Dyson’s Big+Quiet air purifier: Less pollution, less sound pollution

Dyson’s air care appliances are among its most iconic products, with designs – most notably the brand’s bladeless loop fans – and price tags that set them apart from competitors.

Its most recent range featured multifunctional air purifiers with formaldehyde detection and removal, including the Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde and the Purifier Humidify + Cool Formaldehyde, both of which we were impressed with when we tested them.

Dyson has retained the anti-formaldehyde technology but redesigned almost everything else within its new purifier.

What is the Big+Quiet Formladehyde?

The Big+Quiet is, exactly as the name suggests, a powerful air purifier designed to clean the air in large rooms – and, thanks to its inbuilt sound-minimising technology, to do so very quietly.

When will the Big+Quiet Formaldehyde be available to buy?

As yet, Dyson hasn’t confirmed a release date for the Big+Quiet for the US, the UK or Europe.

What will the Big+Quiet Formaldehyde cost?

There are no US, UK or European prices confirmed for the Big+Quiet. But what we do know is its Australian price, which is AUD1,499 for the appliance in the standard bright nickel and Prussian blue colourway. This is the colourway that’ll initially be available worldwide.

This price would be roughly equivalent to $992/ £799/ €920, although there’s no guarantee that those will be the prices in those regions. If anything, we might expect them to be higher.

Further, in Australia, for AUD100 more, there’s a second colourway available: Prussian blue and gold. But at this stage we don’t know if it’ll be available elsewhere.

What features does the Big+Quiet Formaldehyde have?

The Big+Quiet has been designed to provide air purification for larger rooms, which are typically not served by standard air purifiers. But the problem that this creates is that a larger size and more airflow means a lot more noise.

To combat the unwanted sound, Dyson engineers have incorporated a lot of noise-minimising solutions into the purifier. For a start, the engine is soft mounted to reduce vibrations.

There’s also a uniquely designed labyrinth seal that forces the expelled air around a twisting channel to prevent it from building up too much noisy force.

Finally, there’s an acoustic silencer built into the purifier. It’s a cavity inside the appliance that’s shaped to capture and dissipate low frequency noise.

The Big+Quiet’s design has a lot more in common with the older Pure Cool Me, than with any of Dyson’s bladeless loop fans. It’s a large cylindrical appliance with a cup-shaped section on top.

Its distinctive shape is what helps to direct the condensed jet of air that can be projected outwards for 10 metres. The airflow can’t be pointed in just any direction but the user can choose from three angles: 0^o, 25^o or 50^o.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that this is not a hybrid appliance that also heats, cools or humidifies a room. It’s simply an air purifier. That being said, it does have a “breeze mode”, which creates a natural-seeming breeze.

According to Dyson, this randomised airflow is proven to be more refreshing than a consistent air current, so it can be used similarly to a fan. And, since this is Dyson, engineers spent three years collecting over 40 million data points to help create the mode – so, it should be a bit better than the annoying ‘natural’ mode on a standard fan.

But our guess is that it could still prove divisive. We’ll have to wait until we review it to find out.

The Big+Quiet will be the first of Dyson’s air purifiers to feature a CO₂ sensor. It will also monitor and filter out of the air the full range of particles and gases that you’d expect, including formaldehyde.

In the MyDyson app, you’ll be able to monitor PM 2.5 and PM10 particle pollution, as well as gases in the air, temperature and humidity.

The machine has HEPA 13 filtration that will capture 99.95% of particle pollutants down to 0.1 microns. The filter itself will last for five years, which means less expense in replacements.

There’s also a new K-Carbon filter to capture NO₂ (nitrogen dioxide, which might pollute your home air from nearby roads or even from cooking). The formaldehyde filter is solid state, so it won’t become less efficient over time, or need replacing. And as the machine is fully sealed, any air that passes through it will be cleaned.

We’ll be updating this article as more information is released. In the meantime, you can check out our recommendations for the best air purifiers and best fans that we’ve tested.