Ever since the first true wireless hit the market, Sony has been one of the top brands pushing true wireless excellence further with each effort. The WF-1000XM5 have been one of our favourite true wireless earbuds since they launched back in 2023.
But in the years since, they’ve been up against increasingly tough competition. The Technics EAH-AZ100 are one of the best true wireless we’ve tested recently, scoring five stars with an excellent all-round performance.
Is it enough to unseat the WF-1000XM5 as one of the best wireless earbuds you can buy? Let’s find out.
Price
The Technics EAH-AZ100 is the newer model of the two, launching in 2025 compared to the Sony WF-1000XM5 which launched in 2023.
So while the Sony was available at £259 / $299 / €320, you can find them for around £199 to £219.
The Technis AZ100 went on sale for £259 / $299, matching the Sony’s original RRP. That does mean that currently, they’re the more expensive pair in 2025.
Design
The WF-1000XM5 are compact in size and light in terms of weight (5.9g), and nestle securely into the ear. The range of ear-tips packaged covers extra small to large, so there should be a size that fits everyone’s ears. We’ve found them to be the most comfortable iteration of Sony’s true wireless so far.
The WF-1000XM5 include onboard volume control along with play/pause, track skipping and switching through noise-cancellation modes. Rated at IPX4, they’re good enough to resist splashes of water and sweat. The charging case is another compact effort, saving on space, while colours come in black, platinum silver and a new smoky pink variant.
The Technics AZ100 are almost exactly the same. They’re compact in size, weigh the same (5.9g) and fit into the ear without causing oru ears any discomfort. Five ear-tips are provided, from extra small to large which more or less covers the same bases as Sony.
They’re also rated to IPX4 water resistance, and the charging case is around the same size as the Sony. Controls cover the same aspects as the Sony in playback, track skipping, volume and noise-cancellation modes. The only real point of difference are the colour options. The Technics comes in black and silver variants.
There’s not much to choose between either. We find both comfortable to wear which is the most important aspect about the design. We’d call this match-up a draw.
Draw
App support
Both the Technics and Sony offer a raft of customisation options in their apps, so much that it’d take too long to go through each one on its own.
In both apps you customise the sound equaliser to adapt the audio performance, monitor battery life, customise the Bluetooth connection, noise-cancellation, and controls. The Sony Sound Connect supports services such as Spotify Tap and Endel Quick Access, which allows you to jump in relaxing soundscape. The Technics Audio Connect app lacks the same level of service support.
For us though, the Technics Audio Connect offers greater control over more aspects of the AZ100’s performance, whether it’s what the earbuds do when connected to multiple devices at the same time, changing the call quality performance, or reducing lag with videos.
Both earbuds offer a wealth of customisation options, but we find the Technics slightly more useful.
That said, we haven’t used the Sony WF-1000XM5 with the newer Sound Connect app as our original review was when the app was in its Headphones Connect iteration so changes could have been made. Despite that, we’re going to give the win to the Technics. Just.
Technics AZ100 wins
Features
We’re not going to through every feature individually as that would take forever with these earphones, so we’ll just narrow down on the most important areas.
The main one is that the WF-1000XM5 natively supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant whereas the Technics does not have any built-in support for voice assistants. If your mobile device supports it, it can happily connect to it, but only through your device.
Battery life on the Sony is up to 8 hours with noise-cancellation on while the Technics boasts up to 10 hours per charge. These figures can change when LDAC is enabled. Our tests would put them around the same figure (10 hours), but we’d need to do more battery testing with the WF-1000XM5 to be sure.
In terms of Bluetooth support, both cover SBC, AAC, and LDAC, though the Technics also covers LE Audio, which is a more power efficient method of transmitting audio that maintains higher quality audio while using less battery. In terms of the Bluetooth performance, the earbuds are around the same in terms of signal stability but when both are in their LDAC mode the connection can drop.
Call quality is an area where the Technics is better than the Sony. We found that the Sony always let in external noises whenever we talked, making it harder for the person on the other end to hear us; but the Technics’ Voice Focus AI is much better at honing on your voice without letting external sounds interrupt what you’re saying.
Again, the feature set is an area where the Sony and Technics are pretty close, but the boost in call quality with the Technics is enough for us to give it the win in this category.
Technics AZ100 wins
Noise Cancellation
Both earbuds boast impressive noise-cancellation, reducing the impact of external sounds for a nearly silent performance whether you’re on public transport, in open spaces or with people nearby speaking. Neither one is affected by wind noise and both feature transparency modes that are clear, detailed, and natural-sounding enough that you could pick up sounds from across a room.
But we’d rate the Technics AZ100 as the slightly better option. Their noise-cancellation is very impressive, batting away most noises that come its way. The Sony is similar, and we’d say it’s slightly more consistent in how it applies its Adaptive ANC performance, but to our ears the AZ100 come across as more precise and just a little bit stronger in removing sounds.
Technics AZ100 wins
Sound Quality
Sound quality is dependent on your preference. If you like a balanced, detailed and fairly neutral sound; you may prefer the Sony. The Technics has a stronger, richer bass performance and sounds slightly better with treble in terms of brightness and clarity.
The midrange is fairly even as both offer a smooth quality with vocals and high levels of detail and clarity, though we’d argue that the Sony offers a little more insight. Rhythmically we’d say the Technics is more than a match for the Sony, and dynamically we’d say they offer a little more impact too.
The soundstage is wide on both, and both earbuds carry more energy and rhythmic impetus once the volume has been raised. The warmth of the Technics contrasts with the balance of the Sony, but both the WF-1000XM5 and EAH-AZ100 offer a fine listen.
For us, it comes down to which headphone we find more entertaining to listen to, and we’d give that to the Technics. Its sound just grabs out attention a little bit more.
Technics AZ100 wins
Verdict
This has been a very tight contest between two high quality true wireless earbuds. Either one would be an excellent option, but we’d give it to the Technics based on slim margins.
It sounds excellent, cancels noises better than the Sony, offers good levels of comfort, better call quality and a vast range of features and customisation. It fully deserved its five star recommendation.
But so does the Sony WF-1000XM5. Even in 2023 it still offers stiff competition to newer earbuds. It’s slightly beaten for noise-cancellation and call quality, but in all other areas they remain an excellent pair of headphones.
You can be satisified with either, but overall, the Technics nicks it from the Sony.
