(NEW) Dyson Zone ANC Headphones

We all laughed (myself included) when these came out. They're absurd. The chinbar is so hilariously cringe. They're so bulky. And they were a GRAND. And Dyson isn't exactly known for... headphones. But now that they're seemingly sunsetting the product (or just lowing the price to a humane level) they are competitively priced against the Focal Bathys, so I figured I'd try it since many reviewers said they sounded fantastic. And they were so right. These are better than the Focal Bathys. Let me pitch these as a real product that you might be interested in. For starters, just ignore the chinbar. It's kinda cheap feeling and looks absurd. I'm going to give it a shot MAYBE when the pacific northwest fire season rolls around and we're all breathing campfire smoke, It might be fun to try. But the headphones still work without the chinbar, and I'm going to review them like that. As a pair of headphones. Based on looks, these are stupidly good looking. They're very big, quite heavy, and very ostentatious, so if you require subtlety and light weight, these won't satisfy. But they are EXTRMELY comfortable, with a perfect clamp force on my large motorcycle helmet sized head and average ears, and the headband has given me no hotspots in hours of use. It almost feels like a suspension setup. The pads are just lovely to touch. The whole thing is frankly. Everything is gorgeously machined metal. they even painted the inside of the silver filter grates just to give it a subtle blue shadow effect. And the blue. This ultramarine blue is simply stunning. Like, this might be my new favorite shade of blue. I want a car that's this color. A couch. It's a ROYAL blue through and through, almost violet in low light, to a vivid, ultra saturated blue under sunlight. I'm seriously not capable of selling how amazing the paint/anodizing is. The whole thing (minus the cheap plastic feeling chinbar that kinda had to be for weight unless they went carbon fiber) truly feels like a thousand dollar product. From the swivels to the pivots, the fit and finish, even the case has the single most satisfying knob ever to lock it. EVEN THE USB-C CABLE has machined and custom silicone strain relief and a custom braid that matches the pouch for the chinbar, and it all fits nicely into the far too nice, far too bulky case that I kinda love to interact with. The app works. It's the same app dyson uses for their other products. It has some fun health info, the headphones (while the fans run) measure ambient NO2 levels and give you an AQI snapshot. It tells you the decibels outside the headphones and inside (so you can kinda know if you're playing your music too loudly) and it has three basic EQ settings - I went with bass boost because I want a fun EQ setting when I'm using wireless headphones. Some reviewers have mentioned an 8khz peak on graphs - it really doesn't have any sharpness around there. It's not overly warm and smooth, but it's not shouty or sibilant either. But I also would have really appreciated if they included a custom EQ option. I'll talk more about the sound later. The earcups are pretty deep and the pads are lovely - dyson doesn't sell replacements, but they are attached to a frame that quarter-turns off, and I'm thinking any good XL sized round pad from dekoni or the like will fit over the frame (you do have to peel them off the frame though so I'm not going to try, but I'd call it a 95% confidence.) The controls are a minor weak point. You have to tap on the headphones anywhere twice to switch between ANC on and transparency. I would have preferred they include an ANC off mode in that, but you can turn it off manually in the app. And you have to get used to RAPPING your finger on them, not a gentle capacitive touch, two thumps - I like doing the sides of the headband and found it the most reliable. The knob on the back is nice to use, but isn't programmable either. It'd be nice if it was. The biggest let-down to me is that they can't do wired audio via the USB-C. It only charges. I don't know if Dyson could add that function via firmware update or if they only wired that usb-c port for voltage, but I really, truly wish that I could use them wired, because eventually the batteries will wear out and I absolutely adore the way they sound, and they're built like heirloom headphones. They are somewhat disassemble-able, but I think the batteries are in the headband, which doesn't look like it is. Either way, if I can get 5-10 years out of them, I'll be happy. Now, for the ANC. It's absolutely, positively top tier. Airpods max top tier. Essentially ZERO pressure and zero white noise hiss. They iron out a good amount of high frequencies too. If you're playing anything, even at low volume, someone speaking directly to you is completely silent. And the passthrough is equally phenomenal. No robotic noises at all, it's genuinely fine to just put 'em in passthrough and have a full conversation. I can even listen to media on my TV with them in passthrough and it sounds like 95% like I'm wearing nothing at all. The ANC can't quite mask the fan noise when the chinbar is running, it's still there and slightly intrusive, but as headphones alone, the ANC is on par with the kings. Doesn't have issues with loud sudden clapping/banging noises like slamming a cabinet, doesn't get confused and angry by low thrumming noises like the engines on the ferry I commute on (many ANC products fail here and try to murder me by not being able to keep up and going out of phase) and high winds don't phase it whatsoever. And now for the sound. Like I said in the title, these are the best sounding wireless headphones I think money can buy. Some people are liking the audeze maxwells, and while those are cheaper, they don't have ANC, so I consider them a different product - though wireless 90mm planars are something I very much need to get a pair of. I haven't tried some of the other megapremium options, but these are right in the focal bathys and airpods max range right now, and they absolutely demolish the airpods and I think between the bathys and these, the Dysons win handily. With the bass boost, they are fun, lively, not fatiguing, and just phenomenal all-rounders. The bass goes ALL the way down, with the sub bass rumble in something like "children of the omnissiah" being intense as it sweeps down to like 20hz. The midbass is punchy and impactful, with very, very minimal bleed into the lower mids. the mids are full and clean, with well defined layering and separation, excellent placement and imaging, and a solid soundstage. The treble is clear and clean, not too shimmery, and I honestly can't pick out that supposed 8khz peak. Whoever tuned these is a master. If your only frame of reference is bose, apple, sony XM's, or sennheiser momentum, these are in a whole other class of fidelity. These have a cohesively superb sound that's pushing up into the range that I'd put my $3000 grado GS3000's in. They use LDHC for a codec, which is the absolute highest bitrate possible, and pushing for what FLAC itself can do, so I really can't detect any loss or compression compared to my wired headphones. I've noticed no meaningful delay or lag with them either, gaming is just fine (and the imaging and placement really, really make them good gaming headphones) Which brings me to the final thoughts - at ~$550, these are maybe the best wireless, ANC headphones you can buy. The whole package is supremely luxurious, and dyson clearly spared ZERO expense in quality of build/materials, and on the professional expertise of sound engineers to tune the ANC and passthrough to rival apple, and the sound quality to go toe to toe with the real audiophile heavy hitters. But the fact that they're now at a reasonable price makes me concerned about something - support. I think we all know these were a marketing idea that dyson took way, way too seriously in making a legitimate product. But I am worried about dyson continuing to support them for 5 or 10 years with earpads, replacement chinbars as they break, extra filters (they only come with one single set) or software/firmware updates to keep them working well as technology marches on. That part gives me pause. And to be honest, Dyson could have a potential market leading idea here. Take out the air filters and fans (which I know, kinda makes them no longer "dyson") and use this audio tech and ANC in a smaller, lighter headphone, and only ask $400-500 for them - they'd be a legitimate headphone manufacturer and a seriously competitive option. But for what they are now, if you're down with a bit of a gimmick in design and potentially not much more support, they're still a super compelling product. Also the chinbar makes for some hilarious "hey wanna see the stupidest product ever made?" conversations with your coworkers.