The first Dyson The Zone headphones (4/10, WIRED review), with their attachable air filter for cynical technofuturists, were so ridiculous and stupid that I found it hard to take the company seriously. Let’s face it: Dyson’s vacuums and hair-care products are very good, but many of its other products have been weak, avant-garde design gimmicks that quickly fade behind media hype. Sure, you saw a few “fanless” Dyson air purifiers or extractors in upmarket places after they first came out, but they never achieved the broad-market ubiquity of their shiny, plastic-sucking machines.
All of this to say: I had low expectations for the new $499 Dyson OnTrac headphones. With established brands like Apple, Sony, and Bose and newer brands like Sonos at the top of their noise-cancelling headphone range, it was hard to imagine Dyson being able to create a product that competed on anything more than the extruded plastic style. But after a few weeks with my test unit, I think these are some of the best headphones on the market.
These are visually customizable over-ear headphones with great sound, excellent noise cancellation, and a 55-hour battery life. I’m surprised to admit that I like almost everything about them.
Teenager
The new OnTrac earbuds come in a large, stylish box, but the hard case used to protect the earbuds between uses leaves a lot to be desired. Like the case that comes with the AirPods Max (8/10, WIRED recommends), the one that comes with the Dyson earbuds is a slide-out case with holes at the bottom and top that let dust and other debris in when you store them in your bag. It doesn’t do a good job of protecting the earbuds from bumps and bruises, which is annoying when you’ve dropped them so much.
Photography: Parker Hall
The earbuds feel a bit like Dyson vacuum cleaners – they’re maximalist, plastic, and packed with colour options. The units I tested came in a striking metallic copper with navy accents, with the option to swap out different coloured ear cushions and earplugs. Given the price, I like that you can swap out things like this so easily, because it means you can change them out as they wear out.
Unlike recent competitors like the Sonos Ace (8/10, WIRED Recommends), they’re big and bulky—not sleek or lightweight—weighing 451 grams compared to the Ace’s 311 grams and the AirPods Max’s 385 grams. That said, comfortable, well-padded headbands and thick cloth ear cushions give them a great seal around my ears for good passive noise isolation, and they don’t feel heavy on my head.
Bells and whistles
When you want to turn the headphones on, you press a small physical button on the bottom of the right earbud until you hear the noise and see a small light flashing to indicate they’re in pairing mode. From there, you’ll control the headphones with a joystick (another nod to Apple’s AirPods Max) on the right earbud, or by tapping the left earbud with your hand to toggle between transparency mode or noise cancellation. This combination of touch controls and physical controls is perhaps the only annoying thing I found with the OnTracs—I kept accidentally brushing against the earbud and turning off noise cancellation when I was doing yardwork. I just wish it was just another button on one side or the other, rather than controlled via touch.
Photography: Parker Hall