Panasonic’s CES 2020 press conference has just come to a close, and within it the company revealed the latest Technics undertaking: true wireless headphones. The EAH-AZ70Ws enter an increasingly popular and competitive market, but on paper they have every right to do well in it.
For one, they have noise-cancelling – like the class-leading Sony WF-1000XM3s – with feedback technology and digital and analogue processing working together to minimise unwanted noise both inside and outside of the headphones. Technics promises industry-leading sound isolation thanks to this dual hybrid ANC.
With one touch on an earbud, an Ambient Mode lets wearers briefly hear their surroundings so they can catch, say, a train announcement.
Then we come to the all-important battery life, which is perfectly adequate (and on par with the aforementioned Sonys) here: six hours of continuous noise-cancelling playback from the earbuds, plus an additional 18 hours provided by the included charging case. Various functions, such as adjusting noise-cancelling, selecting sound modes and seeing battery status, come courtesy of the Technics Audio Connect companion app.
While boasting an attractive feature set, Technics is clearly hoping to win fans with its sound performance too. To that end it sports a newly developed 10mm driver that uses a graphene-coated PEEK material for the diaphragm (to supposedly enable transparent highs and mids) and an acoustic control chamber, which works to optimise the airflow generated from the driver unit. Beam forming technology promises to help clear and efficient voice transmission during phone calls, too.
The “splash-proof” (to IPX4 equivalent) EAH-AZ70Ws will be available in black or silver from June, with pricing to be confirmed. We hope to get a first listen very soon.
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