I was invited to the Panasonic Shiodome Showroom in Tokyo to check out their latest flagship headphones, the Technics A1000, which actually has the same Magnetic Fluid driver technology as the AZ100 earbuds which helps control unwanted vibration, resulting in cleaner sound and lower distortion.
I also got to use the A1000 in different situations like a Silent Block Party in Shibuya where there’s no music playing in the background, only through headphones. And in this case, everyone had their own A1000 connected to the DJ setup via Auracast. Connection was super reliable, and all I had to do was simply put the A1000 in transparency mode and set the music volume to 25% so that I could listen to the music while speaking to the other guys.
Microphone Test
I then went on a cruise off the bay of Tokyo, and we got close enough to Haneda airport to have planes flying over. And you know me! I could not pass up on this chance to test the mic pickup of the Technics A1000. So I took two samples. The first one was while the boat was speeding across the water, with the wind blowing in my face, and the second one was even crazier, a plane flying overhead. If it can handle this, it can handle anything!
✅ Microphone Test under wind at sea
✅ Microphone Test with plane flying overhead
Active Noise Canceling
As for its active noise canceling, it’s been pretty impressive because I am getting that deep sense of silence in these different situations, and frequency sweeps do show that it cuts deeply into noise across the frequency spectrum. I even used it on a plane on the way back and it’s just so quiet. In fact it might actually be one of the best noise cancelers at this moment. Can’t wait to do a side by side comparison with other headphones but for now, listen to how much noise it cuts. 👉 (ANC Sample)
Transparency Mode
Transparency mode is also great in the sense that a lot of the focus is on the midrange, so it’s great for quick awareness, and voice passthrough sounds very natural so you can even have face to face conversations with it. No problem!
Sound Quality Analysis
As for its sound quality, as I said, its 40mm drivers incorporates Magnetic Fluid tech for better precision and accuracy, and when I was listening to them for the first time connected to the DAPs there, just going through songs like Uptown Funk, Moon River, Hotel California, I’m like, is this actually on default settings? Because the A1000 sounded crisp, vibrant, detail retrieval was great, bass had texture and depth, soundstaging was also deep and slightly layered. It’s basically the kind of sound that I have in mind when I EQ headphones, and it was on its default ‘Direct’ setting. So in my opinion, the A1000 might actually be one of the best sounding wireless headphones even without touching its EQ. I’ve recorded some sound samples, have a listen.
👉 (Sound Quality Samples)
What else is special about Technics A1000
What’s also interesting is, whichever the ambient mode it’s in, sound quality is almost the same whereas other headphones usually sound different if ANC is off.
Apart from that, the A1000’s one of the only headphones now that supports 3-way multipoint pairing so you can stay connected to 3 different devices at the same time, even if they aren’t on the same ecosystem.
Battery life is rated at 45 hours with noise canceling which is quite above average, and it supports USB-C audio. For people who prefer 3.5mm, a USB-C to 3.5mm cable is also included. As for comfort, these are very comfortable. The headband extends very far so it fits larger head sizes, and the cushions are very plush.
So that’s my very quick take on the Technics A1000, which in my opinion, raises the bar in terms of performance and features. I’ve got links to their latest pricing and full details below. Keep a lookout on this page because I will also be comparing them to other headphones!
✅ Pricing and product details here https://www.technics.com/sg/products/headphones/eah-a1000.html
