‘Ridiculous’: Dyson Zone air purifying headphones roasted

Dyson revolutionised everything from vacuum cleaners to hand dryers but the tech firm’s newest product could be its first dud.

British technology company Dyson has brought us many game changing appliances.

There’s the bagless vacuum cleaner, those machines in the loo that sound like a jet engine and dry your hands in seconds and the circular fan thingy.

All have up-ended the world of appliances and have looked aesthetically pleasing in the process. But its winning streak may have run out. We could be witnessing the birth of Dyson’s first dud.

Its newest invention is so odd, so “ridiculous”, indeed so ugly, that it’s been held up as a contender for the “worst tech product of 2022”.

Dyson changed vacuums forever. But it’s newest product is baffling. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

One commentator was puzzled how a product which Dyson boasts took six years and 500 prototypes to come to fruition could still look awful.

So bad is the reception that Dyson has been forced to deny it’s all an early April Fool’s Day gag.

The firm’s newest creation is a wearable device called the Dyson Zone.

It’s marketed as “air purifying headphones”.

The Dyson Zone headphones and air purifier. Chic.

While it delivers crisp music to your ears, your mouth and nose – enclosed in a plastic shield – get a breath of air sucked through various filters to make it fresher.

Dyson says it’s trying to solve the issue of city air being high in pollutants including bacteria and allergens.

However it told news.com.au, the creation has “not been engineered to replace face masks worn as part of the global response to COVID-19”.

The Dyson Zone has a “two stage purification system capable of filtering city fumes and pollutants. So, wherever you are, you can breathe purified air.”

And it does it all while delivering “immersive high fidelity sound”.

Not terrifying at all.

‘Worst tech product of 2022’

The problem with the product is two fold. One, it’s unclear who needs a device that combines headphones and an air purifier. But mostly two, with its heavy protruding nose and mouth shield and chunky headphones, the wearer looks like either an extra out of Mad Max or the victim in a Saw type horror movie encased in a medieval torture device.

Australian technology and gaming website TechAU has boldy declared it “may be the worst tech product of 2022”.

“While I’m generally supportive of tech companies trying new products, this one looks ridiculous and I see no way this (will be) successful,” Jason Cartwright wrote on TechAU.

Bringing technologies and together in one device had merit, he said, but not in this case.

“When the resulting product makes you look weird when you wear it, any advantage of convergence is lost.

haha no April Fools joke here 😀

— Dyson (@Dyson) March 30, 2022

Loving the new Dyson headphones pic.twitter.com/qFPxK8iV6K

— Nev Wilson (@NevWilson) March 30, 2022

Sorry for thoses engineers but I cannot stop seeing that pic.twitter.com/euIx9ykhEf

— PABLO.M (@TRENZISTOR) March 30, 2022

“Apparently, the Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones took more than 500 prototypes before reaching the final design.

“This makes the final choice of design even harder to swallow,” he added.

Some of the 500 prototypes for the Dyson Zone.

Website The Verge said the Zone was “bizarre”.

“While mask-wearing has been normalised considerably over the past two years, we’ll have to see whether customers will be willing to embrace this extremely odd-looking product,” it stated after trying one on for size.

So baffling is the Zone, Dyson has been busy telling people that, no, it’s not all a wind up.

“I’ve just realised what day it is on Friday,” said one person on Dyson’s Twitter account.

“Surely they didn’t plan out a two-year April Fools???”

But the sneak peak of the Zone on Dyson’s social media was on March 30 not April 1.

“This is no April Fool’s joke,” replied the Dyson account.

Another person dubbed it a “snot cannon” and suggested the in-built fans would project the wearer’s potentially Covid-19 heavy exhalations in the direction of passers-by.

Look, the hand dryers are quite good. Picture: Sam Ruttyn.

Dyson is standing by its curious creation.

Talking to the BBC, chief engineer Jake Dyson said air pollution was a “global problem that affects us everywhere we go”.

“The Dyson Zone purifies the air you breathe on the move.

“And unlike face masks, it delivers a plume of fresh air without touching your face, using high-performance filters and two miniaturised air pumps.”

Dyson isn’t selling the Zone yet. Rather, it’s asking people to sign up if they’re interested. It has also yet to reveal the cost of its next big thing.