Earlier this year I called Dyson Zone the oddest gadget of 2023 – and it finally went on sale in Ireland this week.
Dyson Zone is a set of air purifying premium noise cancelling headphones and even though I first tried them on in early 2022, I’ve only been able to test them out fully in the past couple of weeks.
No product this year has generated as much opinion – positive and negative – as Dyson Zone.
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The Zone costs €849.99 which for context is only €20 more than Bang & Olufsen’s H95 noise cancelling headphones and €220 more than Apple’s AirPods Max, neither of which have any air purifying tech and neither of which allow you to fast forward and rewind to your favourite bits within tracks using a toggle on the earcup.
The unboxing experience is incredible. The standard ultra satin and dark blue coloured Dyson Zone includes a USB-C cable for charging, hard case for protection and storage, cleaning brush and soft sleeve cover for the air purifying visor and spare carbon filters.
Spend an extra €70 for the stunning Prussian blue and bright copper coloured Absolute model – only available on dyson.ie – and you get all the above plus an in-flight adaptor kit, a second set of spare carbon filters, soft microfibre pouch for the cans and a much larger hard case called the Explorer case.
The air purifying visor is detachable, so you don’t always have to use the headphones in purification mode. This is handy as you may only want to use the visor when in public spaces or when travelling on public transport.
As headphones, Dyson Zone sound great for a first attempt and they have super impressive active noise cancellation (ANC). If the 40mm audio drivers have a flaw, it’s that they may not deliver enough bottom end when listening to some tracks from modern genres of music. There is a Bass Boost option, but it could be more pronounced.
However, mids and tops are crisp and detailed and the high quality LHDC codec is supported (along with SBC and AAC) so if you have a compatible smartphone and streaming service then Dyson Zone will support hi-res audio streams.
The ANC is astonishing – better in my comparisons than Sony’s WH1000XM5 and Apple’s AirPods Max. That’s down to the superior fit of the Zone; its memory foam pads and clamping force combine to create a perfect seal that other ANC cans don’t have.
The Transparency mode, incidentally, is less effective. Apple AirPods in all their forms still lead the way in that regard. You can alternate between ANC and Transparency by simply tapping on the right earcup. It works reliably consistently.
It’s also worth mentioning that if you remove the visor, the transparency mode kicks in immediately.
The MyDyson app includes some audio controls but not enough – and hopefully Dyson will address this in a firmware upgrade. But on the plus side the physical joystick control on the right earcup is a joy to use.
They are heavy without the visor at close to 600g and even more hefty at 635g with the visor attached. For context, Apple’s AirPods Max weigh just 385g.
The weight comes in no small part from the air purifying tech – in each earcup is a small fan and a conical, dual-stage air filter that will need replacing roughly once a year.
The filters comprise folded electrostatic HEPA and potassium-enriched carbon elements and can block pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and particulate matter such as pollen and diesel fumes down to 0.1 microns in size.
After the air is sucked through these filters by the fans, it’s jetted out subtly through ports into the visor in front of your face for you to breathe in. All this works flawlessly with little or no noise and you’ll notice the difference in stinky environments especially.
You can monitor the air quality using the MyDyson app but it only shows you how much nitrogen dioxide you’re currently being exposed to and not 2.5um and 10um particulate levels like the company’s fans do.
The machine may look odd, but you’ll turn less heads wearing Dyson Zone on the street than you might think. The weight of the cans is a bigger barrier to wearing them I am inclined to think.
If you love tech and engineering then Dyson Zone is a massive product that deserves applause no matter how odd a proposition it may be. If you love headphones, Dyson Zone are an expensive but excellent first effort.
I still think wearing them adds a slice of Daft Punk-esque cool.
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