When we first reported on Razer’s RGB face mask at the beginning of 2021 we didn’t think it was ever going to happen. It was meant to be an air purifier during the pandemic, but some other peripheral makers have taken it to another step. Dyson (yes, the one that makes vacuum cleaners and aircon units) has announced a headset that is also an air purifier. It will launch in the US in March, 2023 for the crazy price of $949.
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Dyson will begin accepting pre-orders for the mask headphones by appointment only before the headphones become available through its website and Demo stores across the country. In the US, the company will offer the wearable in two colourways: Ultra Blue/Prussian Blue and Prussian Blue/Bright Copper. The latter will only be available directly from the company, but it comes with a few extras, including a second electrostatic carbon filter, a soft pouch and an inflight adaptor kit.
It comes with a dedicated sleeve and cleaning brush. According to the company, the electrostatic filters are rated to provide up to 12 months of use before they should be replaced. The air purifier filters feature a dual-layer design that incorporates potassium-enriched carbon to capture acidic gasses like nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone. All told, the company claims the filters will block 99 percent of particles, including ones that are as small as 0.1 microns, though its marketing states it’s intended for “filtering city fumes and pollutants,” rather than contagions.
They are still headphones, so what can we expect from audio quality? The Zone air purifier headphones are capable of up to 38 decibels of noise cancellation and feature 40-millimeter neodymium drivers. You can use the MyDyson companion app to choose between three audio equalization modes dubbed Dyson EQ, Bass Boost and Neutral. At launch, the headphones will support SBC, AAC and LHDC audio codecs, as well as Bluetooth 5.0.
