Technics AZ70 Wireless Earbuds REVIEW

The wireless earbud market is a crowded place. It’s almost too easy to be blasé about yet another pair hitting the market. But it isn’t every day that the iconic Japanese brand, Technics, launches its own wireless ear gear, so I jumped at the chance to put them to the test.

It turns out that the AZ70’s are little crackers with more bells and whistles than a church belfry.

As you’d expect from Technics, the AZ70’s sport an elegant yet unassuming design. Their build quality is excellent too. The first and most noticeable thing is their minimalist charge case, which is finished in alloy and plastic, and its curvy design makes it very pocketable. In case you’d forgotten you were using Technics gear, there’s a wee hint in the form of an embossed logo on the case, and on the buds.

Like the charging case, the AZ70’s are both minimalist and yet elegant in their finish. They’re also bigger than I expected, but the size comes down to the sheer amount of tech they’re loaded with. This includes dual hybrid noise cancellation and graphene-coated 10mm drivers. There’s also an all-important tuned acoustic chamber for added audio oomph.

They’re as comfy as anything. I’m sure I don’t have massive ears, yet I found the AZ70’s fitted fine. There’s also plenty of ear-tips, so getting a good fit isn’t likely to be a problem for many.

One important point to note for gym bunnies is that the AZ70’s don’t come with wingtips. This means that in theory, they could pop out of your ears if you’re doing a full-on workout. This never happened to me, but the most strenuous workout of my day involves grinding coffee beans at breakfast. Either way, they’re IPX4 certified, so they’re okay with the odd splash or sweat.

Driving them feels intuitive thanks to their metal capacitive touch controls. These made skipping/pausing/playing or switching noise cancellation modes dead easy.

Dual mic beam-forming tech made for crystal clear phone calls. Most people I called had no idea I was using wireless buds. Background noise got reduced to barely detectable levels.

Battery life also impressed. The Technics blurb says that you’ll get around six-and-a-half of use with noise-cancelling enabled. The charging case should give you a further 19 hours. In use, I got six hours of battery life with the volume cranked. Their charging case also delivered a week’s use before it needed charging.

On the audio front, the AZ70’s acquitted themselves well. Much of their audio chops comes down to Technics driver engineering. This is helped along by a tuned audio cavity. Treble was crisp, but not shrill. Mids filled everything out, while bass added a pleasing, yet controlled punch. The audio was both balanced and poised. Nothing felt top-heavy and there was no shrieking. Bass wasn’t waffly, nor did it drown everything out.

That said, the audio did seem a little muted. I sometimes wished for an extra notch on the volume controls. (Time for a hearing test, Pat? – Pesky Deafness In Crusty Old Gits Editor). Helping things along on the audio front is the excellent Technics Connect app (IOS/Android). It not only let me tweak noise-cancelling levels but also included an equaliser.

Speaking of noise cancellation, it was solid. Walking down Willis St on a windy day usually flummoxes noise-cancelling ear gear. Traffic, wind, and other city noise didn’t intrude upon my music at all. There’s also an ambient mode. This sees the AZ70’s dual mics picking up and amplifying environmental sound, which helps to improve situational awareness when crossing roads.

The AZ70’s are beautifully constructed and feature-packed. They offer a good fit, excellent audio, and noise cancellation. They sound great, and there’s plenty of sound tweaking options. If you’re in the market for some wireless ear gear, the AZ70’s are definitely worth checking out.

www.technics.com