Dyson Supersonic Nural hair dryer – full hands-on review

Dyson turned the hairstyling world on its head when it launched its first blow dryer in 2016. And when it announced its Dyson Supersonic Nural dryer in 2024, I think a lot of us thought ‘same thing different paint job’. So is this newer and slightly more expensive version of the Dyson iconic hairdryer actually worth an upgrade? And can it do a better job than the original? In this hands-on review I bought one for myself and I’m going to try it out here at home. I’ll use the Supersonic Nural to dry and style my hair and show you what it looks like and talk about the experience overall. I’ll wrap things up by going over the pros and cons of this device and letting you know if I think I can recommend it to you either as a brand new machine for your beauty routine or as an upgrade from the original Supersonic.

What you get

I purchased one of Dyson’s special gift sets, which arrives in a leather box with a plush interior. Having received one of these with my original Dyson Supersonic, I can say I never store the dryer in here; it’s simply too large and takes up way too much valuable bathroom real estate. Instead I use it in my closet to store other things.

Watch my full hands on video review to see it in action

A Dyson hair dryer looks completely different from traditional dryers.  For starters it’s shaped like a cylinder and is open in the middle.  It’s flat on both ends so it resembles a tube. That’s because the motor is not in the head of the dryer like traditional models, in Dyson’s case it’s in the handle.

While the overall design mimics the original Supersonic almost exactly, there is the addition of a new tiny arm inside the cylinder. I’ve seen this referred to as the ‘capsule’, and the time of flight sensor. This may seem small and insignificant but it actually runs the new attachments that now come with the dryer, and manages automatic temperature changes, based on which attachments you’re using. I’ll get to each of them in just a sec.

Dyson made the rear of the cylinder transparent so you can see some of the inner workings of the dryer. Well this is kind of novel, I feel like it makes the lights a little bit harder to see. But maybe that’s me.

There are a handful of buttons on the back of the head; one set adjusts airflow or speed, the other, temperature, with 4 precise heat settings:
100°C – for fast drying and styling
80°C – for regular drying
60°C – for gentle drying and diffusing
28°C – constant cool to set your style

There’s also a cold shot quick button on the handle. New on here at the top of the dryer head is what’s called the ‘Scalp Protect Button’. This setting will automatically lower the heat when it detects the dryer is closer to your head. You can toggle this on and let it adjust automatically or shut it off altogether.

Important to note is that if this setting is on, you won’t be able to adjust the heat on your dryer. If you want to dial in your own higher heat settings, you will need to turn this button off.

The dryer has a long, heavy duty cord that’s 2.6m/8 feet. I was so wishing that Dyson would find a way to remove the large and boxy electrical unit near the plug. I was actually pretty choked to find it still there. That makes wrapping up the cord and keeping it tidy much more difficult. I also had been hoping that Dyson would add some kind of Velcro cord wrap to help keep everything in line, but again on that front I was disappointed.

I found there’s more than enough cord for at home users, and probably even for a salon.

Dyson Supersonic Nural Attachments

My Dyson Supersonic Nural came with a handful of accessories which Dyson says have been updated.

Diffuser Cone

There’s an upgraded diffuser cone called the Wave & Curl diffuser for managing curly hair which actually splits into two parts; diffuser mode uses both parts to deliver gentler airflow right to the roots with those rounded prongs. By removing the prongs, you can use the diffuser in what’s called dome mode. Dyson says this changes the air flow to allow air to be drawn away from the head which is better for creating smoother waves.

I tried these out just to see what they are like, but as someone with stick straight hair, this feature is a bit lost on me personally.

Gentle Air Attachment

There’s what’s called a gentle airflow ring that lets you get the dryer closer to your scalp. With its ridged edge, you can actually touch this to your scalp and it will automatically lower the temperature so that you can dry right up to the roots without burning. As you pull it away from your scalp, Supersonic Nural will automatically increase the temperature again. I found this attachment worked incredibly well and was a great way for me to get my scalp more thoroughly dry.

Wide Tooth Comb

I was very interested in the wide tooth comb attachment. While Dyson says this should help “stretch and lengthen hair” for creating straighter styles, I found this was a great way to dry while detangling when I was just getting started drying my hair. The comb does take a bit of getting used to, but does a pretty good job at detangling and drying smooth.

Reengineered Concentrator Nozzle

Dyson has upgraded its concentrator nozzle so that it now uses a thinner and more concentrated flow of air for more precision styling. I’ve never been very good at properly using a concentrator, but in the interest of this review, I tried it out.

The attachments all snap to the dryer face using magnets and the magnets have been made noticeably stronger too to avoid accidental detaching. In fact even when I was pulling the wide tooth comb through wet tangles, it never once felt like it was going to come loose.

Flyaway attachment

A decade ago, ‘ionic’ technology was the big buzzword, said to reduce frizz and static. Dyson seems to have dropped the term from all of its marketing and website materials. So does that mean the dryer has lost this ability? Not at all.

Another new attachment that now comes with the dryer is something that was previously made available with the AirWrap, and that’s the flyaway attachment. Running this over your hair if you have any shorter hairs or flyaways, it actually does a very good job at encouraging them to lay flatter for a smoother look.

Attachments adjust to your preference automatically

Rather amazingly, and in an improvement over the original version, the Supersonic Nural can recognize which attachment has been clipped in and adjust the device’s settings overall to deliver what should be optimal performance with that particular tool.

Previous Dyson Supersonic™ styling attachments will fit the Dyson Supersonic Nural™ hair dryer but will not be compatible with the newer machine’s attachment learning feature.

Smart settings or adjustable

Dyson Supersonic Nural will remember my last-used heat and airflow settings for each styling attachment, and automatically use those the next time.

Hair technology

The dryer contains a computer microprocessor, which Dyson says is constantly measuring temperature, so it’s able to hold its heat settings more accurately, longer. Dyson says the ability to do that helps protect your hair’s natural shine.

The Dyson Hyperdymium motor that powers the airflow is just a tiny 2.7 cm wide, compared to other dryers where it’s often 10cm wide.

Because it’s so small, Dyson chose to place the motor for the dryer into the handle, which I can confirm from my years of use with the original, results in much better balance for the device and even drying my long hair, the Supersonic never feels heavy.

Noise level

A rubber mount helps to prevent the motor from vibrating against the inside of the handle. Even so the Dyson Supersonic isn’t super quiet, and the Nural doesn’t make any gains here either. While I would say they both operate at the same decibel level according to my untrained ears, the new Nural actually seems like it is running at a bit of a higher pitch and has slightly more of a whine to it than the original Supersonic. Not necessarily a problem or a downside, but just something you might notice.

Pause Detect

Another new and extremely welcome feature is what Dyson calls “pause detect”. This feature uses a motion-sensing accelerometer that understands when you set the dryer down and it kills the heat and drops the airflow until you pick it back up again. Not quite the same as shutting it off completely when you set it down, but this might be better since it doesn’t have to go through a full on-off cycle; it actually seems a bit more efficient to go from low back to high. It does take about half a second for it to dial itself down, and begin to ramp back up, but I quite liked this feature.

Power & wattage

The Supersonic dryer has 1600 watts of power. While that sounds like a lot, it’s actually quite common in professional or even drug store hair dryers.

It’s the technology in this hair dryer that makes the difference. For those that want to understand what’s going on here; you basically have a mini computer packed right inside the dryer walls that keeps the heat and airflow even.

Dyson uses its Air Multiplication technology to create more airflow in this dryer. The Supersonic takes that power and in essence forces more air through the tool which gives this dryer its strong air flow.

Using Supersonic Nural

I usually only dry my hair two or three times per week, mainly to try to keep it healthy, but also out of laziness and ‘work from home’ reality.

I did timed drying tests during my previous reviews of the Dyson Supersonic, but since that was a long time ago and my hair is a bit older, has faced more color processing, and it’s a lot longer. So I ran them again with the original Supersonic. I was able to rough dry my hair in about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. After that, sectioned blow drying with a round brush took me about 6 1/2 to 7 minutes.

Drying time

With the Dyson Supersonic Nural, I didn’t feel like my drying time was cut down significantly. The dryer is quite efficient, and makes quick work of drying my hair. But I didn’t see any noticeable improvement in speed or drying time personally.

Using the new tools

I quickly developed a new routine when using the Supersonic Nural: I’d start out with the wide tooth comb and use it to begin the drying process while detangling my hair. With that done I would move onto drying my scalp with the gentle air attachment. I found this really helped me more thoroughly dry my scalp and give me a little boost in volume too.

I would move on to simply using the dryer without any attachments to finish drying my hair in sections with a round brush. The Supersonic Nural really only takes one or two passes down the length of my hair to get it completely dry and smooth.

I think it did a really good job of giving me a nice bouncy blowout and with its automatic temperature adjustments I’ve been really surprised that I’m still getting the style I want but with less heat and less long-term damage.

It’s worth noting that I still needed to flat-iron my hair for that shiny finished look even with the Dyson.

So is this new version of the Supersonic a must have upgrade? When it comes to the dryer itself, I wouldn’t say there is a significant difference in the speed or airflow. But where I did notice a difference and actually welcome the changes is in the new smarter attachments. I love the detangling comb and the gentle air ring for getting right up to my scalp has helped me more thoroughly dry my hair and create more volume.

If you think one of the new attachments would be a good addition to your hairstyling routine, I think this would be a great upgrade. And if you’ve been holding off on buying one of Dyson’s hairdryers, now is a good time to take the plunge because it really feels like the new technology is even more worth it.

Overall review: Dyson Supersonic Nural

I really like the Dyson Supersonic Nural, and in particular the new attachments. I love the fact it generates less scorching heat, but still gives me the styles I want.

Let’s go over the pros and cons.

On the pro side, the dryer is well-balanced and doesn’t feel heavy even after long drying sessions. I absolutely love two of the new attachments in particular; the wide tooth comb, and gentle air attachment for drying my scalp. I found that the scalp protect mode worked incredibly well at automatically detecting how close the dryer was to my head and adjusting the heat automatically. But it’s also easy enough to switch this off and then go with a higher heat setting anytime I choose.

On the con side, if I were to make any improvements to this device it would be to make it quieter (because that would be another revolution), and to get rid of the annoyingly large electrical box on the cable. I also really wish that it would come with some kind of nice cord wrap to keep it tidy.

Dyson Supersonic Nural gives you more than the original Supersonic, and even keeps the price the same. The Dyson Supersonic Nural sells for $629 CAD/$499USD on Dyson’s website or get your Supersonic Nural from Best Buy.

Bottom line; if you can afford this dryer, if you dry your hair frequently, if you’ve got lots of hair, or you’re starting to think about slowing the damage that heat styling can do over time, Dyson Supersonic Nural is going to be absolutely worth the money. I love it and have decided to make the switch from the original Supersonic to this version myself.

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