Do you adore your present headphones but wish they had an air filter? No? Well, for a fee, Dyson’s first audio product will accomplish that. Dyson claims that its premium headphones would filter out invisible particles that you might otherwise breathe in addition to unwanted sounds.
It only takes a glance to tell the Dyson Zone apart from conventional audio equipment. They have a secure fit on the head like traditional over-the-ear headphones, but they also feature a feature that no rival product has: a wind-blocking, air-purifying “visor” that rests in front of the nose and mouth. According to claims, the detachable visor will help reduce the high concentrations of small, undesirable particles in polluted areas.
According to Dyson, the Zone’s earcups use 9,750 RPM compressors to draw air inside. Dual-layered electrostatic and K-Carbon filters remove 99 percent of microscopic particles, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide as the air flows through them (all of which are more common in urban environments). The filtered air is then directed toward the nose and mouth by each earcup using the visor.
Naturally, this also uses the Zone’s audio features. Eight microphones are used in the device’s noise-canceling system to reduce 38dB of noise between 20Hz and 20kHz. The 40mm neodymium speaker drivers used by The Zone are supposed to deliver better sound quality across the whole spectrum. Additionally, it features a specially designed EQ setting to enhance audio purity.
The unique parts of these headphones together result in a pretty weighty object. The Zone is 1.3 pounds (595 grams) lighter without the air-purifying visor than it is with it. This is considerable weight compared to other over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones: Anker Life Q30s are less expensive but also very well-reviewed than Apple AirPods Max, which weighs 13.6 ounces (385g) (260g). And while the Dyson Zone can run for 50 hours on a single charge without the visor turned on, listening time is reduced to fewer than four hours while using the air purification setting (which has three levels). The Zone might become tiresome to use rather quickly, given the three-hour charging time, not to mention the Cyberpunk-Esque visor that hovers in front of your face.
By appointment only in-store beginning in March 2023, according to Dyson, additional availability of the Zone will follow.
