It was an audacious move when Dyson decided to plunge into the deep end of audio. Dyson is allowed to experiment but with the Dyson Zone, it was trying to be a lot of things. For one, it's a pair of headphones but it was also an air purifier? It's as though the brand wasn't confident in their foray into the audio space and still cling to the signature fans that put them on the map in the first place. Those two disparate functions—audio fidelity and the air purifying—found a shaky common ground in the Zone but not only was the design ridiculous (Bane, anyone?), it was heavy and, in some cases, the air purifying sensors weren't as accurate as it should be. But the noise cancellation and audio fidelity showed promise, which brings us to the brand's first audio-only headphones: the Dyson OnTrac.
Drawing from 30 years' worth of aeroacoustics R&D, Dyson has going is their own custom Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) algorithm. The ear cushions on the headphone cups, create a seal on the ears and each headphone cup is outfitted with eight microphones that cancel out external sounds at 384,000 times per second and reduce noises up to 40dB. Armed with 40mm, 16-ohm neodymium speaker drivers and advanced audio signal processing, you get a clear delivery. You get your highs and lows with a wide frequency range—a resonant 6 Hertz to a crisp 21,000 Hertz. Another feature is the tilting of the speaker housing at 13 degrees towards the ear for a more direct audio response.
You get a battery life of up to 55 hours. For weight distribution, instead of being housed in the cups, two high-capacity lithium-ion battery cells, are positioned at 10- and 2-o'clock of the headband. The ergonomics of the headphones are great. We have been wearing them for about two hours and we don't have any tension on the neck or the temples. High-grade foam cushions and multi-pivot gimbal arms relieve ear pressure, while the soft micro-suede ear cushions and optimised clamp force ensure a consistent and comfortable fit.
One thing that sets this apart from all the other headphones is that the Dyson OnTrac allows for customisation for the ear cushion and the outer cups. Usually, that sort of feature is disabled to maintain the drivers' integrity but Dyson is confident enough that even when you swap out the modular cushion and cups, the Dyson OnTrac will perform as well as it should.
The Dyson OnTrac comes in four base colourways—aluminium (that's finished via computer numerical control machining); copper; nickel and a ceramic cinnabar variant that has a ceramic-like painted finish. Then you have customisable caps and cushions in different hues, which give over 2,000 colour combos. The caps are made of high-grade aluminium and are in either anodised or ceramic finishes.
The Dyson OnTrac Headphones retail for SGD699 and will be available on September 2024 at all Dyson outlets and online.
We return to the intersection of "Style" and "Tech", where the Fendi x Devialet Mania mash-up resides. The Italian fashion house teams with the French audio maestros for a portable speaker that turns heads. It's a Devialet Mania—a high-fidelity speaker boasting 360° stereo sound—wrapped in Fendi's iconic monogram.
Earlier in the year, the Fendi x Devialet Mania edition made its first appearance at the Fendi Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear runway show in Milan. At first, it looked like a male model sauntering with a rotund carrier before finding out that it was a Devialet Mania model covered with Fendi's two-tone monogram in tobacco and brown with a sand handle and gold details (which we are told is actual gold).
Originally launched in 2022, the Devialet Mania model utilises its own proprietary acoustic mapping technology and Active Stereo Calibration (ASC) to adjust its sound to suit any room. This means, as a listener, you'll get the optimal delivery of pitch-perfect treble and bone-rattling bass. Each edition comes complete with an add-on wireless charging dock, the Devialet Mania Station. And with a staggering 30–20,000 hertz audio range, an IPX4 splash resistance and Devialet’s first built-in battery offering up to 10 hours of wireless bliss, now with the Fendi motif, it elevates this piece of tech into a piece of art.
The Fendi x Devialet Mania edition retails for SGD4,100 and is available online and at Devialet outlets.
