Dyson OnTrac

Verdict

Technically the Dyson OnTrac are an impressive pair of over-ears. From a design perspective, they’re brilliantly bold and stylish. Judged on the audio, they’re entertaining but rival pairs are more musical and have more fun.

Introduction

Dyson’s first attempt at a headphone is one I’d reckon even it felt was very ambitious – a headphone/air purifier. There are probably some who still think it’s an April Fools Joke given it was announced around that time.

But never let a setback stop you from trying again. So here we are, Dyson is back OnTrac with a more traditional take on the headphones/wearable market.

It doesn’t come with an air purifier that makes you look like Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, and it’s not as expensive. But to paraphrase and probably get wrong a well-worn idiom, Dyson can make a pair of headphones but can they get people to wear them?

Design

• Customisable look
• Carry case
• 451g weight

Distinctive is the first word that comes to mind with the Dyson OnTrac. The version I received comes in the CNC copper colourway – the colours you’d associate with Dyson – but the OnTrac can be customised to great lengths for those who like what they wear to reflect their personality.

The outer caps and earpads are detachable, and Dyson sells an array in different colours. There are matte and non-matte versions of the earcups – just twist and they come off – and according to Dyson variety is the spice of life to the tune of 2000 combinations.

The outer caps are rather expensive at £50 / $50 each, but I do like Dyson’s approach here. The ability to make the headphones your own is something most brands would rather choose for you, electing for stingy white, black, or blue options.

You may feel Dyson’s approach is a little too bold but the OnTrac stand out where others retreat. When I was wearing them outside, a few people would stare as I walked past, though I’m hoping it’s not because the outer caps reflected light into their eyes.

They’re big and bulky, so much so that I don’t think they’d be as suited for smaller heads despite the slim earcups. I don’t find the headphones uncomfortable to wear though: the padding is good if not the most pliable, I haven’t felt much pressure on my head despite the OnTrac weighing 451g, and my ears don’t heat up.

They can’t be folded up but can be laid flat, and they come with a case to slip the headphones into. When the case is not in use, it can be flattened so it doesn’t take up space in your bag/luggage.

The OnTrac use a combination of physical buttons and taps for operation. There’s a power button on the left earcup and a multi-function joystick on the right for playback, track skipping, calls, and volume. It’s fine to use but like with the Zone, it’s not the most responsive. The tap on the earcup is for noise-cancellation and works on both sides, handy if you’re right handed or left.

Packaged with the headphones is a USB-C cable for charging, although rather annoyingly the USB-A travel kit adapter is available separately. For £450$499 I’d want it to be included. There’s no IP rating but Dyson relayed to me that it had been tested up to IPX2.

Features

• Bluetooth 5.0
• Active Noise Cancellation
• 55-hour battery life

For such a new pair of headphones, the OnTrac surprisingly supports an old standard of Bluetooth in the 5.0 version. There’s no Bluetooth multipoint, so they can’t be connected to two devices at once, though they stream in SBC, AAC, and LHDC codecs; the latter more commonly found on Bluetooth devices in Asia.

I haven’t come across a wireless issue with the headphones, they passed my interference tests with no blips (a stroll through Victoria and Waterloo stations, plus a packed Leicester Square). The stability of the connection has been rock solid.

Call quality performance is above average. Voice pick-up is not an issue as the person on the other end said they could hear me perfectly fine but the OnTrac lets in a large amount of surrounding noise. It doesn’t impact the clarity of my voice but more than any recent over-ear I’ve tested, they could very clearly hear what was going on in the background. The OnTrac are good but more convenient in quieter environments.

In terms of noise-cancellation, Dyson claims they can clear up to 40dB of external noise with the eight microphones tucked inside. In real-world terms, they’re good at cancelling out noise walking about – not much gets through and with music playing it’s a pretty quiet experience.

On the London Underground, they were effective enough but there were points on the Jubilee where the noise was enough to make music more difficult to listen to.

Carrying out a ‘pink noise’ test at home with other headphones (with around 65dB of noise to deal with), and the Dyson didn’t sound too dissimilar to the Sonos Ace while the Sony WH-1000XM5 and the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2e registered as slightly better. When it comes to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, the Bose were superior. That’s good company to be among but class-leading? I wouldn’t say so.

The transparency mode is clear, doesn’t alter the tone of audio, and lets in enough noise so that I can catch someone talking but if you’d want to have a conversation I’d say it’s best to stop music completely. Or take the headphones off.

The MyDyson app is what you’ll need to customise and monitor its performance, as well as set up firmware updates. You need to register first, as well as connect the headphones to the app, and from there on you’ll be able to alter the EQ (Enhanced, Bass Boost, Natural), swap through the noise-cancelling modes (Isolation, Transparency, Off)… and that’s about it for customisation.

You can also check the Sound Exposure, which records the levels of noise the headphones face (both external and in-ear) and tells you whether the noise is over the recommended limit (85dB). It’s the one thing that offers a point of differentiation from other headphones.

Aside from that, the OnTrac’s feature set is light. There is a wear sensor (which is very effective) but no spatial audio (which I’m not fussed about), and no built-in voice assistance. For the outlay, I think some would expect more.

Dyson claims 55 hours on one charge and a five hour drain at 50% volume resulted in a 10% drop, so 55 hours is well within the realms of possibility. It’s not the longest battery life out there – the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless eke out 60 hours – but this is much longer than Sony or Bose.

There’s no fast-charging as such but the OnTrac can add 2.5 hours of battery after a ten-minute charge, and reclaim all its battery life within three hours.

Sound Quality

• Clear, detailed sound
• Balanced approach
• Not the most fun or musical listen

Dyson is an engineering company. While you and I don’t like facing problems on a daily basis, Dyson loves to engineer its way through a problem. In this case, how do you make a good-sounding headphone that appeals to many people?

For starters, Dyson has gone for 40mm, 60-ohm neodymium drivers to output sound, but the secret sauce is its DSP (digital signal processing). Dyson’s aim is to not affect the audio signal as it passes from the source to your ears to reproduce music as it was heard in the mixing room.

The frequency response covers 6Hz – 21kHz, which if you’re familiar with the limitations of human hearing, literally doesn’t sound right as humans are around 20Hz – 20kHz, and that’s for those of us with perfect hearing.

Dyson, however, is of the belief that while you won’t be able to hear these frequencies, you will at least be able to ‘feel’ them – that deep bass and those bright highs – and while the OnTrac won’t be able to control frequencies above and below the normal hearing range, Dyson believes that extending the frequency response offers better management over the frequencies you can hear.

So in terms of the actual audio performance, how does that translate? The OnTrac sound familiar to the Zone – I’m tempted to say they’re the same. They’re a detailed, smooth-sounding pair of over-ears that favour neutrality. This is both a good and less desirable attribute of these headphones.

Compared to the Sonos Ace, they’re a better listen. Sharper, more detailed, crisper – the OnTrac sound as if they convey energy and momentum better than the Sonos can. These are also a pair of headphones that sound better with high quality sources – there’s little reason to spend £450/$499 on a pair of headphones and defile it with Spotify Premium.

However, compared to established competition, the Dyson aren’t as brazen as they look. Listening to Porno Graffiti’s Melissa and the OnTrac can communicate the flowing sense of energy and rhythm of the track well enough but the Sony WH-1000XM5 flows better, and is much better at shaping lead singer Akihito Okano’s voice. There’s better separation of the vocals from the instruments around it, which means it stands out more and sounds clearer. The Sony is the more detailed and defined listen, especially with instruments towards the edge of the soundstage.

The Dyson OnTrac’s soundstage is wide and spacious, the stereo image it creates is fine but its sense of depth is lacking – it feels flatter as if voices and instruments all exist on the same plane. Perhaps that’s how it’s meant to be, but it doesn’t grab my attention as much as the pair from Sony does. While it sounds more balanced, it lacks the energy and dynamism.

With Bodyrox’s Yeah Yeah the Sony set is clearer across the frequency range – bass thumps harder, vocals are better defined and levels of detail and clarity are higher, all of which results in a more musical performance. For the claims Dyson offers about having deep bass, with Yeah Yeah and Easy Life’s Skeletons, the Sony is richer, reaches deeper and engages more.

At the top end of the frequency range the OnTrac is clear and bright enough with GoGo Penguin’s Erased by Sunlight, but treble sounds clinical. Compared to the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2e, the Dyson isn’t as lively, detailed, sharp, or clear.

The Dyson OnTrac goes for a measured, balanced performance and for the direction it’s gone in, it’s enjoyable; but these headphones – compared to the competition – lack flavour in their expression. At times they’re rather formal when you want something more eye-catching. They lack the zip and verve of some of their illustrious competition – essentially they’re not as much fun.

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