Technics A1000 Review: NEW Number 1

THE SCORECARD

How the Technics A1000 scored

• Build quality

  8.5/10

  The matte design is simple and the headphones fold, but the build is not the most premium for the price.

• Comfort and fit

  10/10

  The soft, breathable memory foam, balanced clamp and cushioning gave me no discomfort during a 9-hour flight.

• Battery life

  8.25/10

  They are rated for 45 hours with noise cancelling on, 90 hours with it off, and 30 hours with LDAC on.

• Controls

  9.25/10

  The volume slider and button setup is strong overall, but the main button can fail to press properly at the wrong angle.

• Connectivity

  9.5/10

  Bluetooth 6.0, LDAC, LE Audio, Fast Pair, Swift Pair and multipoint cover basically everything I need.

• Call quality

  8.2/10

  Calls get the job done, although the microphones struggled a little in my extreme Windy City test.

• App customization and extra features

  8.5/10

  The app has useful customization and an eight-band EQ, but I would have preferred a parametric EQ.

• Noise cancelling

  9.75/10

  ANC was only just behind Bose in my scoring and blocked voices better than every other headphone in my ranking.

• The transparency mode

  9/10

  Transparency is clear with low occlusion, though there is slight hiss in silence and moderate wind pickup.

• Sound quality

  9.5/10

  The sound is rich, detailed and open, though the stock tuning can become too forward and harsh at higher volumes.

The Pros and Cons

Are the Technics A1000 comfortable enough for long flights?

Yes. I gave the Technics A1000 a perfect 10 for comfort and fit. The ear pads look shallower than they feel, because the mesh does not contact the driver and I barely got any contact inside the cups despite having fairly large ears.

The high-density memory foam is extremely soft and reasonably breathable. My ears still got warm, but far less than I expected. I wore them for basically an entire 9-hour flight home from Japan without discomfort, which is incredibly rare for me. At 303 g they are not the lightest headphones in my ranking, but the weight distribution and clamp force come together perfectly.

Technics A1000 ANC is seriously impressive

The A1000 score 9.75 out of 10 for noise cancelling, only just behind Bose. Technics have not traditionally been at the very top for ANC, but that has changed here. In my crowd-noise test, they surpassed Sony, Apple and Bose, and they blocked voices better than any other headphones in my ranking.

Plane noise was the one area where they were only slightly behind, but I had no issues using them on my 9-hour flight. ANC also reaches full strength immediately. If I shifted the seal while moving around, the cancellation could briefly lose strength, but that is common with most headphones.

The adaptive mode works well, wind pickup is low, and automatic wind reduction reacts quickly in very windy conditions. One annoyance: switching ANC off increases mid-bass by about 15%. ANC and transparency preserve the sound well, but people who often listen with ANC off may need to EQ around that change.

Controls, battery and connectivity

I like the physical controls. Everything is on the right ear cup, with a dedicated noise-control button and a volume slider that also works as the main function button. The slider makes quick volume changes easy, while presses and holds handle playback, voice assistant, fast-forward and rewind.

The execution is not quite perfect. The main button has too much squish, so it can get stuck or not press all the way if I hit it at an angle. I got more used to it over time, but it still happened often enough for me to score it down.

Battery life is solid: Technics rates the A1000 for 45 hours with ANC on, 90 hours with it off, and 30 hours with LDAC on. A 15-minute charge is rated for 4 hours of playback with ANC on, and I can use Bluetooth while they charge.

Connectivity is excellent. There is Bluetooth 6.0, SBC, AAC, LE Audio, LDAC, Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair. Multipoint supports two devices with LDAC, or three without it. Seamless switching worked with my iPhone 15 Pro and Nothing Phone 3 Pro, but was less reliable once I added my MacBook Pro M1.

How do the Technics A1000 sound?

I scored sound quality at 9.5 out of 10. The stock tuning is direct, rich and immersive, with punchy bass, strong detail and an open soundstage. It has a slightly bass-boosted character, and guitars, percussion and distorted guitars stand out particularly well. If you like crunchy, in-your-face guitar sound, the stock tuning may be exactly what you want.

I was picky with it because the mid-bass can be a little boomy, vocals around 2.5 kHz can become shouty and the boosted treble can get harsh or fatiguing at higher volumes. I also noticed occasional sibilance on vocals. At lower volumes, I really like the stock sound. At 50% volume and above, it can be a little too much for my preference.

The eight-band EQ can smooth it out. I reduced the mid-bass slightly, lowered 2.5 kHz to reduce shouty vocals and sibilance, and brought down 8 and 12 kHz to make the treble less harsh. The result keeps the separation, detail and openness but makes for a more laid-back listen. I still want a parametric EQ, especially as the A1000 only gives two bass sliders.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 score 0.25 higher for sound, with deeper and more rounded bass, better separation and vocals that stand out a little more. Sony 1000X also has slightly better vocal presence and a more open soundstage. The A1000 win for overall clarity, treble and detail.

Technics A1000 call quality and app features

Call quality scores 8.2 out of 10. In my quiet-room, simulated crowd-noise and simulated Windy City phone-call tests, they got the job done. Windy City is an extreme test, and the A1000 struggled a little there, but my voice was still clear enough.

The app layout is a little strange, but I like that I can customize the home screen around the settings I actually use. Alongside the EQ, there are voice-guidance options, wearing detection, auto power-off settings, LDAC and LE Audio toggles.

Dolby Audio includes head tracking and is one of the better spatial-audio implementations I have heard on headphones. It opens the soundstage slightly without adding too much strange reverb or echo. LE Audio also enables Auracast, which worked very smoothly at the silent disco Technics set up in Tokyo. Whether I will use it again is another question.