Today, Dyson is announcing its second pair of headphones. The company’s quirky first effort, the Dyson Zone, focused on combining air purification and noise-canceling headphones into one product. But this time, Dyson removes Bane’s mask and goes all in on customization.
The new $499.99 OnTrac headphones have replaceable ear cushions and ear cups, allowing you to completely change their style far beyond what is possible with products from other manufacturers. I’ve seen enough silicone covers and stickers on Apple’s AirPods Max to know that people are eager to put their own stamp on their headphones.
The basis of the OnTrac—the headband, rotating gimbal arms, and (joystick) controls—are quite similar to the Zone. The headband still has three lumps; the left and right contain battery cells, while the middle one is just a simple soft pad for your head. It’s the outer caps where Dyson starts to mix things up.
The headphones are available in four different colors. Basically, you choose what color you want the headband to be – because practically everything else can be customized later. “CNC Aluminum” has a gray finish with bright yellow ear pads; “CNC Copper” features a purple headband and matching ear cushions with shiny copper ear cups; “Ceramic Cinnabar” has a light red (bordering on pink) headband, matching matte ear cups and dark ear pads. Then there’s the ‘CNC Black Nickel’ and as the name suggests, this one has everything in black and looks tame compared to the rest of the range.
Of the ones I saw at a briefing in New York, I was most drawn to CNC Aluminum. The combination of silver and yellow just gives me a fun audiophile vibe. The OnTrac ear cushions are foam, and Dyson will offer a total of seven different colors of them, plus seven different styles of outer cups. The caps come off with a twisting motion that only took a few tries to get down. There are both metallic and matte options to choose from, priced at $49.99 a pair. You are free to mix colors as you see fit for some pretty weird combinations. Dyson says it has “over 2,000 customizable color combinations for outer caps and ear cushions.”
So, the name of the game here is a never-before-seen level of customization. But it takes more than that to justify a $500 pair of headphones. To that end, Dyson claims the OnTrac provides “best-in-class” noise cancellation using an eight-microphone system, and as with the Zone, you can monitor how much noise is around you using the companion smartphone app.
Long battery life is another strength: these headphones can last up to 55 hours of continuous listening on a charge. That easily fends off Apple, Bose and Sony, but falls short of the 60-hour Sennheiser Momentum 4, which also provides active noise cancellation. It has head recognition so the headphones will automatically pause the music when you take them off.
The OnTracs feature 40mm drivers that “reproduce frequencies from as low as 6Hz to 21,000Hz, delivering deep sub-bass you can feel and crisp highs at the top end of the frequency range.” And these speakers are angled for your ears for more direct sound transmission. You can plug in for wired listening with a 3.5mm to USB-C adapter, but there’s no dedicated headphone jack. As for Bluetooth codecs, OnTrac supports SBC, AAC and the lesser known LDHC for higher quality wireless audio. Unfortunately, the latter only works with select phones from Motorola, OnePlus, Nothing, and a few other brands. The Samsung and Google crowds are out of luck.
Dyson includes a collapsible carrying case with the OnTrac boxes, which offers limited protection; there’s plenty of room for water or dirt to get in, so that’s something to keep in mind.
Dyson is clearly not ready to give up on the headset market after its very unconventional first foray. I think the OnTrac headset makes a lot more sense for a wider appeal. They have the same “I’ve never seen headphones like this” effect as the Zone — but without the “I’ll never be seen in public with these” part. I’m very curious to find out how they fare once you get rid of the unique styling and focus on sound quality and ANC. Can they really handle the heavyweight competition? I will share more about this soon.
For now, here are a few more pictures for those who would never buy an OnTrac but still want to take a closer look.
Photography (except lead image) by Chris Welch / The Verge
