The Japanese brand Technics should be well known to a lot of fans of Hi-Fi acoustics. The company produces CD and vinyl record players, stereo amplifiers, and speakers. I myself, by the way, have a stereo amplifier from this brand. It became all the more interesting when I learned that TWS earbuds appeared in the Technics range. So today we are reviewing the Technics EAH-AZ60 wireless earbuds.

Positioning

Technics currently offers two models of TWS earbuds, of which the EAH-AZ60 is the more premium option. As for positioning on the market, the cost of the gadget is $229 (6,000 UAH in Ukrainian stores at the time of writing), which makes the AZ60 a more affordable alternative to the leaders of the top segment, such as Sony WF-1000XM4 or Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3.

Design and ergonomics

The appearance of the earbuds fully corresponds to its positioning – stylish design, pleasant materials, high-quality assembly, IPX4 protection against moisture. The only thing worth noting is the size of the earbuds. They are far from the most compact in the class, so it will affect how comfortable you will be using them. Personally, I would have liked them to be a little smaller because, after a few hours, the ears got tired. But this aspect also depends on the anatomy of the ear, so I advise you to test the AZ60 before buying.

The case is plastic but has a matte coating that adds solidity to it. There is an LED indicator on the front, and a USB-C port on the back. Opening the case with one hand is not very convenient due to its shape, although you get used to it. The earbuds come with a USB-A – USB-C cable for charging and seven pairs of ear tips: from XS to XL, so you can adjust the fit as accurately as possible. AZ60 is available in two colors: black and silver.

Sound and noise reduction

Technics AZ60 got 8 mm drivers, which are helped by special harmonizers for playing music. The earbuds have a Bluetooth 5.2 module and support SBC, AAC, and LDAC codecs. The presence of the latter should please owners of Sony smartphones and other devices with LDAC support because this codec has greater capabilities than SBC and AAC. Unfortunately, AZ60 does not support the more common aptX and aptX HD codecs.

But this does not prevent the earbuds from showing high quality when playing various music genres. The AZ60s have a very balanced sound, so should appeal to many users. Nice low frequencies that don’t get lost at low volume and don’t distort the music when you crank the volume almost to the max. Clean and neat tops, rich midrange, as well as high detail of instruments give pleasure from listening to music. For their price, the earbuds demonstrate a very decent sound level.

Each AZ60 earphone has four microphones, which are responsible for transmitting your voice during calls (and they do it very well), as well as for the operation of the active noise cancellation system. In general, I have no complaints about its work – the system copes well with its task. I cannot call it the best in the segment – after all, Sony WF-1000XM4 have a more effective ANC system, but the model from Technics shows a good level. Moreover, it is cheaper. In the proprietary application, you can adjust the level of noise reduction, as well as the operation of the Ambient Sound function, which transmits the sounds of the environment.

Battery life and charging

One of the strengths of the Technics AZ60 is battery life. The company claims up to 7 hours of music playback on a full charge and up to 24 hours when charging in the case. When playing music using the LDAC codec, the earbuds may work for about 5 hours (16-17 hours with a case).

There is support for fast charging. Approximately 15 minutes in the case will give you up to 70-80 minutes of music playback.

Control and software

AZ60 earbuds are equipped with touch panels that can be used to control various functions. It is very convenient that in the proprietary Audio Connect application you can customize the control scheme for each earbud separately. In general, the application has a wide functionality. You can adjust the level of noise cancellation and Ambient Sound functions (plus you can choose a transparent mode for all ambient sounds or only voices), use the equalizer settings (or create your own), find earbuds, choose a voice assistant (Amazon Alexa, or standard assistants on your smartphone – Google Assistant or Siri), as well as test how well the interlocutor will hear you thanks to the JustMyVoice function.

Among the nice features, I would also like to mention the support for the multi-point pairing mode. It allows you to connect to two Bluetooth devices at the same time, and the headphones automatically switch between the devices, depending on which one is playing the sound.