Dolby Dimension headphones promise entertainment not isolation

Dolby has launched a new set of wireless headphones, Dolby Dimension, promising active noise cancellation that's perfect for home entertainment, but without divorcing you from the real world. The new cans debut Dolby LifeMix, a way for listeners to blend their media with what's going on around them.

LifeMix is effectively a personal mixer desk for your ears. At the one extreme, it can deliver full Active Noise Cancellation, allowing wearers of the Dolby Dimension headphones to focus solely on whatever content they're watching. At the other, though, there's the option to blend both that entertainment and sounds from the environment, in what Dolby calls "Transparency."

Headphones that can mix external sound with what you're actively listening to aren't new. What sets the Dolby Dimension headphones apart from rivals is where you're intended to actually use them, however. Rather than being pitched at travelers looking to isolate themselves from surrounding noise on flights, or commuters wanting their music but without running the risk of getting run down as they cross the street because they couldn't hear traffic, Dolby is focused on use in the home.

The problem in this case is trying to listen to things like TV audio but without either annoying everyone else in the home, or missing out on what people are saying. No more turning the volume down to avoid waking other people in the home, then finding you can't quite hear what people are saying.

It's all controlled through the Dolby Dimension app, for iOS and Android, though Dolby has added three source buttons on the headphones themselves to switch quickly between different sources. There's also head tracking, which promises to make the audio source sound as though it's fixed, like regular TV speakers, even as you turn your head. A base station keeps them charged up.

As for the audio itself, Dolby says it's using custom-designed 40mm drivers and proprietary signal processing. There's support for using the Google Assistant and Siri, too, if they're connected to an Android or iOS device.

It's been unexpectedly interesting times in high-tech headphones recently. On the one hand, Sony has unseated Bose in noise-cancelation, with its WH-1000X M3 headphones hitting all the right notes in their third-generation. Meanwhile, Microsoft is wading in too, with the Cortana-enabled Surface Headphones.

Dolby's big challenge will be persuading enough people that a set of headphones intended for home use are worth spending $599 on. They're available to order from today.