The volume dial is easily the best part of the Daisy headphones. Maybe one of the best dials on any headphone, especially in this price range. It’s a scored metal knob that rolls very smoothly. Press the side to pause or play the music with a very satisfying click. Double-click to skip a song, triple-tap to go one track back. It’s very straightforward.
Long-press the active noise cancellation button behind the dial, and that’s where Daisy’s on-device relaxing soundscapes take over. You can switch between soft, ambient water-based sounds that Daisy says are recorded across California, such as rainfall, a forest stream, a waterfall, and ocean waves. There is also a five-minute breathwork session that sounds much less wet.
Photograph: Boone Ashworth
The headphones do not incorporate any touch controls, which is a godsend. There is no accidentally pausing or triggering an AI assistant when you’re just trying to change the volume. You can switch between noise canceling and transparency modes with the press of a button.
The problem? The noise canceling and transparency modes are not very good. Walking out when it’s windy or on a loud subway train going underground is almost worse with noise canceling on, as it distorts the sound into sharp, loud blasts. Transparency mode just doesn’t let much sound in from the outside and distorts the audio quality. These features aren’t great, though Daisy says it’s aware of the issue and is aiming to fix it with software updates over time. But you should never buy a product based on the promises of future software updates.
The companion app is simple to use, which is nice, but the sound options are underwhelming. It comes default on a mode called Daisy EQ, with a dynamic bass feature turned on. That works well enough for bass-heavy EDM, though it does sound noticeably muddier than my Sony WH-1000XM4. Switching the EQ to a flat sound profile reveals the real weakness of these headphones. The sound quality just feels more hollow than it should, with highs sounding tinny and the lows feeling very unenthusiastic without the dynamic bass setting on. (Call quality is fine, and nobody on the other end of a call said I came through weird.)