Tag Archives: Silence

Technics EAH-AZ60 in the test: Terrifyingly good sound and silence

RRP $ 230.00

"With fantastic sound and noise canceling, the AZ60 are among the best headphones you can buy."

advantages

• Excellent sound quality

• Excellent noise cancellation

• Hi-Res audio support

• Hands-free Alexa

• Bluetooth multipoint

disadvantage

• No wireless charging

• No in-ear sensors

We were pretty impressed with the Technics EAH-AZ70 noise canceling True Wireless earbuds. They sounded great and had great noise cancellation. But at $ 250 they were expensive. And a bit bulky. So if Technics could address this problem and maybe even add some extra functionality, that would make the AZ70 even more attractive. Apparently, Technics said "challenge accepted" because its latest project, the $ 230 EAH-AZ60, does just that. How much better are the new earbuds? Let's check them out.

Still challenging, but now slimmer

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The first thing that strikes you about the AZ60 is how much smaller it is than the AZ70. I'm not sure how this is possible as they still weigh the same (7 grams per earbud) but have better battery life and one more microphone per earbud (eight total). Definitely well done Technics. They no longer stick out of your ears, and when you sit them side by side with other earbuds in the $ 200-300 range like Sony's WF-1000XM4 or Jabra's Elite 85t, the AZ60s are actually a bit smaller.

The charging case is also much smaller. No AirPods Pro small, but very slim and very practical. What hasn't changed is the styling. Whether you get the black or silver version, the AZ60 has a sleek design with polished and brushed accents that look very high quality – the perfect antidote to Apple's ubiquitous white plastic buds. With IPX4 protection, they even turn your daily training into an upscale event.

Smaller buds = comfortable fit

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

It might seem obvious, but smaller earbuds generally offer a more comfortable fit. But not always. Sometimes a strange shape can cause pressure, and sometimes the box doesn't contain enough eartip sizes for your particular ear shape. Fortunately, the AZ60 doesn't suffer from either of these problems.

Their rounded contours completely fill the conchas of my ears, but do so without any discomfort. And with seven sizes of silicone earbuds to choose from, most people should be able to find something that works for them. After several hours of use, my ears definitely needed a break, but I was never bothered by these buds.

It can be that quiet

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

We found that the AZ70 has excellent Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and the AZ60 is just as impressive. The current gold standard is the Bose QuietComfort earbuds, but the AZ60 are so good that I can hardly tell the difference between the two products. This applies to both consistent, booming noises like the bathroom fan standing two and a half meters from my desk at home, as well as inconsistent noises like traffic or conversations. They say silence is golden. Well, if silence is what you're looking for, the AZ60s are gold and more.

These earbuds also have a transparency mode and you can easily switch between it and ANC with a long press on the right earbud. It's not quite as magically clear as the AirPods Pro, but it lets in a lot of sound – more than enough for heightened situational awareness. There's also a setting in the Technics Audio Connect app that can set the transparency mode to only enhance voices to make it easier to chat with others.

Sweet sound

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The AZ60 retains Technics' energetic sound signature with incredible clarity in the mids and highs. It's the kind of precision with which you can hear details in your favorite tracks that smaller earbuds or headphones usually obscure. In the opening bars of Sia's Saved My Life, which include notes played on a piano, you can actually hear the sound of the damper pads rising and falling on the piano strings. If you hear Sweet Jane the Cowboy Junkies from their Trinity Session album, you can hear the faint echo of the drums from the recording room. This precision creates excellent stereo imaging and a soundstage that invites you to reach out and touch the instruments.

The bass response is tightly controlled – always there when you need it, but never overwhelming. It's a bit too controlled for my taste, but purists looking for a balanced or neutral sound would likely disagree. The Audio Connect app gives you several options for changing the EQ with four presets and one that you can adjust via a five-band slider. For me, the unadulterated factory tuning was the most satisfying. The Dynamic preset adds a generous amount of emphasis to the entire spectrum, but it boils over the high frequencies, making cymbals and other sibilants too sharp.

It's also worth noting that the AZ60 is one of the few wireless earbuds you can buy that support Sony's LDAC bluetooth codec, which in theory should enable Hi-Res wireless audio if you can with an LDAC enabled Pair your phone (currently Android models only). as Apple does not support LDAC). As a test, I swapped back and forth between an iPhone 11 (AAC codec) and a Pixel 5 (LDAC) with various lossless audio tracks from Tidal HiFi. There is indeed a difference, but it is incredibly subtle. LDAC creates a smoother sound signature that attenuates some of the higher frequencies. There's a little more detail too, but you have to be very careful to hear it.

But whether you use LDAC or not, the AZ60 delivers incredible sound quality. In head-to-head comparisons with Sony's $ 280 WF-1000XM4, Master & Dynamic's $ 299 MW08, KEF's $ 230 Mu3, and Grado's $ 259 GT220 – all top notch audio performers – the AZ60 can hold its own, which makes it an exceptional value considering its price and other features.

Double dip devices

The AZ60 lacks Google Fast Pair or Apple's one-tap pairing, but that's no big deal. The first time you pull the buds out of their case, they'll go into pairing mode and from there you just select them from your device's bluetooth menu. Once paired, the connection is reliably strong and consistent. I found myself up to 15 meters from my phone outdoors, but sometimes only 6 meters when walking between floors.

But what I really like about the AZ60 is its ability to make multi-point Bluetooth connections – a rarity among true wireless earbuds. In this way you can connect the headphones to your phone and, for example, your PC at the same time. You can stream music from your computer and when your phone rings just stop the music and take the call – the AZ60 switch seamlessly, with just a split second in the audio. If you're multitasking between devices (and who doesn't these days?) This is a super handy feature.

Delete calls

Speaking of taking calls, the AZ60 is very suitable for making calls. However, note the settings in the Audio Connect app. It offers an option to increase background noise reduction, and I have found that doing so can significantly reduce the clarity of your voice under certain circumstances – which is the opposite of the intended effect. Using the regular settings is probably all you need.

The earbuds are equipped with what Technics calls "JustMyVoice" – a fourth microphone used to detect speech – which the company claims can isolate and amplify words and minimize ambient noise. It seems to work, but I'd argue that Jabra's Elite 7 Pro is still better for calling in noisy environments.

A little help, Alexa?

The AZ60 lets you activate your phone's built-in voice assistant, but if you're an Amazon Alexa fan, you can use Amazon's AI. instead of this. The advantage of this is hands-free access to the wake-up word – just say "Alexa, …" followed by any of the usual commands you might need, including phone functions like volume ("Alexa, volume, 50%") or playback (" Alexa, (Play / Pause) "). While this is slowly becoming a more common feature, we've only seen it on a handful of earbuds like the Sony WF-1000XM4, JBL Tour Pro +, and of course Amazon's Echo Buds.

Total control

While I'm not a huge fan of touch controls, Technics did a really good job with the AZ60's touch sensors. They are responsive, easy to type precisely, and offer a small tone for every successful tap. The Audio Connect app allows you to tweak any gesture to perform any of the available activities (play / pause, skip tracks, volume up / down, ANC / transparency, voice assistant, answer / end call and microphone mute). I've only seen this level of customization on the Jabra Elite series and it's a fantastic integration from Technics. Technics also offers a Find My Earbuds option that tracks the last known whereabouts of your buds and lets you turn on a chime so you can find them.

The only thing missing are in-ear sensors that automatically pause / resume music playback when you remove or reinsert the earbuds.

Sufficient power

Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

The only thing that is average about the AZ60 is the battery life. You get roughly seven hours per charge (give or take 30 minutes if you use ANC or not) and the charging case can extend that to 24-25 hours of total playtime. This is neither extraordinary nor unacceptable – most people will find it perfectly adequate for a full day.

There's a quick charge option, but it's not particularly noteworthy: 15 minutes will give you 70 or 80 minutes of extra usage.

As with any earbuds or headphones that enable the LDAC codec, using this feature will drain the battery much faster, so a single charge of the earbuds will reduce the life of the earbuds to 4.5 hours of use if you also turn on ANC.

This brings us to the only other feature that Technics has omitted: wireless charging for the case.

Our opinion

Great sound, impressive ANC, comfortable and secure fit, high-resolution LDAC support and tons of features – all at a price that beats most of the competition. Yes, we are big fans of the Technology EAH-AZ60 and we think you will be too.

Is there a better alternative?

There are only two other products to consider before purchasing the Technics EAH-AZ60:

$ 280 Sony WF-1000XM4: This is the upgrade selection. It has everything the AZ60 can do, plus wireless charging, Alexa or Google Assistant of your choice, and in-ear sensors that automatically pause music when you speak or when you remove an earbud. But the earbuds are bigger and less comfortable, especially for people with smaller ears.

$ 200 Jabra Elite 7 Pro: These earbuds don't have the exceptional sound quality of the AZ60 (although, in fairness, they still sound really good) or the Alexa speakerphone, but they cost less, are smaller, and more convenient, plus they're completely waterproof, and have on-ear sensors and wireless charging.

How long will they last?

This question is always difficult to answer, but with an IPX4 rating and what appears to be a very good build quality, they should last for many years. Panasonic backs Technics' true wireless earbuds with a one-year warranty.

Should you buy it?

Absolutely. They're one of the best sets of true wireless earbuds we've ever tested.

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