Technics EAH-A800 cans square up to Bose with whopping 50-hour battery life

Technics might be better-known for making fancy turntables, but you’d be a fool to ignore its headphones when they include the new EAH-A800.

Aiming to give the likes of Bose and Sony something to worry about, Technics has gone big on the noise-cancelling side of things, with a Dual Hybrid system that uses four microphones in each ear cup. There’s also a Natural Ambient mode and Attention mode, meaning you should have almost total control over what you do and don’t hear when you’ve got them on. Beamforming and noise suppression tech also ensure you can be heard when you make a call with them on.

Inside you get newly developed 40mm dynamic drivers and Acoustic Control Chambers, which Technics reckons will give you a “clear, immersive sound experience with a sense of range and depth.” In non-audiophile speak, that means they should sound pretty good. They also support 24-bit/96kHz hi-res audio using the LDAC Bluetooth codec.

Battery life is a very impressive 50 hours, so you won’t have to worry about plugging them in every night, plus they come with all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a pair of high-end cans: wear sensors, multipoint pairing, an app to tweak the EQ and ANC, and support for your phone’s voice assistant.

The Technics EAH-A800 will be available from early February, in a choice of black or silver, for £299.

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Stuff's other Tom has been writing for the magazine and website since 2006, when smartphones were only for massive nerds and you could say “Alexa” out loud without a robot answering. Over the years he’s written about everything from MP3s to NFTs, played FIFA with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and amassed a really quite impressive collection of USB sticks.