Finding a pair of true wireless earbuds that are technically sound in every way can be tricky. But there's a new Technics flagship on the horizon. One that brings with it some world's first tech & over 55 years of HiFi heritage & Audio R&D behind them.

These HiRes earbuds are called the Technics AZ80, and in this video, you'll find out everything you need to know. If I miss anything, drop me a comment, and I'll reply and try and get it in the next one. So before we begin here is an introduction & summary of the new products from Ryan Yu, Project Manager ( Technics UK).

Price

Being a flagship, these go on sale at launch for a flagship price of 299. This price point places the AZ80's amongst the top-tier buds from Sennheiser, Sony, Bowers and Wilkins and Bose. But do they pose a threat? Well, keep watching and you'll see.

Design

The colour options are silver and Black. These are the silver ones. The case is tik-tac shaped with three different shades of silver.

The lower portion of the case houses the USB C charging port and LED indicator. And it's a light silver that shimmers when the light hits it. The lid is similar but slightly darker, and the top is brushed metal with a gold technics logo stamped into it.

It looks classy. But there's just one question...does it pass the cowboy pocket watch pocket test? watch the video to find out

When you pop the hood of the case, there is another LED indicator for pairing and battery status. And you'll notice light grey colour matches the body of the earbuds.

The size of the buds themselves is less petit than the AirPods Pro 2, and this is intentional. A bigger bass chamber equals…bigger... I'll let you fill in the gap in the comments.

The shape and styling are similar to Sennheiser momentum and B&W Pi 7, but under closer inspection, it's clear to see that the AZ80 do have their own style. The caps are metallic, and if you look closely, there's a gold mesh over the external noise-cancelling mic, and there's another anc mic with a silver mesh on the edge.

The capacitive touch area has a radial reflective pattern likely inspired by the dials seen on the classic Technics amps and record decks.

I actually used to own Technics 1210 mk 2 record decks. Back in the day, they were the best of the best & I think they still are.

Anyway, there's some gold print on top, And the dark circles are wear-detect sensors. And when you remove the silicon tip, you can see that these earbuds are just built differently.

There's nothing wrong with being different. In fact, it's quite often a lot better than trying to copy everyone else. Because this is where innovation comes from.

TECHNICAL STUFF

Inside Technics' innovative design, they have opted for significant 10mm free-edge aluminium drivers. There's a spacious acoustic chamber and a new harmoniser layer.

The buds themselves are weather sealed and have an official IPX4 rating. So rain splashes and sweat are not sweat for the AZ80s. The AZ80s also have 4 mics on each bud. Which is impressive. These are the only earbuds I know of that have 8 mics.

Each bud has a feed-forward, feedback, voice detection and talk mic. These mics assist with the dual hybrid noise cancelling feature and voice pickup.

Call Quality

So call quality has never been as important as it is today. The world is more connected than ever, and many prefer to be untethered from the desk...if possible.

And this is why Technics has put so much effort into the mics and connectivity options. 2 of the mics in the AZ80 are MEMS mics that use VAD and AEC followed by VCPF to ensure only your voice is heard.

Now if everything I just said is to techy and went in one ear and out the other…I don't blame you. Technics in an attempt to keep this process simple, I have given it a name. Just my voice.

Maybe, it's best to do a little less talking and show you a little more microphone test action. So please join me for the mic test. Watch the video above

Battery/power

Ok, earbuds, just like Hoverboards, don't run on water. You have to have power. And the maximum playback time, when combined with the power reserve in the case, is 24Hrs with ANC on.

Some variables can alter this result. For example, the LDAC codec delivers a 3 times faster bit rate and better sound, but it will drop the playback down to around 16hrs…which is a sacrifice worth making sometimes for Hi-Res audio.

The bud's battery life without the case range from 4.5 hours with LDAC and ANC on to 7 hrs with the AAC and ANC on.

When out of power, the AZ80 does support Qi wireless charging. And this will take around 3.5 hours to fully charge. Via a wire, it takes 3 hrs.

And a 15 mins quick wired charge can deliver 70 mins of playback with ANC on.

Noise cancelling

So let's talk about the ANC. The reality is that testing ANC without some costly equipment is tricky. But I came up with an idea the other day when I was hanging a clock above the toilet, and I fell and hit my head.

Lol, ok, that didn't happen. But I did come up with an idea. Again watch the video to see how that turned out.

Features

Ok, so the AZ80s sound good to me. But I know some people somewhere will say, "The AirPods will just work better for me because I use iPhone, iPad and an Apple Mac."

We'll check out this world's first feature from Technics. The AZ80s have triple point pairing thanks to BT5.3 and Technics expertise in the field of audio connectivity.

So do you realise what this means? It's even if you're firmly locked into Apple's walled garden. These offer you an alternative that is not as much of a compromise as other flagship ANC buds might be. Because your iPhone, your iPad and your Mac can all be connected.

Everything always, all at once. And the AZ80's can be paired with up 10 devices in total.

And if you're on Android, triple point pairing is also supported, and if your device supports LDAC, then you can listen to master quality in 24bit 192kHz. Simply put, the music will hold more detail than your regular MP3s. It'll just sound better.

The App

Now run through the app and controls. The home screen shows your battery levels and gives you quick access to NC, which allows you manually adjust levels and switch modes. And the ambient way has two options, 'transparent' and 'attention', focusing specifically on voice passthrough.

Then there are the current EQ settings which by default is set to direct. There are 6 EQ profiles to choose from and a 5 band equaliser for dialling in your style.

The 'Find My Headphones' is a double-barreled feature. They can emit a loud chime when out of the case. And the check position will work with Google's location services to show you the last known precise position on the map.

Then there's the just my voice feature that allows you to hear how you sound via the mics in whatever surrounding you happen to be in.

Dive into the settings, and you can adjust the voice prompts. The auto power down, the wear detect sensor and the all-important connection mode. Here is where you can toggle on and off LDAC.

Multipoint pairing is also here for sound suppression settings and button customisation. You can also pre-calibrate the ANC and the back suppression level for voice calls.

"Ai is available here. So you can control and command it...for now. Let's hope we never have to delete it."

Overall the app is comprehensive.

There are a couple of things I think could be improved, for example, on the Android version of the app, instead of having the same thing twice, like the ANC modes and the EQs. It would be nice to have a Hi-Res switch to enable and disable LDAC quickly. Also, quick access to the 3-point pairing that would let you see what is and what isn't connected.

And one more thing, the Equalizer. I'm glad it's there, but there is no option to save multiple custom presets. And a few more bands to play with would be nice, especially given that the AZ80's frequency response is 20Hz to 40kHZ, which is a broader spectrum than what most other earbuds have.

The app is easy to use and far better than the others I tested. And because of all software, Technics will make improvements over time, and the buds will receive software upgrades too. And at this point, if you wouldn't mince upgrading my subscriber count...I would greatly appreciate it.

Sound quality

And now the most essential aspect of any audio device. The sound quality. Now I don't have all the fancy equipment, and I don't pretend to be a sound engineer. I just play it by ear, like what I did there.

I've been testing earbuds for the best part of a decade, so I hope you'll trust my opinion. So first, I tried the flat sound signature with all the popular genres.

The standout attributes for me without EQs are soundstage and clarity. The soundstage feels wide, and the clarity is very detailed and not sharp at all.

Honestly, for mature styles of music, the direct sound profile will be perfect, although, for my traditional music and older recordings, the dynamic profile sounds the best to me.

Now for younger styles of music. The bass plus is impressive because most people will be happy with the amount of bass here but if you're really into heavy bass, the super bass plus is the one. And what's great about it is that is delivers heavy bass, but it's still comfortable to listen to, and the mid-range is balanced by it.

Of course, this all changes when you start playing with the EQ, and I did dial in a custom preset for heavy bass and vocal clarity. If you get these and if you like dance, hip hop and modern pop. You should try this EQ.

Sound's good to me!

And if you're worried about the price tag. Just remember this today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Think of the Technics AZ80s as a good, sound investment for the future.