[tiagopinto]

Ah crap, bit far for me on short notice but it does mean there may be others with sample pairs, think it's time I contacted some shops!

So I did go and try the iO-6. In one word, stunning!

The shop had a few Grado’s (I tried the RS2e and the GS1000e) and Audeze (I tried the Mobius and the LCD-2 Closed Back).
Basically, I wanted to go up before I came down. I also had my HD 280 Pro on hand, for the reverse process.

Honestly, I found the Mobius too much in your face and loosing control. They do play loud but... not my thing. And, as I’m not a gamer, I’ll never ever use what they are ready for. Don’t get me wrong, their sound is good but...

At exactly the same price point are the iO-6. I’m glad they come with a carrying case (the iO-4 don’t) and, even being almost “straight out of the box” the sound was amazing.

The highs are present and detailed without ever being harsh.
The mids are forward and not exaggerated.
And the lows are deep but not thumping.
Straightforward, true and very enjoyable.

I couldn’t test the ANC very well but it’s definitely there. Off, Transparency (outside amplified) and On modes.

Pairing was very easy both with an iPhone and a Hauwei (which was definitely not the case with the Mobius) and I did move from room to room leaving the phone behind and the signal never dropped. I didn’t test videos and possible latency because we had little time and I wanted to focus on the music. So I tested them mainly listening to this:

And they played every genre flawlessly which is an enormous plus for me.

The build quality seems very, very good. The earcups are round and not elliptical, which I would have preferred to fit my large ears. But still comfy due to the good choice of materials, leather and cushions. I don’t know if they will have an accompanying app but... do they need it?
You can do almost all with the very welcome (not tactile but soft, perceptible and effective) buttons, less prone to accidental touches. I didn’t test phone assistant features.

Are they a winner? I don’t know. I honestly want to go back and retry the B&W PX. They were that good. Are the iO-6 just better?

Overall I think they are transparent with great instrument separation, a good soundstage and the layer detail and fidelity is astonishing.

Hoping to hear from you guys what you think!

Cheers!

 

[Beagle]

My personal favourite speaker manufacturer have decided to move into the world of headphones! and theyre starting off with wireless NC headphones,

Yuck..

 

[matteventu]

Thank you for sharing these.

I can promise you that these are not just your typical Bluetooth headphones. I hope that you get to hear them. They will be available on most markets from mid to end November. If there are any Head-Fi'ers that are keen on trying these, we are open to a "pass around" session, where you get to borrow them and pass them on after you've tested them.

And just to clarify, these are Bluetooth 5.0 and not 4.0 which a lot of articles state. The mix-up is due to an error in our spec sheet.

/Dennis, DALI Employee

Thank you Dennis for getting involved in first person here, it's really appreciated ^_^

A couple of questions, if you don't mind:

- Will they have an app (for button customisation, ANC tuning, setting options, and firmware updates)?
- What's the rated battery life of the IO-6 with ANC disabled? Does it match the 60hrs of the IO-4? If not, why?
- Do the headphones support any "fast pairing" way such as NFC or Google Fast Pair?
- How many Bluetooth paired devices can be stored in the memory of the headphones?
- Do they support Multipoint Bluetooth (simultaneous connection to two BT devices)?
- The Bluetooth is Class 1 or Class 2?
- What Bluetooth chip do they have? A Qualcomm one? Is it possible to know the exact model?
- When connected to a source via USB-C, what DAC do they use? Do they have a dedicated one or they use the Bluetooth chip? What's the bitrate supported?
- Does the included 3.5mm cable have a microphone and a button (since the ones on the headphones won't work in passive mode)?
- Is a button dedicated to the activation of Siri/GoogleAssistant present?
- Will they be sold by Richer Sounds and Curry's?

Thanks A LOT

 

[Spanget]

Great questions, I’d really like answers to those too.

To add one more, I’d like to know if it is possible to use the DAC functionality with iOS devices, if you use a USB-C to lightning connector (or USB-C to USB-C for the newest iPad Pro)

BONUS, first mainstream review is up, to high praise:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksp...ng-headphones-your-wait-is-over/#6e7d1abb7251

 

[mugbot]

Wow. aptx HD, with the option to plug in via USB as a DAC or via analog. BT 5.0 and ANC.
If these deliver on sound quality (and I hope they do - I looooooove my Dali speakers) then these could be the holy grail of wireless bt headphones.

 

[emba4]

So I did go and try the iO-6. In one word, stunning!

The shop had a few Grado’s (I tried the RS2e and the GS1000e) and Audeze (I tried the Mobius and the LCD-2 Closed Back).
Basically, I wanted to go up before I came down. I also had my HD 280 Pro on hand, for the reverse process.

Honestly, I found the Mobius too much in your face and loosing control. They do play loud but... not my thing. And, as I’m not a gamer, I’ll never ever use what they are ready for. Don’t get me wrong, their sound is good but...

At exactly the same price point are the iO-6. I’m glad they come with a carrying case (the iO-4 don’t) and, even being almost “straight out of the box” the sound was amazing.

The highs are present and detailed without ever being harsh.
The mids are forward and not exaggerated.
And the lows are deep but not thumping.
Straightforward, true and very enjoyable.

I couldn’t test the ANC very well but it’s definitely there. Off, Transparency (outside amplified) and On modes.

Pairing was very easy both with an iPhone and a Hauwei (which was definitely not the case with the Mobius) and I did move from room to room leaving the phone behind and the signal never dropped. I didn’t test videos and possible latency because we had little time and I wanted to focus on the music. So I tested them mainly listening to this:

And they played every genre flawlessly which is an enormous plus for me.

The build quality seems very, very good. The earcups are round and not elliptical, which I would have preferred to fit my large ears. But still comfy due to the good choice of materials, leather and cushions. I don’t know if they will have an accompanying app but... do they need it?
You can do almost all with the very welcome (not tactile but soft, perceptible and effective) buttons, less prone to accidental touches. I didn’t test phone assistant features.

Are they a winner? I don’t know. I honestly want to go back and retry the B&W PX. They were that good. Are the iO-6 just better?

Overall I think they are transparent with great instrument separation, a good soundstage and the layer detail and fidelity is astonishing.

Hoping to hear from you guys what you think!

Cheers!

thanks for sharing this, considering this and the few other reports ive heard i think its a pretty safe bet that ill end up getting some of these and ill probably end up sidelining the mobius to the PC, of course you never know till you actually hear something but from reports the seem like theyre pretty much what i hoped they would be (or maybe hoped they wouldnt be so i didnt have to spend out again!) oddly ive never really had an issue pairing the mobius with either my phone or laptop (sony and thinkpad) also while the mobius can be a little aggressive do you know what profile and mode they were on, im not questioning your judgement just pointing out that if you didnt know about the settings it could have been set on 7.1 channel with the Footsteps profiie on and youd have had no clue that it sounds much better in 2.0 with flat or music profiles, anyway thats another topic

really cant wait to get my ears on a pair of these things

@Spanget
there should be no reason they wont work with an apple device, they should just appear as a standard usb audio device which has been fully supported since apple dropped the headphone jack and possibly even before that, i know for a fact people used the HRT microstreamer with pretty old iphones and it worked (generally, i believe apple lowered the limit on power at one point but as far as im aware it was raised again later) i cant be 100% sure on this as apple devices arent really my forte but i do know they should supports standard usb audio

 

[HVHP]

So I did go and try the iO-6. In one word, stunning!

The shop had a few Grado’s (I tried the RS2e and the GS1000e) and Audeze (I tried the Mobius and the LCD-2 Closed Back).
Basically, I wanted to go up before I came down. I also had my HD 280 Pro on hand, for the reverse process.

Honestly, I found the Mobius too much in your face and loosing control. They do play loud but... not my thing. And, as I’m not a gamer, I’ll never ever use what they are ready for. Don’t get me wrong, their sound is good but...

At exactly the same price point are the iO-6. I’m glad they come with a carrying case (the iO-4 don’t) and, even being almost “straight out of the box” the sound was amazing.

The highs are present and detailed without ever being harsh.
The mids are forward and not exaggerated.
And the lows are deep but not thumping.
Straightforward, true and very enjoyable.

I couldn’t test the ANC very well but it’s definitely there. Off, Transparency (outside amplified) and On modes.

Pairing was very easy both with an iPhone and a Hauwei (which was definitely not the case with the Mobius) and I did move from room to room leaving the phone behind and the signal never dropped. I didn’t test videos and possible latency because we had little time and I wanted to focus on the music. So I tested them mainly listening to this:

And they played every genre flawlessly which is an enormous plus for me.

The build quality seems very, very good. The earcups are round and not elliptical, which I would have preferred to fit my large ears. But still comfy due to the good choice of materials, leather and cushions. I don’t know if they will have an accompanying app but... do they need it?
You can do almost all with the very welcome (not tactile but soft, perceptible and effective) buttons, less prone to accidental touches. I didn’t test phone assistant features.

Are they a winner? I don’t know. I honestly want to go back and retry the B&W PX. They were that good. Are the iO-6 just better?

Overall I think they are transparent with great instrument separation, a good soundstage and the layer detail and fidelity is astonishing.

Hoping to hear from you guys what you think!

Cheers!

Thanks for this, It's exactly what i was expecting from these headphones. I will be using them with a Onkyo DP X1a which doesn't have the latest and greatest bluetooth specs has it's getting a little old these days but i'm sure it will be fine. Might look into if there is any new updates for the Onkyo that would help out with this but last time i looked there wasn't much for it with it being quite an obscure device.

I'm really looking forward to receiving these now, I was hoping they would be released in October but looks like it will be November. I'm normally pretty patient but i really want get my hands on these now

 

[NZtechfreak]

Definitely interested in these, need a second pair of ANC headphones in the house since my partner has basically stolen my WH-1000XM3 (I basically got it free with a voucher, offered her my XM2 before I sold them but she said 'Nah, I won't use them', forward a few months and she tried the XM3 and hasn't looked back).

 

[Lakerfreak]

any thought on when these will be available in the U.S.?

 

[Brintkiks]

any thought on when these will be available in the U.S.?

The DALI distributor has just ordered a shipment of DALI IO, which will be distributed to the DALI dealers in November (I guess). For exact dates, contact the US distributor via the DALI website.

 

[Brintkiks]

Thank you Dennis for getting involved in first person here, it's really appreciated ^_^

A couple of questions, if you don't mind:

- Will they have an app (for button customisation, ANC tuning, setting options, and firmware updates)?
- What's the rated battery life of the IO-6 with ANC disabled? Does it match the 60hrs of the IO-4? If not, why?
- Do the headphones support any "fast pairing" way such as NFC or Google Fast Pair?
- How many Bluetooth paired devices can be stored in the memory of the headphones?
- Do they support Multipoint Bluetooth (simultaneous connection to two BT devices)?
- The Bluetooth is Class 1 or Class 2?
- What Bluetooth chip do they have? A Qualcomm one? Is it possible to know the exact model?
- When connected to a source via USB-C, what DAC do they use? Do they have a dedicated one or they use the Bluetooth chip? What's the bitrate supported?
- Does the included 3.5mm cable have a microphone and a button (since the ones on the headphones won't work in passive mode)?
- Is a button dedicated to the activation of Siri/GoogleAssistant present?
- Will they be sold by Richer Sounds and Curry's?

Thanks A LOT

I have had our Product Manager (headphones) reply to your questions. Here's his replies in the same order.

- At the moment we have not planned an app as we are unsure of which value it would add, and there are not many settings were it would make sense to change it.
- On the IO-6 the ANC chip is also the amplifier and it almost uses the same energy regardless if ANC is ON or OFF. So Battery life of IO-6 is always around 30 hrs.
- We considered it but after doing a user study decided not to do this as most people won’t use it and prefer the normal way of pairing BT devices ( what they are used to)
- The IO will remember up to four devices
- No, the IO’s only support one BT connection at the time.
- The IO have Class 1 support
- It is a Qualcomm solution in order to run aptX, the exact chipset details we cannot disclose.
- The D/A convertion is handled by the front-end BT chip. On USB it’ll support 32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz.
- The 3,5mm cable is just a straign stereo cable. In passive mode ( OFF or with empty battery) play back will work, just as any passive headphone.
- The Multi-button( logo on the right hand cup) controls Play/Pause, skip track, take call, and it held down it’ll activate Siri/ google assistant.
- They are available at Richer Sounds

 

[karmazynowy]

On the IO-6 the ANC chip is also the amplifier and it almost uses the same energy regardless if ANC is ON or OFF. So Battery life of IO-6 is always around 30 hrs.

Does that mean that iO4 and iO6 can sound a bit different?

 

[Brintkiks]

Does that mean that iO4 and iO6 can sound a bit different?

Perhaps in theory. But we have made sure to fine tune both headphones to deliver the same audio performance. Some might claim to hear a difference, but in reality they probably don't. In theory both headphones have an advantage over the other, but in reality they sound the same.

 

[emba4]

a friend has already had his pre order pair land and is very impressed, im hoping i can get to demo a pair myself soon

 

[HVHP]

Mine landed on Tuesday. Well, last friday in the UK but didn't get posted out to me until Monday for Tuesday delivery.

Not had too much time with them but the little I've tested they are exactly what I expected. I'd put them on par with the sound of their zensor range of speakers has they lack the bass of the new oberons (not a bad thing) and while they can compete on the mids with the Ikon mk1s I had they don't have the fidelity at the high end but that's to be expected without a ribbon tweeter.

They sound obviously better when cabled in which is what I've always used with in ears in past but I was very impressed with the wireless non the less. Using my Onkyo Dp X1a DAP the sound quality over wireless was lacking. The old version of BT is noticeable even though it had support for Aptx. This I did expect though. The player is old now but I can't find a worthy replacement.

On my phone, Huawei p20 mate Pro which is BT 4.2 playing though USB audio player it was pretty fantastic. Very little difference from actually cabling them up.

This is a little annoying for me has I have over 500GB of flac on my DAP and lesss than 100GB on my phone without buying really expensive Nano memory cards for my phone which will lose its dual simm functionality then also. Again though, I expected this to be the case. My first walk into wireless from high end in ears.

A little something I noticed but have had little time to test, I turned the headphones off while cabled to the onkyo DAP and the sound passthrough'd and I swear it skipped the on board dac of the io6's so was using the DAPs twin amp & DAC has it sounded way different then when they were turned on. I've not had time have a play with this fully as of yet but do plan to have a good dig into this at the weekend when I have more time to test properly.

I hate over heads, always gone with in ears but the comfort on these is next level. You hardly tell they are there and I think 3 hours was the longest I've worn them atm and nothing. No complaints at all. They don't even look that invasive (in black) and are rather subtle in design not to stand out. That's a huge plus for myself, maybe not for others.

I will have a proper test over the weekend though when I have more time and come back give a more detailed view but my first impressions are very very good indeed. The only thing for me that I've noticed is I'd like them go a little louder but that may be a limitation on the wireless side, something I've yet to test properly too atm

All in all, fantastic, from a in-ear, non overhead fan too.