Hairdryer in the “Home Device of the Year” category? Here’s How the Dyson Supersonic Nural Wowed Us

Every year we see a ton of cool home tech: coffee machines that brew the perfect drink at the touch of a button, robot vacuums that clean better than you, and so on. But what impressed us most this year was the hairdryer. Dyson To be precise, Supersonic Nural is the recently crowned winner of the Home Appliances of the Year award at TechRadar Choice 2024 Award.

It’s the sequel to the original Supersonic, which shook up the hair care market when it hit shelves in 2016. One of the key reasons for its popularity was its streamlined shape, which did away with a massive barrel and placed most of the weight on the body. handle, which greatly simplifies handling. In a market that was stagnant at the time, this was a game changer.

Dyson could have gone for iterative improvements with its next-gen version, but instead it decided to shake things up again by adding a whole bunch of tech to it. One of the key takeaways from my time as TechRadar’s home editor is that technology for technology’s sake is not a good thing (personally, I don’t need app control for my microwave). But here it is not just like that.

All these improvements are aimed at eliminating shortcomings and annoyances that we have so far simply put up with. None of these are essential, but they definitely made my styling routine smoother than ever when I tested this hair dryer on my hair. Dyson Supersonic Nural review.

Dyson Supersonic Nural hair dryer.

Nural goes into low-power mode when you pause styling. (Image credit: Future)

For example, this hair dryer knows when you put it down and responds by going into low-power mode after a second or so. This means you don’t have to worry about turning it on and off when you want to pause your styling to grab a brush or heat protectant spray, and it’s ready to go as soon as you pick it up. This is a feature that is not found in any other entry in our best hair dryer rating can suggest.

Sensors, sensors everywhere

The attachments also have sensors, so the Supersonic Nural will remember what settings you want to use with each one, so you don’t have to manually adjust each time you install a different attachment. This is doubly useful because the attachments here go far beyond the basic diffuser and concentrator combination. You have a wide choice, also taking into account different hair lengths and types. They transform Nural from “just a hair dryer” into a tool that can compete with some modern devices. best multistylers.

The concentrator attachment attaches to the Dyson Supersonic Nural hair dryer

(Image credit: Future)

I like both of these things, but neither is a headline. This is “Scalp Protection Mode”. These days, people are becoming more aware of the damage that regular heat styling will do to your hair in the long run. Dyson has come up with a solution you won’t find anywhere else on the market: Nural can adjust the temperature of the airflow depending on how far it is from your head to keep your scalp at a constant temperature.

This means you can get close to your head for precise styling without burning your curls. The inside of the barrel will also glow blue to orange as the temperature changes (okay, this isn’t strictly necessary, but it is necessary). chill). While testing the Nural, I found myself automatically using the Scalp Protect mode and found that there was no real compromise in drying time.

Dyson Supersonic Nural hair dryer.

(Image credit: Future)

Such an advanced dryer will be overkill for many, and the exorbitant price – with a list price of $499.99 / £399.99 / AU$749 – will put others off, too, but this kind of innovation can only be good for the wider market. . (I told you why I think Nural’s price tag is actually normalin a separate article, so I won’t go into detail here.)

It’s difficult to innovate meaningfully in the home appliance market, much less make improvements that are truly useful, but Dyson knocked it out of the park with the Supersonic Nural. This is a worthy winner of the 2024 Home Appliances of the Year award.