Technics has existed for more than 50 years. Part of the Panasonic Corporation, it is well known for making high-quality sound gear for consumers and professional DJs. This includes a recent series of earbuds, which include a higher-end EAH-AZ60 and a more mainstream model, the Technics EAH-AZ40.
Even though the Technics EAH-AZ40 is their mainstream model, you will find it performs like high-quality earbuds in terms of sound quality and comfort.
Coming on a sleek case that is also a charger and spare battery the Technics EAH-AZ40 has a nice design that looks really good. There are no discernible buttons to control the earbuds as the whole flat surface of each earbud is touch-sensitive.
Controls are pretty easy with one, two or three taps each controlling a function depending on the tap being on the left or right earbud. With these, you can control play/pause, previous and next tracks as well as volume up and down. These functions can be modified if you install the mobile app.
The app also allows you to control the Ambient Sound feature. While there is no active noise cancellation, the Technics EAH-AZ40 fit really well and you get quite good passive noise isolation. By activating the Ambient Sound feature the microphones will capture background noise and play it back for you, so you don't completely ignore the noises around you. This is helpful when you might want to be aware of what’s going around you and will also help if you can hear internal noises such as breathing or chewing.
This can also be turned on and off by a tap and hold gesture on the right earbud. This feature can be configured through the app to Transparent (all sounds around you are allowed in) or Attention (talking voices are emphasized).
A touch and hold gesture on the left earbud invokes either the mobile assistant available on your phone or the built-in Alexa assistant. If you chose Alexa, as I did, the mobile app will guide you through adding the Technics EAH-AZ40 as another Alexa device on your Amazon account. It’s very handy and it works great if you are invested in this ecosystem.
The mobile app also allows you to change the equaliser with preset options for bass, vocals, treble, dynamic or the option of creating your own setting.
Actions are announced with voice prompts, with options for Japanese, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish and Russian voices.
There is a find function that will emit a chirping sound. It’s not too loud so you might not notice it in very noisy environments. If you set the auto-off option the earbuds won’t be connected so there won’t be any noise to find it. It does have a GPS-based find function that shows where each earbud left/right were last used with your phone.
As I said, the Technics EAH-AZ40 performs at a very high level of sound quality. Call quality is also really good, with a wind noise reduction function and a piece of software called JustMyVoice that amplify your words while on a call, isolating them from other noises.
The documentation promises up to 7.5 hours of playback and although I didn’t use these earbuds continuously for this long, I can say they do last a long time. In any case, a quick charge of 15 minutes can give you an extra 90 minutes of use.
The EAH-AZ60 costs almost a third more than EAH-AZ40 mainly because of its active noise cancellation, a larger driver (8 mm vs 6 mm) and a set of eight microphones in total (the EAH-AZ40 has six microphones). If you don’t feel like ANC is your thing, then the Technics EAH-AZ40 is a perfect addition to your audio technology collection.
