British inventor Sir James Dyson spent over a decade going through prototypes before creating the high-tech vacuum cleaner in 1993 responsible for his namesake’s company’s initial success.
Dyson OnTrac headphones, the brand’s second attempt in the competitive segment, comes after only two years and is set to rival industry leaders Bose, Apple and Sony.
While pitched as a totally different product to the Dyson Zone, which was released in 2022, it is clear they listened to some of the consumer feedback.
OnTrac is not merely a correction of its predecessor, it is an evolution in terms of design and technology. The product continues Dyson’s approach of blending industrial and modular design that made the Zone such an eye-opener. Only this time, the so-called edges are ironed out.
At 450g, OnTrac is much lighter than the neck-cracking heft of the Zone, which came in at 635g. One of the main reasons for that lift is the lithium-ion battery cells powering the unit are suspended in the headband, thus ensuring more even weight distribution. In the Zone, the battery is in the ear cups.
OnTrac's visual malleability could also be its most popular feature. While coming with four base colours, including a fluorescent orange dubbed "ceramic cinnabar", users can also continuously change the look of the headphones by purchasing customisable colour caps for the ear cushion and outer shell, with prices starting at Dh249 each.
All that glitz and glam wouldn't work if the audio wasn't on point and on that score the product comfortably delivers. First up, the noise-cancellation system is up there with the best. The feature, accessed by double tapping the left ear cup immediately cancels up to 40dB of unwanted noise, which is ideal for concentrating in a loud office space.
On the music front, OnTrac is more precision than power. Reproducing frequencies from as low as 6 hertz to as high as 21,000 hertz, the clarity is excellent. This works when listening to pristinely produced albums like The Nightfly by Donald Fagen and Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys where the complexity of the ornate instrumentation smoothly seeps through. Extra bass can be accessed through The MyDyson app, which gives my song collection by hard rock band Fu Manchu and hip-hop producer Dr Dre an extra rumble.
The volume toggle on the bottom right ear cup is easy to use while the on switch on the other side also operates Bluetooth, which brings me to an annoying aspect of Dyson's, as well as Apple's, headphones in that they can only be connected to one device at a time, such as a mobile phone or laptop. This is unlike Bose's QuietComfort headphones line, which can do both.
Then again, OnTrac tops the rest of the pack with up to 55 hours of battery life from a single charge. With the audio pausing once the headphones are removed and resuming once on again, it took an impressive six days to use the whole battery and only three hours to recharge using a USB-C power adapter.
The headphones come in a firm but compact case and a mini pouch to securely store them, but they have an open base allowing me to charge them while stored.
At Dh1,999 ($544), the OnTrac is relatively more expensive than the AirPod Max and Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. While it remains to be seen if sterling design and top-notch audio fidelity can lure away customers from their favourite brands, the Dyson OnTrac offers plenty for those looking to invest that little bit extra in a terrific-looking and sounding pair of premium headphones.
