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Technics EAH-AZ100

Technics does it again, topping the already brilliant AZ80 with the best Bluetooth-based in-ears on the market today.

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I want to openly admit right away that out of the 33 pairs of wireless in-ear headphones I have reviewed in the past 18 months, the Technics AZ80 have been my first choice, and travelled with me on gym trips and more since I first tested them out. To me, they are the reference earphone, a gadget that is just great at everything. And now its big brother is here.

AZ100 is reminiscent of AZ80 in terms of design with a different shape, which for its own part makes them sit even better in your ears as they are effectively screwed in according to Technics' own instructions. This is despite the fact that they are larger as they house drivers that are ten millimetres in size. The big change are the drivers themselves, which this time are magnetic and borrowed from Technics' professional wired in-ear TZ70, which cost £700, and that improvement is already noticeable during the first four seconds of The Strike's single "The Getaway", which is something else now. Technics has really gone from strength-to-strength in the last two years and here it jumps ahead of the competition even further thanks to MFD (Magnetic Fluid Driver) technology.

Technics EAH-AZ100Technics EAH-AZ100
Black or silver are the colours you can choose from.

The sound of the AZ100 is the single best I've heard in in-ear headphones, and that absurdly includes my Shure SE846 studio quality in-ears, which I've used while drumming both live and in the studio. They're wired, cost £930 and are admittedly incredible. Despite this, I can safely say that the AZ100 sounds better, which beforehand felt unrealistic. Technics' AZ100 offer better timing and dynamics than anything else in-ear I've tried, and there's a depth here that's hard not to be completely enthralled by. The separation between instruments and the snappy bass is amazing, while the midrange feels more distinct with a timing that must be applauded. I've mostly been playing 24-bit/96kHz files during the hours of testing and there are textures, details, and resonance here that's to die for. Not to mention that the sound character of the preset default EQ is playfully lively without being over done.

The noise cancellation is good too. Not quite as head-crushingly extreme as in the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra, but on the other hand, those headphones are clearly worse when it comes to pure sound quality and also have worse call quality, in my opinion, which means that Technics wins the overall battle by a wide margin. The ANC is snappy, handling noise, chatter, and shouting, as well as the groaning of the CrossFit guys inside my local gym. It has to be said, though, that the sound quality when playing music changes so much with the ANC portion turned off that during my hours of testing I chose never to disable it. The bass tapers out a bit and the character tends to be a little less engaging and understated with the noise cancellation turned off, and while that's hardly something that's exclusive to Technics, it's a tad disappointing.

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Technics EAH-AZ100Technics EAH-AZ100
The charging case feels a bit too bulky but everything else is great.

In terms of functionality, the AZ100 is brilliant. You can switch them to three sources at once and via the Technics Audio app you can customise a whole host of features, adjust EQ settings, and control the touch functionality which, on the whole, works brilliantly. The battery life is good too, with 12 hours per charge and 17 extra hours in the included case, which is smaller and slimmer than before. The call quality is another aspect that really impresses in the AZ100 and I really have nothing to complain about here, rather just more praise.

Technics' AZ100 are masterful. There is no other way to say it. The functionality and build quality is amazing and the sound quality is shockingly good. Sure, they cost £260 and for in-ear headphones that is no small sum, but in this case I actually feel that this is a low price as they crush competitors worth significantly more and rule the product category right now, in all respects except their ANC element, where Bose especially still stands out.

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Technics EAH-AZ100

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HARDWARE. Written by Petter Hegevall

Technics does it again, topping the already brilliant AZ80 with the best Bluetooth-based in-ears on the market today.



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