Not an April Fool: Dyson announces apocalyptic filter-headphone combo
Clever engineering shrinks filter—but Ars’ chief weird-mask tester has concerns.
In an announcement timed dangerously close to April 1, Dyson confirmed this week that it is working on the Dyson Zone, one of the most intense consumer-facing masks we’ve ever seen. What’s more, the company elected to combine this face-mounted air purifier with its first noise-canceling headphones—which contribute to the filtering process.
At least one outlet says it tested this perfect addition to your Mega Man cosplay project, which suggests this is an actual product and not an April Fool’s joke. Curiously, the world’s first face-on impressions of the device, as provided by The Verge, recount the company’s press release spiel before getting to the heart of why a face-dominating system like the Dyson Zone has us apprehensive.
“The Zone headphones are very big and noticeably heavy,” The Verge’s Chaim Gartenberg says, and a single look at this head-mounted system clarifies why that might be the case.
Compressor concerns
Once a face mask has to reinforce a firmer piece of solid material anywhere near the mouth, chin, or jaw, it runs squarely into the issue of comfortable weight distribution. I’ve done a lot of head-mounted device testing at Ars Technica with this issue in mind, with my highest comfort score going to the clever “halo” construction of PlayStation VR and my lowest grade going, funnily enough, to another battery-powered face filtration system, the Razer Zephyr.