It’s really easy to forget about things that are older in favor of the latest and greatest. Such is the case with the Az80’s, in my opinion. They were one level above most all other earphones at the time of their arrival in 2023. Technology has since caught up since 2023. But I will say that even with 2025, which is vastly approaching us, the quality of the timbre, vocals, and reliability of the Az80’s are still something that doesn’t go out of style.
Sure, you can find better ANC or better battery life or something like that. But the realism of sound and reliability isn’t something that goes out of style. It’s either present or it’s not, and once done right ..it never fails. You are either accurate in the tones, or you’re not. You are either reliable or you aren’t. It is here that I feel that the Az80 remains relevant after more than a year on the market.
You see, even when these first came out, and I reviewed them, nicknaming them “Saturo”( one of my favorite anime characters), I knew then that they were special and different from the rest of the earphones out there because they were the first to be flawless. All bluetooth earphones have something wrong them that they either need firmware to correct or add things they promised prior but are just now getting to or are just inherently flawed by design and don’t do something they claim they do. Some are major things, and some are minor, I get it. But these did exactly what they promised and didn’t have a single problem with their execution of their actions and were reliable without an issue with signal drops,skips, or crashes. Every single thing they promised they did, they did without flaw.
Could they be better at blocking out background noise on phone calls? Yes. Could they be better at dynamics or a little smaller? Yes. But these aren’t flaws to their original promises or failures to initiate what was said by them about the product. And this makes them a perfect earphone. It’s not perfect as though nothing couldn’t be better but perfect in the sense they delivered on what they promised and doesn’t have glitches while doing those things. And that’s so rare in bluetooth earphones.
Finally, the direction to seek accurate realistic timbre,tonality, and vocals is something most bluetooth earphones miss in their pursuit of Bass,ANC, and useless gimmicks. This company made it their foundation, and because of this, they have so many that still hold true that this is the King of bluetooths for them.
For me, the pi8 still beat them in these areas, of course… but at $400, they should. Although, I will be the first to admit you don’t get the performance vs. price ratio out of these when compared to the Technics Az80’s. On top of that, the Az80s are better at ANC and hear -thru abilities, touch controls, app, and have longer battery life while costing less. I’m not going to lie and claim otherwise. I already understand that I’m an audiophile, and others most likely aren’t.
Tech-N-Things 