Dyson isn’t a rookie in the headphones business any more. Last year, we saw the Zone, a concept only Dyson could have thought of — a pair of headphones that could also purify air. This year, they have dropped the air purification element of Zone, and have made the product considerably slimmer. Now called the ‘OnTrac’, it places a major emphasis on sound. It’s also a youth icon, with cyberpunk aesthetics, customisable cushions and caps. Furthermore, it’s a Dyson, so the price tag of Rs 44,899 shouldn’t surprise you. But is it all enough to be a cult classic? Find out in my review.
What Is Good?
- Stylish design
- Extraordinary battery life
- Comfortable cushioning
- Physical buttons for controls
What Is Bad?
- Expensive
- Restrained sound at high frequencies
- Bulky form factor
Design & Build
The OnTrac is intended to evoke an aspirational appeal among the young crowd, like what the original PlayStation had for the average Indian kid back in my days. It’s funky, it’s cool and grabs attention wherever you wear it. It’s an interesting amalgamation of industrial design merged with eye-grabbing colours. Everything is either pointy or perfectly round.
There’s ample padding everywhere, the ear cushions are plush, and the heft of the metal used here really exudes a sense of luxury whenever you wear them. I highly recommend wearing these at a store to understand what I’m saying here.
It has physical buttons (I always dig these) and they are easy to reach. The joystick button on the right cup lets you fiddle with the volume, skip, pause and play tracks. This saves space, sure, but when you’re in the gym, you may not always get the input right.
They have also skipped the ANC toggle button by introducing a double tap gesture on the cap which does that instead. And it doesn’t register that just on the caps – you can also double-tap on the headband to toggle ANC, which is far easier.
Customisability
Dyson really wants people to take note of the customisability aspect of these headphones. You can buy the OnTrac in four body colours – black nickel, aluminium, copper and ceramic cinnabar.
To spice these up, you get seven ear cushions and outer cap colours. So, in theory, you get as many as 196 colour combinations, and I haven’t even accounted for keeping the left and the right ear cup/outer cap colours different.
The outer caps and cushions use a simple twist and lock mechanism. It’s all easy and intuitive to work out, great job Dyson.
What’s the catch here? The price. Each cushion and cap costs Rs 4,900 a pop. So, logically speaking, if you really buy into the customisability hype, you can expect the effective cost of ownership to be around 65 grand (excluding the limited-time discount) if you opt for two additional pairs of caps and cushions.
Sound and hardware
Two custom-built 40mm neodymium drivers power these headphones. Dyson doesn’t divulge this on the website, so I had to dig around to find it. The frequency response is between 6Hz to 21kHz. Typically, headphones operate between frequencies of 20Hz to 20kHz, so these are geared more towards lower frequencies – ergo, these are geared more towards bass.
How’s the sound? Short answer – the sound is clean and balanced. The OnTrac feels in its element when listening to bass-heavy, pop tunes. I enjoyed vibing to the popular hits by Karan Aujla, Badshah and Diljit Dosanjh, among many other artists.
I spent several hours, revisiting the nostalgia of Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, Meteora and Reanimation. It all sounded fresh, with the low frequencies hitting hard.
But I always had this nagging sense of “something’s trapped” whenever I tried something a bit more intense, such as Jacob Collier’s Hideaway or Money For Nothing by Dire Straits. I believe there are two reasons for this.
One is that the high frequencies feel a bit too controlled. Zedd’s recent collaboration with John Mayer, Automatic Yes, a fantastic blend of electronic and bluesy guitar licks, sounded restrained with the OnTrac. The melody in the song has high registers, and the sense of airiness was lacking. While vocals and bass synths were well reproduced, the hi-hats didn’t shine as much.
The second reason is big headphones portray the illusion of big sound. While the loudness is well beyond average, the subdued soundstage can sometimes give an illusion of “huh, there should be a little more to this experience”.
The equaliser options are limited, you only get three presets to choose from (Enhanced, Bass Boost and Neutral. I quite liked the Bass Boost setting, it’s not too in your face. The Enhanced option is good for listening to acoustic songs. I never found myself tuning into the Neutral preset.
Noise Cancellation & Transparency Mode
The OnTrac deploys eight mics to cancel out noise. The ANC is effective, and Dyson claims it’s capable of cancelling out 40db of ambient sound. To get a better idea of what to expect, exactly the decibel reduction Sony WH-1000XM3 offers. The transparency mode is fine, it’s not so good that you feel as if you aren’t wearing anything, but you do get to hear what’s happening around you.
The noise monitoring feature is the most Dyson thing about the OnTrac. Three mics within your earcup constantly check how much sound your ears are getting exposed to, giving you an idea about how much you might be damaging your ears.
Battery
While I do not have the official battery capacity of the headphones, the OnTrac has been the longest-lasting pair of high-end over-the-ear headphones I have used in the last three years. One week? Easy. I’m talking 10 days’ worth of battery life, and this included four arduous days of air travel. My typical usage involves listening to music at full volume while working out, and about two hours while working out.
Charging them isn’t too bad either, taking about an hour for a full charge from 15% battery.
Verdict
The high-end headphones space has become a bit too mundane, and the Dyson OnTrac throws in a splash of colours to spice things up a little. It’s a unique proposition, with its colourful caps and cushions. The sound, while being a bit restrained around higher frequencies, is loud, clear and thumpy. The battery backup is insanely good, lasting well over a week. The younger generation may genuinely dig the look and sound of these headphones.
Sadly, youngsters are also the ones lacking the spending power to buy such premium headphones. So, if you’re a parent who would like to gift these to your kid, be prepared to have a CNC-machined hole in your pocket. However, you may think of these as a long-term investment, because Dyson is known for its fantastic aftersales service, and the customisability aspect may keep these relevant even after the usual two-year product cycle.
