Dyson Ontrac Review: When style trumps substance

Let’s do a simple exercise: what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the name of the manufacturer Dyson? Probably vacuum cleaners. Or hand dryers. And there’s no shame in that: Dyson has built a reputation in these areas over the years, becoming one of the most efficient and respected manufacturers of such devices. However, Dyson has also tried its luck in the field of headphones with the Zone model, also equipped with an air purifier, about which the less we talk about, the better. However, the company did not give up and invested the experience gained during the Zone “experiment” in a new pair of headphones, much better thought out this time: Dyson Ontrac.

Style

However, Ontrac also comes with its own “ace up its sleeve”: the possibility for the user to customize his headphones, visually. Thus, both the cushions of the cups, as well as the caps on the outer face of the cups, can be changed, thus allowing the owner to match the headphones to the clothes worn or, simply, to adapt the pair of Ontrac to their own style.

The process of removing the existing cups or caps and replacing them with new ones is very simple and does not require any technical knowledge or training, thus anyone can customize these headphones. Provided you have the 259.99 lei that Dyson is asking for a pair of extra pads or the external covers. Visuals aside, the fact that you can change the earcups so easily can prove extremely useful after a long period of use, when you won’t have to search desperately for earpads compatible with your headphones, but instead have directly the official solution.

Also, the “industrial” design of the Dyson Ontrac headphones could be judged as extravagant, but personally, I consider it one of the most comfortable pairs of on-ear headphones I’ve had the opportunity to try. The pillows are covered with a textile material that is very pleasant to the touch and sit almost perfectly on the head. In fact, the passive noise isolation is so good that I didn’t really see the point of the ANC (active noise canceling) function anymore.

Last but not least, two of the three “sponges” that support the headphones on the head are equipped with additional batteries, Dyson boasting an autonomy of 55 hours per charge, almost double that of the competition. That’s right, during the nearly two-week testing process, I only needed to charge these headphones once, at first (the charging cable with USB Type-C plugs is included in the package).

The Slimline Ontrac protective case is also included in the package, a kind of combination between a classic protective case for such headphones and the “wallet” used by Apple for AirPods Max. Basically, we are dealing with two rubberized surfaces, the size of folded Ontrac headphones, joined together with the help of some kind of elastic material. Much better than what Apple offers with AirPods Max and easy to carry, but without the level of protection offered by a conventional case.

Substance

Good-looking visuals aside, the Dyson Ontrac are, after all, audio headphones, so what matters most is how they sound. And in this chapter I can’t say that I was very impressed: it lacks the dynamics and especially the volume level of other competitors placed in the same price range, such as the Sonos Ace. With a bit of EQ correction, you can say that the Ontracs sound decent, but not good enough for the price Dyson is asking for these headphones, around 2500 lei.

It doesn’t help that, in addition to the classic SBC and AAC, Dyson only supports the LHDC lossless codec, which is not compatible with either iPhones or Samsung phones. If you consider the combined market share of Apple and Samsung in terms of smartphone sales, you come to the conclusion that the Dyson Ontrac is not performing to its full potential with more than half of the smart terminals available in Europe.

As I mentioned earlier, you can greatly improve the listening experience with these headphones if you use an EQ correction. For that, you need the dedicated MyDyson app, available in both the App Store (iPhone) and the Google Play Store (Android). It looks pretty good, has a nice design, covers most of the useful features, but has two big downsides: it requires you to create a Dyson account if you want to attach a company device to it (including these headphones), and it also displays a warning that to which “the Dyson device attached to this account will no longer be able to be used on another”.

Daunting, especially for those who would like to borrow or later even sell their headphones. Admittedly, out of curiosity, I also connected the Dyson Ontrac to another phone and it worked fine, so I don’t know to what extent the app’s warning is real or not. What is certain, however, is that I wasn’t too happy about the need to create an account to use MyDyson, this step not being required by any other headphone manufacturer I’ve tested so far (not even Sonos). Also, the EQ options offered by this app seem very limited to me, with only three presets: Enhanced, Bass Boost and Neutral (of which I only find the first two useful). Again, a little bit for some Bluetooth headphones located in the premium price category.

In terms of controlling the audio material played, Dyson chose the middle way: on the right cup there is a mini-joystick with which you can raise/lower the volume, advance/return to the next/previous track or pause and restart the playback. It works very well and provides tactile feedback that is hard to match with solutions based on touch-sensitive surfaces. That is precisely why it is relatively difficult to understand the way Dyson chose to switch between the headphones’ ANC modes (on, transparency or off), with a double tap on the outside of the cup. Most of the time, it doesn’t register correctly and requires you to press down quite violently, which is not pleasant when wearing these headphones.

Conclusion

I really liked the design, customization, and overall visuals of these Ontrac headphones from Dyson. However, when it comes to headphones, playback quality comes first, and Dyson still has some work to do in this regard, especially if they intend to compete in this premium segment, where the competition is very fierce. If the MyDyson application will be enriched with a more permissive EQ, and the price of the headphones brought to a more affordable level, Ontrac could become an attractive and competitive option in front of similar solutions offered by manufacturers with more experience in the audio field.