High-end headphones are a crowded market these days, with truly wireless headphones becoming more and more dominant. Small, casual use headphones like the Apple AirPods own this market pretty heavily, and Apple’s Beats by Dre line owns the over-the-ear headphone market conclusively. Do we need another competitor? This is the question Dolby Labs has asked and answered with their new Dolby Dimension headphones, and the answer is a resounding YES.
To step into such a crowded market, Dolby had to really do something special with their first foray into a consumer product, and they more than accomplished it. These are the best sounding wireless headphones on the market, and definitely the best surround headphones. On aesthetics alone, Dolby wins the competition. The Dimension headphones feel like a cloud of air on your ear; there is no strain or drain on you physically with long usage. They are lightweight and ultra-cushioned. Even the charging system is unique, with its wireless charging stand that balance the headphones on the left ear cup. Beautiful.
When powered up, these bad boys give you three lights to choose from for your source, and with the simple press of a one of the lit buttons your headphones will pair with any of the three devices you have selected. If you utilize the Dimension app, you can pair with a load more of devices, and use the device manager to assign which three are loaded onto the Dimension. Very slick.
The right ear has a touch sensitive pad allowing volume up/volume down, play/pause, and even invoking your personal assistant such as Siri. Double tapping it will turn their version of active noise cancellation on or off. Dolby’s LifeMix feature allows you to fine tune how much of the outside world you mix with what you are a listening to on the headphones. Very cool. Phone calls give you a nice blend of both.
But how do they sound? Stellar. The virtualization feature (virtual surround sound) is pretty remarkable. When watching the movie Hell Fest which had an Atmos sound track, this was hands down the best surround headphone experience I’ve ever had. No tunnel sound, and I literally felt enveloped by surround. You can also invoke head tracking, so even when you turn your head, the sound still sounds like its coming out of the screen. For music, this isn’t a necessary feature, but for movies on an Apple TV, its fantastic. I have head tracking off for iPad and iPhone, because my attention span sucks anyways when I watch a movie on mobile.
For music, these rival or even surpass Apple’s excellent Studio 3 Wireless headphones. The bass doesn’t sound as forced as the Beats, by I fully understand that is a selling point of the Beats line. I just like a more natural sound, and the Dolby Dimension headphones are the best headphones you can buy for a wide variety of uses at any price point.
If you have $599 to spare, head to Dolby’s site now and get these bad boys. Well worth every dollar.