Taking advantage of this opportunity to visit Dyson's R&D center in Malmesbury, UK, I not only learned more aboutDyson Zone headphonesLearn how it is designed and experience this headset product that has both air purification and noise reduction functions in a short time.
The Dyson Zone headphones were officially announced in March this year and are expected to be launched in China first in January 3, followed by the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore in March. The suggested retail price will start from US$2023.
According to Dyson, planning for the Dyson Zone headphone product began as early as five or six years ago, and the company obtained a patent for the design in 5. It was also determined that this would be Dyson's first product to enter the wearable device market, and it was positioned to solve the air pollution and noise problems faced by individuals when on the move.
Taking London as an example, the most common living conditions are air pollution caused by vehicle exhaust and other factors on the streets, as well as the noise from mechanical operations in the subway, which affects hearing. Similar problems also exist in major cities around the world, including New York, Australia and India.
Place a smaller air filter into the narrow space of headphones
Therefore, the focus of Dyson Zone product design is on how to put the air purification function into headphones with a relatively small internal space, and at the same time how to achieve better noise reduction function under this condition and provide a better listening experience, so that users can get better air quality during the wearing process, and their hearing can also be protected.
For air purification, Dyson will use the same motor design used in its air purifiers, which can reach up to 1 revolutions per minute, inside the left and right ear cups of the Dyson Zone. Air is drawn into the inner sides of the left and right ear cups, and then a filtration system with a potassium-carbon layer is used to remove harmful substances such as formaldehyde, as well as 99% of particulate pollution as small as 0.1 microns, and absorb air odors.
Finally, the filtered, clean air is delivered through the mask system, allowing the user to experience a more comfortable breathing experience. For air speed, you can adjust the airflow speed to "Rest," "Light," and "Medium" according to your needs, or choose to let the headphones automatically adjust the setting.
The detachable mask not only ensures that air is delivered smoothly to the user's mouth, but also allows for additional mask accessories to be added.
As for the mask system, it is fixed to the front of the earphones by magnets and has a movable mechanism that allows users to temporarily pull down the mask part, so that the earphones can automatically switch to call mode and pause music playback at the same time.
At the same time, the mask system can also cooperate with mask consumables and accessories to strengthen the fit with the user's mouth, thereby meeting the needs of wearing a mask. The mask itself is designed with highly foldable elastic material, so there is no need to worry about whether it will deform during use or break into sharp corners and cause danger to use.
How to reduce the noise generated during operation is another challenge
In order to further reduce the size of the motor mechanism so that it can fit into the relatively small space of the earmuffs, Dyson has also tried many mechanical designs. At the same time, it has created a special rotor balance suspension system to address the noise and vibration that may be generated when the motor is running.
The torque generated by the rotation of the rotor is used to offset the operating force of the air purifier motor, and a special suspension mechanism is used to absorb the amplitude that cannot be offset. Finally, the earmuffs are designed to fit tightly, so that the noise generated by the motor mechanism can be further locked inside the earmuffs.
In addition, Dyson has built-in microphones in the ear cups to reduce the noise generated by internal mechanisms through the principle of active noise reduction technology. On the other hand, it also uses external microphones to reduce the surrounding noise.
Of the 11 built-in microphones, 8 are used for active noise reduction, 2 are used for noise cancellation, and the remaining 1 is used for communication.
Pursuing high-quality sound performance while maintaining hearing health
In terms of sound performance, the Dyson Zone's speaker unit is designed with 40mm, 16 ohm impedance, and neodymium material. It can vibrate 48000 times per second, neutralizing the harmonic distortion in the entire sound frequency range to below XNUMX%.0.
The sound receiving part is equipped with a total of 11 sets of microphones, 8 of which are used for noise reduction inside and outside the earmuffs, which can detect 384000 times per second and block the noise between20Hz-Frequency between 20kHz,It can eliminate up to 38dB of noise (can eliminate up to 40dB of noise) and can detect all audible sound frequencies.
Like most active noise-cancelling headphones on the market, Dyson Zone not only has active noise cancellation, but users can also choose to switch to transparency mode to maintain listening to ambient sounds, or completely turn off the noise cancellation function according to their needs.
But in the sound equalizer part, based on the consideration of protecting the user's hearing, Dyson Zone only provides three modes of preset bass, midrange and treble, and does not allow users to make detailed adjustments by themselves, but in the future, it may observe the actual use needs for follow-up renew.
Actual experience: Size will be a problem, but the impact is not significant
During actual use, you can still vaguely hear the subtle sound of the motor, but when the air purification function is turned on or when listening to music, the subtle noise of the motor will be relatively "inaudible".
When wearing Dyson Zone, you won’t feel it’s particularly heavy, and it can even be firmly fixed on your head. It doesn’t feel a certain weight as you might have originally guessed. This is mainly due to the weight reduction of the top headband and the weighted design of the headphones themselves.
However, the overall size may still be a concern for many users, especially for many female users who prefer in-ear headphones, who may feel more repulsed.
The headset itself weighs 595 grams, and the total weight including the mask system is 670 grams.
However, considering this is Dyson's first wearable device, it is difficult to fully meet all usage requirements. In particular, combining air purification functions with headphones is a challenge that exceeds physical limits. In addition, the need for active noise reduction design makes it even more difficult to further reduce the size of the headphones.
From the initial prototype design to the final product appearance, we can actually see the effort Dyson has put into this pair of headphones that combines air purification and noise reduction functions.
In terms of overall power performance, Dyson Zone uses two sets of lithium-ion batteries on the left and right, with a total battery capacity of 2600mAh.
When simply playing music, the battery life can be up to 40 hours. If the air purification function is turned on at the same time, the battery life will be shortened to about 4.5 hours. It also supports a fast charging function that can charge 20 hour of usable power in 1 minutes and fully charge the battery within 3 hours.
At the same time, Dyson Zone is connected via Bluetooth 5.0, corresponding to A2DP, AVRCP and HFP transmission protocols, and also supports audio technologies such as LDAC, atpX, AAC, but does not include the Spatial Audio function.
Users can connect with the headphones through the new version of the MyDyson app. The app will also record changes in air quality, noise and other data during the use of the headphones, allowing users to understand their personal usage. It can also serve as a reference for Dyson to further optimize its products in the future or create new products.
In addition, the app will also prompt users whether they should replace the air filter consumables in the earmuffs, or remind users to avoid prolonged exposure to air pollution or environments with obvious noise.
As for air filter consumables, they can be used for about one year. If the air pollution in the environment is more obvious, the replacement time of air filter consumables may be shortened.
Currently, the air filter consumables corresponding to Dyson Zone are only available in a single specification, and do not yet provide air filter consumables with different filtering effects like household air purifiers.
Actual storage box is eye-catching
When Dyson Zone is launched, there will be three versions, including one with a silver headband and earmuffs and a dark blue mask, and one with Dyson's signature blue-purple color and a silver-plated outer layer on the dark blue mask. Both versions will be sold through dealerships.
The other version sold directly through Dyson channels is the one I actually tried out. The headband will be in Dyson's representative blue-purple color, and the outer edge of the mask will be gold-plated. It will also provide storage boxes of different designs and velvet bags that can cover the earphones and mask. In addition, it will also provide adapter accessories that can be used to connect to the entertainment system on the plane.
As for the actual selling price, it will vary depending on the region. It is currently expected to be launched in China first in January 2023, and will be available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore in March. The suggested retail price will start from US$1.
