Technics EAH-A800

The best ANC headphones I can't recommend – Got these for a steal from JB-HIFI when they first dropped in March 2022, by price matching with another retailer that had them listed for nearly $200 less than the RRP. Initially, I was disappointed with the sound because the sibilance was far too piercing for me to handle. Tuning out the sibilance meant reducing the overall sound quality. Luckily, the sibilance mellowed out after a couple of months of regular usage and was no longer an issue.

Comfort is top notch thanks to the memory foam earpads. One of the earpads was somewhat less 'full' than the other, but Panasonic sent me two free replacement pads within a couple of weeks of me raising a warranty claim. They didn't even ask to see proof of purchase.

Technics' app is just as good and fully featured as Sony's. There are two sliders to tweak ANC intensity. The second is buried within the settings menu, and once that's set I don't see how the ANC could be any better. I imagine it'd be on par with Bose and Sony.

The headphones appear to be well crafted, however they creak like there's no tomorrow when handled - a common complaint it seems.

I can't recommend them because the most critical part of each hinge (a bit you can't see) is made solely of thin plastic. After over a year of happy usage, one evening I yanked the headphones off my head rather quickly which caused one side to snap - rendering the headphones useless. My fault, yes - but I'll never again spend that sort of money on headphones unless the hinges are made entirely of metal.