Technics' radical new earbuds aim to be premium contenders

Technics is coming for Sony, Apple and Bose's lunch money – and anyone else who makes some of the best earbuds out there, frankly. It's just unveiled its newest true wireless earbuds, the EAH-AZ100, at CES 2025, and they've got all the ingredients to be really persuasive little bits of hardware.

Those who've been paying attention to Technics' work will notice that it's skipped straight from the AZ80 to the AZ100, without a '90' model in between. That's because its headphones team views this as more than just a generational refresh, with some major engineering work going into the upgrade.

Impressively, that doesn't mean a price increase (technically). The AZ80 launched at £259, although it's now rarely as expensive as that – and the AZ100 is following suit, at £259, $299 or €299. For that price, you'll get a quite significantly upgraded experience.

The design has changed quite noticeably, despite the signature Technics logo still legible on the outside of each earbud, and the overall size has shrunk down significantly. They're also lighter than before with some key redesigns to their sound.

Technics is rightly boasting about managing to shrink down the "magnetic-fluid driver" it used previously in its EAH-TZ700 premium in-ear monitors. This means there's a tiny amount of ferrofluid in each earbud, helping to anchor its driver for more accurate vibrations that are free of distortion. That might be a little technical, but it means that the AZ100 has significantly boosted bass that nonetheless shouldn't drown out mids and highs.

On top of that, the earbuds now also support Dolby Atmos, bringing spatial audio to the table for those who enjoy using it for home listening. The active noise-cancelling on offer has also been significantly upgraded, and is now adaptive for changeable environments, as well as being more powerful regardless. Battery life is boosted to 10 hours on a charge (with noise-cancelling on) and 28 hours including the extra juice in the case.

With Bluetooth LE support, you'll be able to use Auracast features if you ever actually come across them in the wild, and Technics is also shouting about a new AI feature it's integrated for when you take calls. Its "voice focus AI" can tune out background noise while you're talking to someone – but, impressively, it does this not only for the noise around you but also the noise around your caller. It's rare to see a noise-cancelling system that can cancel both ends of a call.

So, this reads like one of the most comprehensive upgrades between earbud generations that I've come across recently – and I've actually had the AZ100s as my daily earbuds for the last few weeks. You can check out my full and detailed review when you have a chance, to learn more about their strengths.