TechnicsPremium Hi-Fi True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds with Advanced Noise Cancelling, 3 Device Multipoint Connectivity, Wireless Charging, Hi-Res Audio + Enhanced Calling - EAH-AZ80-S (Silver)

Amazing ear buds. Upgraded from the az-60’s to the 80’s. Big difference. Case feels better, the earbuds snap right into place and almost feel like they are spring loaded. The sound quality is great. The transparency mode is literally the best I’ve ever had. I’m a nurse and wear one all the time at work, transparency mode is a game changer, it’s literally like you aren’t even wearing one at all. Just adjust your settings properly in the app. Also the app is great and has tons of settings. The mics also work 10x better than the az60’s. Talking on the phone with them my wife says they are almost indistinguishable from just talking on the regular phone. You can also connect multiple devices at the same time. I think up to three devices.

I have tried many other higher end earbuds from Sony, Bose, Senheiser, Jabra, etc. and I think I finally have a feel now for what makes a great set of earbuds. They must have all of these following 4 key attributes:First of all: they must sound great. I mean for music, movies, ambient sound mode, and phone calls. So many buds just don't sound great, even with an adjusted equalizer. (Its personal, I know). Others do sound great, but then fall short on the other very necessary attributes (that's you Bose).Next: they must have great active noise cancelling (ANC). So many actually do these days.The best being in the $300'ish price range. Its a shame that Bose, for example, does this really great, but then falls short with connectivity and charging. Even their latest flagship, QuietComfort Ultra, is far from ultra. Still no multipoint pairing. Still! They have to be manually reconnected each time, even to just one source. And it struggles even at that! I think you can buy $25 earbuds with multipoint pairing! But Bose can't, or doesn't want to, figure it out. Plus no wireless qi charging for those chunky Bose cases. The latest Sony flagship, on the other hand, maybe has great ANC too (?), but their difficult and uncomfortable foam eartips didn't allow me to find out. And a good seal in your ears is critical. That's true for good sound too. Why didn't Sony include some soft & comfortable silicone tips like most everyone else? I can only think of one reason. Same reason I don't want to find and buy some of my own, after spending plenty on their earbuds. Quickly returned those.Third: they have to be comfortable. Not too big and easy to get a good seal. You shouldn't have to shove them deep into your grey brain matter to get a decent seal. They shouldn't be painful. Ever.Finally: they must have solid connectivity. My Technics AZ80 earbuds know exactly when I turn on the tv, late at night, to watch a movie or something. I hear their voice, telling me they're connected, without me having to do a thing. Then, I'm not disturbing the rest of my family when I crank up the sound. Same connectivity with my cellphone and pc. The AZ 80 can connect with up to 3 things at the same time! Thats solid multipoint pairing (shame on you Bose)! Plus, I haven't heard any bizarre noises from electronic interference either (Sony).The Technics AZ80 earbuds do everything very, very well. The earbud's touch control functions are plentiful; the phone app is awesome; there are AAC, SBC, and LDAC codecs; the ANC is great; the Ambient Sound mode is great; and their sound is fantastic. Not their default sound mode, but the one I made and saved using the app's equalizer. A few of the app sound presets are pretty good too. The qi wireless charging case is very nice. These are not the tiniest earbuds, but are stylish and comfortable. I got the silver, for a change from black. I honestly didn't think I would ever find earbuds I love, but Technics/Panasonic made that happen. Iguess it kinda pays to look outside of the bigger earbud brands.

I've now been through two sets of these earbuds, and am likely about to get a third—but not by choice.Pros (when they're working):• They sound awesome. Very dynamic. The eq is effective at punching up the sound if you desire. Really enjoyed the sound upgrade from my old buds, the Jabra Elite 7 Pros, especially with bigger, bassier EDM.• They're definitely on the larger side, but the fit was great and the variety of different silicone tips (7 in total) should accommodate most people.• The microphone voice quality is good to great, and the multipoint Bluetooth works reliably.• The noise cancellation is just fine. I don't expect anything in this category to be amazing, and it's not the highest priority for me.Cons (a story about them not working):They've completely broken on me twice now.I had my original pair for about a month, after which the left earbud suddenly became extremely muffled and low volume. Almost as if the speaker driver completely failed. I opened a warranty claim with Panasonic—which is a process that's a bit of a pain itself. Once you finally receive an email response to the online service ticket, you are personally responsible for covering shipping to Panasonic's service center. After about a week, they shipped me a brand new pair.At this point I was just kind of annoyed to have had to pay shipping costs to fix these [high-end, expensive] earbuds after just over a month of ownership, and to have been without them for the few weeks that this whole warranty process took, but I was relieved to have a new replacement pair and figured it would be a one-off experience.After about two months with the new replacement pair, the seemingly EXACT same issue happened, this time with the right earbud instead of the left. Muffled. Quiet. Unlistenable.I chatted with customer service, explained the entire situation, asked if this is a known issue with the product, and asked what could be done about it this time. Panasonic's solution (summarized): pay to ship the unit back to their service center, again, and wait for their response, again, all while I'm without my [high-end, expensive] earbuds in the meantime...again. I asked if, given the full situation, there was a more customer-accomodating solution. They said there was not.So, I can't speak to how prevalent this issue that I've now experienced twice is (because Panasonic wouldn't tell me), but if you're willing to take the chance, and they DON'T break in you: congrats, you've got yourself a great, functional, luxury set of earbuds.Otherwise, I'm left unimpressed at Panasonic customer service and disappointed to have had this experience with earbuds in this price range. The few service experiences I've had with other brands in this space (mainly Sony and Jabra) have been much more customer-friendly.