The Technics EAH-AZ100 is an audiophile's flagship first: What Hi-Fi's 5-star 2025 Award pick, SoundGuys 8.1/10, with adaptive ANC and 10-hour battery backing it up. The mono mic underwhelms in noise and the deep fit divides reviewers — but for pure listening, few true wireless earbuds do better. Check the live Amazon price.
— THE VERDICT · JUDGEANY EDITORSWhat the EAH-AZ100 is
Technics launched its 2025 flagship, the EAH-AZ100, at CES in January 2025, built around a 10mm Magnetic Fluid Driver — Panasonic's ferrofluid tech, borrowed from the EAH-TZ700 wired in-ears, that damps the diaphragm to cut distortion. Around it: adaptive ANC, LDAC, three-device multipoint, and Dolby Atmos with head tracking. Official battery is 10 hours per charge with ANC on (12 with it off), 28 hours total with the case. Everything below comes from published reviews and owner reports — JudgeAny runs no lab and measured nothing ourselves.
Sound quality: the magnetic fluid driver
What Hi-Fi handed the AZ100 five stars and a 2025 Award, describing "a wonderfully clear and open sound, with a superb amount of detail," and picked it over the Sony WF-1000XM5 on sound alone in their head-to-head. SoundGuys scored it 8.1/10 — their reviewer called the default tuning unusual and advised working the in-app 8-band EQ to get the sound you want, while their MDAQS panel rated the Treble+ preset 4.5 overall. T3 was the most enthusiastic with 5/5, calling the leap over the AZ80 one of the biggest generational jumps it had experienced. The consensus holds up: this is a listener's earbud first.
ANC and battery
Adaptive ANC is the travel feature here. T3 called it extremely reliable on long-haul flights and trains — fast, subtle adjustments you never hear happening. Tom's Guide lands it a tier down: enough to compete with Bose and Sony, not to surpass them. Battery figures survive independent testing: SoundGuys' lab measured 12 hours per bud with ANC off (10.67 with it on), Tom's Guide got roughly 34 hours total with ANC on over AAC on an iPhone 15, and TechGearLab measured 14.7 hours. USB-C and Qi wireless charging, plus a 15-minute quick charge worth 90 minutes per Technics, round it out.
Calls, comfort, and the app
Calls are the weak link. SoundGuys' listener poll rated the mono MEMS mic "good" or "perfect" just 53% of the time in ideal conditions, and their reviewer says it falls behind in noise despite Voice Focus AI. TechGearLab scored call quality 3.2/10. What Hi-Fi is kinder — indoor calls came through "clearly and with enough expression," on a par with the Sony XM5 — so the mic is fine in a quiet room and thin on a windy street. Comfort splits along ear shape: What Hi-Fi's team, testers with small and large ears, wore them for weeks with no fatigue at 5.9 g per bud; TechGearLab rated comfort 6.3/10, and Kopfhörer's review warns the deeper in-ear fit isn't for everyone. The Technics Audio Connect app (8-band EQ, multipoint management, touch customization) splits opinion too — B&H owners call it comprehensive, Tom's Guide calls the design poor.
The conflicting evidence
The comfort split is the sharpest contradiction: weeks of fatigue-free wear at What Hi-Fi against TechGearLab's 6.3/10. Both can hold — these sit deep, five tip sizes (XS, S, M, ML, L) help, but tips can't change insertion depth, so ear shape decides. The call split resolves the same way: reviewers who call indoors are satisfied, reviewers who poll in wind and street noise are not. Value splits too — Tom's Guide says the minor flaws "don't feel entirely in line with" the flagship asking price, while Gizmodo calls the AZ100 "worth every penny" and RecordingNow scores value 9.0/10. The verdict weights what these earbuds are for — critical listening — which is why sound leads and calls drag.
Who should buy it
Buy the AZ100 if sound tops your list: you get reference-leaning detail, travel-grade ANC, real three-device multipoint, and LDAC on Android. Skip it if most of your calls happen on noisy streets, if deep in-ear fits bother you, or if you're on iPhone where AAC is the ceiling and the hi-res codec story never starts. Don't confuse it with the older AZ80 or AZ60M2 — this review covers the 2025 AZ100 only. Check the live Amazon price.