Technics AZ100 Earbuds Review: The Sleepers!

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90%

90%

The Good

1. Comfortable during long wear
2. Brilliant for taking calls
3. Lighter and very portable
4. Much improved noise-cancelling

The Not So Good

1. Case possibly not waterproof (no official rating)

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I reviewed the Technics AZ80 in 2024 and concluded that they were a great example of a pair of earbuds that do everything really well.

More poignantly, I suggested that not enough people will add them to their list of potential noise-cancelling earbuds simply because of the dominance of Bose, Sony, and Apple in this field. It’s a great shame; I’m a huge fan of Technics thanks to my dad’s hi-fi preferences during the brand’s 80s and 90s heyday.

The good news is that the enviable heritage Technics possesses is ploughed into its products, and the latest to benefit is the AZ100 earbuds. There was no AZ90, if you’re wondering; Technics believes that the latest version represents such a big upgrade over the AZ80 that only three digits would do.

Are the Technics AZ100 deserving of the big tonne? Let’s find out.

Specs and pricing

The AZ100 are powered by 10mm Magnetic Fluid Drivers. For anyone who doesn’t know (I numbered among that crowd until I attended the Technics press briefing), the drivers are surrounded by magnetic fluid, ensuring more uniform, controlled movement.

Better sound, basically.

They have a 20Hz-40kHz frequency response and are compatible with SBS, AAC, LDAC, and LC3 codecs. Those drivers are also responsible for the fully adaptive digital hybrid noise cancelling, and there is the obligatory ambient passthrough mode, too.

Battery life is rated at seven hours of playback for the buds alone (with noise-cancelling turned on), and 18 hours total with the charging case (which is also capable of wireless charging).

Three-point multipoint Bluetooth connectivity remains an impressive element of feature oneupmanship over the competition, and there’s IPX4 water resistance. The latter is for the buds only – the charging case doesn’t have an official waterproof rating.

The Technics AZ100 cost $299/£259/€299, and can be ordered today.

Design and comfort

Technics has significantly tweaked the design of the AZ100 over the AZ80. Starting with the case, it is considerably smaller than before, thanks in part to the redesigned buds. The mic repositioning has enabled Technics to reduce the outer circumference of the buds and make them far less bulky than before.

The result is what was already one of the best earbud cases becoming even more of a joy to carry around, and earbuds that are very comfortable to wear for long listening sessions. Stemless earbuds remain my least favourite, therefore any that successfully buck the trend in comfort immediately grab my attention.

Technics, like most other stemless earbuds manufacturers, have stuck with touch controls for the AZ100 and while I’d still rather have some form of mechanical clickiness, they’re not annoying. The buds would also, arguably, be a tad bigger if proper buttons – or those of the haptic variety – were included.

The AZ100, just like most technics gear, are understated, purposeful, and have that whiff of 90s hi-fi about them. I’m here for that – big time.

Sound and noise cancelling

Last year, I said that the AZ80 sounded very much like their hi-fi (there’s that word again) roots. By that, I meant they were bright, detailed, and had a nice, punchy – but not overpowering – lower end.

Put simply, they sounded superb.

The AZ100 sound a lot better. I won’t beat around the bush – these are some of the best-sounding earbuds I’ve ever placed in my ears. I’d go as far as to say that they’re nearly on par with the £90 more expensive Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 I reviewed last year.

They are immediately pleasing – bright, and detailed, but with an even more rounded bottom end than the AZ80. The mid-range also cuts through beautifully without being too harsh; something that is particularly noticeable on vocals like those on Between Two Points by David Gilmour.

The AZ100 can kick stuff out, too, as I found with the face-punching kick drum on deadmau5’s Jaded. The top-end click of the kick could have cut through ice, and the warmth and sheer power of the low-end content didn’t cause those fancy magnetic fluid-secured drivers any trouble at all.

There’s a full EQ available in the Technics app, too, with plenty of bands at the user’s disposal. With that in mind, I’m not sure how anyone could fail to get the AZ100 sounding exactly as they want.

But that’s if you even need to use the EQ. As noted earlier, the strength of the AZ100 is that they sound so bloody good straight out of the box. Technics knows what it’s doing and that heritage shines through.

Noise cancelling is adequate. Like Bowers & Wilkins, this area isn’t Technics’ strong point, and it’s clear that the audio performance is given far more weight in driver development than noise cancelling. That said, it does a good job of cutting out most frequencies and has a pretty decent passthrough mode, too – whose intensity can be changed in the Technics app via a dial.

Calls

Technics has included something called Voice Focus AI in the AZ100, which aims to provide the best possible calling experience for the person you’re talking to when you’re, say, in the middle of a race track with cars doing doughnuts around you.

That’s how Technics demonstrated Voice Focus AI in their official video, and the results were impressive, but I thought I’d take a rather more realistic approach and walk around a busy Las Vegas casino.

My real-world test produced decent results (you can hear them in my YouTube video review). There’s clearly a lot of processing going on, but that’s the point, and it was a very noisy room, as you might guess. Combined with the better-than-average passthrough mode, that makes the AZ100 a great pair of headphones for taking calls – almost anywhere.

Conclusion

The AZ100 are a sizeable update from their predecessors. The design hasn’t lost any of its convenience, yet Technics has still somehow managed to shed noticeable grams from both the case and the earbuds. More impressive is the sonic performance, which takes the latest Technics noise-cancellers to a whole new level.

If you’ve already got the AZ80 and you’re happy with them, there’s no reason to upgrade (what you don’t know can’t hurt you, after all), but if you’re in the market for a new pair of earbuds, I urge you to add Technics to your list. The AZ100 are the definition of a ‘sleeper’ pair of earbuds.

Look past them at your peril.

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