- Cheryl Tan
Dyson Zone Hands-On & First Impressions: Premium Quality at a Premium Price Tag
Updated: Dec 19, 2023
By now, you probably would have seen our unboxing of the Dyson Zone headphones with air purification. It's a pretty interesting product, so here are our first impressions.
So I'm sure all of you have seen the leaks and the photos online and I'll be honest, it does look very heavy and bulky but when it's on the head, this part is actually a really plush cushion and Dyson has actually done something that's very, very cool to kind of reduce or balance out the weight of the headphones on the head.
Design
So these two parts on the side are actually hard, and they're not cushions, they're actually the headphones' batteries. So when you are putting it on your head, it actually feels super well-balanced. And I wore it for maybe three to four minutes yesterday when we were at Dyson's headquarters to take a look at them and they were super comfortable. There was no fatigue.
But of course, if you are putting these on for like an hour or two, then it might be a little tiring. But when these are on just like this, it just looks like a normal pair of bulky headphones. But what's really fun is when you bring this into the mix. So this is what Dyson calls their visor and it's basically a way to direct the purified air from the headphones because these aren't just headphones, they are air-purifying headphones.
Nice Clean Air.
So basically the headphones suck air in from the cups. There's a filter inside that we'll show you. So the air goes through those filters and then when you put the visor on, so it's magnetic and then when you push it up, the motor starts. And then air basically just gets sucked in, purified, and then it goes all the way and then basically this lets you breathe purified air.
And I'll be honest, the air does smell clean. It's kind of like putting your face in front of a Dyson air-purifying fan. The hum of the motors is present, it's definitely not 100% cancelled out by the ANC or anything. So it's there, it's a subtle hum in the background. I'm not sure if it'll change when I'm actually playing music or not, but yeah. The visor itself, once you push it down, the motors wind down and there's no more air being directed.
But also when you put the visor down, the ANC turns off. The ANC turns on when you put the visor up, so I suppose it's also to muffle the sound of the motors. So there's that. And I'm actually not sure how it looks like on camera, but I saw a photo of myself yesterday. And it looked kind of ridiculous. I mean, that were all those jokes about looking like Bane when you have the visor up. So if you ever had a dream to be Bane from Batman, here's your chance.
SKUs & Features
Right, so this is the Dyson Zone Absolute+ model. There are two models for the Dyson Zone, the base one and this one, which is the Absolute+. So in the box, you get this carrying case, I think it's called the Explorer case. So this looks a lot like the case that comes with Dyson's hairstyling products. It's really nice in the hand. I mean, I kind of get why Dyson is pricing this at S$1,399. I do feel, kind of, that you get your money's worth in some ways. So yes, the case, you put your headphones inside, the case comes with a cord that allows you to attach it to these two knobs here to use this as a carrying case. I'm not sure anybody would really use or carry their Dyson Zone headphones in this case, but the option is there if you want.
Now that we're done with that, let me show you the filters inside. So basically you unscrew this metal piece, and then the filters are obviously replaceable. In this model, you get a total of four filters so you can change the filters out once. In the base model, you only get two filters so you have to buy the replacement ones after that. So basically the filters attach or detach really easily, HEPA filters, stuff like that. And when you put them in, it just gets pushed in. There is supposedly a rubber gasket that kind of ensures that it's sealed. So even though there is a small gap between the metal piece and the actual headphones, it doesn't matter.
On the back of the headphones, it's pretty simple, you get two buttons. So the button on the right is a multifunction button. Press once for play/pause, push the joystick to the right to skip tracks forwards, push to the left to skip tracks backwards, push up and down for volume control, stuff like that. On the left, this button is to control how fast the motor spins, so basically how much air is getting purified. I think there are three-speed settings and an auto setting, and of course, long press and hold for power.
The earpads are made with a microfiber material, which is great, because in hot and humid Singapore, leather earpads tend to wear out really quickly. So hopefully this stays viable for a longer period of time. I did manage to remove, or I did manage to see the earpads removed during the demonstration yesterday. I tried to do it today but I couldn't get it for the life of me. Anyway, it kind of works on the same concept as the metal piece, it's a twisting mechanism that locks it.
There are a total of 11 microphones, I saw that there were three inward-facing for ANC, there is one near the motor and then there is one (or two) at the bottom. Oh and if you're wondering how you should wear the headphones, a really quick and easy way is to look at the yokes. The yokes are always towards the back, so it looks clean. So yeah, I guess that's my first impression of the Dyson Zone. They are weighty, I wouldn't say that they are super, super heavy. They sit well on the head, that's important. They're comfortable. The microfiber material is really nice.
ANC is decent. I haven't tried to use them on public transport yet, obviously. But from my short listening test yesterday, there is a good amount of bass and something that really struck me yesterday when I was trying these is that there is surprisingly good left-right separation and it's relatively accurate, which honestly I didn't really expect because Dyson has never really done audio.
Great Quality. But That Price Tho.
So at first listen, the sound quality out of these surprised me. Whether or not it's worth S$1,400 for the Absolute+ model or S$1,249 for the base model, I'm not sure. You will definitely have to have a lot of confidence to wear the entire setup out and about in public, I think. I definitely don't have that confidence.