The Dyson OnTrac wireless headphones are eye-catching, but can they compete with Apple AirPods Max?

Dyson has made a pair of headphones – no, not that one. Unlike the air-filtering Zone, this launch is a more consumer-friendly pair of wireless headphones – over-ears, noise-cancelling – and it's called the Dyson OnTrac. It costs £450.

That price point puts it right up against the Apple AirPods Max and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones , both five-star performers with great design, great sound and great ANC.

Dyson thinks it can do one better, boasting "best-in-class" hybrid ANC thanks to eight microphones that monitor and track external noise 384,000 times per second. Combined with rather over-sized ear cushions that offer greater passive noise isolation, the brand claims to "cancel" noise by 40dB.

As an engineering company with a long line of fans, hair dryers and vacuum cleaners to its name, it's perhaps no surprise when Dyson says it knows a thing or two about vibrations, with existing anechoic chambers (three in the UK) and citing "over 30 years of experience in aeroacoustics" – useful for minimising unwanted noise and turbulence.

The brand's team of audio engineers' aim for the OnTrac headphones is to "preserve the integrity of the sound wave as recorded by the artist" and "eliminate interference and masking by any environmental noise", as was mentioned in our briefing.

Inside each large earcup is a 40mm neodymium driver and Dyson uses "advanced audio signal processing" to ensure the music is relayed as accurately as possible. The headphones' frequency range is a claimed 6Hz to 21,000Hz, and the speaker housing is tilted at a 13-degree angle towards the ear for "more direct audio response".

The Dyson representative also said in our briefing that the headphones were developed with a listening panel of 10 people made up of various ethnicities, genders and ages, and that the company wouldn't be releasing these headphones if they weren't confident in their abilities.

Battery life is a significant 55 hours with ANC turned on (far exceeding the AirPods Max's 20 hours) and interestingly, the two battery cells are integrated into the headband to deliver a more even weight distribution. Dyson has taken abundant care with the build and ergonomics of the headphones, it says, using high-quality materials and precise machining for long-lasting comfort, and ensuring that the clamping pressure suits different sizes of heads as well as remains put when walking, for instance. You can fold the earcups flat and a clever collapsible case provides storage and protection when on the move.

Bluetooth 5.0 is on the menu with standard AAC and SBC codecs supported, as well as the higher-quality LHDC 24-bit codec. The MyDyson app offers three EQ sound modes, along with real-time data on the noise you're hearing when wearing the headphones so you can be alerted to any harmful volume levels. You can charge the headphones via USB-C and listen to them wired, too.

There are a mix of physical buttons (for playback) and touch controls (for ANC switching) on the Dyson OnTrac, but the real highlight is the amount of colourful finishes and customisation possible – something that no other headphone brand is currently offering.

There are four colourways: anodised aluminium, copper and black nickel, alongside a matte, ceramic-feel "Cinnabar" (red) finish. Add to that seven different colours of outer ear caps and seven different colours of ear cushions, at £50 per set. That's not inexpensive, but you can mix and match to your heart's content, should you wish. Dyson says about 2000 combinations are possible. You can opt for the modern Dyson copper/blue combo, go for the brighter hues of yellow, pink or ceramic blue or the more sedate khaki green – it's a level of personalisation and fun that is missing from today's wireless headphones landscape, and certainly makes these Dyson headphones stand out from the pack.

But will that be enough? The Sonos Ace has shown just how hard it is to compete as a new entrant in this category when class leaders in Apple, Bose and Sony provide such formidable competition, and it will take some doing for Dyson to surpass the noise-cancelling excellence of Bose's Ultra Headphones. How well the new headphones perform sonically is another tall ask – but we're excited to find out, as we'll be getting review samples very soon.

The Dyson OnTrac wireless headphones will be on sale from 1st August for £450 / $500 / AU$799 from the Dyson website, along with retailers such as John Lewis, Currys, Argos and InMotion in the UK. Stay tuned for our full review once we've put these intriguing new headphones to the test.

Read our Apple AirPods Max review

And our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones review

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