Technics AZ100 reviewed: damn good

Armed with great sound, noise cancellation, and head-tracked Dolby Atmos, the Technics AZ100 shows that competition for Apple, Bose, and Sony is well and truly here.

Earphones can seem like they’re a dime a dozen these days, with every manufacturer making them. Most are small, many are expensive, and depending on how much you spend, they’ll come with a bevy of features: great sound, decent battery life, and active noise cancellation.

Making these genuinely better takes time and research, and more time and research. It’s why we’re always excited to see the latest tech, to see what companies are doing and how they’re making gear better and better.

And this year, one brand may have finally done it.

With the launch of the AZ100, Technics might finally have a pair of truly wireless earphones built to take on the best in the business in the best way possible.

Design and features

Several generations in, Technics earphone design is getting a slight refinement here and there, while also not changing a whole lot. Everything is that little bit smaller, even if the driver is still a healthy 10mm and the battery is relatively capable, too.

It’s really the design that gets smaller, even if the hardware that counts doesn’t. Frankly, you’d want it this way.

Inside, Technics has made a change or two with the hardware. There’s still a 10mm driver for each ear, but there’s also a new technology with a magnetic fluid driver connecting to an aluminium diaphragm. This combination aims to deliver strong bass without distortion, and has only been seen in one other pair of Technics earphones, a pair of pro-grade in-ear monitors largely made for musicians.

In earphones, it’s a new thing, and is paired with microscopic parts for the microphones (MEMS), plus a whole bunch of other features. Active noise cancelling, Bluetooth, three-device multipoint, IPX4 water resistant, and wireless charging.

In-use

You’ll find an assortment of earbud tips to use with the Technics AZ100, covering five sizes: extra small, small, medium, medium-large, and large, and this assortment makes life that little bit easier. Pick the right one for each ear — maybe a different size on each — and you can land on the perfect fit.

Controlling the earphones is handled through a touchpad, but it’s one that’s more about taps than gestures. Depending on how much you like gestures, this might be fine. You can check what they are or change them in the app, which is handy, though the app needs some work.

It has improved a little, but it can still feel like the clunkiest part of the package. Layers of menus and extra features, an equaliser hidden under jargon, not to mention a design that feels like it hasn’t matured all that much.

Performance

No doubt the most important part of the whole thing is the performance, which is why we take great pride in testing every earphone, headphone, and speaker with a reliable methodology, using the Pickr Sound Test (which you can listen to for yourself).

That starts with electronic, where we find a good balance for the electronic sounds of Tycho and Daft Punk, with a solid balance in the mids and highs, and a decent punch in the lows. The big drop in Tycho’s “Glider” is present and noticeable without driving too hard, while the percussion and beat in Daft Pink’s “Contact” leads well.

It’s a solid sense of balance with that little bit extra warmth as the bass delivers comfortably, something we likely can thank with the Magnetic Fluid Driver and the flexibility it’s working with.

That continues throughout most of the tracks we tested. Carly Rae Jepsen offered a nice punch, while Ariana Grande and Mark Ronson both delivered a warm signature sound without an overemphasised bass. It was just right.

The bass is still clearly there: the lows in Charlie Puth’s “Done For Me” are bold and punchy, while the delivery in rock offers the right amount of oomph. We were jamming with Rage and the Deftones, truly absorbed by the soundstage and rendition available from the AZ100 earphones.

In more instrumental tracks, such as with jazz and classical, the stage is truly detailed. Listen for the most minor of details in the live jazz of Ray Brown, and the clarity throughout.

It’s almost magical.

Noise cancellation

There’s also a decent take on active noise cancellation here, providing a couple of options for how you control the ANC. You can take on the automatic adaptive approach, which does an okay job of balancing whether you need full noise quelling or transparency mode, or there’s a control in the app to let you dial in how much noise cancellation you want.

In practice, the cancellation is solid, though we feel Bose still has the edge here, resulting in more of an isolation bubble than what Technics has achieved.

Travelling on public transport, some noise came in, even with tight earphone tips. It’s a decent experience, but just not quite as perfect as some of the competition.

Spatial audio

One of the additions we desperately wanted in the AZ80 is here in its followup, and it may be one of the best implementations yet.

The feature is available in settings, found under one of the many menus, with both a standard spatial sound and a head-tracked spatial sound that works on iOS and Android alike.

On the iPhone, head-tracking works, but you’ll only get the stereo track with your head tracked between left and right. It works, but it’s kind of like using spatial audio on Android in the past.

Meanwhile on Android, Apple Music can load a proper spatial Dolby Atmos track and the Technics AZ100 can let you hear it in proper head-tracked spatial. And it works really, really well.

You may find some of the tracking is lost at times, but we found it corrects itself fairly quickly, resulting in maybe a few seconds of the sound coming from one angle poorly. It’s easily one of the best results of spatial on an Android phone, and a solid result, at that.

Battery

Battery life is also decent, with 28 hours offered in the case when you’re using noise cancellation, while the earphones themselves will keep going, supporting as much as 10 hours with the active noise cancelling technology in use. That battery life will change depending on the quality of audio you use: stick to high-res and you’ll get as much as 7 thanks to the needs of LDAC, while compressed audio can see as much as 10 hours.

If you’re someone who doesn’t mind going without ANC, there’s an extra hour or two in each, but the crux of the AZ100 battery performance is this: 7 to 10 hours of life with an extra two charges in the case.

That’s not bad at all, especially given that Technics has managed to shrink the case somewhat compared to the AZ80 last time around.

Value

One area Technics is overshooting slightly with is price. In fact, it’s an area Technics has kept the same from its previous generation.

Fetching $499 in Australia, the Technics AZ100 is a little higher where we’d like it, and ultimately where competition is. The high-end of noise cancelling earbuds is typically $379 to $449, but Technics is just that little bit higher again.

That’s not to say the AZ100 aren’t worth the money, but with most of the market priced at $450 max, we have a hard time arguing for an extra $50 when there’s not a lot that makes these stand out for the little bit extra you’re being asked to pay.

What needs work?

The app also needs some work, specifically to reduce the complexity and make it that little bit easier to control.

Bose’s app is easy. The Beats app is easy. Sony’s app is easy. But the Technics app feels like it’s trying to throw too much complexity with layers and layers of menus. It’s just not all that user friendly. Fortunately, it can and likely will change over time. Possibly after reading this review.

What we love

While the app could be better, the experience afforded by the Technics AZ100 is a step above where it was last time, and really just nails everything it needs.

The sound quality is great, the size is compact, and the noise cancellation is up there, as well. It manages to bundle what 2023’s AZ80 set out to achieve in a slightly smaller package. That’s great.

But what do we love? The fact that finally Dolby Atmos works properly between both major operating systems on a pair of earphones made by someone other than Bose.

For nearly two years since the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Earbuds came out, we’ve been waiting for someone else to match what Bose managed to accomplish with those earbuds.

And finally someone has: Technics has nailed the package in the AZ100.

Technics AZ100 vs the competition

The package of a thoroughly complete pair of truly wireless noise cancelling head-tracked spatial earphone option isn’t as easy to find as you might expect.

Apple’s AirPods Pro do it, but only if you have an iPhone and listen to music with Apple Music. Sony’s WF-1000XM5 technically do it, but only if you listen to Sony 360 Reality Audio, and that’s so rare, no one is listening that way.

Jabra and LG have both tried head-tracked spatial earbuds, but neither got it properly working on iPhone. LG’s latest Tone Free T90 model gets close, not isn’t quite as reliable in spatial as the competition, which is admittedly quite small.

Rather, the most obvious competitor for the Technics AZ100 is the Bose QC Ultra, a pair that we still carry around as our choice of benchmark on Android devices. They’re reliable and so damn good.

But now, we might just have a better pair for benchmarking with. The Technics AZ100 are excellent, pocketable, and sound damn good.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

It’s about time someone matched Bose. About time.

The Technics AZ100 manage to nail so much of what Android owners are looking for, and even a bit of what iPhone owners might look for as well.

Between the great sound and solid feature set, not to mention attention to detail and size, the Technics AZ100 are a great start to the year. They’re damn good. Highly recommended.