Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Technics in any way and do not benefit monetarily or in any other form for writing this review. Technics reached out to us for the purposes of the review, in which we are truly grateful for.
Review by: “Charlie”
Technics EAH-AZ70W Retail Price (at time of writing): S$399 (US$296)
TLA Score
Physical Attributes
Comfort: 7/10
Durability: 10/10
Ease of Wearing: 8/10
Noise Isolation: 7/10 (with ANC off)
Sonic Attributes
Bass: 8/10
Mids: 7/10
Trebles: 8/10
Sound Stage: 7/10
Separation & Imaging: 6/10
Overall Rating: 8/10
Technics is a division that specializes in audio equipment under the well know Japanese brand Panasonic. Founded in 1965, Technics has been developing consumer hi-fi products from turn-tables of days gone, to CD players of the recent past. It is needless to say Technics has rode the waves of technological advancement and the shift from analog to digital music of the modern day. Today, wireless audio seems to be the new trend, with more and more manufacturers jumping onto the bandwagon, Technics being one of them. Although the EAH-AZ70W is the company’s first take at TWS earbuds, Techinics has over half a century of audio experience under the name, in which I hold rather high expectations for this product. With this, let us take a peek into the EAH-AZ70W – Technics’s premier Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earphones.
IN THE BOX
Honestly, the box can be simply summarized into 3 words – “Professional and Chonky”. And I love it. The monochrome colours exudes a mature character rather than a flamboyant, flashy package. The box is also pretty huge for what it contains, and I like it.
Look around the box and you will find the AZ70W flaunting her key features on the sides and back.
Inside, you will find:
– Charging cradle
– TWS earbuds
– 4 pairs of extra ear tips (5 pairs in total, with one already on the earbuds themselves)
– USB A to USB C charging cable
– A ton of documentation
The contents inside were well thought out and the unboxing was systematic and was a truly pleasant experience.
BUILD AND DESIGN
Earbuds
Perhaps let’s start off by looking at the earbuds themselves. The outer face plate is made of a brushed metal- looking plastic finish with ringed “crop-circle” patterns on them, which with certainty, is a reflection of the company’s long history in the turn-table industry. The patterning as rejects fingerprints while providing a slight texture when operating the touch controls present on both the left and right earbud.
The inner face is made of a matte plastic which provides some friction between the skin and earbud, thus preventing excessive slippage when worn. I received the product in the Noir Black colour, but the AZ70W is also available in a white version, although I would believe micro-scratches and wear would show more obviously on this variant over time.
Zooming into the nozzle of the earbuds, I am pleased to report that Technics has opted for a longer shaft length with a substantial lip to hold most, if not all, ear tips firmly in-place, when many other earbuds manufacturers in the market feature shorter nozzle lengths to allow for storage in the charging cradle. The repercussion of this design philosophy is the limiting of compatible ear tip selection. In fact, this problem is so common that it has been recognized by SpinFit, which has led them to launch the CP360, specifically designed to resolve this issue along with a few others.
I should mention that with the foam ear tips, the earbuds would not sit well in the charging cradle as foam tips tend to be substantially longer and wider than their rubbery counterparts. There exist LED indicator lights that show red or blue depending on the status of the earbuds.
The touch controls on the earbuds are highly responsive, however, this has turned out to be a double-edged sword for me. True, the touch functions react instantaneously to inputs, but when doing even minor adjustments to the ear buds in the ear almost always leads to an accidental pausing of the music. The need for this “minor adjustment” common, due to the size and weight of the ear buds.
Charging Cradle
Cool to the touch, the metal charging cradle features a gun-metal coloured exterior, machined to a brush-matte finish with the brand name inscribed on the top. It sports a 3-bar battery indicator LED that is easily visible to the user, even with the clamshell closed. A well-placed single USB C sits at the rear of the cradle for recharging.
Opening the cradle reveals the earbuds sitting firmly in its designated slots, held secure with the power of magnets. The insides of the cradle is blanketed with a high quality plastic with a slightly tacky finish that rejects fingerprints quite well. The clamshell holds close again, with the aid of magnets. The hinge holding the 2 pieces of the clamshell are machined to impressive precision and displays no give of wobble when I lightly torque the top and bottom pieces of the cradle. A solid indication of Technics dedication and eye for quality is seen in the little details, perhaps?
Connectivity
The earbud connects to your device via Bluetooth 5.0 with AAC and SBC as the available codecs. In search of the sweet spot between audio quality and good battery life, aptX, LDAC, HWA and other high resolution codecs do not find their way into this nifty audio device.
First time pairing is a no brainer as the earbuds are set to auto-connect out of the box. Just ensure your phone’s Bluetooth is on and idle and you are good to pair. The Bluetooth connection is stable with absolute no drop outs or hiccups when paired. Connection strength is also very good even at moderate distances away from the smartphone. No complaints here!
The AZ70W also connects with Amazon Alexa commands, although I am unable to test any of its functions as I do not have Alexa or any Alexa enabled devices, for that matter.
COMFORT
Despite the large dimensions of the buds, they sit comfortably in the ears with no pressure points. The inner face was designed with gentle chamfers and rounded corners that do not jab into any regions of the ears. However, one downside of large size is, well, quite literally it’s size itself. Individuals with smaller ears might find some issues with finding a secure fit in the outer ear, although small tips were installed.
AMBIENT SOUND CONTROL
Off Mode
The off mode deactivates the ANC and Ambient Sound features of the earbuds, leaving you purely with passive noise isolation. With the stock tips I found the passive isolation on the AZ70W to actually be quite decent. It’s good even. I would not put it on the level of the Massdrop x Nuforce EDC I reviewed previously in terms of passive noise isolation, but it is definitely in the ballpark of say, an iBasso IT01, for comparison.
As you could imagine, the environmental noises of your usual commute would creep into your music even with you music at moderate listening volumes.
Active Noise Cancelling Mode
The AZ70W features a Dual Hybrid Noise Cancelling Technology, which comprises of a Feedforward Noise Cancelling (FF-NC) and Feedback Noise Cancelling (FB-NC), along with an Analogue-Digital Processing software to achieve its ANC capabilities and promising an industry-leading noise cancelling effect in the TWS market. Big claims? But rightly so.
The Active Noise Cancelling technology in the AZ70W delivers a rock solid performance when mitigating low-to-mid frequency noise. One night I was riding a bendy-bus, taking one of the seats to the rear, near the engine. A perfect opportunity to test the ANC feature, I thought. Long pressing on the right earbud, I was one-hundred percent certain this expression was plastered on my face.
From what was a loud, bumpy bus ride, become a quiet, bumpy bus ride. I was left with the sad music on my playlist, the depressing thoughts in my head and the faint sound of the turbo whistle.
You still hear the turbo whistle you say? Yes. As excellent as the AZ70W is in mitigating low and medium ambient noises, some higher frequencies do escape the ANC system and seep into the music. This is unfortunately due to the intrinsic characteristics of high frequency soundwaves and no fault in the implementation of the ANC system in the AZ70W or any ANC enabled TWS ear buds for that matter.
Sonically speaking, with ANC active, I found the AZ70W to produce lesser dynamic range and a tendency to sound somewhat flatter as compared to the feature off. Nonetheless, the presentation of the music is still far from sounding distasteful.
Lastly, the aggressiveness of the ANC feature can be fine-tuned in the Audio Connect App in steps of 100.
Ambient Sound Mode
The Ambient Sound (AS) mode is an understated function available at the AZ70W’s disposal that allows ambient noises to “leak” into the earbud via the in-built dedicated microphone. Long pressing the right bud when in ANC mode activates the Ambient Sound mode.
Despite not being the primary mode for music consumption, the understated AS mode is an invaluable function when running, where traffic awareness is necessary, or in environments where occasional interactions is needed. The mode serves its purpose, although the ambient noises sound rather artificial as it, after all, picked up by the microphone, digitally processed, then fed to the dynamic drivers. Oh, and one thing to note is the AS mode is especially prone to picking up wind noise if you would find yourself sitting in front of a fan or under a strong AC. The AS aggressiveness can similarly be adjusted to your preference in steps of 100 via the app.
Technics Audio Connect app
As mentioned, the app allows you to fine tune the Ambient Sound Controls to your preference. It includes other small functions such as turning off the LED indicator lights, EQ, battery level and additional device options. The app is responsive and easy to navigate without draining battery noticeably. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices.
SOUND QUALITY
Pumping out the beats is a 10 mm graphene coated PEEK dynamic driver sitting snug in the buds. As a carbon allotrope, graphene provides improved mechanical strength to the diaphragm driver and minimizing excessive vibration. This in practice, improves unwanted resonances or distortions. An acoustic chamber behind the driver controls airflow into the dynamic driver, and allowing a more consistent audio performance.
The Technics EAH-AZ70W is a very well-balanced sounding pair of buds, with a faint lean toward the brighter side of the spectrum and one that would offend no one’s ears. The overall spectrum also leans slightly toward a thinner sound, allowing for some soundstage, space and airiness to develop. Nuances and small details, especially in the higher frequencies are not highly transparent, highly possibly due to Bluetooth codec compression to AAC or SBC. It does make for a more relaxing listen though.
Bass
Bass is presented in a well controlled and polite manner. Sub and mid bass are not notably pronounced or heavy and are fairly similar in quantity. Bass does not go particularly deep and could be described as to be on the leaner side with quick attacks and decays and having decent extension. The bass region in no way muddies the lower-mids or vocals. As refined as the bass is, I am almost certain this bass quantity would unfortunately not satisfy bass-heads. Where it looses out in sheer quantity, it does makes up for in quality.
Mids
Mids on the AZ70W are crisp and clear with the vocals coming off as exceptionally refined and detailed, with a good separation, allowing individual instruments to have its place in tracks. Both male and female vocals are very well textured, presented intimately and naturally, with no “nasally” character to it.
Again due to its quick attack and decay, string instruments such as guitars sound exceptionally crisp with the incoming notes having its own space to shine. Pianos on the other hand come off a tad out of character due to the leaner presentation of the mids, which slightly falls short of displaying the rich and resonating sound characteristics that pianos display in real life.
Trebles
We see a slight lift in this region making for a bright and well-defined treble, although the finest of details would be absent due to Bluetooth codec compression. It is relatively smooth with a tinge of sparkle and displays no prominent peaks or spikes in the upper frequencies, resulting in one sibilant-free listening experience. This treble lift also opens up the soundstage of AZ70W in general and makes for an airy, open listen, instead of an “in your face” presence.
CONCLUSION
The Technics EAH-AZ70W is no doubt an under-appreciated underdog in the TWS market. For the first step into this category of audio devices, Technics have made a fantastic product that rivals its… well… rivals in the price category it competes in. It is a robust TWS system that not only sounds great, but also a rock solid connection with the source device. The AZ70W is the device to try, if you are in the market for a pair of excellent-performing true-wireless bud. To add, the intuitive control system and smartphone app only adds to the overall experience. The AZ70W is an easy recommendation from me.
SPECIFICATIONS
Driver: 1 x 10mm PEEK Driver
Frequency response: 20 – 20,000Hz
Bluetooth Version: 5.0
Supported Codecs: AAC, SBC
Weight: 7g per side
Battery Life: 6.5hrs (AAC codec and ANC on)
Charge time: Approx. 4hrs (charging case + earbuds)
Water Resistance: IPX4 (earbuds only)
THE LITTLE AUDIOPHILE 