The company's flagship over-ear wireless headphones are light on compromises, but enter a competitive market.

When Technics announced the EAH-A1000 over-ear Bluetooth headphones, everything seemed fairly ordinary. Another set of premium cans entering an already crowded category. Sure, they have a few standout features on the spec sheet — magnetic fluid drivers and three-device multipoint Bluetooth, for example. At $450, they are directly taking on Sony's popular WH-1000XM6, and almost enter the same territory as Sennheiser's audiophile-friendly HDB 630.

It's a confident move from Technics, to place its flag in the lucrative, but risky, territory between high-end consumer and "affordable" specialist headphones. I've had the A1000 on the testing bench (a.k.a. my head) for a couple of weeks and my initial assessment of how "ordinary" they are might have been a little hasty.

The feature Technics is making the most noise about is the "Magnetic Fluid" technology, but it's not new to the A1000. The AZ100 true wireless earbuds also use it, but these are the first over-ears from Technics to include it. The idea is that it reduces unwanted vibrations in the driver, in turn reducing distortion.

One other feature that stands out is the three-device multipoint Bluetooth. Seamless connection with your phone and PC can now include one more device, like a gaming console or TV. There is a slight limitation here: If you listen via LDAC (which the A1000 also supports), that will limit you to two devices maximum.

Of course there's adaptive active noise cancellation (ANC) coupled with a beamforming microphone for clearer phone calls.

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