Dyson entered the audio market with its first headphones – Zone – last year and immediately captured headlines for its unique air-purifying accessory that could be attached to these headphones. While Dyson has some impressive air purifiers on the market, the air purifying accessory did seem a bit over the top I think, and ended up grabbing more attention than the headphones. With the new OnTrac headphones though, the focus is entirely on the audio quality.
Before you dive into the detailed review, let me share that these headphones are currently retailing for Rs 44,900 (were recently available at a discounted price of Rs 37,900). This puts the the OnTrac in the premium headphones category where it will be competing against the likes of Sony WH-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra.
Design: weighty but innovative
Dyson OnTrac comes with a distinct design that makes these headphones stand out. If you’re the sort of person who wants to blend in the crowd, these headphones are probably not your best bet. However, if you want to be the centre of attention and are comfortable with people asking you about these headphones wherever you go, OnTrac is a perfect fit.
These are extremely well-built headphones with a sturdy metal headband and excellent build quality. Although I think there could have been more room for headband adjustment, with large earcups and a decent clamp force, the headphones offer a snug fit. Additionally, the cushioning on the head makes them comfortable to wear. However, I must point out that the impressive build quality comes at a cost. Simply put, Dyson OnTrac is heavier than the rival headphones available on the market. At 451 grams, these headphones will make you feel their weight if you wear them for an extended number of hours. In comparison, even the AirPods Max (considered to be heavy by many) weighs 386.2 grams and the QC Ultra weighs just 254 grams.
The most fascinating aspect of the design here is that you can replace the outer caps and the ear cushions yourself as the process is quite simple. You’re not short of options either, as Dyson itself offers plenty of unique colours you can mix and match as per your preference and give your headphones a new look. You can buy additional ear cushions for Rs 1,900 a pair in Khaki, Oyster Pink, Cinnabar, Chrome Yellow, Dark Iron, Prussian Blue, and Ultra Blue colours. You can also buy outer caps (also for Rs 1,900 a pair) in these same colours to get your preferred combination.
The left earcup features the power button. You can switch on the headphones by pressing the power button for 2 seconds and enter Bluetooth pairing mode by pressing the same button for 5 seconds.
The right earcup features a joystick that allows you to access controls such as volume up/down, play/pause, and skip. Using the joystick is not as intuitive as I initially thought it would be, and honestly, I would have preferred customisable buttons in its place. However, the tactile power button is a refreshing change from some of the other premium headphones. But again, sometimes you have to press it really hard to register your input.
You can tap twice on either cup outside the central ring to switch between the transparency and noise cancellation modes (to completely switch ANC off, you will have to use the MyDyson app). After using the headphones for a week, I am now comfortable using this gesture to switch between these modes but in the beginning, I struggled to find the right place to tap in order to make this switch.
Features: or lack thereof?
The Dyson OnTrack comes with 40mm drivers and support for Bluetooth 5.0. The choice of Bluetooth 5.0 is particularly surprising given that this is a 7-year-old technology standard and most other recent headphones support Bluetooth 5.3 or even 5.4. Another point to note here is that, unlike some other modern headphones, the OnTrack lacks Bluetooth multi-point – the ability to simultaneously connect and switch between multiple devices. This means you have to manually reconnect to a device if you switch to a device in between. This can get annoying as we are talking about headphones that have been priced at a premium but still don’t offer functionality that is now available in headphones priced under Rs 10,000. Having said that, the Bluetooth connection on the headset was rather seamless and consistent.
As far as the support for audio codecs is concerned, Dyson OnTrac supports SBC, AAC, and the rather niche 24-bit LHDC codec. Unfortunately, these headphones do not support spatial audio. OnTrac also doesn’t support aptX or true high-resolution audio, which is a glaring miss in this price category.
The MyDyson app lets you choose between three Equaliser presets – Neutral, Bass Boost, and Enhanced. However, you cannot fine-tune or tweak these presets to create your own custom settings. As mentioned earlier, you can choose between Isolation mode and Transparency mode, or completely switch off the noise cancellation from the app as well. While the app gives you a tutorial on using the headphone controls, it doesn’t let you change them. Although the app is light on features, it does come with an interesting feature that lets you monitor your sound exposure. It does so by taking into consideration both in-ear and external sounds to inform you if it goes above the recommended limit. Observing this pattern and changing your listening behaviour accordingly can be beneficial over a long term.
Sound quality: excellent for the most part
Dyson Ontrac, despite its shortcomings in terms of features, truly shines in this department. The soundstage on these headphones is mind-blowing, offering a wide and immersive listening experience. You can easily discern the positioning of instruments, making it feel like you’re in the middle of a live performance. This expansive soundstage enhances genres like jazz and classical music, where spatial separation is key.
The sound signature favours acoustics and highlights clear and detailed vocals. The mid-range performance offered by these headphones is truly impressive and this could be partly due to the fact that they support an extended audio range of 6Hz to 21KHz, compared with the normal human hearing range of 20Hz and 20KHz. Dyson says that the extended range helps these headphones minimise distortion at higher volumes.
Next, it was the turn of ‘Chandelier’ from Sia. This song is perfect for checking the high-pitch performance of headphones as Sia’s high notes truly test whether your headphones showcase any distortion or not. In this case, there was hardly any distortion. However, I won’t say that the highs impressed me as much as the mids did.
Finally, let’s talk about the bass. While I usually talk about ‘Bad Guy’ by Billie Eilish or ‘Royals’ by Lorde in this section, this time around I would like to point out how the headset handled ‘Dream is Collapsing’ by Hans Zimmer. I found the bass performance offered by the headphones to be slightly underwhelming. Despite the switch to the ‘Bass Boost’ preset, I found that the bass offered by the OnTrac was lacking in impact and depth.
Noise cancellation and battery life: industry-best?
As I mentioned earlier, you can either enable the noise cancellation through a double tap on the earcups or via the companion app. I was impressed with the noise cancellation at offer here. The company claims that the eight noise-cancelling microphones cancel up to 40dB of unwanted noise. While 40dB doesn’t look impressive on paper as 50dB noise cancellation is offered by some other headphones priced lower, the execution here is the key. With the optimised clamping force, these headphones are able to deliver excellent noise cancellation, which is on par with, if not better than competition.
The Quick Charging feature on the headphones allows you to get 2.5 hours of listening with a 10-minute charge and 9 hours from a 30-minute charge. On a full charge, the OnTrac has been claimed to deliver over 55 hours of listening. In my testing, I found this claim to be accurate as these headphones outperformed my daily drivers with ease. We’re talking about premium headphones delivering a solid battery life, which is far ahead of flagship offerings from Apple, Bose, and even Sony. Dyson truly deserves a shout-out here.
Verdict
Dyson OnTrac is a massive improvement over its predecessor and there’s no denying the fact that it seems ready to take on the heavyweights in this price category. But before it can be a serious threat to the industry leaders in this price category – Bose and Sony – it needs to fill in the void left behind by the lacking features. Whether it is Bluetooth multi-point or support for aptX or true high-resolution audio, some of the features we take for granted on premium headphones are missing here. While the absence of these features can be a dealbreaker for some people, I would say that the sound quality offered by these headphones is exceptional. The robust clamp force allows these headphones to deliver a crystal clear sound signature that even outshines the Sony WH-1000XM5 in some cases, which has been my daily driver for more than 18 months now.
If you look past the premium price tag, you will also get amazing battery life (far exceeding any other premium headphones in the market) and customisation options, unlike any other premium headphones in the market. The noise cancellation is arguably better if not at par with other premium headsets. Overall, the choice will come down to your preference and whether you can look past the tradeoffs to get access to its strong points.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Pros:
- Rich sound signature
- Excellent noise cancellation
- Class-leading battery life
- Customisation options
Cons:
- Overweight
- Outdated Bluetooth version support
- Lack of support for popular codecs
- Pricey
