Technics EAH-AZ40 Bluetooth earbuds hands-on review

The Technics EAH-AZ40 win me over across the board at a recommended retail price (RRP) of 149 euros. I bought these myself too, so this is my free and unpaid opinion.

What’s in the box and design

The earbuds come in three colors, and my highlight is the gold version. In the box you’ll find the case, the earbuds that weigh five grams each, silicone tips in four sizes and a USB cable. I find the design nice and very modern. The earbuds are splash-proof to IPX4, rain or sports are no problem, but they’re not suitable for swimming. With the charging case you get about 24 hours of battery life.

Sound

The sound quality is outstanding, no beating around the bush, and on the level of the Galaxy Buds 2 and the Apple AirPods Pro, which have been my favorites until now.

The Technics Audio Connect app

The app lets you make significantly more settings than on the Galaxy Buds 2 or the AirPods Pro. In the start menu you can switch ambient sound on or off. There are two modes:

• Transparent: The sounds around you are passed through unchanged.
• Attention: Music or a podcast is paused when someone talks to you.

I criticize two things:

• Noise: In ambient sound mode you hear a faint background noise. You don’t notice it with a podcast or music. But I often just wear the earbuds in my ears during breaks between calls, and then it stands out negatively. The Galaxy Buds 2 and AirPods Pro have a similar mode with minimal noise, but not comparable to the Technics.
• No ANC: There’s no active noise cancelling. You can deactivate ambient sound, but it isn’t shut out like on the other models mentioned. I think that’s a real shame, it would have rounded off the overall package.

Voice assistant and two devices

My highlight: in the app, you can set the voice assistant manually. The choices are the preinstalled Amazon Alexa and the assistant of the respective device, on my Galaxy Z Flip 3 Google or Bixby, on an iPhone Siri. That’s a big advantage over the Galaxy Buds 2 and AirPods Pro, which only support their in-house assistant.

You can also pair the earbuds with two devices, such as a smartphone and a tablet. If I’m watching YouTube on the tablet and the smartphone rings, the earbuds switch to the smartphone and I can take the call.

Just My Voice for calls

The highlight is the Just My Voice technology with six microphones. It isolates and amplifies your own voice and minimizes ambient noise for the person you’re talking to. You notice it: in a real phone call, background noise is minimized very strongly. That sometimes leads to not-so-nice distortion. If you speak relatively quietly, you may be recognized as background noise and cut off. For very loud environments, the mode is certainly good. In a normal environment, I’d rather advise against it.

Under Settings, you can adjust the touch sensors and define different actions for tapping and press-and-hold, not only for music but also for calls. That goes much further than on the Galaxy Buds 2 or AirPods Pro.

Verdict

The Technics EAH-AZ40 play at a very high level, and I really liked the sound quality. Just My Voice isn’t quite mature yet but is on a good path. Overall they win you over across the board and don’t have to hide from the competition. With the appealing design and the great color, I give a clear buying recommendation. The earbuds can be paired with Android and iOS and each has a sophisticated app. They’re a very good everyday companion, whether with an Android or iOS smartphone.