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The first thing you probably think of when you hear the words "Dyson headphones is the Bane-like Zone. The business introduced its wearable air-purifying technology in 2022, but poor battery life hindered the product from becoming everyday useable. Now Dyson is back with another kind, solely meant for "normal" use with audio and active noise cancel (ANC). Though the absence of sophisticated functions keeps this premium set of cans from competing with the finest, the OnTrac headphones ($500) offer a traditional Dyson color scheme and design with lengthy battery life.
Design
I would bet if you provided an artificial intelligence picture generator the prompt "Dyson headphones," you would receive something akin to the OnTrac. With obvious references to products like vacuums, air purifiers, and hair care tools, it is obvious whose corporation created these cans. That's particularly true of the copper, blue and silver color mix on my review unit, a trio of colors that have surfaced on past Dyson products.
For the exterior shells of the ear cups, the business used metals and ceramics to preserve the luxury look for these extremely expensive headphones. Your color taste will determine the choices: copper, aluminum, black nickel, blue, green, gray or red. Next there are the micro-suede, cloth-wrapped ear cushions in another seven colors. Dyson claims it will provide extra sets of the exterior caps and cushions with over 2,000 different combinations among all the parts. If you are ready to pay even more than the first $500, that is a great degree of customizing.
These removable materials go with a segmented headband and spinning, gimbal-esque architecture that pays homage to past Dyson designs. The business claims that the two battery cells were placed in the headband for improved weight distribution, so the two side pieces of that component are hard and only the middle one is fluffy and cushiony. Controls for power/pairing on the left and a playback "joystick" on the right run alongside the rear margins of the ear cups. Along with turning on a voice assistant, that later choice lets you play/pause, skip tracks, change volume.
Although I applaud Dyson for employing primarily tactile controls here, the joystick does take some getting used to. When you're genuinely attempting to go up, down, or to the side, you have to be quite exact; you never press down whatsoever. Even after a few weeks of use, I still routinely stop the music when I am trying to adjust the level. Both ear cups have touch-activated exterior that lets you double tap to switch between ANC and transparency mode. This performs effectively, consistently absorbing inputs even from the edge of the display.
Dyson's choice to leave the battery in the headband does improve general comfort. The OnTrac headphones never felt heavy despite their size and stayed adequately cosy for hours at a time. My one complaint here is that the ear cups are oval rather than spherical. From an aesthetic sense, I'm not bothered by them; nevertheless, when I want to place them on my oval-shaped ears, I have to modify the headphones with a few wiggles for a proper fit. Unlike other settings, in which I only place them and my ears are in the ideal spot, The OnTrac also seems large and heavy. You should so consider this even if they are comfy if you intend to use these for travel.
Characteristics and Tools
Though there aren't many functions, the OnTrac headphones interact with the MyDyson app. straight up front you have the typical battery percentage, noise controls, EQ settings, on-board control training straight away. There are just three presets on the EQ menu: Enhanced, Bass Boost and Neutral; the first is the default, and best one. Disabling automated head recognition and maintaining listening volume under 80dB by diving into the options menu using the gear icon helps.
Dyson included a real-time sound exposure graph in the main OnTrac app interface, which is one unusual feature. Over the past thirty seconds, this shows in-ear sound level as well as outside noise. For in-ear measures, keeping below 85dB will help you avoid red here. That matches around 75 percent loudness, which on these headphones is practically agonizingly loud.
Both of which you will find on Sony's 1000XM5, the OnTrac lacks sophisticated capabilities such adaptive ANC and automated speech detecting. Furthermore lacking is a spatial audio feature, which has evolved into a basic component of most premium headphones and earbuds in recent times. Dyson not only lags behind the rivals in this field but also charges far more than other substitutes. In terms of features, the fundamentals are really well-covered; unfortunately, that is about it.
Audio Quality
After all, sound quality is the actual test of headphones. Dyson puts in 40mm drivers with a 6Hz to 21kHz frequency range. And although this offers excellent clarity, the OnTrac headphones lack the immersiveness most high-end versions give these days.
In terms of general detail, the OnTrac headphones are good; yet, the basic tuning lacks the depth of many premium models. Even if you are not listening to spatial audio, the likes of Sony, Bose, Sennheiser, and Bowers & Wilkins all offer a deeper, richer sound that usually envelops you.
On other headsets like the 1000XM5, Killer Mike's Songs For Sinners & Saints lack the low-end thud. For some genres, though, like you will see in Koe Wetzel's 9 Lives, there is great detail. The country singer's voice sliced through the mix, but with the OnTrac I could pick out clean texture in the percussion and guitars of the tune. OnTrac sounds great on Billy Strings' latest bluegrass live record as well, but when you visit someone like Jack White's No Name, the whole sound profile loses some airiness. When it would cover you with sound on a competing device, things that would fly on other sets—like White's guitar riffs—are somewhat muffled and the whole aural impact is restrained. You may also read this: Apple Vision Pro: Beta Testing The Future
ANC Performance
Dyson claims eight microphones in the OnTrac's ANC system identify undesired sounds 384,000 times per second. The headphones can block up to 40dB of annoying noises when used with the ear pad passive noise isolation. On paper, that appears really impressive, but ultimately the OnTrac performs just an average job using white noise generators and fan rumbles. It tries valiantly with TV noises and human speech. These headphones will be good in some circumstances, but the one-size-fits-all approach to noise-blocking does not mute the earth the way Sony, Bose and others can.
Call quality
While the OnTrac headphones effectively block background noise on conversations, their general speech quality lags behind that of equivalent premium headphones. On a call, my voice sounded compressed and lacked any vitality you would expect. Dyson may have set aside eight microphones for ANC, only one for calls. And, well, you can very definitely tell.
Battery life
Dyson guarantees up to 55 hours of listening with ANC, a value only exceeded by Sennheiser's Momentum 4 (60 hours) among headphones I have tested. Moreover, that's 25 hours greater than the WH-1000XM5, our current top choice for wireless headphones from Sony. Using noise canceling at a comfortable 50 percent level, I ran 48 hours of use. Should you so want, a quick-charge option provides two and a half hours of ANC-enabled playback in ten minutes or nine and a half hours in thirty minutes.
Competition
Dyson is vying with Apple and Master & Dynamic, both of which market premium over-ear headphones for more than the OnTrac at $500. But just M&D's MW75 made our best wireless headphones list, largely because of the company's quality design and natural sound profile. Master & Dynamic mixes metal and leather finishes in a way that resembles headphones and less like a piece of equipment than Dyson.
My advise is to save a lot of money and get Sony's WH-1000XM5 if you're seeking for a better value. For much less, you will have outstanding sound quality, strong ANC, and a plethora of sophisticated tools to simplify your life. Those include the flexibility to change sound settings depending on activity or location without having to futz with an app and intelligent voice detection that will halt your music when you need to quickly converse. Besides you'll receive 360 Reality Audio where enabled and DSEE Extreme upscaling to regain detail in tracks typically lost to compression. They're more comfy and a better travel buddy.
Wrap Up
If you enjoy Dyson's design, you may be tempted to spend a lot of money on the OnTrac headsets. Less sophisticated features mean you're settling for a respectable pair of headphones when better choices are available for far less, with a less-than-stellar sonic profile and middling ANC performance. Although the amazing battery life and hearing health feature are advantages of the customisable design, you may obtain the lengthy running time elsewhere. Ultimately, I'm not convinced the design is sufficient to make these headphones stand out from the throng.