Technics Premium Hi-Fi True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds with Advanced Noise Cancelling, 3 Device Multipoint Connectivity, Wireless Charging, Hi-Res Audio + Enhanced Calling - EAH-AZ80-K (Black)

This long winded review needs to be prefaced with the fact that I firmly believe products should be reviewed on the pretense their marketing and price point set, not personal preferences. For instance, if I value sound quality over other features but there are better sounding buds at a similar price point, that does not warrant knocking these down in score as these are ANC buds that are focused on a unified user experience and a diverse use case portfolio. It just so happens that these are the best earbuds you can buy for pretty much any purpose, barring some extreme outliers.Fitting the example above, I DO value sound quality over every other feature. ANC is an obstacle instead of a selling point to me and I lean heavily into a purist mindset. As many others have noted, I wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile, but rather a fidelity enthusiast. My main genre is alt rock and melancholic metalcore.Perspective is critical. I dislike reviewers that neglect to give theirs, as a grandma that’s only ever heard Bose portable speakers will give anything a 5/5. I’ve listened to a majority of the top players. Bowers and Wilkins pi7’s and Pi8’s (extensively), B&O Beoplay EX’s (extensively) AirPod Pro’s, Max’s, Noble Audio Fokus Prestige’s, Between 3ANC’s. I’ve listened to planar magnetic audeze’s, and moondrop blessing 2’s for good measure. I’ve not heard senheisers offerings, Sony’s newest XM5’s, or the coveted devialet Gemini II’s, which I’ve heard edge these out for some. I have heavy doubts about that. Here’s why.These have aluminum drivers in them. I’m no engineer, but the consensus is that metal drivers have a higher capacity for speed and therefore end up leaning toward use cases with brighter sounding speakers. This is critical for me as crashing cymbals are a cornerstone of my genre. The frequency range for these drivers is 20-40khz. Producing frequencies below 20hz to me is senseless as such a small device is not fit to try to create inaudibly low frequencies. Frequencies that low only serve to add immersive tangible rumble, which would take attention away from audible sounds. Frequencies above 20khz are inaudible as well, but serve a different purpose. Once again, not an engineer, but the consensus from others with far more knowledge than me is that a driver competent and accurate enough to move at such high frequencies will have an easier time producing multiple frequencies within the audible frequency range at once. Now this isn’t true for all drivers. Take the denon Perl Pro’s for instance, which have the same frequency range but lack in accuracy at the high end. At the end of the day, this is just a manufacturer rating for what these will actually be capable of producing. Whether or not the driver will do this accurately is dependent on the engineering prowess of the manufacturer.There are a million tricks in the book in the digital age. For instance, raising the decibel value of distant sounds to increase the perceived level of detail, which I believe the Bowers and Wilkins Pi8’s do. Tuning to eliminate the more straneous and populated frequency ranges, like the lower-mids, to allow drivers with sub par accuracy and inadequate speed to sound remotely good. I stand on business when I say I see nothing but crisp and true to form audio from these buds.In actual use, these sound nothing short of angelic. Their base tune is clearly aimed at a ‘dynamic’ listening experience (corpo talk for a v shaped tune), which works perfectly for me.-The bass is deep where I want it deep, but never disrespecting the other instruments. Bass drums thump with grace and rumble is ALWAYS controlled, never feeling overwhelming or out of bounds. These buds know their limits and don’t try to go too low, which was a problem for the Pi7 S2’s as well as (especially) the Fokus Prestige’s. On the other end, the Pi8’s lack the well represented mid-bass these have, making the Pi8’s feel empty.-The mids are a difficult beast to tackle for any single driver unit. These do not perfect the art, but once again stay within their bounds. They appear carefully tuned to avoid mashing anything up, while still representing the mid frequencies with diligence. Nothing is lost from them, but nothing stands out either.-Highs are where these excel. Barely imperfect, they can smile sparkle shine a little too much if the wrong track is playing. Other than that, it’s a luxurious and crisp experience that is rarely, if ever, laborious on the ears. The Pi8’s would fail this test in a heartbeat, as they’re far too bright without an intense retune. On the other end, the Between 3ANC’s lacked vocal clarity from their muddled high frequencies. I theorize that they weren’t prepared for the endless tweaking a multi-driver in ear setup requires and botched the highs as a result.In essence, these earbuds fill in the weaknesses of the other major players in the market, making them a safe bet. They feature a competent and rapid driver that gives them an excessive amount of clarity while being able to perform as though they have more than one driver. Sure, the Pi8’s edge them out in accuracy in the lows, but with their lack of mid bass, it becomes a moot point. The between 3ANC’s might double their battery life, but 12 hours of mediocre vocals is 12 hours wasted. The Beoplay EX’s might have a wider soundstage, but uninspired tuning that ends up sounding thin anchors them down. Not to mention their lack of raw strength when the bass would be absolutely crashing on the AZ-80’s.ANC is moderately good and impressive for their market position. They’re noticeably handicapped with the bass depth when it is on. Transparency is good barring a windy day. Robotic, but aren't they all (unless you're using AirPods).The fit is unparalleled. They are so comfortable that I’ve had to turn off the automatic power down function so I can find them with their audible ‘find my’ feature when I inevitably fall asleep with them in and wake up lost in a daze.The app is fantastic and aside from a lackluster amount of eq bands, has all the customizability I’ve been able to fathom. Nothing is inconvenient about them after a quick button function adjustment. Being able to set a ‘hold’ function to turn OFF ANC is huge for me.Battery is good not great. I think I was spoiled by the between 3ANC’s, which stayed on green without a single charge session from delivery to return. But they’ve never died when I needed more time. They’re great at conserving their battery when the auto-power off function is enabled. The case is what drains the most noticeably, but it’s small size makes it impressive nonetheless.As a complete package, they’re a safe bet with consistent and reliable functionality, a high quality material set, a combined good battery good life, impressive ANC, and excellent sound quality.From an enthusiast perspective they’re an all round jack of all trades that won’t beat every single competitor in all categories, but won’t let you miss out on the fun in any regard. They’re my favorite audio reproduction device I’ve ever used. I’ll be buried with these.Edit: These will be willed out to my first born, and I’ll be buried with the AZ-100’s. Direct sequel review is being formulated.

For some background, I don't have much experience with wireless earbuds, mainly because I have some excellent wired earbuds that are much louder, and normally serve my purpose (typically used mostly when traveling via air).These earbuds have an extensive feature list (much more than I need) but once I got them properly setup for my ears (learning a lot in the process) I now think they are a keeper.My primary use of these will be to watch TV at night (when my wife is sleeping directly above me) I have a high end sound system (Nakamichi Dragon) that simple could not go low enough and she constantly heard it (she's normally in bed about 3-4 hours before me)This earbud connects to my Nvidia Shield effortlessly, provides excellent overall sound, rich bass, exceptionally clear background noise. Late at night I also have no need to use ANC so the battery life is exceptional (6-8 hours). Combine that with the quick charging case and I can't imagine there would be any time when I would run out of a charge.I also got these for an extremely good price (125 in used like new condition) making them an exceptional value.When I 1st received these I thought the overall volume was terrible, the bass was non existent, and I didn't know how to use most of the features so had no idea how awesome these could be. They did fit pretty well (with wrong ear size) and were pretty comfortable from the start.Most important thing I learned with this set is you absolutely have to try all the ear pieces, and do so with some active background noise (I used a fan). Test the pieces with ANC and ambient mode turned off!!! and observe the change to background noise. When you get the bets fit (turns out my ear sizes are different too) you will notice the background noise is much lower (with ANC turned off) and when turning on ANC or ambient mode you will see how great those features work.Once I had gotten these properly sized the bass and quality of sound was very good (not to the levels of my wired sets) but definitely adequate for my use watch lossless audio movies at night allowing my wife to sleep.I don't think I'll use these in situations where I need ANC but now I have the ANC properly calibrated and would say it works well (not sure how it compares to other high end models) The ambient sound works really well, but again not a feature I'll usually be using, because I would rather have longer battery life.;I absolutely love the charging case, if I get up for 15 mint between shows, I put the buds in the case and it charges so fast. I love that the case has usb C and wireless charging, my house is full of charging pads, so after using for a few hours I can throw the case on a pad and have everything at 100% every morning.I loved that you can reprogram all the touch settings, I actually disabled a lot and just have it set to basic play/pause volume up and down (on both sides) for my applicationI didn't see the value in multipoint as I usually just paired multiple bluetooth devices and switched to them manually. However having multipoint with my phone is really cool as it auto pauses the shield to switch to an incoming phone call.So definitely check out the used like new options when purchasing (look at all colors as they can vary) and you can get a set of what used to cost 300, for about a 60% off, if you're willing to take someone else's return. Remember to factory reset any used set, and test all the earpieces (also noting your ear sizes may vary) and then these will make an excellent value for wireless earbuds.I didn't take any pics, because what does that really add to the review but I will summarize.Outstanding value if you purchase used like new, descent value brand newamazing features that work very well if you put in the effort to test them allExcellent soundstage if playing lossless audio using LDAC with amazing detail and depthVery good bass (if once you have ear pieces sized properly) although bass and volume do not reach the level I get in my wired earbudsa fairly intuitive app with excellent features (reprogramming touch features, setting equalizer settings, customizable ANC/ambient modes, and a whole lot more)multipoint works very well for 2 devices (says it won't support LDAC if using 3 so I'm leaving it at 2 for now)