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Going straight to the Technics EAH-AZ40 headphones from the Sony XM5 headphones was probably causing these stunning rose gold babies to fail. But despite how I tried, the technicians failed me. And I really wanted them to do it.
That’s what I thought after spending a week with them.
The Technics EAH-AZ40 headphones
They are the latest in-ear wireless headphones from Technics, the company best known for its turntables and a solid history in the sound space. The EAH-AZ40 headphones are presented as “offering sound with incredible range,” in addition to having a first-class voice detection microphone for clear phone calls. While I agree with the second, the first is not something I have experienced. This is what I thought of the Technics EAH-AZ40 headphones.
Configuration and use
A fairly simple experience, nothing extraordinary to report here, apart from the tedious 2022 standard account / application setup you now have to do for absolutely everything. The Technics Audio app is also easy to use. You can turn ambient sound on or off, choose which sound enhancement you want (bass +, vocals, treble, dynamic or custom), with the latest one allowing you to manipulate the settings. The app provides you with battery status and offers its own version of Find My. While it sounds loud, it’s not loud enough to be heard when you’re in a busy environment or the buds aren’t close. It works well when they are loose in my handbag and I’m just walking in the door. You can also activate location information to see the last place you left your EAH-AZ40 headphones.
Screenshots: Technics / Gizmodo Australia
You can only use the app when the outbreaks are in your ears, and you have to wait a while for the app to register (upload screen in the first photo). However, you can change the outbreak controls. Which is great, because I had a lot of problems here (more on that later). There’s not much else you can do in the Technics Audio app, but that’s enough. Except when it comes to playing with sound (we’ll talk about that later, too).
Look and feel
The Technics EAH-AZ40 headphones are available in three colors: black, silver or rose gold, with the charger case matching the color you choose. The golden pink color is a nice change from the standard black and white, and I really like it. The coating doesn’t look cheap either.
Image: Asha Barbaschow / Gizmodo Australia
They are light, 5 grams and quite small. There are four different headset accessories, so you need to find one that fits your ears. But despite the small, lightweight headset, they still fall out of my ear. It’s not as bad as the third-generation shoots of Apple AirPods (they just fall to the ground while I’m sitting still). But it’s enough for him to push them back often as if he’s putting a pair of socks in a drawer that should have been cleaned months ago. Of course, the buttons have buttons, so I paused the music or turned on the wizard long enough to bother me. Running was not fun. They fell too often. This problem isn’t unique to the EAH-AZ40 Technics bosses, so I’m starting to think it’s not them, it’s me. As you can see in the picture below, they don’t look too big, which is great, but you can see the reality of how they really fit.
Left: technique model, right: me. They don’t really sit as they seem. Image: Technics & Asha Barbaschow / Gizmodo Australia
Battery and charging
Technics promises up to 7.5 hours of playback on a single charge, which is a bit more than I got, but I was playing a lot with them. You will get a full charge of up to 25 hours in the charging box. A great feature if you are terrible at keeping things loaded, adding a fast 15 minute charge will give you 90 minutes of playback time. Enough for a gym session.
How do EAH-AZ40 outbreaks sound?
Not great, if I’m being honest.
Listening to music
At first, I mentioned that Technics bills EAH-AZ40 outbreaks as “offering a sound with incredible range,” but I’m not sure what range they consider to be range. To prove it, after listening to my “own” musical taste, I appeared on Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy and, look at this, the background sounds great and his breathable voice is clear, no distortion, even all. the most. The touches of the xylophone to the heart were pleasant and the handshakes were not overwhelming. EAH-AZ40 shoots are ideal for pop.
The first song I usually try with any speaker / headphones is Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah. This song requires the kit to work well at low, medium and high frequencies, all thanks to its voice. Its superior register is known for its androgynous and agile falsetto and a powerful and expansive (but not striking) range. We also sing softly as a whisper and the touch of an sometimes overwhelming acoustic guitar. The Technics EAH-AZ40 headphones handled their range very, very well. Buckley was clear and powerful at full volume. Sometimes the maximum was too high, but lowering it a bit solved my sound bleeding issues.
So why am I not happy with the sound? Well, if we get out of the mainstream, the EAH-AZ40 buds let me down. Another topic I play often is Aerials from System of A Down. It starts low, builds up in a mammoth blast after some guitar riffs and a violin. As the lyrics arrive, the buds start to sound very small. It’s as if they put in so much effort to keep up so as not to distort the instruments that the voices suffer from. As we get heavier (In Lorna Shore’s In the Earth, for those of you playing at home), it’s sometimes a little messy. The voices are distorted and all the instruments bleed. Blastbeats are not handled well at all. It’s a similar case when I head to the EDM space. While the EAH-AZ40 outbreaks handled pop well, there was something about pop voices on an EDM track that sounded like I was listening to a song through my iPhone’s built-in speaker aloud. The pace, however, sounds good.
The bass is too much. But there aren’t enough default options to choose from and Average Joe won’t know that his 10K is supposed to increase or decrease an “X” amount of dB.
Screenshots: Technics / Gizmodo Australia
Phone calls
With six individual microphones and advanced wind noise reduction, Technics would tell you that the EAH-AZ40 transmits your voice clearly to every call and that its JustMyVoice technology isolates and amplifies words while minimizing ambient noise. In a phone call, I could clearly hear my father at the other end, but when I answered, it was as if I had my hands over my ears: I had no idea how loud I was talking and my own voice was too powerful. Dad said he was clear, but not as clear as he felt when I called him to try other headphones / earphones. Outside, at Sydney’s CBD, I could still hear him pretty well, but he said a lot of the noise from outside was passing through the call.
Video calls with a laptop were clear again, until the moment I had to talk and only then did I really notice the “cork” feeling that happens with in-ear headphones.
The verdict
The Technics EAH-AZ40 headphones look great, are not as heavy as other headphones, and have a long battery life. They work well when you listen to the most basic music, but I wouldn’t even think about buying them if you’re a music lover. Phone calls are fine, though not as good on Technics will make you believe. While they have the ability to connect multiple devices at once (i.e., phone and laptop), the experience isn’t as fluid as it is through Apple’s AirPods or Samsung buds if you have a Samsung phone.
Competing with the EAH-AZ40 headphones are the LG TONE Free FP9 headphones ($ 319), the Jabra Elite Active 75t headphones ($ 249), the Apple AirPods Pro ($ 399), and the Sony WF-1000XM4 headphones ($ 388). Technics EAH-AZ40 headphones retail for $ 249. You will have a good experience of the technicians, but I cannot tell you that it will be a great experience.
Where to buy Technics EAH-AZ40 headphones
Amazon $ 214 | DJ Store $ 229 | JB Hi-Fi $ 249