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AirPods Pro 3 vs Technics EAH-AZ100: Apple's Swiss Army knife meets a hi-fi purist
Most people shopping for earbuds often just get AirPods, and it’s hard to blame them. Not only do they offer great sound quality and excellent ANC, but the AirPods Pro 3 have evolved into something far beyond earbuds: a fitness tracker, hearing aid, and real-time translator. Still, for audiophiles, the Technics EAH-AZ100 makes a strong case that there’s a better option if you’re willing to look past the white plastic. At $299.99, they focus on nailing fundamentals without all the added bells and whistles. So which approach actually wins your money? I’ve spent time with both to find out.
This article was originally published on March 11, 2026, and this is the first version.
What’s it like to use the AirPods Pro 3 compared to the Technics EAH-AZ100?
The AirPods Pro 3 look almost identical to the AirPods Pro 2 before them, but Apple made some tweaks: a smaller bulb that sits deeper in the ear canal, and new foam-infused silicone ear tips designed to conform to your ear while resisting oil and sweat. I normally can’t get AirPods Pro to stay in my ears without third-party foam tips, and while the new design is an improvement, it didn’t fully solve the problem for me — the smooth silicone exterior tends to work against you as sweat builds up.
The EAH-AZ100 is a chunkier non-stem earbud with a rectangular nozzle and a circular rear housing that rests against your concha. The non-cylindrical nozzle shape is something I’ve come to appreciate. It nestles into the ear canal more naturally than a traditional cylinder, and once I dialed in the right tip size from the four included options, it stays comfortably in place for a couple of hours.
Controls are handled by stem squeeze gestures on the AirPods Pro 3 and capacitive touch taps on the back of the AZ100. Both are customizable, though the Technics app gives you considerably more flexibility. The cases are a wash on the basics — both charge via USB-C and support wireless charging — though the AirPods case is more pocketable, while the AZ100’s is larger but still manageable. One minor frustration with the AirPods case: Apple replaced the physical pairing button with a capacitive touch sensor that will occasionally leave me unsure whether my tap registered.
Do the AirPods Pro 3 or Technics EAH-AZ100 have more features?
This is where the gap is widest. The AirPods Pro 3 pack in a heart rate sensor, clinical-grade hearing aid functionality, and Live Translation. Of those, the hearing aid feature is the most compelling, as it is very useful for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, with adjustable amplification and tone controls. Live Translation is the most ambitious addition, but also the roughest. When I tested it with a French-speaking colleague, the delays were long enough to make conversation feel stilted, and background office noise kept interrupting the output. The language list is also limited to mostly European languages, which is a strange choice for a feature billed as global. It’s still basically beta software, and it shows.
The EAH-AZ100’s feature set is less flashy but more practical: multipoint, in-ear detection, Find My, LE Audio, and Auracast support added via firmware update. The feature I kept coming back to is AI Voice Focus, which can either isolate conversations around you or suppress them in favour of ambient sound, the latter being pretty useful for anyone prone to sensory overload in crowded places.
The bigger structural difference is platform support. The AirPods Pro 3 locks virtually everything interesting behind Apple devices; on Android, you can play music, and that’s it. The EAH-AZ100 works fully with any device. And the AirPods Pro 3 still has no custom equalizer, which in 2026 is a frustrating omission, particularly given how much the EAH-AZ100’s sound potential depends on one.
How do the AirPods Pro 3 and Technics EAH-AZ100 connect?
Both use Bluetooth 5.3, but the AirPods Pro 3 support only SBC and AAC, while the EAH-AZ100 adds LDAC and LC3. For iPhone users, AAC is more than adequate, and the AirPods experience, including instant pairing via iCloud, seamless device switching, is hard to beat.
For everyone else, the EAH-AZ100 is the clear winner: LDAC gets you the closest thing to lossless audio over Bluetooth, and LC3 can help stretch battery life. I noticed a slight audio delay with LDAC, but it’s a couple of tenths of a second and really only relevant if you’re watching video.
Is battery life better on the AirPods Pro 3 or Technics EAH-AZ100?
The EAH-AZ100 wins here. In our standardized test with real music peaking at 75dB, we measured the EAH-AZ100 at 10 hours and 40 minutes with ANC on. That’s enough for a long-haul flight.
The AirPods Pro 3 hit 8 hours and 42 minutes under the same conditions, a significant jump over the AirPods Pro 2’s 5 hours and 43 minutes, but it still falls short. Both cases charge via USB-C and support wireless charging; the AirPods case also supports fast charging, with 5 minutes getting you an hour of playback.
Do the AirPods Pro 3 or Technics EAH-AZ100 block noise better?
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The AirPods Pro 3 has the edge here. Our lab tests show it reduces outside noise by an average of 90%, which puts it among the best we’ve tested. The EAH-AZ100 comes in at 83% — not far behind, and the gap is smaller in practice than it sounds on paper. Where the Technics earns its reputation is consistency: I found it particularly effective against the low-frequency drone of airplane engines and loud trains, which is often where ANC matters most. Fit drives performance on both; a poor seal undercuts either earbud significantly.
Transparency mode is excellent on both, though in different ways. The AirPods Pro 3’s implementation is the most natural I’ve heard; it genuinely sounds like you’re not wearing anything. The EAH-AZ100’s passthrough is close, and its “Attention” mode adds a useful trick: it detects nearby voices, automatically boosts them over ambient sound, and pauses your audio. It’s the kind of feature you don’t appreciate until it saves you from missing your coffee order.
Do the AirPods Pro 3 sound better than the Technics EAH-AZ100?
The truth is, neither earbud is straightforward to evaluate, and for different reasons.
The AirPods Pro 3 uses a loudness-dependent EQ system that actively changes the frequency response based on your hardware volume level. Listen quietly, and you get an aggressive bass and treble boost; turn it up, and things settle into something more balanced. Since there’s no EQ to compensate, your experience will vary significantly depending on your listening habits. At moderate volumes with a good seal, I found the AirPods Pro 3 to sound detailed and spacious, with bass that’s present without overwhelming the mids. At lower volumes or with a poor fit (which disables the wear sensor), the low end can become fatiguing.
The EAH-AZ100’s default tuning is too dark and boomy for my tastes, and I’d strongly recommend heading straight to the Treble+ preset in the app before forming any impressions. With that adjustment, it becomes a much more balanced and enjoyable listen. The eight-band EQ also gives you more room to fine-tune, which is an advantage the AirPods Pro 3 sadly can’t match.
Objective Measurements
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Looking at the frequency response comparison chart, both deviate from our house curve. The AirPods Pro 3 has strong bass emphasis, a dip past 100Hz, and an aggressive 5–8kHz peak that Apple has partially addressed via firmware — though it’s still wilder than I’d like. The EAH-AZ100’s bass rise starts too high, and the ear gain region is too subdued. The EAH-AZ100’s EQ at least gives you somewhere to go from there.
How would most people rate the sound from 1 to 5?
The chart below shows how the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score (MDAQS) algorithm from HEAD acoustics assesses the sound of the Apple AirPods Pro 3 and Technics EAH-AZ100. The sound quality is rated on a scale from 1.0 (very bad) to 5.0 (very good).
- Timbre (MOS-T) represents how faithfully the headphones reproduce the frequency spectrum and temporal resolution (timing information).
- Distortion (MOS-D) represents non-linearities and added noise: higher scores mean cleaner reproduction.
- Immersiveness (MOS-I) represents perceived source width and positioning: how well virtual sound sources are defined in three-dimensional space.
The AirPods Pro 3 leads on Timbre, but the EAH-AZ100 has a clear advantage on Distortion and Immersiveness, which tracks with what I heard: the EAH-AZ100 has an unusually strong sense of space for an in-ear. Still, the overall score for the AirPods Pro 3 is slightly higher, meaning the average person may prefer it.
Do the AirPods Pro 3 or Technics EAH-AZ100 have a better microphone?
The AirPods Pro 3 is the better microphone. Its dual beamforming mics, processed through the H2 chip, produce full, detailed vocals in quiet conditions and hold up well in noise with Voice Isolation enabled — some wind crackling and reverb tails aside. In our listener polls, 78% rated it “good” or “perfect” in ideal conditions.
The EAH-AZ100’s mono MEMS mic is adequate but falls behind when the environment gets difficult; 53% of listeners gave it a “good” or “perfect” rating in ideal conditions. If calls in noisy environments are a regular part of your day, the AirPods Pro 3 is the stronger pick.
AirPods Pro 3 microphone demo (Ideal conditions):
Technics EAH-AZ100 microphone demo (Ideal conditions):
AirPods Pro 3 microphone demo (Windy conditions):
Technics EAH-AZ100 microphone demo (Windy conditions):
Which microphone sounds better to you?
AirPods Pro 3 vs Technics EAH-AZ100: Price and availability
The AirPods Pro 3 retails for $249 at Amazon. The Technics EAH-AZ100 retails for $299.99 at Amazon. The $50 premium for the EAH-AZ100 gets you better codec support and longer battery life, but you give up the AirPods Pro 3’s broader feature set and tighter Apple ecosystem integration.
Apple AirPods Pro 3 price history
Technics EAH-AZ100 price history
Should you get the AirPods Pro 3 or Technics EAH-AZ100?
I think these two earbuds serve pretty different buyers, making the choice clearer than the spec sheet suggests.
Get the AirPods Pro 3 if you:
- You use an iPhone
- You want the best-in-class ANC
- Hearing health features are relevant to you
- Call quality in noisy environments matters
- You want fitness tracking and spatial audio
Get the Technics EAH-AZ100 if:
- You use Android or any non-Apple device
- You want LDAC or high-bitrate codec support
- Battery life is a priority
- You want EQ control over your sound
- You’d rather have something that doesn’t look like every other pair of earbuds on the subway
For iPhone users, the AirPods Pro 3 is the easier recommendation, and it costs less. For everyone else, the EAH-AZ100 is the more capable all-rounder: better connectivity, longer battery, and more control over the sound. Just be sure to use the EQ.
Which earbuds would you rather buy?
What should you get instead of the AirPods Pro 3 or Technics EAH-AZ100?
The Sony WF-1000XM6 ($329.99 at Amazon) is the most natural alternative if neither of these earbuds clicks for you. It edges out both on sound quality — posting the highest MDAQS overall score of the bunch at 4.8 — and delivers excellent ANC at 88% average attenuation, with a significantly improved microphone over its predecessor. It costs more, but it’s the most well-rounded flagship on the market right now.
If you prioritize sound quality above all else and use Android, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 4 ($269.95 at Amazon) is worth serious consideration. It matches the Sony on MDAQS overall (4.8) and offers aptX Lossless support, which is rare at this price, along with Auracast and LE Audio. The tradeoff is a weaker microphone and slightly shorter battery life, but for pure listening, it’s hard to beat.
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