Over-ear headphones are primarily for those who want to immerse themselves in their listening or find earbuds dangling from the ears uncomfortable. The larger drivers, compared to those in earbuds, allow over-ear pairs to offer better sound.

You may remember Dyson’s first attempt at headphones from last year. It was a pair of sound cans with an attachable air filter for techno-futurists. Most people started using the device without the vizor-like attachment. But it wasn’t a bad pair of headphones at all.

When you want to turn the headphones on, press a small physical button on the bottom of the right ear cup until you hear the noise and see a small light flashing to indicate they're in pairing mode

The company has come up with another pair of headphones but this time without any “purifying” element. One year has been enough to make Dyson change its strategy.

The new pair leans towards design but is also future-focused. The problem lies with Dyson’s stature. It’s a very big company, and whatever they come up with will be scrutinised. In a competitive market, Dyson had to stand out with its headphones, which OnTrac does with its bold design. The premium wireless headphones have three top-of-the-line offerings. But is that enough to make it an exciting proposition?

The Dyson magic

Dyson positions the OnTrac wireless over-ear headphones at the premium end of the spectrum, more in the Apple AirPods Max zone. If Apple can get away with having the headphones without too many changes over four years, there must be a market for similar devices.

To Dyson’s credit, the headphones last year weren’t bad at all. People are willing to pay for a high-end noise-cancellation headphones. The Dyson headphones come with replaceable ear cups and with a battery life of 55 hours. Further, Dyson’s headphones work on both Android and iPhone.

The technical marvel of Dyson can be seen in how weight is distributed on a pair of headphones that weighs 451g. Everything on the headphones is metal — the top band and hinges. Only the soft cushion near the head is super comfortable. Though they feel different, the comfort level is almost the same as on AirPods Max.

These are visually customisable over-ear headphones with great sound and 55 hours of battery life

There are clever design elements, like the interchangeable backplates and ear cushions. The ear cups are easily replaceable and follow the same easy-to-use logic found across Dyson products. The back material on the ear cups can also be taken off with a quarter twist. This way, you can have different colours. But you don’t get these with the headphones, so you have to buy them separately, which adds to the cost. Dyson has put in quite a good amount of work with the twist-and-lock mechanism so the ear cups and plates don’t come off easily.

The design of the headphones is eye-catching and bold. Since you can change the headphones’ plates, you can end up with several colour options. You can, in fact, change the feel of the headphones depending on the colours you choose.

Another clever design element — there is a little joystick-like knob on the back. It has a bunch of functionalities — you can press in to play/pause, move it up or down for volume and left-right to switch between tracks. Since it sticks out, it’s easy to find the button. The other physical control involves double tapping the left ear cup to turn on/off noise cancellation or transparency mode. You have to realise that the touch area is just on a cap and it’s not a touchpad. There must be a force sensor to make the control work. This is tech innovation at its best. As a tech nerd, the headphones have a lot of fresh technology to offer.

Let’s talk about sound and functions

There is on-head detection so it can automatically detect if you are wearing it. That way it can play/pause music. Also present is multi-device connectivity, so you can connect to two devices.

The headphones come in a weird carry case

Coming to the app, there is nothing to complain about. It lets you change ANC modes and there is a real-time graph of the last 30 seconds of how loud it is inside the headphones compared to the outside.

But what matters is sound. And these sound solid. You can play with the EQ in the Dyson app but there are only three presets — neutral, enhanced and bass boost. The neutral feature is fantastic while enhanced takes it to AirPods Max level. There is a wide soundstage. But you cannot customise the sound, which can be a bummer.

The inside of the ear cups is shallow so the ears almost touch the speakers. There is good instrument separation.

One can’t complain about the level of detail, with voices being delivered in a pleasing manner, like on songs by Sade, Bill Withers or Taylor Swift. The device comes with custom-built 40mm neodymium drivers, with the speaker housing tilted at an angle of 13 degrees towards the ear. There is a sense of drama when you hear music on the headphones.

There are eight microphones around for active noise cancellation. It’s pretty good and these match the level of AirPods Max and options from Sony and Bose. The microphones sample external sound 384,000 times a second. This combines with superior materials and carefully designed internal geometry to cancel up to 40dB of unwanted noise.

Make the call

As a pair of headphones for work or travel, these are sophisticated and stick out in a crowd.

The strength of the headphones is battery life. Since there is a lot of battery on the band, you can easily get it through the weekend. Fifty-plus hours with ANC on is fantastic. The way Dyson has gone about designing the battery setup is commendable.

Noise cancelling and transparency modes are terrific thanks to what have to be some of the better mics we've ever used in the headphone space

But there are drawbacks like these headphones run on the older Bluetooth 5.0, which is a stable option but it’s not future-ready. When you are spending a large amount on headphones, you expect the latest. It would have been better had the device come with Bluetooth 5.3 or 5.4., which offer better sound stability, especially if your apartment has thick walls.

EQ support on the app is also not as competitive as it is on, say, Sony’s offerings. Also, the ear cups twist in one direction to lay it flat. To carry the headphones, you have to bring the case — two flat boards that make a pocket.

Dyson is trying hard to justify its presence in the audio sector but is it enough to make, say, iPhone users switch loyalty? In the sound department, Dyson does a great job but so do the likes of Bose, Apple and Sony. What makes OnTrac really special? Besides battery life, that’s a question one needs to ask. No doubt Dyson OnTrac is a bold attempt and makes the company a promising player in the audio category.

At a glance

Device: Dyson OnTrac

Price: Rs 44,900

High notes

Unparalleled battery life

Customisable colour combinations and replaceable ear cups

Balanced sound good ANC

Excellent design

It’s fun to use

Muffled notes

Customisation in EQ would have helped

Heavier than competitors

Sounds great but so do offerings from Sony, Bose and Apple

Bluetooth 5.0