- The magnetic fluid drivers are taken from Technics’ high-end niche headphones.
- Improved active noise cancellation and even clearer voice calls.
- £259 / €299 / $299 (to be agreed)
CES 2025 is a big day: Technics announces continuation of its excellent Headphones EAH-AZ80. They’re called the EAH-AZ100, and they promise to retain all the impressive benefits of their predecessors while improving sound quality and noise reduction.
There are three key updates here. The first is a proprietary magnetic fluid driver that Technics says delivers “ultra-low distortion, high-resolution audio, and precise, rich bass.”
The second big improvement is called Voice Focus AI, and as the name suggests, it’s designed to make your voice sound better on calls. It uses multiple microphones and a new smart algorithm to remove wind noise and other unwanted sound in real time.
And third is improved active noise cancellation with talk mode, which allows you to hear people without taking out your headphones. Oh, and the devices are also 10% smaller and 16% lighter, as a quick glance at the image below shows (AZ80 on the left; the new AZ100 on the right). This reduction is aided by the fact that the feedback microphone you might see on the old teardrop earpiece is now located to the side of the sound tube, allowing Technics to make the AZ100’s top plate truly spherical.
Technics EAH-AZ100: Key Features, Pricing and Availability
The new driver is a miniature version of the driver found in the company’s 2019 EAH-TZ700 wired headphones (highly praised but released only in Europe), which have a suggested retail price of a hefty $1,200. Don’t worry, Technics has minimized both the price and the driver.
Interestingly, the “magnetic fluid” in this magnetic fluid driver is actually “an oil-type fluid filled with magnetic particles that is injected into the space between the driver magnet and the voice coil,” but again there is no cause for concern – Technics Headphones Manager project Ryan Yu assures us that the possibility of liquid leakage from the headphones is absolutely excluded.
The new driver (which still measures 10mm) promises tight, rich bass, while the aluminum diaphragm takes care of detail. The headphones support Dolby Atmos and Dolby Audio, as well as Bluetooth LE with Auracast, LDAC, LC3 low latency and Google Quick couple. Battery life: 10 hours without a case and 28 hours with it; this is with ANC enabled, which is a big improvement over their predecessors.
That’s no small upgrade considering the EAH-AZ80 burst onto the scene as the only product to feature a three-unit multi-point system and Technics’ proprietary “concha-fit” design, which wowed us in intensive review and quickly took the top spot. in our The Best Headphone Buying Guide. Suffice to say, we really liked the EAH-AZ80 headphones, and, at least on paper, the EAH-AZ100 are even better. So it will be very interesting to see how they compare to their direct competitors. Bose QuietComfort 2024 headphones.
And as luck would have it, we have a pair of Technics EAH-AZ100s and we’re testing them out for you. Usually at this stage we have to ask you to come back for a full review very soon, but as luck would have it, our Technics EAH-AZ100 review was allowed to be broadcast simultaneously with this message. (Spoiler: this is very good news.)
The new Technics EAH-AZ100 has a suggested retail price of $299/£259/€299 (which would be around AU$519).
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