Connections: Bluetooth 5.2 (wireless), 3.5 mm TRS (wired – detachable), USB-C (charging only)
Bluetooth Codec: LDAC, AAC, SBC
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Technics and was not influenced to write anything positive or negative about the product in any way or form. Technics sent the A800 out for review; all opinions are mine and mine alone.
Reviewed by: “Charlie” from The Little Audiophile
xxx Retail Price (at time of writing): S$499 (~US$350)
Overall Rating: 8/10. The excellent passive and active noise attenuation performance makes this headphone great for everyday casual listening, especially while on the move. Paired with an inoffensive sound signature and a stable Bluetooth connection, the A800 should be on your radar if you want to pick up a pair of EDC cans.
– What we absolutely loved about the A800 –
Excellent Passive Noise Isolation Performance
Top-notch ANC Performance
Great Overall Build Quality and Swiveling Ear Cups
Punchy Bass and Crisp Treble Performance
Technics Audio Connect Software Works Flawlessly with the A800
Versatile 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm Cable for a Wired Connection
– What we thought could be better about the A800 –
Fidgety Storage in Provided Carrying Case
Ear Cup Swivel Mobility
Middling Mids and Odd Vocal Presentation on Wired Mode
Earpads can get Warm, Especially in the Humid Tropical Weather
At the point of this review, I am no stranger to Technics’ offerings in the wireless personal audio segment. Technics impressed me with the EAH-AZ70W and AZ60 in the past and knowing what Technics can bring to the table with their new product lineup, I was got really excited when Technics contacted me for my take on the A800 – their foray into the flagship ANC Wireless Headphone market… and boy was there is so much to like about this pair of headphones indeed. I shan’t spoil you with too many details early on in the review, so let’s just begin, shall we?
THE BOX
The A800 is the latest addition to the EAH-line of wireless audio products from Technics. Similar to the AZ70W and AZ60 before this, Technics have kept the simple, black-and-white minimalist design language when it comes to the packaging. On the sides, we find the QR codes conveniently guiding you to the Technics Audio Connect App for both Android (Google Play) and the Apple App Store. At the back, we find the accessories list and the key features of the A800.
Unboxing the A800, you are first greeted with the carrying case that houses the headphones. This is a smart choice by Technics as it not only reduces the footprint of the packaging but also provides additional protection from accidental drops or knocks, especially if you are purchasing this product from a brick-and-mortar store where others may have mishandled the product.
In the box, you get:
The A800 Headphones itself
A PU-Leather Full-Size Carrying Case
A 3.5 mm (straight) to 3.5 mm (angled) 1.0 m Cable
A USB-C Charging Cable (Power Adapter NOT Included)
An Airplane Adapter
Product Guide and Warranty Information
The A800 is well packaged and should offer decent protection to the headphones cradled inside. Also, Technics made a conscious effort to minimize the use of plastics and non-biodegradables in their packaging and their environmentally responsible decision here deserves commendation.
BUILD, DESIGN AND FEATURES
Housing
The A800 is built using high-quality ABS plastic for almost the entirety of the product, less the earpads and headband, and the height adjusters and faceplates, which are made of good-ol’ metal. The injection shot location was well thought-out, resulting in a product free of blemishes from the manufacturing process. As for the colour options, well… you either GO BLING or go none at all.
Source: technics.com
The faceplates are made of what appears to be aluminium and were given a brush-metal texture for that extra premium feel. Metal was necessary for the faceplates to accommodate the capacitive touch functions on the right ear cup. The touch functions were responsive and have never missed user inputs, even with naturally-dryer fingers like mine, though I did experience some hiccups with the wearing-detection function – more on this later. By default, the touch functions cycle the ambient sound controls but can be personalized in the Technics Audio Connect app for individual preferences.
The left ear cup, however, does not feature any capacitive touch functions of any sort and loses some brownie points in the customization department. Off the top of my head, secondary functions such as ‘hold for pause with ambient sound’ would have been awesome if you needed to engage in a quick dialogue with say, a cashier or someone on the street asking you for quick directions… I bet you know what I mean.
The durable height adjusters can be calibrated to a maximum of 12 tactile steps per side and should be plenty to fit most head sizes. For reference, I stand at 1.86 m tall with an average head size for my height. My adjusters were set to steps 9 – 10 for the most comfortable wearing position.
Manufacturing tolerances appear to be good with no unnerving squeaks or creaks when handled normally. The swivel mechanism is butter-smooth with no excessive play at the pivots.
Ah yes, talking about the swivel mechanism, that is where one of my little gripes about the A800 resides. You see, the swivel range of motion is somewhere around 110 degrees which is acceptable, however, when placed flat on the table, the ear cups face driver-side up, potentially exposing them to dust, or perhaps accidental splashes even. I would have liked it better if it faced driver-side down when placed on the table, or better still – swivel 180 degrees. But all these said I may just very well be nitpicking here.
Plugging in, the A800 sports a non-recessed 3.5 mm TRS jack on the right ear cup. This is an excellent design choice in my books as I can virtually pick up any 3.5 mm-to-3.5 mm cable lying around, plug ’em in, and be ready to rock.
Connectivity and Battery
The A800 is equipped with the latest Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity for all its wireless data transfer operations. Power efficient and reliable, BT 5.2 is great for any devices that are not consistently plugged into a wall outlet. The BT5.2 handles the SBC, AAC and LDAC codecs with ease and no hiccups in connection stability were detected through my time of use, even with the LDAC mode enabled – referencing the AZ60 earbuds which struggled for a stable, uninterrupted connection with this codec enabled. SBC and AAC sports a lower data rate as compared to LDAC, so essentially you are trading off some degree of sound quality for improved connection stability and battery life.
Yes, the A800 is a champion for battery life. Technics specifies a whooping 40-hour playback time with LDAC and ANC enabled, and 50 without. I can attest to these bold numbers provided by Technics. I have put approximately 35 hours of runtime into the headphone under the first condition and its still not yet asking for a refill. Eventually, the A800 needs to make a pitstop for a charge. Here, the quick charge feature gives you 10 hours of playback time from a 15 min wire time according to Technics.
AMBIENT SOUND CONTROL
The A800 finds itself with both Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and Ambient Sound (AS) modes, which is a separate category of headphones. The AS mode performs great and replicates ambient sounds naturally with an unavoidable slight digitalization. The function is especially great for those times when you just need a quick verbal interaction with someone and don’t wanna completely remove your headphones from your coconuts.
The ANC on the other hand is a marvel, to say the least. It performs excellent and are well above my expectations. I reckon the digital ANC mode is able to easily attenuate at least 80% to 90% of environmental noise, aided by the superbly noise-isolating memory foam earpads. Playback quality is also minimally impacted by digitalization with the ANC mode activated. The excellent ANC performance definitely puts the A800 in the podium places for headphones in its category.
The wearing-detection feature automatically pauses the music when it detects that the headphones are removed from the wearer. However, I have found that this feature was buggy and often messes with the touch controls. The double-tap to enable ANC or AS mode may not register, or may straight up pause the music unintentionally. I think this may just be a minor software bug and could be fixed in future updates.
COMFORT
The A800 sits among its likes in terms of heft, tipping the scale at just under 300 grams (298 grams to be exact). Much of the felt weight is anchored by the generous cushioning on the headband. The headband clamp force on the A800 is perfect and the memory-foam earpads distribute the pressure around the ears uniformly, resulting in no hotspots even after hours of continuous listening. The memory foam faux leather pads do however get a tad warm in the humid, tropical climate of Singapore. Your mileage will vary in the comfort department.
SOUND QUALITY
Note: Sound Quality was tested on my OnePlus Nord CE 5G connected via LDAC
The bass presentation is utterly sublime and is arguably the finest aspect of the A800 in terms of sound quality. The bass frequency is detailed and well-controlled and is mildly emphasized over the other frequencies. The low frequencies have an appropriate briskness and natural decay, which delivers a hearty full-fat experience. The well-extended sub-bass reaches into subterrestrial regions while refraining from coming off as overemphasized and sits nicely with the upper bass presentation.
Moving up the frequency, the midrange presentation is highly intimate and detailed. Little nuances in the vocals and instruments are easily revealed in the A800. But most of the vocal intimacy especially was achieved with an unnatural forwardness in the midrange that more often than not, pushes accompanying instruments into the background.
It is odd to say, but I think the upfront presentation of the midrange severely shrinks the soundstage of the A800, which can be only described as tiny… claustrophobic even. In whatever spatial plane present, the soundstage expands more laterally than depth-wards and in live recordings. The lack of spatial plane, unfortunately, turns into a jostle for naturality, especially in live recordings. One example, we look at a well-recorded track, “Baby Can I Hold You (Live)” by Tracy Chapman, where her vocals come off as too “in your face” and does not gel too well with the instruments and setting.
Specifically, I need to mention that on the 3.5 mm wired connection, the mids are obliterated and sound awfully pushed-back and weightless when not driven with adequate power (i.e. your average smartphone). I had the A800 plugged into the iBasso DC-02 to mimic an on-the-go wired setup and boy, was I surprised at how the mids have returned… Thankfully, pairing it with an output with sufficient driving power such as an inexpensive SMSL M3 will resolve this thinness and weightlessness.
Trebles… Here the A800 redeems itself with again, a well-extended, sparkly, and highly detailed top-end. Harshness and sibilance are the enemy of an enjoyable listen, and here with the A800, I am glad to say it is a non-issue. The well-judged treble tuning really balances well with the bass and helps add to the overall quality and cohesiveness with the other frequencies.
Overall the bass and trebles are excellently tuned. Expect a rich and exciting bass experience with crispy well-detailed highs, although the mids can be a bit of a letdown if mids and vocal coherency are at the top priority of your checkbox.
CONCLUSION
The A800 is a formidable ANC-enabled headphone with a good many features going for it. The noise-cancelling performance is truly world-class and tremendously attenuates ambient noise. Bass and treble performance on the A800 are absolutely worth the buck, but the mids need some refinement to gel appropriately with the other frequencies. The swivel mechanism too could use some improvements as the cups feel like they swivel in the wrong direction when placed flat on a table. Overall, the A800 is a recommendation for me for its refined build quality and decent sound quality (as a whole), but at US$350, the competition in this category of headphones is steep and there are numerous ANC-enabled headphones out there that would give the Technics a good run for their money.
THE LITTLE AUDIOPHILE 