Modern Marvel of Miniature Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Delivers Exceptional Sound and Feature Set

this bud's for you

Technics introduced these new $299.00 earbuds early last December to a group of editors, journalists and influencers at a Kyoto, Japan press event. The big launch was earlier this week at CES. Other than me and I think a writer from What Hi-Fi in the U.K. the "audiophile press" was absent. I travel a lot —I am a million miler on United and I always bring music and headphones. I've got multiple pairs of small "in ear" models from various manufacturers including custom molded ones from a couple of companies but those get painful after a few hours so I bring the usual rubber insert types too.

The best sounding of those (that I have— not saying they are the best) is another from Technics: the unassuming looking $1200 EAH-TZ700. But like the others, they are not noise-canceling and wires on a plane can be a pain.

I haven't the space or inclination to bring large over the ear types some people bring onboard. I have original Apple earbuds but they fall out, sound awful and are only useful onboard when editing video.

Technics sent each attendee a 'care package' containing useful long trip travel stuff as well as a set of the previous top of the line EAH-AZ80 buds—though at that time no one knew what we were going to be shown, other than "headphones".. I bet many on this trip who cover products like this were well familiar with the AZ80s but I wasn't. The AZ80s set up pretty easily and I paired them with my Astel and Ultimate 3000 player I have loaded with lots of hi-res files and vinyl transfers.

These Bluetooth buds sounded much better than most of the plug in headphones I travel with in part because of the noise canceling feature—and were much more comfortable. I kept them in for eight straight hours, and by the time I removed them I realized that I'd been making my travels that much less enjoyable because I'd not been paying more attention to the headphone market segment.

Day two, the first planned day was dedicated to "The Technics Brand Experience", much of which is included in the video embedded in the recently posted "color" piece. We got a Technics brand history, and after lunch the group was divided into three groups rotating between a listen to Technics hi-fi at the Technics Café a space our Jonti Davies spotlit last year, a history of Technics turntables, and discussion covering the AZ80, which Technics had introduced a year ago in 2023. At that point we had no idea what Technics was introducing and that would have to wait until day three. And they kept us in the dark with a big tease:

Day Three—the EAH-AZ100 Introduction

Though it could have been called the AZ80 MK2 based on the AZ100's similar appearance, the new buds are a totally new design featuring many new upgrades and enhancements starting with the significantly improved sound. After eight hours with the AZ80s, were I writing a review I'd criticize two things: the bottom octaves were somewhat exaggerated, but more consequential was that those octaves were somewhat rough and "wooly"—not terribly so, but noticable on all program material and there was an upper octave "smooth edge" that was always there. Neither of these "personality traits" overwhelmed what was otherwise smooth, yet detailed and well-balanced sonic performance.

The product launch on day three explained why the new earbuds were AZ100 instead of AZ80 Mk2 and to prove the points made in the discussion, we were again divided into groups and given convincing demos so we could hear for ourselves. This was the sonic improvement claim:

The demo noted the need to better control the driver in order to lower distortion, improve resolution and produce accurate bass, which was an admission that good as the AZ80 is, there was room for improvement. Technics developed a neodymium magnetic fluid ring that surrounds the driver. It's not used as the driver magnet as is the norm. Rather, the ring's placement helps keep the aluminum driver better controlled, especially during LF excursions. It was originally developed for the TZ700.

Watch this video!

During the break-out sessions we had the opportunity to compare AZ80 and AZ100 sound quality using supplied hi-resolution Sony players populated with the usual audiophile swill but I smartly brought along my Astel & Ultimate player so I could compare the tracks I'd listened to on the plane. And yes, the minor issues I had with the AZ80 were cured through the AZ100 (see sonic description below). I had files comparing the same track on four different Beatles albums: original pressing, Japanese pressing, Mo-Fi box set, and the stereo digitally remastered box set. Hearing the differences was easy through the AZ80 but easier with the AZ100. One of the Technics presenters is a big Beatles fan so I let him hear the files. He was amazed by the big differences among them and by how good digitized vinyl can sound. Was fun.

Many of the AZ100's features are also in the AZ80s but here improved—and as it turns out the TZ700 was the first Technics headphone to incorporate the magnetic fluid driver, which had to be totally redesigned and manufactured to a smaller size for use in an earbud. For instance, the noise cancelling system is improved in the low to mid-frequency range as per this slide:

But rather than asking us to take Technics' word for this, during the break-out sessions small groups were ushered into a room and we got to hear for ourselves how the AZ80s and AZ100s cancelled out low frequency noise (similar to airplane 'buzz') and it was clear that the AZ100 did what the visual suggests.

There were similar demonstrations of the cell phone integration system that now uses AI to improve incoming and outgoing conversations, complete with comparisons between the older JustMyVoice™ system and the new one.

Technics set up this isolation booth as part of that demo:

Other features include Spatial Audio optimized for Atmos including a head tracking feature that keeps audio imaging stable as you move your head around (didn't try) along with a few other features, some of which were on the AZ80s but improved here including longer battery life:

There's also a downloadable app associated with the AZ100 that lets you configure both the OS and various modes.

Parts of the presentation were fun—the kind you don't expect from "corporate-speak":

The "Magnetic Fluid Driver" is a newly developed miniaturized version of a similar one used in the EAH-TZ700 wired headphones and according to Technics, downsizing them was costly.

Even the rubber earpieces have been completely redesigned:

And I like that they "named names", giving credit to the design team:

How Good Do These Earbuds Sound?

I'll start by saying noticeably better than the AZ80s: greater high frequency transient attack delicacy, more nimble and better controlled bass and the kind of instrumental textures you're accustomed to from far more costly headphones and loudspeakers. Right now I'm listening to the late John Abercrombie's ECM album Up and Coming recorded at Avatar by the great James Farber featuring Joey Baron on drums, Drew Gress on double bass and Marc Copeland on piano. Before I checked, I didn't know who engineered or where I just knew it was clearly an accomplished recording.

Next up was a DIFF format DSD file of Beck's Sea Change and that pretty much sealed the deal: clarity, detail, macrodynamic expressiveness, attack delicacy and especially well-controlled, tuneful deep bass vastly improved compared to the A80. As good as my best Grado over the ears phones? No, but these are $299 and noise cancelling and will make this year's plane travel that much more enjoyable and you can leave them in pretty much indefinitely.

Easy to recommend. I have stayed away from internet coverage of these new earbuds but I'm pretty sure the reviews and videos will be super enthusiastic and for good reason. Technics put all of its considerable engineering design and manufacturing expertise into this product and it's a winner.

Was a fun trip and I especially enjoyed meeting a whole group of young journalists I didn't know and who had no idea who I was, which was also fun... capped by the final dinner where we were entertained by Technics' group head Michiko Ogawa. We had assigned seating and I was given the prime seat next to Ms.Ogawa.

You can buy a set of AZ-100s directly from Technics