My first real stereo was a hand-me-down Technics system that I loved. So, when I saw Technics recently launched the EAH-AZ60 Wireless Earbuds with ANC, I was excited to give them a try. Thankfully, the company agreed to send them out for a review.
Design
The Technics EAH-AZ60 true wireless earbuds come in a compact plastic case in either black or silver. I have the black unit here, but as you can see from the photos, it appears to be more of a dark blue than black.
There is a USB Type-C port on the back for charging, sorry no wireless charging here, and the lid is held shut with the use of a magnetic clasp. The case also makes use of magnets to secure the buds in place and it does a great job of keeping them in place.
Comfort
After years of reviewing earbuds, one thing that always surprises me is the lack of ear tips included in the box, specifically smaller ear tips. However, Technics surprised me here by providing one of the most comprehensive collections of ear tips that I’ve ever seen. There are seven different sizes to choose from, including some specifically for people with smaller ear canals, that would be me.
Not only is this important for comfort, but it also plays a huge role in noise cancellation. Without a proper seal, you can’t expect the earbuds to do a proper job of cancelling out the noise around you.
Regardless, I couldn’t quite get a comfortable fit even with the smallest tips and I had to use a pair from this set I purchased from Amazon.
User experience
While I applaud Technics for including a large variety of ear tips with the EAH-60AZ, I still found myself needing to adjust or buds in my ears from time to time. The issue with this, is that I’d also end up inadvertently activating the touch controls on the buds.
I’ve encountered issues like this with several other pairs of headphones in the past. Touch controls seem great, in theory, but in practice, they can be a real nuisance unless implemented perfectly. A few brands have gotten it right, but I eventually had to disable the touch controls on the EAH-60AZ to prevent constantly pausing or skipping tracks.
While we’re on the topic of pausing tracks, the Technics EAH-60AZ don’t include a sensor on the buds to automatically pause when you remove them from your ears. That’s not such a big deal for me, but it is something you’d expect to see at this price point.
As far as making phone calls go, the mics work great. I never had any complaints on the calls I made and you can even use one earbud while leaving the other in the case.
App
I love the app for the EAH-60AZ. Some manufacturers include a barebones app that does little more than toggle ANC and update the firmware. While other brands go all out, and I’m happy to report that the Technics app does the latter.
The Technics Audio Connect app allows you to view the battery level of each individual earbud, toggle on ANC, control the level of noise cancellation, adjust the EQ, update firmware, and more.
The app does just about everything you could want, except for showing the battery level of the case. It’s that one glaring omission that makes it just shy of perfect.
Sound quality
Having never used Technics earbuds before, I was uncertain of what to expect. Fortunately, I was in for a surprise, because the EAH-60AZ sound amazing. Out of the box, the sound is warm and balanced with lots of depth. However, I personally prefer a little more bass, so a quick trip to the EQ, and I had the EAH-60AZ tuned exactly the way I wanted.
For me, that means crisp highs with deep full bass and a wide sound stage. The Technics EAH-60AZ more than delivered on all of these fronts, especially with deep clean bass without distortion.
Comparing them to one of my favorite pairs of earbuds, the Sony WF-1000XM4, showed there was hardly a difference in sound quality. The EAH-60AZ sound very similar and offer the LDAC much like the Sony buds for the highest quality wireless connection you can ask for.
ANC
The noise cancellation on the Technics EAH-60AZ is top-notch. With a proper seal, it blocks out all the annoying background sounds in everyday life and leaves you with just the music. Additionally, you can adjust the ANC level in the app, turn on the transparency mode to allow outside noises in, or completely disable noise cancellation.
Battery
Technics rates the EAH-60AZ for seven hours of consistent listening and 24 hours overall with the charging case. During my time with the earbuds, I’ve had no trouble listening for a couple of hours at a time, but I did have them drain completely on me within a week.
That was after listening for around two hours a day during my workouts. This puts the battery life at nearly 14 hours, but in my case, I was using LDAC which is known to reduce battery life. That’s still more than decent considering I left ANC on all the time as well.
One thing I did notice is that the left earbud seems to always drain more quickly to the point that it died before the right bud.
Final thoughts
The Technics EAH-60AZ are a fantastic set of earbuds with audiophile-level sound and excellent noise cancellation. I was very impressed with the ANC performance along with the sound quality when using the LDAC setting.
Still, there are some improvements Technics could make, such as adding wireless charging and a design with an area you can use to push the buds in without activating the touch controls. Otherwise, the EAH-60AZ are among some of the best earbuds I’ve reviewed and come in at a lower price than Sony’s offering making them a great bargain.
The Technics EAH-60AZ are now available in black or silver from Amazon or B&H for $200 or cheaper if you can find them on sale.
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