Review: Technics AZ100 Earbuds easily beat the likes of Sony and Bose

Unless you're an audio nerd, you might not be familiar with Technics, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary with the launch of new flagship earbuds — the EAH-AZ100 wireless earbuds. The buds debuted at the CES 2025 show in Las Vegas, and I've been testing them for the past few weeks.

Technics made the turntable used by DJs since the earliest days of hip-hop and electronic music. More recently, the Panasonic brand has focused on HiFi products for audiophiles. They make studio-quality wired earphones for professional musicians and engineers, as well as luxury speakers, amplifiers, and turntables.

With the AZ100s, Technics wants to bring true high-fidelity, reference-class music quality to an everyday product. But you don't have to be a pretentious audiophile (and I say that will all due respect to the pretentious audiophiles of the world) to appreciate these new wireless earbuds.

Because, damn, do they sound good.

Technics EAH-AZ100 wireless earbuds specs

You can start listening to music with these buds minutes after unboxing them. I've had no issues with pairing, dropped connections, or lag — even while using multi-point connections. They've also got an impressive feature set:

• Speaker Driver Unit: 10mm

• Frequency Response: 20 to 40 kHz

• Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation

• IPX4 water resistance

• 10 hours of battery with ANC / 28 hours of battery with charging case

• 15-minute quick charge provides 90 minutes of ANC listening

• Supports LDAC lossless audio

• USB-C and Qi wireless charging

• Charging case dimensions: 69 x 36 x 27 mm

• Earpiece sizes: XS, S, M, M/L, L

• Colors: Black and silver

The Technics Audio Connect app is also super user-friendly, and the custom ANC, EQ settings, and Voice Focus AI features are simple to set up. Personally, I found the "Dynamic" audio setting worked best for music. When using the buds, I found the touch controls responsive — but not so responsive that I accidentally paused or skipped tracks.

The AZ100s produce high-fidelity audio for music lovers

In December, Panasonic invited a group of journalists to the Technics Design Studio in Kyoto, Japan, where we got to demo these new earbuds ahead of their CES debut. They deliver richer, fuller, more detailed sound than any earbuds I've ever tested. The only buds I've tried that achieved similar clarity and sound separation were next-gen in-ear monitors that used ultrasound technology.

That means when you're listening to a really layered track — think symphonies from Beethoven or "National Anthem" by Radiohead — you can distinctly hear all the various layers of sound. Instead of notes blurring into each other, you clearly hear each individual chord just as it was recorded.

Basically, they pass the "bop" test. As in, how much do I bop my head and play air drums while using them? It can be hard to articulate exactly why HiFi music sounds so much better, but you know it when you hear it.

I found this to be true across the entire audio range, from bass to treble. I've seen some Reddit reviews that complain these buds have weak bass. In reality, they have incredibly clear bass, whereas too many audio products simply blow out the bass beyond all reason.

These buds are so good they even compare favorably to over-ear headphones and luxury speakers.

The difference is obvious when switching back and forth between the AZ100s and other buds. Music just sounds more complete. They also produce incredible resonance, giving you a real sense of space.

And if you like to crank up the volume to 11, these earbuds get loud. (Loud enough that sound leaks slightly to the people around you.)

These earbuds made me wonder how close we are to achieving peak earbuds. Beyond incremental improvements to battery life, noise cancellation, and comfort, where do we go from here?

Introducing the Magnetic Fluid Driver

The new Technics AZ100s use a proprietary Magnetic Fluid Driver to produce high-resolution, low-distortion sound that's as close to the original source as possible.

What is a Magnetic Fluid Driver? Per Technics, the driver includes a ring of oily magnetic liquid between the driver magnet and voice coil (the part of the speaker that moves the diaphragm that produces sound waves). This creates more stable movement, higher clarity, and lower distortion. The new driver also uses an ultra-thin aluminum diaphragm for improved detail and sound separation.

I got the chance to demo this tech at a Panasonic demonstration in Kyoto, Japan in Dec. 2024. Here's what the new driver looks like in action:

This Magnetic Fluid tech previously appeared in the Technics EAH-TZ70 in-ear monitors — professional monitors with a $1,199.99 price tag. The new AZ100s feature a miniaturized version of that tech, plus a much more reasonable $299.99 price tag, the same as Bose's flagship QuietComfort Ultra earbuds.

I previously reviewed the QuietComfort Ultra earbuds for Mashable, and I've consistently rated them as the best wireless earbuds of the moment. So, how do they compare in a head-to-head test with the AZ100s?

Comparing the AZ100 to other headphones and earbuds

I've reviewed a lot of audio products for Mashable and other publications. I was surprisingly impressed with the audio quality of the Dyson OnTrac over-ear headphones, and I've previously praised the Bose QuietComfort Ultra line.

Now, premium over-ear headphones have advantages over wireless earbuds — a more comfortable form factor (and no ear wax gumming up the buds), a tighter seal around your ears, and larger speaker components. But unless you splurge on $1,000 in-ear monitors made for professionals, I don't know where you'll find better-sounding earbuds.

That said, I found the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds to be more comfortable for extended use. After three to four hours of wearing the AZ100s, I experienced some ear fatigue. The Bose buds are lighter and use a unique stability band that hugs the contour of your outer ear, and I find this provides a tighter seal and better fit. On the plus side, the AZ100 buds don't stick out too much from your ears, making them relatively comfortable when leaning against a pillow or surface.

In terms of active noise cancellation, the AZ100s are as good as the very best noise-cancelling earbuds I've tested. They filter out human voices extremely well. While testing, I couldn't hear my partner unlocking, opening, and closing a door just seven feet away from me, nor did I hear her yelling my name. They dampened the clamor of the New York City subway, too.

Additional features justify the high price point

If you have an Android smartphone or compatible digital audio player, the AZ100 buds support the LDAC codec, aka lossless audio. Now, I'm just a lowly iPhone and Spotify user, but if you're a true connoisseur of sound, you'll appreciate this.

The AZ100s also support multi-point connection on three Bluetooth devices at once. In my experience, lots of brands claim to offer multi-point connection, but in reality, you have to do a lot of annoying manual switching. Here, multipoint works seamlessly. As I write this, the buds are connected to my iPhone and Macbook, and I can switch back and forth to audio on either device.

Surely, this will be the standard in the years ahead, and I can only hope other brands figure it out.

There are two other features I have to call out.

First, the Voice Focus AI. These earbuds use AI to isolate the sound of human voices, which is helpful when listening on ambient mode. It's also very handy for phone calls and online meetings. Truly, it made other sounds disappear like magic on calls. You can activate it on either end of a call, or both.

Lastly, the adaptive aspect of the active noise cancellation is much appreciated. We haven't really seen custom tuning available for ANC since the Bose 700 noise-cancelling headphones disappeared. With the AZ100s, you can fine-tune the ANC to your liking, providing an even better audio experience.

I haven't even mentioned the Dolby Atmos, the 10-hour battery life (with ANC engaged), or the IPX4 water resistance.

If you're curious, here are some of the tracks I used to test out these buds. I listened to these songs repeatedly with the Technics buds and other premium buds and headphones.

The verdict: Wow.

Personally, if I'm being asked to pay $300 or more for a product, I expect more than plastic. And in keeping with the premium tech inside these buds, the AZ100s use a metal charging case and metal accents on the buds themselves. The precision-cut details are a nice touch, especially compared to the all-plastic design of the competition.

Of course, what really matters here is the sound quality. While Bose retains an edge on overall comfort, I'm not aware of any wireless earbuds in the world that offer better, fuller, more accurate sound.

The Technics Reference Class HiFi Wireless Earbuds are priced at $299.99 and are available now at Amazon, Crutchfield, and Panasonic.