After decades of licensing its technology out to third party companies, Dolby has finally gotten its own hands dirty and released its first consumer product. Dolby Dimension is a set of wireless, noise-cancelling headphones specifically targeted at home entertainment use – but hey, there's nothing stopping you using them wherever you like.
Dolby Dimension doesn't seem to do anything particularly groundbreaking, but what they do, they seem to do well. The cans are fitted with custom 40-mm acoustic drivers, and given the company's heritage, we'd expect that they'd belt out some pretty great sound. The wireless headphones can be synced to up to three different Bluetooth-connected sources simultaneously, with dedicated source buttons on the right earcup to switch between them.
The active noise-cancelling (ANC) functionality comes by way of a five-microphone array and proprietary signal processing. Users can set the ANC levels with what Dolby calls LifeMix – if you need to stay aware of your surroundings, you can turn it off and allow all ambient noise through. Conversely, you can crank the ANC up to tune out the world as much as possible, or somewhere in between.
These settings can be adjusted through the Dolby Dimension companion app on iOS or Android, or by tapping and sliding your fingers on the touchpad on the side of the headphones. This pad can also be used to adjust the volume, play or pause, skip forward and back, answer calls or even start up Siri or the Google Assistant.
Wirelessness often introduces battery anxiety, but the Dolby Dimension headphones have a generous life of up to 15 hours in low power mode, or 10 hours of use with ANC. It apparently takes two hours to fully charge the cans, or a quick 20-minute top-up can give you another two hours of listening. Included in the box is a wireless charging base, or the headphones can be plugged in via Micro USB if you want to keep using them in the meantime.
The Dolby Dimension headphones are available now for US$599. Watch them in action in the video below.
Source: Dolby
