Dyson Supersonic vs Shark SpeedStyle Pro Flex

Two premium dryers, two different bets. The Shark SpeedStyle Pro Flex HD542 is the lighter, harder-hitting one. It weighs 712g against the Dyson’s 816g, and pushes 1,750W against 1,600W. Both numbers favor thick, long hair that needs sustained airflow. The Dyson Supersonic plays a different game. It brings a longer 9-foot cord, a five-piece accessory set against Shark’s four, and a published 77 dBA noise figure Shark never matches on paper. Everything else lines up. Four heat settings each, three speeds, ionic output, a cool shot. Those columns are a wash.

Where the Dyson pulls ahead is its kit. Five accessories cover more hair types and more styling jobs than Shark’s four. The Diffuser holds curl definition. The Flyaway attachment uses a gentle ionic charge to tame stray hairs with no added heat. A Styling concentrator aims the airflow. A Wide-tooth comb detangles as you dry, and the Gentle air attachment handles fine or fragile hair. The V9 digital motor runs at 77 dBA, quieter than most 1,600W dryers, and its heat control keeps the temperature from spiking into damage territory. Dyson also mounts that motor in the handle instead of the head, which is why 816g feels more balanced in the hand than the number suggests. Balanced isn’t light, though. Over a long dry the extra 104g is still there. That 9-foot cord also helps in any bathroom where the outlet sits well off to the side.

Shark’s argument is simpler: weight and power. At 712g it’s 104g lighter than the Supersonic, and across a 10-to-20-minute dry that gap shows up in your wrist and shoulder. The 1,750W motor moves more air per second, so thick or long hair dries faster, which is exactly when drying speed counts. Be honest about the size of that gap, though. 150W is about 9% more wattage. On a pixie cut you’ll never notice it. On hair past the shoulders it shows up as minutes. Three speeds and four heats match the Dyson, so you give up nothing at the controls. Shark’s four heads lean hard into frizz. The QuickSmooth Brush rolls a brush and concentrator into one head, and the FrizzFighter Finishing Tool seals the cuticle once you’re done. These do finishing work, not filler.

Picture the morning routine. Got thick or long hair that eats 15-plus minutes under the dryer? The SpeedStyle’s 1,750W and lighter 712g body cut the fatigue. You finish sooner and hold less weight the whole time, and the QuickSmooth Brush lets you rough-dry and smooth in one pass instead of reaching for a round brush. Fine, damaged, or curl-prone hair tells the other story. So does switching constantly between diffusing, smoothing, and finishing. There the Dyson’s five-piece set covers more ground without buying anything extra. Curly hair gets the Diffuser, then the Flyaway head for the last pass. Fine hair gets the Gentle air attachment and a lower heat setting, and the V9’s steady temperature matters more here than on coarse hair because thin strands scorch first. Noise is the other daily-life factor. If you dry at 6 a.m. with someone asleep down the hall, 77 dBA is still hair-dryer loud, but at least it’s a number you can plan around. Shark gives you nothing to compare. And the 9-foot cord earns its place if your layout strands you more than 7 feet from the outlet. An 8-foot cord reaches most mirrors. It won’t reach all of them.

It maps cleanly to hair type. Pick the Dyson Supersonic if your hair is fine, damaged, or curly and you value accessory range and gentle airflow over raw watts, or if a quiet dryer genuinely matters at home. Pick the Shark SpeedStyle Pro Flex HD542 if your hair is thick or long, faster bulk drying and a lighter body come first, and four frizz-focused heads cover what you do. If you dry more than one head a day, the 104g argues louder than the accessory count. Both run two years of warranty and both ionize, so neither column breaks the tie.