

The YH-E700B will be available from March 2023 for €399.