Music lovers with Apple kit have long been forced to choose between the sound quality available from the established audio players and the slickness of the AirPods approach to connectivity – but the Technics EAH-AZ100 in-ear headphones have mostly resolved this dilemma.
They not only deliver the best sound quality I’ve ever experienced with in-ear headphones, but also an Apple-like Just Works experience when switching between devices …
The problem with Bluetooth
Pairing headphones with our devices has always been a somewhat clunky endeavor. Just putting them into pairing mode seems to involve a different process with every single manufacturer, and even if they automatically go into pairing mode when you first remove them from their case, pairing them to additional devices almost always requires you to consult the instructions or do some googling.
At the device end, too, it’s amazing how often we seem to need to switch Bluetooth off and then on again before new headphones appear in the pairing options.
Even when we’ve finally done the initial setup, switching our headphone use from a Mac to an iPad to an iPhone is far from automatic.
All these issues are why Apple decided to create a proprietary connection approach for AirPods. The problem with this is that while AirPods sound quality has improved dramatically over the years, it still doesn’t compete with the best of what you can get from the established audio companies, even at similar prices. That’s left us forced to choose between the slickest connection experience and the best audio.
Technics’ automated 3-point connectivity
The original Bluetooth standard could only connect to one device at a time. Two-point connectivity followed, so that you can easily switch between, say, an iPhone and a Mac. The three-point connectivity offered by the Technics EAH-AZ100 (just AZ100 from now on) is still a rarity.
Other companies can’t buy Apple’s H-series chip to get the same slick setup, so the initial pairing process remains a bit of a nuisance (hold the touchpads on both left and right earphones for around five seconds to place them into pairing mode for a second or third device).
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