Technics may not have the same name recognition as the Sonys and Boses of the earbud market, BUT it’s a name that’s adorned many an entertainment center or Hi-Fi rack since it launched in 1965. While it hasn’t stopped making the premium turntables that made it a Hi-Fi mainstay, Technics has also brought some of that premium quality and audiophile heritage to its flagship AZ80 earbuds. That pedigree doesn’t come cheaply at $300, but every bit of the quality you’d expect from an audiophile-first company is there to justify that price. Even if it doesn’t top our list, the AZ80s are a contender forthe best earbuds money can buy.
While Technics is a name unfamiliar to most, it’s one of the many sub-brands Panasonic has spun off over the years. Being under the umbrella of a Japanese consumer electronics giant isn’t a guarantee of quality, but with three years since the release of its previous flagship AZ70s, Technics has had plenty of time to get the AZ80s just right. While Sony and Sennheiser have clearly beaten Technics to this market by several years, much like withBeyerdynamic’s Free Byrds, it’s nice to see more companies that typically cater to audiophiles make products with mass appeal without betraying their Hi-Fi roots.
Technics EAH-AZ80
The Technics AZ80 earbuds deliver sound that lives up to the company’s Hi-Fi legacy, all with impressively effective noise canceling, 7 sets of eartips, and 3-device multipoint pairing. This all comes together to make the AZ80s a very appealing option in the premium segment.
Price and availability
While black and silver aren’t bad colors by any stretch, they’re a tad boring and conventionally “safe” choices, so the Technics AZ80 earbuds aren’t exactly making waves in the color department. Safe might be the right play, though, since the $300 price can feel a little jarring at first, even if it’s the precedent thatBoseandSonyhave set for flagship earbuds.
It’s also unlikely the price will drop very much over the life of the AZ80s. Despite the fact that Technics still sells the gen 1 versions of its entry-level AZ40 and mid-level AZ60 earbuds at healthy discounts on its Amazon store, that practice doesn’t extend to its previous flagship AZ70s. That tactic also doesn’t extend to Technics’ own website or Best Buy, where the selection is limited just to the current generation of products.
Design and fit
Just like the other earbuds Technics makes, the AZ80 earbuds have a stemless design, and large, flat touch control targets. The touch targets are very responsive and nearly impossible to miss, but they’re also a not-so-subtle nod to the company’s roots. With a fine circular groove going around the touch target, it’s practically impossible to not be reminded of a vinyl record. The charging case doesn’t have the same design touches, but with a brushed aluminum lid and high-quality plastic body, the case still comes off as premium.
While the buds look fairly bulky, they have a fairly low profile from the front and narrow down enough towards the tip to not rub or be uncomfortable. Despite the chunky looks, the AZ80s aren’t very heavy in the ear, and between that and the generous selection of seven sizes of ear tips, comfortably listening to the AZ80s for hours on end is a breeze. One interesting note about the earbud tips is the inclusion of a small sponge pad in each one. Most earbuds only have a mesh grille to keep your errant ear wax at bay, so this extra protection may help you on the eternal struggle tokeep your ear gunk out of your earbuds.
Sound & call quality
It’s no surprise that flagship earbuds from a company that caters to audiophiles sound good. The AZ80s have crystal clear highs, and punchy bass, all without sacrificing a bit of the mids. Vocals always cut right through the noise of the band without coming off as harsh or covering anything up. The decently wide soundstage makes it easy to pick out individual instruments if critical listening is your thing, but it also lets a lot of songs open up and feelbigger. It won’t make studio albums sound like stadium shows, but you might find details you never noticed on songs you’ve listened to hundreds of times. To get the most of that though, you’ll need to listen to a service like Qobuz, Tidal, or iTunes that can take full advantage of the AZ80’s LDAC Bluetooth codec.
While no-expenses-spared hardware can bring a lot of improvements like that to sound quality, one of the biggest listening experience improvements flagship earbuds can have over mid-range ones is active noise canceling. The AZ80s have some of the least intrusive noise canceling I’ve heard. In addition to having next to none of the extra pressure I’ve seen complaints about on some earbuds, while I’m just casually listening to music, I’m not always aware the noise canceling is on. While I’ve always thought that AirPods Pro, for example, felt like they projected silence into your ears, the AZ80s justpresentyou with silence rather than impose it on you.
Noise cancelation isn’t just for listening, though. For anyone taking calls from inside wind tunnels, the AZ80s use JustMyVoice and the same mic array it uses for ANC to try and isolate your voice for the person on the other end of your call. This feature seems to work very well, but with more intense background noise, people will be able to hear the harsh tinny edge of the aggressive noise cancelation. When the alternative is not hearing you at all, though, that seems like a fair tradeoff.
Google Fast Pair has made it dead simple to set up your new earbuds and get you listening as fast as possible. It’s also become incredibly common on high-end earbuds, which is why it feels so conspicuous that it’s missing from the AZ80s. It isn’t justnot there, though, it’s replaced by Technics’ proprietary version of that feature that requires you already have its app installed to take advantage of that. The app is already a must-have since it’s the only way to get firmware updates, set a custom EQ, and change any settings or controls, but Technics’ in-house rapid pairing was significantly less smooth and convenient than Fast Pair since it not only required you to install its app first but to have it open as well.
Two of the selling points of the AZ80s that unfortunately run counter to each other are the LDAC codec and its three-device multi-point connection, since enabling one disables the other. Out of the box, the AZ80s default to multipoint limited to the AAC codec, and if you want to step up to LDAC, you have to manually change that in the settings. The multipoint switching worked fairly well, though I don’t find myself switching back and forth between my phone, laptop, and tablet throughout the day. I do listen to a high-def streaming service for most of the day, so it was a high priority to track that down in the settings.
The touch controls of both earbuds can be independently changed in Technics’ app, which is great since I definitely wasn’t used to the default control schema. A single tap of either bud is the typical play/pause, but the right bud has skip forward and backward on double and triple taps respectively, while the left bud has volume down and up on the same gestures. A long tap of the right bud cycles through the ANC and ambient modes, while the left bud will bring up your assistant. While the tap settings can be changed to any of these commands, the long press options are more or less limited to the two already listed, and powering down the earbuds.
Battery life and charging time
With the all-day comfort the AZ80s have, all-day battery life to go with it would be nice. If all you’re using is noise canceling, you can expect right around nine hours on a single charge, and adding music to the mix will bring that down to seven hours and change. Expect that to drop a tad more if you’re using the LDAC codec, though.
Popping the buds back in the case for fifteen minutes will net you about an extra hour of playback, and 2 hours in the case will take them from dead to full. The case holds a little over two more full charges in it for a total of 24 hours of listening time. The case takes a little over two hours to fully charge via USB-C, and another hour or so if you’re using a Qi pad.
Competition
If you’re shopping for premium earbuds around the $300 mark, there’s a surprising amount of stiff competition. The two most notable contenders areSony’s WF-1000XM5andBose’s QuietComfort Ultra, with great sound quality and industry-leading ANC from both. With less than 8 hours of listening per charge, the AZ80s don’t have quite the longevity of the Sony’s, especially since turning off the ANC will bump the XM5s up to about 12 hours of listening. The Technics have much more customizable controls, though, as well as larger 10mm drivers compared to the 8.4mm ones found in the Sonys.
The QuietComfort Ultras are missing some creature comforts the AZ80s have, like wireless charging and multipoint support. While the QuietComfort Ultras are also prone to occasional hissing and ANC artifacts, the AZ80s have some of the most seamless ANC I’ve ever experienced, to the point where I didn’t even know that there was noise being canceled the vast majority of the time.
Should you buy them?
If top-notch sound quality and industry-leading ANC are important to you, and you’re willing to shell out $300 to get it, that’s exactly what the Technics AZ80s have. With crystal clear details across the entire spectrum and some of the most impressive noise cancelation I’ve experienced, Technics clearly knows what it’s doing.
One of the biggest praises I can give the AZ80s is just how often I find myself using them even though I’m sitting at my wired headphone setup. While they aren’t without flaws, most of my gripes are fairly minor, and none of them are big enough to keep me from dailying them.
The Technics EAH-AZ80 earbuds deliver near audiophile quality sound, include 7 sets of eartips and offer multipoint pairing. All told, the EAH-AZ80 is a very compelling offering in the premium segment.
