Dyson Zone air purifying headphones set to debut at $949/£749 in early 2023

Dyson has announced that its Dyson Zone air purifying headphones will indeed be on sale in early 2023 as rumoured. Prices start from $949/£749. Note the ‘start from’ – Dyson says that exact pricing will be confirmed closer to launch.

The crazy headphones go on sale from January in China and March in the US, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and Singapore. We got to check out the Dyson Zone back in March 2022 and we said at the time they were the “wildest gadget we’d ever tried”. Dyson has clearly improved the noise cancellation since our initial go with them and has also now confirmed a bunch more spec details. So we also now know a lot more about our product than we did in March after our initial hands-on. Here’s a summary of all the new info:

• The Dyson Zone will be available in three colourways – satin silver/ultra blue, ultra blue/Prussian blue and Prussian blue/bright copper.

• Battery life for the headphones themselves is 50 hours with noise cancellation switched on. With the purifying also in action, this drops hugely down to 4 hours of combined purification and audio run-time (it can be as little as 1.5 hours if the airflow speed is high). They’ll charge to 100% in 3 hours. 
• The compressors spin at up to 9,750 rpm to draw air through the filters. Filters will last up to 12 months, depending on where you live – you can specify this in the MyDyson app which will remind you to change them.  

• As with Dyson’s range of home purifyers, you can also see air quality information in the app and also keep an eye on volume changes over time (you can set a volume limit if you wish).
• Dyson Zone is IP51 rated, so is resistant to drops of water.
• There are 11 microphones used in Dyson Zone, eight of which are for advanced noise cancelling due to the motors used (indeed, this seems to have improved since we originally used the headphones). The ANC system monitors surrounding sounds 384,000 times a second.
• 40mm, 16 ohm, neodymium speaker drivers sit at the heart of the audio system. The frequency range is from 6Hz-21kHz. The chip powering the audio/Bluetooth is off the shelf rather than being developed in house.
• The EQ setting has been developed by Dyson internally and it can’t be adjusted. But you can choose from three modes: Dyson EQ (enhanced), Bass Boost (bassy) and Neutral (flatter response curve).
• Like many other headsets, there are two microphones using beamforming and noise suppression tech to make voice calls clearer (the telephony microphone combines with the feed forward ANC microphone).
• The Dyson Zone purifying tech captures 99% of particle pollution as small as 0.1 microns and the K-Carbon filters target prevalent gases most associated with city pollution, including NO₂ and SO₂. 
• The ear cushions are purposefully flatter than conventional cushions for both passive attenuation and comfort, says Dyson. As with plenty of other headphones they’re angled to align with the ear. 
• Generally, you’d use the visor in auto mode, so the airflow automatically adjusts depending on what you’re doing. The noise cancellation can’t be switched off if the compressors are running. If you remove the visor they automatically stop and so you can use the headphones independently at that point (you can also ‘dip’ the visor at which point the airflow will also stop – Dyson calls this conversation mode).  

Also read: Dyson Zone: your questions answered about the crazy air-purifying headphones