The $299.99 Technics EAH-AZ100 earphones improve upon the EAH-AZ80 they replace in almost every way—and come close to dethroning Bose in the process. New driver technology boosts audio quality, better tuning helps the mics cancel out more noise, and the fit is more comfortable. While they're a little loose at times, the AZ100 earbuds easily jump to the top of the pack when it comes to producing high-quality audio. Bose, however, still does a better job of blocking out sound with its QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds ($299.99), which remain our Editors' Choice winners for high-end noise-cancelling earphones.

Design: Compact Buds With Customizable Controls

The EAH-AZ100 earbuds look like their predecessors but are slightly smaller and are only available in black or silver, while the AZ80s were also available in blue. The earbuds have no stems but include a touch-sensitive outer surface to control playback.

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

The smaller design of the buds makes the AZ100s more comfortable, especially for extended listening sessions, but I found the fit left something to be desired. The earbuds don't sit in the ear canal firmly enough, despite the various-sized eartips in the box, and tend to come loose during vigorous movement.

The earbuds have touch controls and are highly customizable. Out of the box, a single tap on either bud plays or pauses audio. A double tap on the left bud lowers volume, while a triple tap raises it, and a tap-and-hold activates your voice assistant. On the right bud, double-tapping skips to the next track, triple-tapping rewinds to the previous track, and tapping-and-holding changes noise modes. By default, this action switches between active noise cancellation (ANC) and Ambient Sound, but you can add the option to turn noise control off, too. You can change almost every action, which is rare even on high-end earphones.

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

The earbuds connect through Bluetooth 5.3 and support multipoint pairing with up to three simultaneous connections (most earphones are limited to two).

The company's new Magnetic Fluid Driver is designed to produce cleaner and more detailed sound. The drivers measure 10mm and can produce frequencies between 20Hz and 40kHz, which qualifies them for high-res audio. The headphones support the basic AAC and SBC codecs and the higher-quality LC3 and LDAC codecs.

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

Each earbud weighs 0.21 ounces, and the charging case weighs 1.5 ounces. The case is pleasingly compact, making it easy to slip into a pocket. It has a USB-C port on the rear and supports wireless charging on the bottom. The earbuds have an IPX4 rating for protection against sweat and light rain, but there’s no IP rating for the charging case. The earbuds aren't designed for exercise and cannot be submerged in water.

The box includes the charging case, a short USB-C charging cable, and four additional pairs of silicone eartips in various sizes. Given the fit issues I experienced, I would have appreciated foam tips.

Battery Life: Ahead of the Competition

Even though the buds and case are smaller than the previous generation, Technics has improved their battery life. The earbuds offer a continuous battery life of up to 10 hours with noise cancellation on. Battery life extends to 12 hours with ANC off. Your battery life will vary based on the codec you choose and how loud you set the volume. The older AZ80s offered only as much as seven hours of continuous listening with the ANC on.

The charging case includes an additional 28 hours of listening time with ANC on. The buds need two hours to recharge fully, while the buds and case together need three hours. Technics doesn't say if any sort of rapid charging is available.

The $299.99 Sony WF-1000XM5 earphones run about eight hours per charge with 16 hours in the case, the Bose QuietComfort Ultras run for six hours per charge with 12 hours in the case, and the $249 Apple AirPods Pro 2 run for six hours with 24 hours in the case.

App Experience: Plenty of Control

The Technics Audio Connect app (available for Android and iOS) makes most of the earbuds' settings and controls easy to find and adjust, but I wish you could do more without digging deep into the menus.

From the home screen, you can see the buds' battery life and a button that turns the earbuds on or off. Although there are buttons to navigate to the screens for managing noise cancellation and the EQ, you can’t actually control them without further menu diving. You can customize which buttons appear on the home screen, but you have to wade through the menus to find out how.

(Credit: Technics/PCMag)

The EQ is excellent. You get eight bands, ranging from 12kHz at the high end down to what is simply labeled as Bass. The second-to-last band is 250Hz, so presumably, the Bass band is somewhere around the 100Hz range. Whatever the nomenclature, it's an effective way to adjust the sound.

Noise Cancellation: Close to the Best

Technics says it focused on improving its noise cancellation performance, and it shows.

The earbuds effectively cut the low-end rumble from a plane engine and much of the high-end white noise. In fact, they do better in this test than the WF-1000XM5, which allow some low-mid rumble through. The Technics are on par with the AirPods Pro 2 in the airplane test. They also reduce the low grinding of a city bus engine, though high-frequency noises from the doors opening and closing still push through. The AZ100s are great at eliminating the chatter in a busy cafe and only allow the closest voices to be heard. Even though it's short of the Bose, the noise cancellation here comes surprisingly close.

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

The earbuds include an Adaptive mode that works pretty well. It adjusts the level of noise cancellation based on the amount of sound around you. There's also an Ambient mode for transparency, which isn’t bad, but does introduce some hiss to the mix, especially at higher levels.

Sound: Simply Outstanding

The EAH-AZ100 earphones are a clear step up from their predecessors in sound quality, and the result is a phenomenal listening experience.

The earbuds excel at reproducing bass, including low sub-bass content, like that found on The Knife's “Silent Shout.” The earphones deliver the bass without distortion, even at high volumes, something that many high-end models fail to do. The bass response is tighter, more precise, and cleaner than what I've heard from other earphones I've tested this year.

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

The earbuds are superb at reproducing the sub-bass on Kendrick Lamar's “Loyalty,” too, with all of the sub-bass tones sounding full and deep. What's impressive is that they simultaneously balance crisp and detailed percussion with rich vocals from both Lamar and Rihanna. 

“Drover” by Bill Callahan sounds sublime. The earbuds faithfully reproduce every aspect of the track like no other earbuds I’ve tested. They deliver Callahan’s deep and rich vocals brilliantly, while offering great instrument separation. The percussion is clear and crisp, and the acoustic guitar sounds natural and detailed.

The earbuds also shine on orchestral tracks like the opening scene to John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary. Low strings have body and depth, while the brass is bright and vibrant. All the instruments sound defined and separated, which isn’t always the case on busy tracks like this one.

(Credit: Christian de Looper)

The microphones are serviceable. They pick up every word I say perfectly in a test recording using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone, but don’t always sound natural. Technics says it improved the noise-cancelling tech for the microphones, which helps add clarity to phone calls in noisy environments.