The California Headphone Startup Taking on Apple and Bose

It’s not uncommon for a new tech company to launch with splashy product videos and a healthy marketing budget, promising to take on the industry’s leading players.It’s far rarer for the final products to be competitive with the leading brands — or even good. Yet, despite jumping into the hyper-competitive market of noise-canceling headphones, the Daisy One headphones from the California startup Daisy Audio are a phenomenal surprise.They’re a new pair of noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones developed by NXC Systems, the team formerly behind Harman Professional, and though they’re not perfect, they are among my favorite-sounding headphones on the market.Aesthetically, the Daisy One are a well-balanced, refined, premium take on a generic headphone design. They’re not unattractive, and the more you look at them, the more you appreciate the thought-out curves and rich blue color of my pair. But from a distance, they aren’t that different from the endless number of generic headphones you can buy for less than $100 from no-name Chinese brands. Also, some of its more distinct details are directly pinched from other companies.Daisy One. Courtesy of Daisy AudioThe case has the same flap as the Sony WF series. And the ear cushions — both the magnetic attachment function and the look of the threading inside them — are heavily inspired, to be polite, by those on Apple’s AirPods Max.Given that these are premium, metal-body headphones, some will compare them to the AirPods Max, but these just don’t feel the same. While the Max are heavy and uber-luxurious, these aren’t nearly as chunky, heavy, or premium. They’re a metal-clad take on classic noise-canceling headphones, and that’s pleasant but not astonishing: I don’t think that makes them feel more premium than the textured plastics on the Bose QuietComfort Ultra.But the standard step-down cup design of the Daisy One was somewhat necessary for its signature design feature: the volume dial on the right cup. It’s incredible in concept, but it’s slightly underwhelming in application. No volume control system beats a dial, and pressing it in to play and pause is intuitive. But, though it’s apparently made from aluminum, it doesn’t have a satisfying hard, cold feel, and it presses in with a dull, plasticky thump. It would also be much more pleasant with a notchy, clicky ratcheted turn.Daisy One. Courtesy of Daisy AudioAside from the dial, the headphone is controlled with a standard, old-school button layout, which is fine, but is far beneath the best in the industry, namely the Nothing Headphones 1.The rest of the headphones are premium though, with real attention to detail throughout, from the startup and mode-changing sounds to the elegant packaging and a well-made case. The cobalt blue tag on the case is striking, and some of the issues with the headphones being too generic could have been fixed by making that a highlight color on the headphones, such as on a key button or as a stripe atop the headband.Daisy One Packaging. Courtesy of Daisy AudioBut what matters most is how they sound, and that is shockingly good. I have the luxury of using almost any Bluetooth headphone on the market, and before the Daisy, I would usually switch between the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 and the AirPods Max. The Daisy One have broken into that rotation, and have become my go-to most days.I’m not going to say these are objectively the best-sounding headphones on the market — they have too personalized and individual a sound for that. But if your preference is for a fun, punchy sound with clear, crisp vocals and a wide, detailed soundstage, then these beat anything else in this price range. Whenever I want to listen to a new pop or hip-hop album, I pick these up. If you’ve heard Charli XCX’s “rock music” and been a little underwhelmed, the Daisy One will fix that.Or they are so long as you take them out of the default “Daisy Sound” EQ and turn them to the mislabeled “Studio Neutral,” with dynamic bass on. If you’ve listened to truly neutral studio monitors, you would never mistake the Daisy for a pair, but the “Daisy Sound” mode is just strange, with a crushing bass rumble that makes drums sound great but completely overwhelms everything else and smothers what is otherwise a surprisingly large soundstage.Some mid notes also sound weird and slightly out of tune in this mode — or at least in the pre-launch version I was listening to. But in the “Studio Neutral” mode, they sound incredible.The rest of the headphones are fine, if unremarkable. The transparency mode is not nearly as good as Apple’s, nor does the noise-canceling compete with Bose, the best on the market. But neither is bad, and they would impress the average person who hasn’t tried every single noise-canceling headphone on the market.More importantly, the noise canceling doesn’t have the crushing pressure feeling you experience on some noise-canceling headphones, such as Sony’s WH series. And it has all the features you’d expect on a headphone like this: multipoint connectivity, on-head detection, a customizable EQ, and so on, along with “Still Mode,” which plays a series of pre-recorded relaxing nature sounds directly from the headphones, without needing to be connected to your phone. If you want to switch off your phone during the morning commute, it’s a handy way to do a digital detox.At their MSRP of $399, they’re relatively expensive headphones. But if you’re shopping in this price bracket and prioritize music quality — with a wide soundstage and fun, punchy sound — over top-tier noise-canceling, then I would heartily recommend them. If that’s you, I’d recommend pre-ordering them now, ahead of their July launch, at the earlier $299 price.

The California Headphone Startup Taking on Apple and Bose

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