Professional audio/audio enthusiasts must be familiar with the Japanese Technics brand, which has gone through an incomparably brilliant road in the last century, and is the representative of the Japanese professional HiFi fever brand at that time, and the proudest sub-brand of its parent company Panasonic. Let's take a look at a brief review of Technics' much-talked-about development path.
Careful friends may have found that since the launch of the first Technics 1 in 1965, the brand development can be described as a soaring progress, until 1989 technics gradually shrunk the product line, which has a direct relationship with the Japanese bubble economy at that time, after 2000 Technics only retained the development and production of professional DJ products.
At the 2014 International Electronics & Consumer Goods Exhibition in Berlin, Germany, Panasonic redefined Technics as its high-end HiFi brand, once again opening the development of Technics. In the early days, all of Technics' products were produced in a single-order production model, and because they were facing professional customers, it was difficult to find them in the mass consumer market. It was not until 2020 that it officially entered the field of consumer high-end true wireless headphones in response to the needs of some enthusiasts. The first product, EAH-AZ70W, has achieved good sales results in the international market after its launch. This also makes Technics firmly enter the sunshine road of the mass consumer market. In 2021, Technics launched two new high-end true wireless headphones, the models are EAH-AZ60 and EAH-AZ40.
Based on the size of the model numbers alone, it feels like both new products are positioned lower than the EAH-AZ70W. In fact, a year apart, the technology of true wireless headphones has made a lot of progress, the new EAH-AZ60 can support Hi-Res Audio Wireless level LDAC decoding, and the use of the latest Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.2 standard, signal transmission bandwidth and stability have made great progress over the previous generation, while the battery life is longer, more feature-rich, more powerful performance. In my experience for a while, it feels like the EAH-AZ60 is more like an optimized upgrade of the EAH-AZ70W.
Previously bought online, whether EAH-AZ60 or EAH-AZ40 is only a parallel cargo channel, can not enjoy the regular warranty service, licensed although lagged some time, but now finally come. The EAH-AZ60 I have in my hand is one of the first official Licensed Panasonics. On the side of the box there is a headset warranty card, in addition to a scratch code to verify that it is genuine. Since the whole machine and the packaging are imported, in order not to break the disposable seal, so the warranty card can only be attached to the side of the box, which needs to be used in the future warranty, so it is best to keep it properly.
This is just said to be a one-time seal, many consumers including myself have an "unopened plot", after seeing the seal, the heart is instantly solid. Through the spray code, you can see that the production time of this pair of EAH-AZ60 is November 20, 2021, which is also freshly baked, after all, it is imported, and the intermediate road and procedures will take a lot of time.
The packaging box is not large, it seems that the headphone battery box is very small, black and white look professional, even if you have not taken out the contents of the box, you can clearly feel its difference.
The transition of the corner of the battery box is very special, coupled with the concise and capable Technics word, the overall permeation of a faint Japanese cold wind, the design appeal of professional fever brands is often simple and not simple, and it needs to be experienced with heart.
Technics EAH-AZ60 random accessories in the Japanese products is relatively rich, in addition to the headphone body and battery storage box, there is a Type-C interface charging short line, 7 pairs of different sizes and lengths of ear tips, several pages of product instructions printed in different languages.
Since Technics EAH-AZ60 is a true wireless headphone product sold worldwide, in order to adapt to the shape of the pinna of people in different countries and regions, Technics provides up to 7 different specifications of ear tips, there are XS1, XS2, S1, S2, M, L, XL pairs each (M number has been installed on the headphones), of which XS and S are designed with different lengths of two size specifications, for adapting to different shades of ear canals, the heart of thoughtfulness is extremely subtle.
The design of the ear tips is also unique, the interior is filled with tuning materials, while having the role of dustproof, the outlet of the three-leaf shape can block the filler will not fall off, the design can be said to be careful, and the complexity also shows that it is from the hands of the professional team.
The battery box is particularly lightweight, only 45 grams, and it is basically insensitive in the pocket of the clothes. Inside it has a 650mAh lithium battery that provides up to 25 hours of battery life when both the headphones and battery compartment are fully charged. Of course, due to the different use environment of each person, including the volume size of the headset, the electromagnetic signal interference of the environment, the temperature and humidity, the distance from the sound source, the function that is turned on and other factors are different, the battery life is not exactly the same, the specific can refer to the following figure.
This endurance performance is enough for daily use, even for heavy players. At the same time, EAH-AZ60 also supports fast charging technology, and the headphones can be used for about 70 minutes in 15 minutes of charging back into the battery box, which is also quite qualified as an emergency.
After talking for half a day, now I finally see the true face of EAH-AZ60, with a touch of elegance in simplicity, but also a professional and business style, it looks like there is a sense of high-end in it.
EAH-AZ60 is support A2DP and AVRCP, when connected to the mobile phone can be operated wirelessly through the touch button of the headset wireless remote control, can achieve the ability to hang up the phone, play music and cut songs to adjust the volume, call out the mobile phone intelligent voice assistant and other functions.
In terms of decoding, EAH-AZ60 supports SBC, AAC, LDAC three formats, of which LDAC sound is the most realistic, the transmission bandwidth is also the largest, the amount of information is also the largest, and the sound quality is also the best, but it needs to be supported by mobile phones or other connected devices. Now that LDAC technology has been licensed to various OEMs for free, it is easy to find, so the EAH-AZ60 can also be used.
The back panel of the EAH-AZ60 adopts a concentric circle design style, which is not subjectively complicated, but it is a little monotonous, and the emergence of the Technics Logo has played a role in the finishing touch, especially when the headphones are worn on the ear, this string of English characters seems to be faith, and the visual effect is very in place.
The red and blue indicators are very eye-catching when flashing, and the brightness is brighter than many similar indicators. In addition to the L and R logos, there is a small bulge on the outside of the catheter of L, which can be felt even if it is blindly operated.
Magnetic positioning convenient headphones back into the box when the contacts can be accurately contacted together, every time the headphones are taken out of the box, it will automatically connect back to the most recent paired mobile phone, and there is a voice prompt connection successfully, and the left and right ears can be independently connected to work, the use after the first pairing is completely fool-like, even if it is given to the elderly there is no problem.
EAH-AZ60 adopts a bio-diaphragm dynamic sound unit with a diameter of 8mm, the production of this material diaphragm has high technical and cost requirements, and can show a very natural and real sound, which is difficult for many composite diaphragms and moving iron units. Friends who prefer the sound of the dynamic will love the sound performance of the EAH-AZ60, which sounds very smooth and comfortable.
The design of the interior of the cavity adopts Technics' own unique Chamber (voice control room) and Harmonizer (harmonic generator) technology, which can achieve high-quality sound playback quality, and it can be clearly felt from the actual audition effect, and the low-frequency performance is particularly eye-catching, which really refreshes my understanding of this volume of true wireless headphones.
The EAH-AZ60 supports IPX4 protection and can be worn in the rain. The official test is to spray the headphones from all directions at a speed of 1.8 liters per minute at a speed of 1.8 liters per minute, and then check that they are still working properly. It should be noted that the IPX4 level protection is only for the left and right headphone parts, and the charging case is not waterproof.
The information on the lid of the battery box indicates that it is produced in Malaysia, and the charging parameter is 5V/2.5W, which is 500mA current, which can be filled casually plugged into the USB interface of the computer.
In order to fully experience the technical strength of Technics and the performance of EAH-AZ60, it is necessary to install the "Technics Audio Connect" APP on the mobile phone or other audio source front-end system, which is currently available in iOS and Android versions.
App's startup interface is Technics consumer high-end true wireless headphones currently on sale in the three models, the first use of the need to first Bluetooth pairing, APP has specific operating instructions, although it is English, but the operation is the same as other similar products, can be easily used.
Just after pairing the APP prompted a new firmware version update, this pair of EAH-AZ60 was shipped more than a month ago, when it must be the latest version, from which it can be inferred that Technics's official firmware update frequency is still very diligent. The operation is very simple, click the yellow Update button and then click Start, the rest is to wait for a while, until the progress bar runs the headset will automatically restart, that is, complete the firmware update of all the work.
The main interface of the APP gives people a fresh and concise feeling, but at the same time without losing professionalism, and the operation logic is very in line with the finger habits. Several major functional blocks are arranged reasonably, although there is no Chinese interface at present, but it does not affect the normal operation and use. The instruction manual in the box is already Chinese Simplified version, so the app's Chinese language interface is not too far away.
First look at the design of the noise reduction function of the EAH-AZ60, which integrates up to 4 microphones on one side, two microphones with different positions are responsible for collecting ambient noise in two opposite directions, the inner microphone is responsible for monitoring the sound after noise reduction, and the other is a beamforming call microphone, which is used during calls. Through the picture can be clearly seen that the cavity of EAH-AZ60 is relatively large, the dynamic unit actually does not use too much space, the reason for the large cavity is that the engineer solved the problem of wind noise when the microphone is received through the physical structure, we all know that if the ambient noise is not accurate, the noise reduction will inevitably be further amplified. Engineers set up a space between the microphone and the filter of the EAH-AZ60 that can be used to reduce turbulence, physically solving the problem of wind cutting, making active noise reduction cleaner and more precise.
Recently, there was no chance to fly, so I only tested the noise reduction performance of EAH-AZ60 in the office, on the side of the road, and on the subway, and I was very emotional in my heart, which really confirmed the sentence: There are talents in the jiangshan generations, and a mountain is higher than a mountain. Turn on the noise reduction function in the office, the noise reduction depth is adjusted to about 80, the noise of the hot air blower behind it is completely inaudible, and there is a feeling of diving, as if you are in the sea, everything around you is only an image, quiet and even a little scary. I instantly remembered the feeling of being in the anechoic room for more than ten minutes, it was almost like that. Fortunately, occasionally the sound of colleagues communicating with each other drifts faintly from a distance, reminding themselves that they are safe.
I wore EAH-AZ60 to open the noise reduction function to correct the two manuscripts, it took about thirty minutes, the ears did not have obvious discomfort, everything was very natural, more rare is that the whole process did not feel the presence of ear pressure, which is undoubtedly a huge progress for noise reduction headphone products, enough for competitors to chase for a few years. Unexpectedly, Technics' team of engineers is not only good at large equipment, but also very thorough in small devices such as real wireless headphones.
On the subway, I pulled the noise reduction depth to 100, the noise emitted by the friction of the rail was very little, the words of careful listening were also very hazy, the fog looked like flowers, I felt that more than 90% of the low-frequency noise had disappeared, and there were only a few words of the voice of the people around me, which sounded very ethereal and looming. At this time, if you play music, you are completely immersed in your own world, and the volume of the music does not need to be too much to hear clearly.
I wore EAH-AZ60 and didn't hear the bell of the bicycle, which is a high-frequency noise, it sounds not only small but also very far away, but when I look back, I found that the distance was only about 1 meter, and I was really startled. To ensure safety, I listened back and forth to the series of noises emitted by the car and the friction with the road surface, which is really comparable to those over-ear professional noise cancelling headphones, and most of the noise, especially the continuous regular noise, is almost completely isolated. The large headphones do this by generating some ear pressure, and the EAH-AZ60 does not produce uncomfortable ear pressure, so the overall performance of the EAH-AZ60 is better. In terms of noise reduction performance, the EAH-AZ60 is worthy of technics, an enthusiast brand.
The full-frequency noise reduction mode is not suitable for some times, such as I only want to block the noise emitted by the hot air blower fan, and I also want to hear the sound of colleagues communicating with me, then I need to use the ambient sound mode, the EAH-AZ60 ambient sound mode is divided into "transparent mode" and "focused vocal" mode. And the depth of the transmission allows manual adjustment, and the range can be set freely from 0 to 100 like noise reduction. I prefer to use the Attention mode, which allows me to communicate normally with people around me without taking off my headphones, while blocking out noise other than the vocals. There are many application scenarios where only the human voice is allowed to enter the ear, such as we do not want to miss the broadcast content in the terminal hall and do not want to hear other noises, so we can use the focus on vocal mode.
Transparent mode is basically equivalent to taking off the headphones, depending on the transparency depth you set, 100 hours is even a little louder than the sound heard when you take off the headphones, and I think of the scene that can be used when crossing the street.
In addition, Technics Audio Connect also supports the function of finding headphones, there are two ways, the first is to let the headphones play sound, suitable for finding when the indoor range does not know where to fall; the second is to find the location information when the mobile phone is finally connected, there will be a general loss range on the map.
The panel of the left and right headphones is a touch key, there are many functions that can be achieved, there are clear operating instructions in the APP, these operations can all be customized, if you feel that the default does not meet your own habits. For example, double-click the left ear to reduce the volume by default, you can also set it to switch to the previous song or pause playback, etc., the flexibility is very large. After all, it is a product for global users, which can be customized to take care of the operation and usage habits of users in all different regions, which has to be praised by engineers.
EAH-AZ60 Bluetooth works in the 2402MHz-2480MHz band, the effective transmission distance is 10 meters, in fact, in the case of no occlusion, the longest I have tried 13 meters distance, the transmission is still stable. The highlight part of the picture is the beamforming call microphone of EAH-AZ60, under the blessing of JustMyVoice technology, the system can sample and analyze the voice at an ultra-high frequency in real time, so as to block out the ambient noise, and all the noise around the call, including the voice of others, will also be blocked together, so that the other party can only hear your voice alone, which is extremely useful when talking in a complex environment.
The system settings are slightly more complicated, if the English is not good, you can ignore it first, and then slowly ponder after the Chinese language version is updated. What can be used is idle time shutdown timing, LED light switch, Bluetooth connection mode, default voice assistant, maximum noise reduction depth, and custom button function. Default settings under the long press L can call up the phone's voice assistant, LED lights are turned on by default, these are actually not to worry, just need to change the Bluetooth connection mode, because the default does not open the LDAC connection option.
According to the middle of this picture settings to open the EAH-AZ60 LDAC connection mode, here is not popular LDAC content, play wireless headphones friends know. In the case of front-end device support, the amount of information transmitted by LDAC is comparable to that of a part of wired headphones, so it is also known as high-resolution wireless audio.
After pairing with an Apple phone, audio data is transmitted in AAC mode by default. Apple does not support LDAC, and in terms of sound information, the AAC protocol performs well. The quality of sound is not a certain link can be determined, to look at the entire system as a whole, such as the headphone receiving chip, decoding chip, amplification chip, as well as anti-interference ability, acoustic structure and so on.
"Something Just Like This" only listened to the first 10 seconds I knew that the sound quality of this headphone was stable, the low frequency was like coming out of the speaker of the box, thick and not fat, heavy and not bombing, strong and tough at the same time, even if I have heard some wired HiFi headphones, low frequencies can do such a quality is not much. The EAH-AZ60's vocals are sweet and fluffy, with a hint of Japanese freshness in it, but it doesn't sound cold. The voice quality cultivation of professional audiophile brands has been almost perfectly demonstrated in this song, and it still belongs to the kind that can hear the high and low in one ear, which is particularly obvious. This is the most missing thing for those so-called HiFi factories that sell their reputation.
I tried to use the FYO M15 player in my hand to feel the sound quality performance in LDAC connection mode, but unfortunately the two are not compatible and can only work in SBC mode. Try to match the vivo NEX 3 mobile phone again, this time it is finally OK. Both the NEX 3 and EAH-AZ60 operate in LDAC mode. The feeling of the first listening is not as amazing as imagined, may be too full of me before, the same library listened to it again, after careful comparison to feel the LDAC mode relative to the AAC to improve the part, mainly in the details of the sound, it sounds richer, the density is slightly larger, the overall listening to the music is slightly improved, not the kind that can be distinguished by one ear, but if you compare carefully, it is true that the sound information of LDAC is slightly more. My evaluation is that the sound quality of the AAC connection mode is already very good for the EAH-AZ60, and LDAC is just a small red flower. So don't worry about whether you're using Apple or An Android phone, at least on the EAH-AZ60.
The EAH-AZ60's three-band distribution is very well-balanced, and the sound sounds very smooth, especially natural and real. Whether it is high frequency mid frequency or low frequency, the reduction is very accurate, and I found that it is still very omnivorous, using it to listen to classical listening to popular jazz listening to light music or even listening to a piece of opera, almost did not pick anything wrong, with two words to describe it to give me the feeling of "comfortable".
For the burners of the listening bias door, Technics has designed a sound enhancement option in the APP, which allows users to adjust the gain of sound in the frequency range of 100Hz to 10KHz, and its gain amplitude is as high as plus or minus 10dB. Moreover, there are several officially tuned enhancement modes preset, such as BASS+ is used to further enhance the sense of low frequency volume; VOCAL will make the mid-frequency more full and rounded; TREBLE+ makes the high-frequency part of the music more transparent and extended for a longer time; DYNAMIC is very interesting, for those music files that compress too much detail, there will be some dynamic compensation, which sounds very obvious.
Turn on the noise reduction function to listen to the music EAH-AZ60's sound will have some changes, the low frequency part is about 1 to 2 dbs higher, the vocals are slightly more flexible, and the high frequencies are not too obvious changes. Listening to music in a relatively quiet environment is still recommended to turn off the noise reduction function, but if you listen to music on the subway, it is strongly recommended to turn on the noise reduction function, and the sound quality will be much better. There is also less interference, the volume does not need to be turned on too much, but also to protect the hearing.
Successively listened to a small week of time, every day added up to almost two or three hours, the more I listen to the more like, the more listening to the head, sighing that wireless can have such a good sound quality performance, the progress of technology is really a great thing, so that the past a lot of the impossible now has become possible, I think you can lose the attachment to wired headphones, but also hope that the same is still persistent burners can personally experience the deep technical skills of Technics.