RIP, Dyson air-purifying headphones that no one asked for

Wow, Dyson discontinued its Age of Ultron-looking air-purifying headphones? That's crazy. No one ever could have predicted that they'd be too ridiculous to catch on.

Dyson is informally recognized as the final boss in product categories like cordless stick vacuums, hair dryers, and air purifying fans. And every so often, Dyson attempts to further capitalize on that expertise with spinoff products in those core categories... and misses the mark. The Zone headphones combined some of Dyson's air purification skills with over-ear noise-canceling headphones. There's just one little issue: The face mask part simply cannot be worn seriously. It turns out that most people with allergies would rather be a little sniffly than walk around their neighborhood looking like General Grievous' cousin.

The magnetic visor part can come off, but at that point, just buy a normal pair of headphones. Credit: Dyson

Surprisingly enough, Dyson didn't invent the Zone headphones in response to Covid and mask mandates. They were released in 2022 after an alleged six years in production. The Zone's mask part doesn't filter viruses, anyway — it's mostly meant to combat air pollutants and allergens.

The Zone originally cost $949 upon release. Hilarious. Despite the Zone going on sale for as low as $260 in the past year, it seems that consumers would rather spend a few hundred dollars on a more practical pair. They've officially been scrubbed from Dyson's website, leaving Woot as the only real retailer where they can still be purchased (unless you count places like eBay, where multiple people are trying to get rid of theirs).

Did the Zone headphones actually have pretty nice audio quality? Sure, but who cares when they're survived by the Dyson OnTrac? These 2024 Dyson headphones are a much more normal-looking option with incredible sound quality and noise cancellation. Between those and all of the other noise-canceling headphones that we love — and actually like to wear — it was only a matter of time until the Zone officially flopped.

(I'm calling it now: The next Dyson product up for discontinuation is the 360 Vis Nav robot vacuum, which is similarly cyborg-looking and way too expensive for what it can do.)