[hifirr]

Just want to share my experience with Dali IO-6. I had them for a week before sending them back (this was few months ago, I just go myself to write something now).

These headphones are fairly neutral and unfortunately for me sounded rather dull and "closed". I liked their bass response, but only if I had my glasses off. With glasses on, and I have thin frames, the bass dropped ridiculously. The vocals were nice, very melodic and smooth, I liked that also. Nevertheless, every time I put my wired Beyerdynamic DT 770 after Dalis and they sounded so much better, like taking the veil of the music, so much more specious. I might still have kept the Dali's, in fact I didn't mind having another pair of cans sounding differently, but I couldn't get around their comfort, or lack there of.

After 5 minutes the top of my head would start hurting and get progressively worse, there was too much pressure there. After 15 minutes my ears were getting too warm and sweaty and the small earcaps too noticeable. Effectively no mater how much I'd have enjoyed the sound every time I put the Dali's off it was such a relief. Additionally, these are wide headphones, they look a bit silly on the head.

Connectivity was great, no issues whatsoever, I liked the battery info when turning them on. Controls where fine as well. The build quality was generally very good, I liked the feel of Dalis, very premium. However, there was something inside the top padding coming off. I could feel it through the cushioning and push that in, but after some time it'd come off again. I think others had similar issue few months ago.

ANC was poor. It only blocked the low frequencies and even that not fully. There is no comparison with Sony WH-1000XM3, different league. Having said that I would not bother with IO-6 and recommend IO-4 instead. Passive noise isolation is pretty good.

To sum up, if you can get around the comfort issues (eg, have smaller head/ears) and like sound leaning towards neutral with smooth vocals and don't need ANC, go get Dalis. If ANC and comfort is important, I think WH-1000XM3 are still the cans to get, you just have to suck up the boomy bass.

 

[oneframe]

These headphones need an app to customize the sound and features. For example I would like to set:

- power time out
- connection priority (if I have Bluetooth connected to another device, but I directly connect a USB-C cable to the heaphones then I want the headphones to disconnect from the other source automatically). Right now the Dali doesn't do it. I do a direct connection to the Dali, but the Bluetooth is still connected and annoying with me voice prompts that it either connected or disconnected.
- The ability to turn off voice prompts as well as the volume of the prompt. I don't need these announcements now that I am used to the headphones nor do I need them announced in a loud volume.

Any update in the works Dali?

 

[Kalli]

These headphones need an app to customize the sound and features. For example I would like to set:

- power time out
- connection priority (if I have Bluetooth connected to another device, but I directly connect a USB-C cable to the heaphones then I want the headphones to disconnect from the other source automatically). Right now the Dali doesn't do it. I do a direct connection to the Dali, but the Bluetooth is still connected and annoying with me voice prompts that it either connected or disconnected.
- The ability to turn off voice prompts as well as the volume of the prompt. I don't need these announcements now that I am used to the headphones nor do I need them announced in a loud volume.

Any update in the works Dali?

I talked to the Dali support about 2-3 weeks ago and they told me there aren't any plans for an app.
But I totally get your point. If it's done right and not just for fancy useless functionality (that ties you to your phone) and rather some settings/customization an app could be quite useful.

 

[ewetcr]

Is it senseless to think there could be a way to use the io6 as a bluetooth receptor dac/amp to send signal to a different pair of headphones? Just for testing that part of the cans leaving the drivers aside. Could it be possible with a mod?

 

[Currawong]

Is it senseless to think there could be a way to use the io6 as a bluetooth receptor dac/amp to send signal to a different pair of headphones? Just for testing that part of the cans leaving the drivers aside. Could it be possible with a mod?

For that, just buy a regular Bluetooth audio receiver, like a FiiO BTR5.

 

[Kirjoy]

Asked at the Dali-Support and they told me, that there are no firmware updates available at the moment but if there are some they will be installable via USB. They're doing this with other products as well they told me.


After the Dali support told me, that Linux should work quite fine I idgged into it a few more minutes:

• For my PC it turned out that I'm and idiot and forgot to switch my output in JACK audio. After doing so it had the same results as the T420.
• Since trying around at the PC seemed to just make things more complicated I fiddled around with the crackling at the Laptop.
  • It seems to be a sample rate related problem. Pulse Audio Choppy/Distorted Sound
  • After going for digital duplex and setting default-sample-rate to 192000 in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf (don't forget to restart pulse daemon afterwards), I could play 44100 files just fine. I was also able to use the volume controls on the headphones. 48000 files still crackling.
  • I stopped my experimentation for now since it is obviously working and just some convenience tinkering needed I guess.

I bought these headphones a couple of days ago, and have tried connecting them to both my phone and my computer via BT, which seems to work fine with only minor glitches at times (which I guess are due to the BT connection).

But when I connect them to my computer (using Manjaro Linux) via USB I get horrible distortion and noise as soon as I start playing audio. I tried following the instructions from the Arch wiki linked in your post, but that didn't do anything. I also tried setting the default-sample-rate to 192000 (instead of 48000) to no avail. In pavucontrol I have the option to configure the DALIs as either analog or digital output, but neither option seems to make any difference.

I didn't find any option for this digital duplex that you're mentioning. What is that? Did I miss something?

Does it still work for you? Any tips for what to configure to get rid of this distortion?

EDIT: This seems to be a problem of things speeding up. When I have my Dali io-4 connected via USB and try to watch a youtube video it speeds up. I guess there occurs some sync error between the sped up video and the audio playback.

I have no idea why the videos would speed up as a result of connecting a headset via USB, though...

EDIT 2: I fixed it! The solution was to change the output sink to Digital Output (otherwise there was no sound at all) and change the default bitrate value in PulseAudio to 96000 in my case, I tried 48000 and 192000, neither of which made any difference whatsoever. Finally, I'll be able to try out gaming and video through USB

 

[Kirjoy]

I must say I reallly loved the sound on these headphones! But in the end I had to return them due to comfort issues: the headband was too narrow with too little padding for me and the earcups are too small (my ears are just below averaged sized (yes, I've measured them)), so I would get a headache and aching ears after an hour or so, if not earlier.

That's too bad, since I loved both the sound and function of these. If DALI ever makes a more comfortable version that's a sure buy

 

[Kalli]

I must say I reallly loved the sound on these headphones! But in the end I had to return them due to comfort issues: the headband was too narrow with too little padding for me and the earcups are too small (my ears are just below averaged sized (yes, I've measured them)), so I would get a headache and aching ears after an hour or so, if not earlier.

That's too bad, since I loved both the sound and function of these. If DALI ever makes a more comfortable version that's a sure buy

more or less exactly my experience with them. still waiting to compare them against the shure aonic 50.

 

[angelom]

Yesterday I receiving the shure aonic 50 (sa50) but only today I having the time for trying one hour. I didn't wanting waiting for later because I want today speaking only about the sound.

I trying in the past many (anc) wireless headphones, for example sennheiser momentum 1 and 3, dali io6, sony 1000xm1 and 3, b&o h8, h9, h9i, h9 3rd gen, master & dynamic mw65, b&w px, px7 and p7 wireless,

Only for the sound the shure aonic 50 is the best of everything in my opinion. In the past my favourite with or without anc is always (for 3,5 years) the p7 wireless (no anc) and the second is momentum 3 (with anc). This is first time in 3,5 years I hearing better sound in wireless headphone and this is in the sa50. This is in my opinion the real most close to a correct flat/neutral sound, is the most close with the good sound produced in real life.

I will commenting in next days other aspects like anc, ambient sound, eq in the shure app, the design and buttons, the construction and comfort.

I'm really very happy surprised for the sound.

One comment is that right now I have only b&w p7 wirelsss and sony xm3. I selling momentum 3 before because the sony is having much best anc than sennheiser.

Edit: I forgetting I also having in the past bose qc30, qc35, qc35II and nc700

 

[miccheck12]

My left can shorts if you touch it wrong. The warranty is a pretty worthless option because there is no dealer network. Anybody know how to get the can opened up?

 

[fishinn]

Finally got here to put an update. I replaced my first iO-6 (see my first post here) with another pair in 3 days after I bought them (5 months ago). And that item doesn't have the noise that bothered me in the left speaker. It does have usual background BT noise but it's quieter, so I'm fine with that.

While being at the headphones store, I compared them to QC35II and NC700 face to face. Didn't do that before just because I was sure the SQ of Bose not that good to me. I decided to compare them and not only on the SQ but on ANC as well. Not surprisingly, iO-6 beat both of Bose by SQ. But what I was impressed by is the difference in ANC, Boses are way much better in that, they cut not only lower frequencies, as iO-6 do, but voices and music around as well. So ANC in any of Bose would be helpful for office usage to get rid of chatter around (especially in open spaces).

Therefore, I confirm the idea that was mentioned in the thread multiple times: if you are looking for really great noise cancellation, iO-6 might disappoint you. Probably, that's the way we pay for truly great sound in iO-6 and for the absence of cabin pressure.

Anyway, I decided to stick with the iO-6 because of the sound even though both noise cancellation for voices and comfort are in my criteria list.

And after 5 months of using them, there is a bug in on/off button. Sometimes it doesn't turn the headphones on, so I have either to switch it to off and then to on again, or to move to the non-fixed position. That bug has been appearing for 1 month or so, and it looks like it's progressing, i.e. it occurs more often as times go by. So probably I would need to request a guarantee repair/replacement. And even so, I love my Dali very much

 

[Currawong]

The power appears to be a soft power system, but using a hard power switch. So, switching them on and off quickly, they wont go back off until they have started up again. I guess Dali asked the OEM to put on a hard-power switch, rather than have the usual system of pressing and holding a switch for 2 seconds. Unfortunately, it appears that they used the same electronics to do this as they would with a regular soft-power switch, thus the weird behaviour.

 

[miccheck12]

The power appears to be a soft power system, but using a hard power switch. So, switching them on and off quickly, they wont go back off until they have started up again. I guess Dali asked the OEM to put on a hard-power switch, rather than have the usual system of pressing and holding a switch for 2 seconds. Unfortunately, it appears that they used the same electronics to do this as they would with a regular soft-power switch, thus the weird behaviour.

Mine has started doing the same as fishinn. It's not just that problem. Mine can be off for the last 3 days and will take 7 attempts to turn back on. They just shouldn't have made this junk in China.

 

[fishinn]

So, switching them on and off quickly, they wont go back off until they have started up again.

Mine can be off for the last 3 days and will take 7 attempts to turn back on

I agree with miccheck12, it's not about fast off & on. It's a different issue. I have the same cases when they don't turn on after being off for a few minutes/hours.

And BTW, forgot to mention one more flaw.
During workdays, I use them for both listening to music and having calls over a windows laptop mostly. So if I listen/watch YouTube or Google Music from any browser, they remain working. But if I talk with someone via Google Hangouts (in a browser) or via MS Teams (standalone app), they go off after 10 mins or so. I found a FAQ on Dali website, they recommend to adjust a BlueTooth adapter in Windows. Unfortunately, that didn't help me. It looks like such kind of activity is recognized as inactivity (in opposite to streaming music). So the only way I manage to stay connected is to adjust the volume at times, then it (not sure if it's driven by windows or by the headphones) doesn't think that there is nothing happens.

Is anyone experiencing the same?
I'm going to reach out to Dali's support on that.

 

[Kalli]

Did just talk to the HifiKlubben support in germany due to my defective headphones. The crackling in the left ear piece is a defective batch of headphones. It affects the black ones mainly. Getting a replacement should be easy.