u/hashgraphic

This sounds pretty great to me! Tested against my Sennheiser HD600, Zone, AirPods Max USB-C and Bose QC Ultra 2.

The Dyson OnTrac, in my opinion, are still a rather overlooked headphone that don’t really get any sort of spotlight in comparison even to brands that aren’t the big “headphone brands” like Sony, Bose, and Apple. It’s pretty obvious why. Dyson has never really been known as an audio company, and it’s quite easy to immediately write these headphones off because of their inexperience and brand image. Plus, obviously, their one audio product before this headphone was the Zone, which were pretty immediately seen as a complete joke (rather unfairly, in my opinion).

It’s also, sadly, becoming more obvious that Dyson hasn’t really indicated any desire to go any further with their audio division, and may have already given up behind the scenes. The last post from their Instagram account was in March, and they’ve been heavily discounting the OnTrac for months for 50% off their original retail price of $500. Though I’d absolutely love to see how Dyson would improve on the OnTrac with a second generation, it’s seeming less and less likely and that honestly makes me sad. Dyson never truly bothered marketing these in the United States, and even though they seem to be somewhat more popular in other markets (Australia and maybe South Korea from what I’ve heard), maybe it just hasn’t been enough for Dyson to really bother pursuing audio.

Which really, legitimately sucks. It’s rather surprising to me that even almost a year later, even after owning both more popular and more acclaimed headphones that get raved about all the time, that the OnTrac remains my main go-to headphone for regular, daily use. They’re not the absolute best at every single thing they do, and comparing them to something like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2, they do start to show their age… but I still use them more and there’s a few reasons why.

First off… the OnTrac are perhaps my favorite looking headphones I’ve ever owned, or maybe ever seen, especially with the yellow earpads and silver outer caps. They embody a retrofuturistic aesthetic that kind of feels in line with what Nothing is doing right now in terms of design, but I actually think the OnTrac do a better job of it. They’re fantastically well-built still, and even compared to the QC Ultra 2, they’re some of the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever owned. The battery lasts just about forever. One area that they’ve been one-upped by their newer competition has to be in terms of noise cancellation, however - the QC Ultra 2 simply does a noticeably better job than the OnTrac here, but what the OnTrac provides is still solid and I wouldn’t complain if I didn’t have the QC Ultra 2.

In terms of sound quality, though, I really do believe the OnTracs are still competitive, even with the current crop of ANC wireless headphones - at least once you EQ them. However, I do have to amend my original post slightly. The “Neutral” preset is pretty solid, actually! With the custom EQ settings, though, the presets are kind of useless.

And this leads me onto a little bit of a critique of the custom EQ that Dyson provides: there’s no real way to tell what the 5-band EQ is actually doing, and I’m pretty sure it’s not directly affecting the frequencies that the app claims it does. What I’ve actually figured out, by pulling up frequency test tones and messing around with the equalizer while listening to them, is that the “200Hz” bass adjustment moreso completely adjusts the entire bass shelf under 200Hz, and the “4kHz” upper treble adjustment seems to adjust around 6000kHz, but it’s hard for me to tell because I’m not a professionally paid headphone reviewer that has access to testing equipment.

What I mean to say is… take what the labels in the equalizer seem to be telling you as a very rough estimation of what you’re actually doing. It’s definitely better than the three presets they included with the headphones initially, but it still feels somewhat misleading.

That said, the OnTrac, once either set to the “Neutral” preset, or with the bass turned down in the custom EQ, still sound great and I legitimately really do like their presentation.

Compared with the QuietComfort Ultra 2, which I do think is (finally) a very good sounding Bose active noise cancelling headphone, I do somewhat prefer the OnTrac, and I think it probably goes beyond what you can tell by a frequency response graph. The QC Ultra 2 is, quite plainly, a good sounding headphone, but it still feels like a Bose headphone in a way that is hard to really describe. There are a lot of people out there who characterize their sound, before equalization, as being “bass-heavy”, which on paper and in measurements seems to track. However, I’ve never really heard them, or the QCU1, as having a ton of legitimate bass presence or impact in general, which feels odd to describe if you’ve never heard them.

The 2s, compared to the 1s, feel like they’re a massive improvement to me in terms of some of the issues the 1s had that particularly bothered me (like their treble response). I think they’re actually a really legitimately good headphone, comparing them to the EQ’d OnTrac. However, there’s just something there about the OnTrac’s presentation that does sound more organic and natural in a way I can’t really describe. The OnTrac feel like listening to a good pair of speakers, or at least a great set of analog, non-noise cancelling headphones, with more natural lower-end presence than the QCU2, which somewhat feel more clinical in comparison but in a much more “digital” way (which I don’t really prefer, personally).

This brings me to the quality-of-life stuff about the OnTrac I genuinely do like more than the QC Ultra 2. The longer battery life is nice, but also one massive annoyance I never see mentioned about the QCU2 is the wired audio latency. It’s pretty understandable, and unavoidable, that any Bluetooth headphone connected wirelessly will have some latency, but the QC Ultra 2 has unavoidable wired latency in addition - which basically makes them useless if you’re gaming, or worse off, using them in any sense if you’re monitoring a musical instrument. The Dyson OnTrac, however, I’ve never had any wired latency issues with (though I do note that to use them wired, you have to buy Dyson’s proprietary in-flight USB-C to 3.5mm adapter kit).

In addition, the OnTrac to me still has the superior transparency mode. I’m not sure how Dyson of all companies managed to do it, but even the established audio brands can’t match how solid the transparency mode is on the OnTrac - it legitimately feels like you’re wearing a set of open backs. It’s also much nicer to use these headphones for calls than the QuietComfort Ultra 2, as they’re louder during calls and the superior transparency mode allows you to hear your own voice better while hearing the voices of whoever you’re calling at a reasonable volume.

All I have to say, really, is that even though these things are almost 2 years old (what feels like ages in the headphone world these days), the Dyson OnTrac are still wonderful and competitive to me, especially at the $250 sale price they seemingly are practically always going for these days. While I like my Bose QC Ultra 2, and do find their noise cancelling to be superior, I don’t know. I still reach for my OnTracs most of the time, and I really, really wish Dyson wouldn’t give up on audio… even if no one else seems to care. An upgraded OnTrac 2 with better noise cancelling, a better EQ, USB-C audio and Bluetooth 5.4 would be a dream come true, if it happens.

Please, Dyson? For the five of us out there who care? …please?