Figured I'd lend my non youtube/social media influencer review on these cans. I bought them with my own bread and I don't have any compensation from Dyson or anyone.
I've had mine closing on two weeks now. My daily cans are AKG N90Q. Those are also big. I've never used apples earphones so can't compare but the dyson is on par with the ANC of the AKGs.
The ear cups feel like marshmallows around your ears and the weight is uniform. They are not heavy to me and I can wear them for longer than an hour with no headaches or neck pain, they don't feel like your head is in a vice.
Battery life is not the greatest when you run the filter on moderate, which is the max setting. Dyson mention this in their documentation so it's not a shock. If no music is playing, you hear a subtle whirrrrrr of the fans when the filter is on low/auto/siting. If you play classical music and you have the filter on the highest setting, you may hear some white noise from the fan. I'm a fan (no pun) of Philip Glass and on some of the songs I tested, in some of the quieter pieces, you can hear some white noise on max. Turning it to auto or "sitting" you dont hear it.
You can charge whilst using the cans so this helps with prolonging battery power. I have a power bank and can plug the cans up and put the power bank in my backpack and that is a viable way for me to keep them charged on the go. My powerbank is also small enough to put in my pocket if I don't want to carry a backpack, but when I'm hiking, I have a backpack so this would be a non issue for me. I've not had to do that but I did set this up to see how I could get on with it.
The air smellllsssss soooooooooo gooooooooooooooddddd !!!!!!!!! :p
I live in LA and the air is not the best here. I've used these cans in many areas in LA. I've had a couple of people stop and ask me what the heck this was, but this is to be expected. I had a couple of people who like to wear masks inquire about the cost, weight of the product.
You can double tap on the side of the cans to enable the ANC or disable it. The visor is easy to put on thanks to the magnets. The visor is not meant to touch your face, so keep a finger length betwixt it and your face. The head band has to be on your head a certain way so the visor covers your mouth and nose properly. Pulling the visor down deactivates the fan and music and amplifies the ambient sounds so you can hear without removing the cans from your head. You can change this so the music still plays but the filter will still shut off.
Sound quality is really good. Again comparing to my AKG N90Qs. The eq is basic and you cant adjust the EQ other than the 3 presets they have in the app. Maybe Dyson will add this in the future? Only having the presets would not prevent me from getting these cans. I think they cover most sound settings the average person would need.
Call quality is fine. I do not sound like I am in a tin cup or underwater. I made a couple of calls to people on different cellular networks (TMO and Verizon) and they had no issues hearing me. You lower the visor to make calls. You do hear some of your voice so you don't feel like you need to yell.
The joystick works fine and is intuitive. It controls volume, changing tracks, enabling your phones assistant. play/pause. it has a quality feel to it when you use it. There is a button on the other can to adjust fan speed on the fly so you don't need to have the app out all the time.
This past Friday, I opened up the Dyson app and there was a firmware update waiting to install. This took about 7 minutes. It tells you on the screen the time it will take. I did not see any update info on what was included and could not find this info immediately on the Dyson site.
The app is interesting. It shows you particulate info that the cans are filtering/sensing and it tells you how loud the ambient sound is around you. It also knows the air quality in. your area. It needs location permission to do this so be aware it knows where you are. I don't really use the app much. I just "set it and forget it". I can use the joystick to adjust the music and sound, and the dedicated fan button to change the fan settings. The app also has a tutorial section with videos to show you how to clean the visor, use the cans, and get the most out of the user interface.
It's a niche product and definitely not for everyone. Dyson knew there is a market for this and it sure is. The Absolute+ version with the extras is still out of stock. The other version that does not come with accessories is avail.
I have read all of the threads I could find on Reddit about these cans, and the overwhelming majority of cats think they are stupid looking, silly and a joke. Fair points--we are all entitled to our opinion. I've had no issues feeling self conscious about wearing these. Here in LA maybe society is more forgiving with things like this, or maybe I just don't spend my time looking around for people to notice.
Im happy to be among the first to get on board with these. I look forward to version 2. The only thing I want right away is longer battery life.
