It may be one of the lesser-known brands in the true wireless earphone market, but certainly not one of the least recognized. A subsidiary of the Japanese group Panasonic, this historic Japanese company is particularly renowned for its legendary SL-1200 vinyl turntables, the MK2 version of which has been delighting DJs since 1978.
But what interests us here is its range of wireless headphones crowned in 2023 by the already excellent EAH-AZ80. Not quite two years later, the EAH-AZ100 presented at the very beginning of the year at CES in Las Vegas take over. And to improve the sound quality even further, Technics has not skimped on the technologies used. Enough of the presentation, here is our test of the Technics EAH-AZ100.
To begin with, the first impressions are already excellent. The plastic charging case (69 x 36 x 27 mm for 42 g) first of all uses a thick material that exudes quality. The hinge does not suffer from any play, while the cover is covered on its upper part with a brushed metal plate where the Technics logo is engraved. We expected no less from a device marketed at 300 euros. At the back, the simple USB-C socket (20-centimeter cable supplied) is not the only means of charging since the case is also compatible with the Qi wireless system.
Our opinion on the fit: excellent for sports!
The earphones have the same aesthetic codes with an aluminum upper part. Equipped with a touch surface, it allows you to control playback in the traditional way: tap on any earphone to play/pause, double on the right to skip to the next track, triple for the previous one. On the left earphone, double tap to lower the volume and triple to increase it. Finally, a long press on the right to switch between active noise reduction modes and on the left to trigger the smartphone's voice assistant. All of this can be customized in the Technics Audio Connect application. Another good point is that the touch surfaces are deactivated when you remove the headphones so as not to trigger a command by mistake.
The part of the earphones facing the ear is made of plastic and includes a proximity sensor to pause the music when you remove them there too. The behavior is also customizable within the application. The whole thing is more than comfortable, helped by its perfectly rounded shape and the 5 sizes of tips supplied: XS, S, M, ML, L! Tested in sports use during a run, the earphones are a model of stability and do not move an inch. They are also perfectly suited to this use thanks to their IPX4 certification. Weighing just 5.9 grams, they are lighter than the AZ80 (7 g) and can also be worn all day without discomfort.
Test of the very complete application from Technics
In terms of features, the EAH-AZ100 are not left behind, supported by an ultra-complete application. You can manage the intensity of noise reduction (with an adaptive mode), transparency, activation of Dolby Atmos (with head movement tracking), equalization (5 presets and manual 8-band), location of the box, multipoint connection (up to 3 simultaneous devices). Finally, compatible with Bluetooth 5.3 (SBC, AAC, LDAC, LC3 codecs), the headphones also offer to be connected in LE Audio to take advantage of the Auracast broadcast system. Be careful, however, this deactivates other functions such as Dolby Atmos. In any case, Technics Audio Connect turns out to be one of the most comprehensive applications on the market, worthy of what its compatriot Sony does, the reference in the field. 
On the other hand, the enthusiasm is less total when it comes to active noise reduction. Be careful, Technics provides a very good performance here thanks to a system that does its job perfectly in cases where it is needed, such as in the street or on public transport. Despite everything, the leaders of the genre that are Sony, Bose and Apple still maintain a slight lead in this area. The same goes for the transparent mode, which is also very good, but not as excellent as the naturalness obtained by competing products (especially from Sony and Apple in this case). Finally, in hands-free kit use, Technics has made progress thanks to the 3 integrated microphones and its Voice Focus AI algorithm. This manages to eliminate background noise very well, at the cost of some artifacts on the voice which is thus significantly degraded. But intelligibility is maintained and our correspondents have always understood us during various telephone conversations.
High-flying transducers
But Technics is taking back control of the essential, namely audio quality. It must be said that the Japanese brand has not skimped on this matter. Indeed, it has taken the same principle as that of the transducers of its EAH-TZ700 hi-fi headphones, marketed at 1200 euros! Rather than using a classic magnet to move the membrane, the latter is surrounded by a ferrofluid. This oil is loaded with magnetic particles and placed around the coil. Technics claims that such an operating principle improves the precision of the movements of the aluminum membrane, but also its damping when it returns to its initial position. It took the Japanese company 6 years of research and development to come up with this process.
And it goes without saying that the effort was not in vain. The two 10 mm transducers offer exemplary performance, particularly in terms of low frequencies. These are of formidable precision, powerful and matte as we would like to hear more often. The system also benefits from excellent warm mids and high-mids which fully benefit the voices whose rendering is very natural. If the highs are slightly withdrawn, this is more due to the velvety sound signature desired by Technics than to the inability of the EAH-1Z100 to reproduce them. It is enough to increase them slightly in the equalizer to benefit from all their details and a slightly more analytical style. Let us also salute the dynamics of the whole totally adapted to classical music, but also to all other musical styles. Such versatility that shows the high level of performance of the device.
The cherry on the cake is that Technics delivers on its promise of 10 hours of battery life with active noise reduction. In real use, we were able to exceed them with a volume oscillating between 50 and 75% and the intermittent activation of Dolby Atmos mode. A quick 15-minute charge allows 1 hour 30 minutes of listening, while the case totals a total use of 28 hours. An excellent score that crowns high-end performances.
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