Technics - Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones with 2 Device Multipoint Connectivity - Silver

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Well done, Technics

  • Incentivized
  • Verified Purchaser
  • My Best Buy® Member
  • Owned for less than 1 week

  I'm quite pleased with the sound quality and the build quality. With my normal head shape and size, they were quite comfortable. I've only had it for a day, so hopefully the battery capacity is as good as given in the specifications. The app is intuitive and easy to use. The specs (here on Best Buy as well as Technics' own site -- you always have to double check Best Buy for errors) say Maximum Wireless Range is 33 feet, but using this with my Galaxy S23+ phone in a room at the rear of my house, I had no issues when I roamed to a room at the front of my house (distance was approximately 46 feet with several walls in between).

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  Posted 1 year ago by JimmyCrackcorn

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Great Sound, Comfortable, Good Features

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  Technics makes top tier audio hardware, but I can’t remember it ever being acclaimed for its headphones. The A800 changes that, at least it should. For the features that matter most in wireless headphones at this price they do almost everything either great or well: long wear comfort, acceptable active noise cancellation, and stunning battery life. My only disappointment is its wobbly, poorly designed and located buttons. Equipped with the recent-enough Bluetooth version (5.2), It’s LDAC compatible. Audio quality is on point with a filling, yet low processed, presentation. For me the sound is “Goldilocks.” I’ve yet to be disappointed regardless of what genre I’m listening to, provided the recording is a decent quality. Here are some more in-depth impressions after “testing” them for a couple days following a day of break-in to loosen them up. AUDIO QUALITY I’ll start with sound quality since that’s the prime reason to buy one pair of headphones over another. I get the concept of sound quality in this context is more personal than universal. For me, my library is 60s- early 80s rock, mid 80’s and forward “alt rock,” plus big band jazz and classical. I have no hip-hop genres, so definitely, I don’t have an ear for what “good” extra-heightened bass tuning should sound like. What I want out of headphones is a faithful, minimally processed, rendition of whatever song I’m playing. In my experience so far, the A800 delivers this -- provided the source audio is quality. To test the A800’s capabilities and limitations, I sampled a variety of different genres with the app’s sound profiles off, noise cancelling at 50%. All but “HIP HOP” were with 320kbps AAC on an iPhone Pro Max 14 at 60-70% volume in a quiet room. I’ll explain my hip hop experience in that section. ROCK: Rush, “YYZ.” This is a challenging bass-centric instrumental and one of rock’s all-time best. The A800 passed with ease. The bass was crisp with no distortion except for what Rush intended. The drums were tight and the windchimes distinct. It made me want to grab my air guitar out of my front pocket and strum along. Admittedly, when I turned down the volume to 50% it lost some tonal excitement, but neither YYZ nor anything Rush is intended to be background music. This is arena rock meant to be played loud. VOCALS: Brandi Carlile, “The Stranger At My Door.” Her vocal range and storytelling mixed with an emotional guitar thumping are a perfect match for the A800s neutral stance. There was a presence and clarity like I was on Row 1 at an unplugged concert. Ironically, the distortion-for-effect at the end of the song sounded too clear. HIP HOP: Here I had to resort to Spotify Free for some samples. My mistake. A 128kpbs stream can’t provide big bass hip hop justice. It needs more bandwidth. At this bit rate these songs sounded lifeless. With nothing to lose I went to YouTube and found a collection called “Gangster Trap Mix 2023.” I don’t know what the bit rate was but as soon as “Candy Shop,” started I knew I was on the right track. Literally. I felt musical excitement. The tight boomy bass and quick, but clear, lyrics made me want to go clubbing… at 4pm, and I’m well past my clubbing days. The next song, “Drift,” had the same emotional effect. Again, hip hop isn’t my genre, but the A800s offered plenty bass to get me going. It may be the A800s are not super-bassy, but I don’t find them lacking at all. If you find them flat check the quality of your recording. DESIGN & FIT The A800 ships inside a zippered semi-rigid synthetic leather case worth keeping. It appears to be durable and protective unlike many of the “throwaways” some companies utilize. Inside, the A800 is neatly folded into the headband to save space. This is an unsung feature that minimizes its storage footprint. When I travel I’m grateful for every inch I can save. Additionally, the earpads extra agility allows it to fit closer to the ear than ones that only fold flat. Technics also includes a USB-A to USB-C charge cable, an old-school airplane adapter, a 3.3’ 3.5mm headphone cable for wired listening, and a card explaining the various buttons “IKEA pictogram style”. The A800 is handsome with a mix of matte and semi-metallic looking plastic. The headband and earpads are covered with a buttery-soft leatherette. While the plastic bits feel average, the leatherette areas that actually touch your ears and head feel luxurious. The memory foam padding is thick, but not firm, and responsive enough to give hours-long comfort. The earpad hole is approximately 2.5” by 4.5” so it should accommodate even the largest of ears. I have small ears and did not find them too big either. The headband can vertically extend an additional 1.5”. The headband’s flex is good. I stretched it about 7.5” wide before fearing I might damage them. The A800 weighs nearly 11 oz but doesn’t feel heavy when worn (I’m not a big person). They are neither “light and airy,” nor “boat anchors” pulling your head down. The earpads are comfortable over hours of continuous wear. I didn’t feel them ever slipping when moving around or feeling too tight. The do get a bit hot after a while. SETUP & USAGE Setup is semi-automatic and does not require registration or use of Technics Audio Center app. Simply go to the Bluetooth control on your device and select the A800. To pair an additional device, press the power button for 7 seconds to enter pairing mode. The app’s main use is to adjust the amount of noise cancelling (didn’t do much for me), to customize sound frequencies, turn LDAP on, and, most importantly, to turn off the annoying blinking “on” LED indicator on the right earpad. BTW, unlike similar apps from other manufacturers the app still works if you don’t agree to the privacy policy. Thumbs up for that. Controlling the A800’s varies from frustrating to tolerable depending on how you are doing it. I have mine paired to my iPhone and Mac, so fortunately my devices volume buttons work here. The A800’s volume and transport/mic controls and their placement are terrible and seriously deduct from the user experience in my opinion. These three buttons are butted up next to each other with only a tiny nub separating them. For added awkwardness they are on the far back of the right pad. Not only is this an uncomfortable reach, but invariably when go to these buttons it erroneously activates the touch sensitive “noise cancellation/ambient noise” switch on the side. Touch sensitivity can be turned off but then you lose the ability to toggle noise cancelation on the A800s and have to do this in the app. So, here’s an example of this nonsense. I’m walking down the street and a loud song comes on. I reach to the back of my ears to lower the volume. Because the buttons have no separation between them I have to feel around so I don’t hit a button by mistake. Oops, too late. My palm just flipped the earphones from ambient mode to noise canceling. I could go on but, hopefully it’s a good enough illustration. As a side note, the buttons themselves are thin and flimsy and feel more appropriate for a $39 pair of headphones. ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION A headphone’s ability to block out airplane cabin noise is, I feel, the best way to judge the effectiveness of noise cancelation. Unfortunately, I had no flight plans this week, so I did a noise simulation using my TV’s volume. The average cabin noise at cruising altitude in a commercial jet is 70 dB. So, using my Apple Watch to measure, I raised my TV’s volume to an ear damaging 88 dB. This to replicate takeoff and landing noise. I had to walk 30 feet away before I could no longer hear the TV. Next I decreased the volume to 66 dB for cruising altitude levels. Here all outside noise was immediate blocked out once with the A800s at 50% volume. So my guess is, and it’s only that, the A800 noise cancellation is perfectly fine for the majority of a flight but expect some leakage at takeoff and landing. I also did a “real world” test wearing them for a walk down my noisy street – lots of cars, buses, etc. In this instance all outside noise was 100% blocked out at 50% volume. Of note: the noise cancellation % wheel inside the app didn’t seem to have any effect ever though I did hear more “white noise” at 100% than 0 or 50%. BATTERY LIFE Battery life (noise cancelling on, LDAC off) is rated at an impressive 50 hours. That crushes its competitors by a lot. In my use I’ve found this to be right on target. Incredible one could fly to Australia and back on a single charge. Wow. But if the battery dies at the wrong time a 15 quick charge supplies 10 hours of listening. A full charge takes about 4 hours. BLUETOOTH Almost as important as battery life is Bluetooth range. I tested range vertically and horizontally. First I left my phone in the lower level of my 4-level open floorplan townhouse and went to the top floor 30 feet up. The signal remained solid the entire trip up. Next, I left my phone in the lower level and walked away from my house until I started to get dropouts. This happened at about 30 feet as well. This is in-line with BT’s range so I’m happy with this performance. The A800 can connect to two devices simultaneously for multitasking. So, for example, you can wear them for TV audio and instantly switch to your phone if a call came in. Oh, and the A800 has 4 beamforming microphones that yield good voice quality and background noise removal for phone calls – based on comments I received by people I talked to with the A800s. From my end, the voice quality was OK, though a bit thin and hollow.

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  This review is from Technics - Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones with 2 Device Multipoint Connectivity - Black

  Posted 1 year ago by TechO

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Great sounding and an excellent mic

  • Top 500 Contributor
  • Tech Insider Network Member

  Technics has released some impressive hardware as of late, and these A800 headphones continue that streak of impressive products. The A800 ships with a teardrop shaped rigid carrying case, 3.5mm aux cable, airplane cable adapter, and a USB-C to USB-A charging cable. The body is constructed of metal and plastic, with brushed aluminum end caps on the cups. Build quality feels sturdy with solid construction and a premium feel. I have not observed any cracks, creaking, nor excessive flex along stress points while folding, putting on, or taking off the headphones. They fold easily for storage, and the interior case bottom has a printed diagram illustrating the proper folding position of the headphones. The ear cups have comfortable foam padding covered by faux leather, and the length adjusts with a ratchet style movement. The pads are soft and remain comfortable even during long wearing sessions. The headband is similarly constructed with soft foam and faux leather, and remains mostly inconspicuous during use. There is no pressure on my head from the band and the lightweight headphones remain comfortable even after hours of continuous wear. I also never feel any excessive heat, weight or pressure during wear. The A800 has a snug fit that feels secure, but not constricting. I have a large head, so these are suitable and comfortable for larger heads. Controls are housed on the right ear cup. There are four physical buttons along the rear that control power, volume, track selection, and call functions. Commands are confirmed by voice prompts through the headphones. The side of the right cup can be tapped twice to enable or disable ANC. The noise cancelling works extremely well most times but occasionally misses the mark. When I first placed these headphones on with ANC enabled, I had a nearby washing machine making noise and pipe noise from running water. Immediately all the sounds went silent and I was blown away impressed. I was ready to crown these the ANC king right then and there. However, on another occasion I was surprised to realize I could hear voices speaking nearby and television sound effects when I paused my music. I was perplexed to say the least, but it seems like the ANC is better at handling less dominant background noises than sharper, more pronounced noises. Music sounds terrific through the 40mm drivers. I’ve listened nonstop to several hours of music spanning across multiple genres through these headphones. The sound profile is warm, with clean impactful bass with no muddiness. Highs and mids are clear and pronounced without sounding shrill or flat. Voices project nicely among instruments and all tones balance nicely with no overpowering notes. I can hear every instrument clearly, even in complex arrangements with heavy bass. Every song I listen to has good balance and even sound. Whether it’s hip hop with deep sub-bass, classical with a powerful crescendo, or jazz with numerous wind, string, and percussive instruments delicately balancing among each other, everything sounds excellent, especially in Hi-Res. The headphones also have good loudness. The four-mic array has beamforming and noise suppression for clear conversations. I’ve verified through several calls that I sound clear with minimal background noise while speaking through the headset. During one call, there was a nearby television playing an action movie at moderate volume. The remote party advised they only heard my voice until I increased the television volume to loud to test the limits of the mic noise suppression. The Technics Audio Connect companion app allows additional fine tuning of sound through a choice of either manually tuning using a five-band equalizer, or using one of four presets emphasizing bass, vocals, treble, or dynamic. The app also allows firmware updates, switching the Bluetooth LED indicator on/off, toggling the auto-pause feature on/off, and displays battery status. I can also adjust noise cancelling sensitivity and test microphone quality through the app. Overall, this is a nicely crafted set of headphones with very good sound quality, an excellent quality mic array, and enough extras to provide an enjoyable listening experience. It has outstanding battery life and even announces battery status when I power it off. It’s also lightweight and comfortable, even on large heads like mine. ANC can occasionally allow more sound in than desired, but most of the time it is excellent, especially while music is playing.

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  This review is from Technics - Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-Ear Headphones with 2 Device Multipoint Connectivity - Black

  Posted 1 year ago by JMan