Dyson Zone review: The heavy-duty headphone with a trick up its sleeve

Though large, the headphones are comfortable. But the weight does start bothering you after a while. There is one button on the left to control the air purifier and its speed. On the right is a toggle button that lets you power on the device, adjust volume, and skip songs. The ease of using this button made me wonder why no one else thought of putting a toggle on headphones, much better than adding multiple buttons for volume controls and navigation.

What makes the headphones stand out is the size of the ear cups — extra large with perforation to accommodate the air filtration mechanism. (Nandagopal Rajan / Express photo)

The visor is not something you need to use all the time. So it has been designed that way. When you have to attach it, it does so magnetically to the bottom of the ear cups and covers the air vents on the front so that it can route the filtered air to the front of your nose. Wearing the Zone, you feel a cool draft in front of your face, very comforting, especially in the 400+ AQI levels we have been experiencing in Delhi NCR this week.

The Zone connects to the MyDyson app where it is recognised as a new machine. Once this is done, you can control the air purification and see the data on what the real-time outdoor AQI levels are in your area. Interestingly, with the visor on, the Zone removes Nitrogen Oxide from the air you breathe, so this works better for those in areas were fossil fuel pollution is more.

You can use the audio tab to select the presets or switch the noise cancelling on or off. For the latter, you can double tap the ear cup too, and hear a very satisfying vacuum sound to tell you the status.

The Dyson Zone has “advanced noise cancellation” where it uses eight microphones to figure out the ambient sounds that need to cancelled constantly. In my very noisy living room, it was powerful enough to mute out the sounds of the kitchen chimney, my coffee grinder, and of course the ceiling fan, running the last legs of its tenure this year. And the noise cancelling works here almost like a vacuum, as the Zone sort of sucks out the noises and sucks you into a zone of your own. It is a different experience from the noise cancelling I am more familiar with.

The visor is not something you need to use all the time. So it has been designed that way. When you have to attach it, it does so magnetically to the bottom of the ear cups and covers the air vents on the front so that it can route the filtered air to the front of your nose. (Nandagopal Rajan / Express photo)

Also, even as the headphone cancels out most of the noise, it creates a mild buzz of its own when the purifier is running. Here, the motors are literally on your ears, and it is impossible to not hear it when the music is not on. Thankfully, you can switch this off, especially when you are not in the cloudy climes of the Indian capital.

Given the size of these ear cups, Dyson has been able to pack a 40mm, 16-ohm neodymium speaker driver inside. This means the audio quality is full-spectrum, and you get a rich confluence of the highs, lows, and mids. But the headphones are also neutral to a large extent and do not try to amp up the music on their own. But when you are listening to something that needs a lot of bass, like Spencer Ramsay’s Tremors, you can feel the bass creating a padding around your zone.

And then when you switch to something like Ali Sethi’s ‘Ghazab Kiya’, the zone easily slips between the bass-heavy background and the sharp vocals, creating spaces for both. And when the Ali Sethi Essentials playlist skips over to his ‘Chan Kithan’, you feel the Zone is as neutral as a lot of the monitoring headphones out there.

Dyson has made a versatile headphone here. If you want to tweak things there is, of course, the equaliser with presets, though I would have preferred to get a manual equaliser too to push the audio into exactly the zones I want.

The shiny gold visor that makes you look like someone in Darth Vader’s wedding party. (Nandagopal Rajan / Express photo)

The air purifier might not make much sense to users in many parts of the world. But for me, sitting in the smoking cauldron of Noida with apocalypse-like vibes most mornings, the self-assurance of a personal air purifier that gives you pollutant-free air at least for a few minutes every morning when you are soaking in music that refreshes your soul before the rigours of the day can be something worth investing in.

But the impact of the visor is passive, and it does not keep you insulated like a mask. And there is a cost to be paid for this, which is also the shiny gold visor that makes you look like someone in Darth Vader’s wedding party. I would not dare step out of the safety of my house with this visor on, let alone talk of using this in the office or an airport lounge. The other issue is that even if you fold the Zone flat it often stays connected to your phone. And this means the battery can drain out quickly if you are not careful. Thankfully, the air purification stops the moment you take the visor off.

Even without the visor, the Zone is unlikely to travel much because of its weight. It comes in a case that is unlikely to fit into any of the bags I carry inside the cabin, but thankfully this is a bag in itself. This is the sort of gadget you wear to relax at home listening to some latest renditions of Chopin or devouring a new Netflix series. This is not for your next long-haul flight.

The Dyson Zone is a premium headphone and is priced in the top audiophile range. But audiophiles are not likely to be that impressed by what the Zone has to offer. Frankly, this is not intended for them. It is intended at those who love their music as well as the peace of mind of breathing clean air. In other words, this is meant for those who are willing to pay a premium for their hate of both air and noise pollution. Are you one of those? Then you can buy the Dyson Zone without the visor at Rs 64,900 and without it at Rs 5,000 less. I recommend the latter.