Technics Premium C700 review

The legendary Japanese hi-fi brand is reinvented for the high resolution audio age

Technics Premium C700 Network Audio System
The legend returns...

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Obviously any Technics relaunch comes burdened with high expectations. Thankfully the C700 doesn't disappoint.

Sonic quality is several cuts above the mainstream.

Technics Premium C700

Rated at 45W p/c into 8 Ohms, the amplifier has reasonable digital cojones. It's surprisingly dynamic for such a small box, able to scale heights without sounding stressed or scrappy. Highs are crisp and sweet.

Pushed hard it verges on the cruelly constrained, coming across like an over-excited butler - but Jeeves never loses his cool.

Naturally you can connect over Bluetooth. Just pair devices and start streaming. Blue Swede's Hooked on a Feeling (from The Guardian of the Galaxy OST) via Spotify brings a broad smile – provided you remember to engage the Remaster mode on the network player.

Technics' Remastering system covers a multitude of sins, and even makes low bitrate MP3 sound stupidly good. A 256kbps MP3 of Akatsuki by BabyMetal is intoxicating– soaring K-pop cutesy vocals and speed metal presented with clarity rather than thrashy mush.

Steve May
Home entertainment AV specialist

Steve has been writing about AV and home cinema since the dawn of time, or more accurately, since the glory days of VHS and Betamax. He has strong opinions on the latest TV technology, Hi-Fi and Blu-ray/media players, and likes nothing better than to crank up his ludicrously powerful home theatre system to binge-watch TV shows.