Sony SRS-NS7 Neckband Bluetooth Speaker/headphone for TV listening with personalized home theater audio, Built-in mic, 12 Hour Battery Life, IPX4 Splash-Resistant, included wireless adaptor WLA-NS7

I think the other reviews here do a good job of painting a picture of what to expect if you're new to neck speakers. What I'd like to do is write a review for those dozens of us who are coming from the Bose Soundwear, since I could not find many direct comparisons out there between the two.I've used the Bose Soundwear neckband speaker every days for hours each day for the last 4 years - I absolutely love the thing. When it started running into startup issues a few months ago (which I've since gotten fixed by replacing the battery and re-installing the firmware), I decided to see what else has come out since 2019. I tried the Monster Boomerang, but it was awful in comparison. Poor detail, sounds muffled, and only sounds good when you EQ the hell out of it. It's also shaped in a way that makes it less comfortable. I'm a somewhat skinny 5'6" Filipino male, so my shoulders aren't strangely shaped or anything.Enter the Sony SRS-NS7:This thing is AMAZING. It's such a worthy successor to the Bose Soundwear.-----Gonna get the cons out of the way first. There's quite a few but in actuality, they're minor to me and are far outweighed by the pros:-Can't configure the SRS-NS7 to shut off if there hasn't been any playback through the speakers after X amount of minutes. So unless you can always remember to turn it off after a few minutes, your battery will drain a lot faster than with the Soundwear if your usage is on and off through the day and night.-It lacks bass, though boosting the bass (63 Hz) by +6 dB through the Sony Headphones app gives it the solid (albeit boomy) punch it needs.-If you DO boost the bass, you can feel it vibrate on your neck at higher volumes. I personally LOVE this, and it's relatively subtle - that is, it's nowhere near the levels the Boomerang can vibrate at if you do an extreme V-shaped EQ on that.-Can't connect simultaneously to two different devices, unlike the Soundwear. I carry a phone for work so not being able to answer calls from either phone by just powering on the Soundwear (or pressing the play/action button if already connected) is a bummer.-Can't turn off the voice alerts.-It looks bulkier and more overstated compared to the Soundwear.-----The pros, tho... THE PROS, THO:-Overall sound quality is THE BEST I've heard from a wearable neckband speaker. The gap between this and the Soundwear is nearly as large as the gap between the Soundwear and the Boomerang and other cheapo sub-$50 neck speakers. And once you've dialed in your EQ settings... truly no comparison.-More detailed and neutral-sounding than the Soundwear. When I'm on the go, I almost exclusively use the Soundwear (well, now the SRS-NS7). Using the NS7, I'm hearing plenty of little details in songs I've listened to for years that I've never noticed while using the Soundwear. Since I have the luxury of being able to swap between the two as I listen, it's not that the Bose can't reproduce those details. Rather, it's way the Soundwear is EQ'd and designed to produce its soundstage. The Soundwear is very bright, almost to the point it can be harsh but not exactly reaching that point. That said, it's to the point that little details can get overpowered and go unnoticed if it's not within the frequency bands favors by the Soundwear. In comparison, the NS7 is far more neutral in how it's EQ'd, so details have further room to shine. Combine it with the to the better soundstaging, and you are left with a sound system that's enjoyable and non-fatiguing.-Sounds less noticeable to bystanders compared to the Soundwear, especially in noisier environments. I reckon it's due to how much tamer the high-end is on the NS7 compared to the Soundwear; with the Soundwear, you can hear the high-end from a farther distance and through much louder background noise.-Speaking of soundstage: it's most definitely fuller and immersive. Best way to describe the sound is that it's truly more "dome-like" in its soundstage compared to the Soundwear, which sounds more narrow and directional, pointed into your ears (but still good overall). The SRS-NS7 takes it to a level I could only have dreamed of, filling in the parts of the soundstage that the Bose simply cannot fill.-No weird "phasing" sound effect the Soundwear has; really does just sound like being able to have portable speakers in front of you while maintaining a natural-sounding soundstage.-System-wide EQ via the Sony Headphones app. You get a 5-band EQ with controls for 63 Hz, 250 Hz, 1k Hz, 4k Hz, and 16k Hz. You also get different presets; my personal favorite preset is the Speech one for podcasts, though in all other cases I keep everything flat, and boost 63 Hz by +4. The Bose doesn't have anything like this through its Connect app, which is a shame.------------------------------------------------------------Tl;dr:If you're coming from the Bose Soundwear, you will love love LOVE how this thing sounds. Get this. Hell, get two of them. Even at $300 each, it'd be worth it. At $250 or less? An absolute no-brainer of a steal.If this is your first neck speaker, chances are you won't be wowed, but will be like "hmm... wow, this sounds like speakers strapped to my neck and pointed into my ears. And I can hear everything around me. Neato!" And if that appeals to you, then I recommend it! Though, only if it drops to $250 or below. $300 is kinda steep considering how competitive the portable sound market is these days.Either way, this is such a solid device and I'd be extremely disappointed if Sony pulled a Bose and discontinued it. I love this thing!!

I purchased this speaker for casual gaming, to keep the sounds away from my kids' wall where the tv was mounted; I had a difficult time deciding between this and Bose model, but this one actually had better reviews, so I dove in! And let me just say - this has been a "game-changer"!Very lightweight, clear audio, deep bass (with a nice chest rumbling feel, when loud enough) - it has amazing sound while allowing me to still be present and aware of my surroundings.I was even able to test this out to a cheaper neck-speaker bought from Amazon, and this one blew it out of the water! The sound clarity and quality were exponentially better.

Neck speakers aren't for everyone, so only you can decide if you have one or more use cases for these interesting audio accessories (more on neck speakers in general after specific comments on the SRS-NS7, which I'll just call NS7 for the rest of this review). What I will say is that the NS7 provides sound quality good enough for casual music listening while leaving your ears open to hear the environment around you, with better build quality and durability than all the no-name alternatives out there (I'm looking at you and your junk control switches, Oraolo), and without whatever level-control nonsense Monster did to ruin the Boomerang.SOUND QUALITY - I'm a bit confused reading some of the complaints here about sound quality. I have to ask, compared to what? I think Sony's done a great job getting the sound quality they have into a very challenging form factor. Decent loudspeakers or headphones will certainly sound better, but I find the NS7's sound quite satisfying for music listening at a substantial discount from what Bose is charging for a comparable product. The sound stage is a little weird but it definitely exists, though I should note I use these as ordinary BT speakers and can't offer an opinion on Sony 360 Spatial Sound, since my Sony OLED TV isn't recent enough to provide that interface. Tone is warm-ish, not overly bright, with decent low-mids and enough bass that it doesn't seem unnaturally tinny, but hey, you're not hanging a subwoofer around your neck here, so let's be reasonable.BUILD AND CONTROLS - As a BT speaker, the NS7 provides basic easily operated controls for power, volume, play/pause and pairing, but no FF/REW functions. That last bit won't much matter if you don't skip around once you've started/shuffled a playlist, but if you don't have alternate controls on, e.g., a smartwatch, keep that limitation in mind for streaming music "stations" where you might want to skip some songs. Everything feels quite solid and the overall feel is one of quality. This is a nice piece of hardware. That said, I should note that this is a semi-rigid design with a little bit of flex, but nothing like, e.g., the Oraolos, so they feel less like draped around your neck and more like sitting on your shoulders.BATTERY: Battery life is fine, but not spectacular, I've found it more than adequate for a full day's listening (lasts me a week or two, but I don't use it every day). The NS7 at least reports battery level to phones that display that (weirdly some BT speakers don't), so it's easy enough to avoid running out. Charging uses USB-C (yay!), so one less reason to keep a micro-USB cable around.AS FOR NECK SPEAKERS IN GENERAL: The use case here is pretty straightforward - you want to listen to something by yourself but still be fully aware of sounds around you, perhaps while moving around. Neck speakers do that with a little less convenience but far better sound quality than bone conduction headphones, and IMO better environment "awareness" than earbuds with "pass-through" features.They're less convenient because a) they're much bulkier than bone-conductors or buds, b) they're not as well secured, just sitting loosely on your shoulders at the neck, and c) they're speakers, not headphones, so they are QUITE audible to people around you (bone conductors leak a bit of sound also, but nothing like neck speakers).All that said, they're great to wear around the house doing some kinds of chores and even while driving (your ears are completely uncovered so it's not any different from having your car radio on), so I'm happy to have the option. Overall I'm glad I picked 'em up for $200 on a Black Friday sale because the regular $300 price tag gave me pause, but I see they're pretty often available for $250 or so, which I guess is fair enough for the sound quality and unique utility.