Dyson Zone Wireless Headphones Review

The Dyson Zone have the same design language as other Dyson products, like their air purifiers, with rounded edges and a somewhat futuristic look. They have blue satin sheen detailing and sleek metallic grille ear cups. Even though it makes them look somewhat like open-back headphones, they're closed-back, and the opening is designed for filter airflow.

They come with an detachable visor that matches the headphones' aesthetics. That said, the blue detailing and shiny silver plating are more plasticky, which is likely to help reduce the overall weight. If you purchase the Absolute+ model, the visor has copper accents instead of silver, but the headphone grilles are still silver.

These cans have a comfortable fit. On their own, they've got decent padding that feels comfy. The headband has two different kinds of padding, so the top part feels more plush than the side pads, which are firmer. The top padding could flatten over time due to the headphones' weight. They clamp very tightly, but it doesn't feel overwhelming.

Unfortunately, the headphones are very heavy, and using the visor attachment takes time to get used to. Using the visor isn't a great experience either. It's large, and the overall product weighs 1.48 lbs. (or 670 gr) when paired with the headphones. It also doesn't form a tight seal on your face at all and lacks height adjusters, so if you have a long or short face, your nose may not even be covered by the visor. As a result, you may need to tilt the headphones to get the visor to get a better fit. It's easy to accidentally knock the visor off the headphones, too, since it's bulky and can get in the way of day-to-day activities.

When the fan is in use, the air current hits your nose and mouth, and if you're using the highest setting, it can dry out your nostrils and eyes. However, we can't test the filter's effectiveness. It's also easy to be self-conscious using the visor in public since it's very eye-catching and unusual. That said, if you like the design but want to skip the visor, consider the similar Dyson OnTrac Wireless, which share a similar headband and ear pads.

These headphones have a blend of physical buttons, a joystick control, and a touch-sensitive surface. There are chimes to let you know when you've adjusted settings like Bluetooth pairing, ANC, and reached max volume, as well as if you've changed the strength of the visor's fan. The buttons are easy to use, but switching ANC modes can be tricky since you have to tap hard enough to get the command to register, which sounds loud against your ear. If you're using the visor, you can lower it to pause airflow, audio, and noise cancelling and detach the visor for audio only.

Fan button (on the left ear cup):

• Single press: Adjusts the fan settings.
• Press and hold: Turns the headphones on and off.

Joystick (on the right ear cup):

• Single press: Plays and pauses audio. Also answers and ends a call.
• Double press: Cycles between ANC on and transparency mode. Also accepts an incoming call and puts an active call on hold.
• Press left: Fast forwards through your track.
• Press right: Skips to the previous track.
• Press up: Raises the volume.
• Press down: Lowers the volume.
• Press and hold: Declines a call. Also activates voice assistant.
• Swipe up: Turns the volume up incrementally.
• Swipe down: Turns the volume down incrementally.

On the ear cup:

• Double tap: Switches between transparency mode and ANC on.

The Dyson Zone are pretty big, bulky, and heavy, so they'll be hard to transport unless you're wearing them on your head while on the go. Luckily, their ear cups can swivel to lay flat to conserve space.

The carrying case is great; it's sturdy and doesn't budge under pressure, so your headphones will be well-protected. It has a unique locking mechanism; you turn the silver dial to lock and unlock the case, and it keeps the headphones secure. It's made from plastic, which can wear down over time. Additionally, the case itself is quite large and may not fit into most bags without a bit of a fight.

They have a good build quality. The headphones are mostly made of metal with cloth padding, making them feel very sturdy and dense. Around the inside of the ear cups are two replaceable electrostatic carbon filters. The app will let you know if you need to replace them, and you can purchase additional filters directly from the manufacturer. In addition to the filters, there are ports so that you can attach and remove the filter. The headband extension point is loose, and the first notch on our unit's right side slides downward instead of staying in position, which is annoying.

The visor is mostly made of lightweight plastic. While this material ensures a more comfortable fit, it feels flimsy and is prone to fingerprints, dulling its look. The grille covering the filter can slide off too, and it's easy to accidentally loosen it when adjusting the headphones. This motion may also weaken the clasping mechanism.

These headphones are fairly stable. They won't move around if you're sitting at your desk or couch. However, if you tend to headbang to your favorite songs, they can shift in positioning and even fall off your head. They'll slip off your head if you want to wear them while you work out (which you shouldn't do since they're also quite bulky).

• Dyson Zone Headphones
• Visor attachment
• Carrying case
• Visor carrying bag
• USB-C to USB-C cable
• Cleaning rod
• Manuals

The Dyson Zone have a surprisingly flat sound out of the box and without the visor. Mixes have a touch of extra bass, but it doesn't overwhelm vocals and instruments, which mostly sound clear and natural. Sibilants like cymbals are piercing, though. They only have EQ presets in their companion app to adjust their sound. With the visor on and with the highest fan setting, the frequency response is quite similar to when off. You can see our measurements at 90 and 100 dB here.

We noticed a rattling sound coming from the left driver in the low-bass. Additionally, these headphones have a high noise floor when ANC is enabled, and there's a slight whining sound in the left driver when low- bass or no audio content at all plays. The noise floor is much higher when using the air purification fan, especially at its highest setting. While their ANC can block out a decent amount of this noise, you'd need to crank up your audio to completely block out this sound.

The frequency response consistency is good. The headphones are prone to slight deviations in bass delivery if you have thick hair or wear glasses since these can disrupt the headphones' seal on your head. Treble delivery also varies slightly depending on fit and positioning. You'll experience more consistent audio delivery once you get a good fit.

These headphones have outstanding bass accuracy. The response is pretty flat across the range. While there's some overemphasis in the low to mid-bass, it won't drown out vocals and instruments. As a result, mixes have a touch of extra thump, rumble, and boom.

Their mid accuracy is fantastic. The response in this range is pretty flat, so vocals and instruments sound clear, accurate, and natural.

The Dyson Zone's treble accuracy is mediocre, though. The low-treble is underemphasized, so vocals and instruments are veiled. However, the mid-treble is overemphasized. In songs with a lot of hi-hats, like Roxanne by The Police, these sibilants sound harsh and piercing.

These headphones have mediocre peaks and dips performance. A couple of big peaks and dips indicate that the headphones struggle to control their sound profile. It's most prominent in the low-bass, adding extra thump and rumble to mixes. A dip in the low-treble veils vocals and instruments, robbing them of their detail, while the steep peak in the mid-treble results in piercing sibilants like hi-hats.

The imaging performance is excellent. These are Dyson's first headphones, but they have well-matched drivers overall, indicating their quality control and ergonomics. That said, imaging varies between units. Our unit has a little bit of mismatch in the phase response's mid-mid, but it'll only be noticeable to discerning audiophiles. Still, their quality imaging performance ensures that objects like voices are accurately placed in the stereo image.

The passive soundstage performance is poor, but that's normal from closed-back headphones. While they struggle to create a spacious, out-of-head audio experience, their soundstage stretches around you.

The Dyson Zone have a good weighted harmonic distortion performance. There's a slight peak in the low-treble, but it's minor and hard to hear with real-life content. Most frequencies fall within good limits, producing clear and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the Dyson Zone Headphones. Our results are only valid when used this way.

These headphones have a surprisingly good noise isolation performance. They don't block out as much background noise as their high-end noise cancelling counterparts like the Bose QuietComfort 45/QC45 Wireless. Still, they can block out some of the low rumbles of bus engines. They do a significantly better job of tackling ambient chatter and the high-pitched whirl of fans.

If you're using the air filter on high, the headphones can also reduce a lot of this noise, so you don't notice it while using it. Although there's a bit of deviation present at each angle, the ANC can still block out a good amount of noise overall.

The Dyson Zone's leakage performance is decent. Leakage is mostly concentrated in the mid to treble range and sounds somewhat thin. That said, overall leakage is quite low, so if you're jamming out to your favorite tunes at high volumes and at the office, others around you can't hear it.

If you're using the visor at its highest setting, you can expect a similar leakage amount, though it may not be as noticeable due to the headphones' high noise floor.

The integrated mic has good recording quality. Your voice sounds clear and crisp, though lacking depth. You won't have trouble being understood clearly, though.

The noise handling performance is sub-par. If you're taking calls from a moderately noisy environment like an office, your voice competes with background sound and isn't the most clear. However, a noisy place with inconsistent, loud sounds, like a train station, can easily drown out your voice.

The Dyson Zone Headphones' battery life is great. The manufacturer advertises the Dyson Zone to last up to 50 hours of audio-only playtime and up to four hours with the air purification running alongside the ANC. When using the ANC but not the visor, we measured over 31 hours, which will last through long days on the go. Keep in mind that battery life varies depending on use, though. Although they don't support passive playback, you can use them while charging. They'll still use a Bluetooth connection to receive audio, though. They also have auto-on/off sensors to help conserve battery life if you're not wearing them.

The MyDyson app is decent, and you can see a video of it in action here. We had trouble connecting the app to an Android device, and the app works more smoothly on iOS. The app is a little light on sound customization features, as it only offers EQ presets. What's unique about the app are all the filter features. You can check your regional location data like temperature, humidity, PM2.5 (fine particulate matter), PM10 (larger particulate matter), and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide). You can also check out the status of the filters, including a NO2 daily tracker, and adjust the airflow strength.

Even though the above features can help measure the visor's performance, we don't know how effective the filter is. We took the headphones outside and used them alongside a busy street. However, we couldn't get the NO2 levels higher than 0.4. In addition, we can't measure whether the visor helps with seasonal allergies or pollen. For more information on this visor, you can check out Dyson's press release.

These headphones have decent Bluetooth connectivity, though they don't support multi-device pairing, so you can't connect them to more than one device at a time. They also have high latency on PCs and Android devices, which can cause your audio and visuals to fall out of sync. Their latency on iOS devices is lower, though. Some apps compensate for latency.

These headphones come with a USB-C to USB-C cable for charging. It doesn't support audio on its own, so you'll be using Bluetooth while charging. You can purchase an in-flight adapter kit separately or purchase the Absolute+ model, which includes the kit in the box. This kit allows you to charge via USB-C and play audio from in-flight entertainment.

These headphones can connect to Bluetooth-enabled PCs with full audio and mic compatibility. You can't connect them in any other way, though.