Garreth83
Head-Fier
newer batches have had the switch issue fixed I’ve been told by brintkikks, or what’shisname, Dali’s Rep on these boards. Get a pair, they are indeed stellar in the sound quality department.
Dali Headphones
- Thread starter emba4
- Start date
newer batches have had the switch issue fixed I’ve been told by brintkikks, or what’shisname, Dali’s Rep on these boards. Get a pair, they are indeed stellar in the sound quality department.
ChrisGB
100+ Head-Fier
Long story short, I managed to end up with both the i06 and Aonic 50. I’ve been able to do back to back and long term listening tests with well run in items (and compared new to “run in” i06). I’ve reviewed them here being driven wirelessly from a Shanling M6 using a mixture of .flac files through Neutron player and high res steams from Amazon HD. Connection has been via LDAC and AptX HD.
For anyone considering either - a comparison of the Dali i06 with Shure Aonic 50:
Sound:
The strength of the Shure product is that it focusses heavily on detail and instrument separation. The sound is best described as explicit. Subtleties and nuances are laid bare with ruthless effectiveness, each instrument in even busy arrangements seems to have its own space and can be clearly heard through the mix. Vocals, male or female are clearly conveyed with intimacy and expression. The upper bass region (80-250Hz) seems to be boosted a noticeable amount and combined with the revealing midrange, this gives excellent texture to instruments in the bass area. The mid band is relatively slightly forward, again, making the ‘phones sound detailed and revealing. Treble is strong but sweet, never harsh, and serves to further that explicit presentation. Where the Shures are conspicuously lacking is in the very low frequencies. Although the mid and upper bass regions are a little forward, the area below 40Hz is steeply rolled off, so A0 is only audible when playing loud and going lower, there is very little meat.
By comparison, the Dali product is more subtle in its approach. There is not the immediate sensation of etched detail that you get with the Aonic 50, but at the same time, they don’t miss anything that the Shures reveal, it is just that the presentation of the i06 seems to be less explicit. While detail, texture and separation are evident, they are not conspicuous qualities here. Vocals are maybe a little recessed by comparison to the Shures, but also, vocals seem to have a little more emotion with the Dalis. In terms of frequency response, the Dalis produce a balance close to neutral. Treble is extended, but never harsh, midrange is clear and clean. The bass seems to have a very slight boost in a narrow band around the 100Hz area, very subtle, but it also reaches all the way down to the very lowest audible notes giving a good sense of weight without any hint of bloom or bloat. I’d sum it up as nothing added or taken away.
Happily, neither of these headphones are tuned to the Harman curve.
Sound stage:
The Shure put together a nicely ordered space for all elements of the sound to be presented. The Dali seem to offer a less focussed stage, but also a significantly larger and more open one. Where the Shure gets the presentation a little outside of the ear cups, the Dali seem to expand that boundary noticeably further.
Noise cancelling / isolation.:
Passive isolation is very much more effective on the Dali i06. The Shure Aonic 50 counters this with better active noise cancelling. The noise cancelling on the Shure also seems to have very little effect on the sound (in its default setting), the Dalis definitely do sound more affected by use of the ANC. Realistically, the poor passive isolation of the Shure means that they leak a lot of sound, much like an open back headphone. With the Aonic 50, you certainly couldn’t sit listening to music while whoever you are sitting next to watched the television. The Dali, by comparison, has very good passive isolation and minimal sound leakage, making it no problem to listen without bugging your settee sharing TV watching partner. I found that with someone watching the TV at normal volume, I only needed the ANC on with the Dali with really quiet pieces. With the Shure, the sound leakage was just far too much to even try. With the Aonic 50, the ANC would probably make them more effective on a flight, but the people sitting next to you (and in front of you and behind you for several seats) will want to kill you if you play music.
Working with EQ:
Edit: Shure firmware update in September 2021 means that EQ profile set in the Shure app is now stored in the headphones and works with any app or device. Noted that the EQ is not available with LDAC.
I found that with Neutron player, I was able to recover the lowest frequencies by setting up a low frequency shelf from 40Hz and get the Aonic 50 to sound good all the way down to the lowest notes. This gave them a decent sensation of sonic weight where the music called for it, without making any other part of the sound bloated or overly slow or thick. The Dali needed no EQ to perform well, but I did try to EQ them to see how they would convey detail if they mimicked the Aonics frequency response. Although superficially similar, it became clear that although the EQ could be set to make the Dali mimic the Aonic’s frequency response, the Shure still demonstrated more resolution and separation. I tried using the Shure with AptX HD instead of forcing LDAC max quality, but this did not make any obvious differences to the sound. I found the Dali at their best with no EQ applied. Moving to steaming from Amazon HD, I was unable to get a satisfactory EQ of the Shure’s bottom end. The Amazon app only provides a slider at 60Hz, which, if boosted, causes the sound to bloat. I tried cutting everything above the 60Hz EQ point (if in doubt take it out, good advice for EQ and surgery) and this gave a more satisfactory result, but the really low frequencies are still almost missing in the Shure when streaming from the Amazon app.
Comfort / wearing:
The Shure have larger, softer pads and seem to clamp a little less than the Dalis. The headbands on both seem to be almost identical in height at their maximum setting. The Dalis clamp more and have a slightly smaller ear cup. The Shures seem to heat my ears up much more quickly than the Dalis, but neither are unpleasant. So both comfortable, but I’d say the Shure very slightly more so. Something to note, although not strictly comfort related, is that with the Dali, the sound is more sensitive to placement than the Shure.
Conclusion:
Both of these headphones offer an excellent sound. The Shure Aonic 50 presents a clean crisp and very hi-fi experience. If your listening tastes include stuff from the Orb and FSOL, or orchestras for that matter, they will need some sort of EQ to rescue the many very low frequency events and weight that these kinds of music include. The Dali counters with a more slow burning approach to musical presentation that covers the full audio spectrum without EQ. Ultimately, the Shure is a star performer. If you want detail and pace, I’d say it was ahead of the Dali. However, I cannot ignore a simple fact that demonstrated itself time and again while listening to these ‘phones. With the Shure, I consistently found myself aware of many of the wonderful elements and subtle details in the music, whereas, with the Dali, I consistently became quickly consumed by the music. For me, that makes Dali the winner. You pays your money and takes your choice!
As an aside:
My first pair of i06 started to show signs of developing the power switch fault, (sometimes completely failing to power up unless the switch was jiggled to the bluetooth pairing position and it was getting worse) so I ordered a set of Army Green ones (to ensure recent production) while the return of my older Iron Black ones was being processed. This gave me the opportunity to have a pair with over 100 hours on them to compare to a box fresh pair. Was there a difference? Well, yes, a big difference. The box fresh ‘phones sounded OK, but noticeably tight and veiled compared to the well run in pair. The sound of the 100 hour plus pair was more open, bigger soundstage, more “outside the head” more fluid in presentation. Both sweeter and with more textural information. Unfortunately, the new pair developed a charging fault on their second charging cycle (amber light flashes but no charging takes place), so they are being exchanged Friday for a third pair. Fingers crossed, third time lucky and does anybody want to buy my lightly used Shure Aonic 50 ?
Edit / update:
I just discovered the September 2021 firmware update for the Shure Aonic 50 that enables the EQ profile to be saved to hardware in the headphones, via the Shure app, meaning that the chosen EQ profile is stored in the headphones themselves and now works with any source device or application. This is a major advance and I can see the Aonic 50 challenging for the title of my favorite wireless headphones.
For anyone considering either - a comparison of the Dali i06 with Shure Aonic 50:
Sound:
The strength of the Shure product is that it focusses heavily on detail and instrument separation. The sound is best described as explicit. Subtleties and nuances are laid bare with ruthless effectiveness, each instrument in even busy arrangements seems to have its own space and can be clearly heard through the mix. Vocals, male or female are clearly conveyed with intimacy and expression. The upper bass region (80-250Hz) seems to be boosted a noticeable amount and combined with the revealing midrange, this gives excellent texture to instruments in the bass area. The mid band is relatively slightly forward, again, making the ‘phones sound detailed and revealing. Treble is strong but sweet, never harsh, and serves to further that explicit presentation. Where the Shures are conspicuously lacking is in the very low frequencies. Although the mid and upper bass regions are a little forward, the area below 40Hz is steeply rolled off, so A0 is only audible when playing loud and going lower, there is very little meat.
By comparison, the Dali product is more subtle in its approach. There is not the immediate sensation of etched detail that you get with the Aonic 50, but at the same time, they don’t miss anything that the Shures reveal, it is just that the presentation of the i06 seems to be less explicit. While detail, texture and separation are evident, they are not conspicuous qualities here. Vocals are maybe a little recessed by comparison to the Shures, but also, vocals seem to have a little more emotion with the Dalis. In terms of frequency response, the Dalis produce a balance close to neutral. Treble is extended, but never harsh, midrange is clear and clean. The bass seems to have a very slight boost in a narrow band around the 100Hz area, very subtle, but it also reaches all the way down to the very lowest audible notes giving a good sense of weight without any hint of bloom or bloat. I’d sum it up as nothing added or taken away.
Happily, neither of these headphones are tuned to the Harman curve.
Sound stage:
The Shure put together a nicely ordered space for all elements of the sound to be presented. The Dali seem to offer a less focussed stage, but also a significantly larger and more open one. Where the Shure gets the presentation a little outside of the ear cups, the Dali seem to expand that boundary noticeably further.
Noise cancelling / isolation.:
Passive isolation is very much more effective on the Dali i06. The Shure Aonic 50 counters this with better active noise cancelling. The noise cancelling on the Shure also seems to have very little effect on the sound (in its default setting), the Dalis definitely do sound more affected by use of the ANC. Realistically, the poor passive isolation of the Shure means that they leak a lot of sound, much like an open back headphone. With the Aonic 50, you certainly couldn’t sit listening to music while whoever you are sitting next to watched the television. The Dali, by comparison, has very good passive isolation and minimal sound leakage, making it no problem to listen without bugging your settee sharing TV watching partner. I found that with someone watching the TV at normal volume, I only needed the ANC on with the Dali with really quiet pieces. With the Shure, the sound leakage was just far too much to even try. With the Aonic 50, the ANC would probably make them more effective on a flight, but the people sitting next to you (and in front of you and behind you for several seats) will want to kill you if you play music.
Working with EQ:
Edit: Shure firmware update in September 2021 means that EQ profile set in the Shure app is now stored in the headphones and works with any app or device. Noted that the EQ is not available with LDAC.
I found that with Neutron player, I was able to recover the lowest frequencies by setting up a low frequency shelf from 40Hz and get the Aonic 50 to sound good all the way down to the lowest notes. This gave them a decent sensation of sonic weight where the music called for it, without making any other part of the sound bloated or overly slow or thick. The Dali needed no EQ to perform well, but I did try to EQ them to see how they would convey detail if they mimicked the Aonics frequency response. Although superficially similar, it became clear that although the EQ could be set to make the Dali mimic the Aonic’s frequency response, the Shure still demonstrated more resolution and separation. I tried using the Shure with AptX HD instead of forcing LDAC max quality, but this did not make any obvious differences to the sound. I found the Dali at their best with no EQ applied. Moving to steaming from Amazon HD, I was unable to get a satisfactory EQ of the Shure’s bottom end. The Amazon app only provides a slider at 60Hz, which, if boosted, causes the sound to bloat. I tried cutting everything above the 60Hz EQ point (if in doubt take it out, good advice for EQ and surgery) and this gave a more satisfactory result, but the really low frequencies are still almost missing in the Shure when streaming from the Amazon app.
Comfort / wearing:
The Shure have larger, softer pads and seem to clamp a little less than the Dalis. The headbands on both seem to be almost identical in height at their maximum setting. The Dalis clamp more and have a slightly smaller ear cup. The Shures seem to heat my ears up much more quickly than the Dalis, but neither are unpleasant. So both comfortable, but I’d say the Shure very slightly more so. Something to note, although not strictly comfort related, is that with the Dali, the sound is more sensitive to placement than the Shure.
Conclusion:
Both of these headphones offer an excellent sound. The Shure Aonic 50 presents a clean crisp and very hi-fi experience. If your listening tastes include stuff from the Orb and FSOL, or orchestras for that matter, they will need some sort of EQ to rescue the many very low frequency events and weight that these kinds of music include. The Dali counters with a more slow burning approach to musical presentation that covers the full audio spectrum without EQ. Ultimately, the Shure is a star performer. If you want detail and pace, I’d say it was ahead of the Dali. However, I cannot ignore a simple fact that demonstrated itself time and again while listening to these ‘phones. With the Shure, I consistently found myself aware of many of the wonderful elements and subtle details in the music, whereas, with the Dali, I consistently became quickly consumed by the music. For me, that makes Dali the winner. You pays your money and takes your choice!
As an aside:
My first pair of i06 started to show signs of developing the power switch fault, (sometimes completely failing to power up unless the switch was jiggled to the bluetooth pairing position and it was getting worse) so I ordered a set of Army Green ones (to ensure recent production) while the return of my older Iron Black ones was being processed. This gave me the opportunity to have a pair with over 100 hours on them to compare to a box fresh pair. Was there a difference? Well, yes, a big difference. The box fresh ‘phones sounded OK, but noticeably tight and veiled compared to the well run in pair. The sound of the 100 hour plus pair was more open, bigger soundstage, more “outside the head” more fluid in presentation. Both sweeter and with more textural information. Unfortunately, the new pair developed a charging fault on their second charging cycle (amber light flashes but no charging takes place), so they are being exchanged Friday for a third pair. Fingers crossed, third time lucky and does anybody want to buy my lightly used Shure Aonic 50 ?
Edit / update:
I just discovered the September 2021 firmware update for the Shure Aonic 50 that enables the EQ profile to be saved to hardware in the headphones, via the Shure app, meaning that the chosen EQ profile is stored in the headphones themselves and now works with any source device or application. This is a major advance and I can see the Aonic 50 challenging for the title of my favorite wireless headphones.
Last edited:
Garreth83
Head-Fier
Long story short, I managed to end up with both the i06 and Aonic 50. I’ve been able to do back to back and long term listening tests with well run in items (and compared new to “run in” i06). I’ve reviewed them here being driven wirelessly from a Shanling M6 using a mixture of .flac files through Neutron player and high res steams from Amazon HD. Connection has been via LDAC and AptX HD.
For anyone considering either - a comparison of the Dali i06 with Shure Aonic 50:
Sound:
The strength of the Shure product is that it focusses heavily on detail and instrument separation. The sound is best described as explicit. Subtleties and nuances are laid bare with ruthless effectiveness, each instrument in even busy arrangements seems to have its own space and can be clearly heard through the mix. Vocals, male or female are clearly conveyed with intimacy and expression. The upper bass region (80-250Hz) seems to be boosted a noticeable amount and combined with the revealing midrange, this gives excellent texture to instruments in the bass area. The mid band is relatively slightly forward, again, making the ‘phones sound detailed and revealing. Treble is strong but sweet, never harsh, and serves to further that explicit presentation. Where the Shures are conspicuously lacking is in the very low frequencies. Although the mid and upper bass regions are a little forward, the area below 40Hz is steeply rolled off, so A0 is only audible when playing loud and going lower, there is very little meat.
By comparison, the Dali product is more subtle in its approach. There is not the immediate sensation of etched detail that you get with the Aonic 50, but at the same time, they don’t miss anything that the Shures reveal, it is just that the presentation of the i06 seems to be less explicit. While detail, texture and separation are evident, they are not conspicuous qualities here. Vocals are maybe a little recessed by comparison to the Shures, but also, vocals seem to have a little more emotion with the Dalis. In terms of frequency response, the Dalis produce a balance close to neutral. Treble is extended, but never harsh, midrange is clear and clean. The bass seems to have a very slight boost in a narrow band around the 100Hz area, very subtle, but it also reaches all the way down to the very lowest audible notes giving a good sense of weight without any hint of bloom or bloat. I’d sum it up as nothing added or taken away.
Happily, neither of these headphones are tuned to the Harman curve.
Sound stage:
The Shure put together a nicely ordered space for all elements of the sound to be presented. The Dali seem to offer a less focussed stage, but also a significantly larger and more open one. Where the Shure gets the presentation a little outside of the ear cups, the Dali seem to expand that boundary noticeably further.
Noise cancelling / isolation.:
Passive isolation is very much more effective on the Dali i06. The Shure Aonic 50 counters this with better active noise cancelling. The noise cancelling on the Shure also seems to have very little effect on the sound (in its default setting), the Dalis definitely do sound more affected by use of the ANC. Realistically, the poor passive isolation of the Shure means that they leak a lot of sound, much like an open back headphone. With the Aonic 50, you certainly couldn’t sit listening to music while whoever you are sitting next to watched the television. The Dali, by comparison, has very good passive isolation and minimal sound leakage, making it no problem to listen without bugging your settee sharing TV watching partner. I found that with someone watching the TV at normal volume, I only needed the ANC on with the Dali with really quiet pieces. With the Shure, the sound leakage was just far too much to even try. With the Aonic 50, the ANC would probably make them more effective on a flight, but the people sitting next to you (and in front of you and behind you for several seats) will want to kill you if you play music.
Working with EQ:
I found that with Neutron player, I was able to recover the lowest frequencies by setting up a low frequency shelf from 40Hz and get the Aonic 50 to sound good all the way down to the lowest notes. This gave them a decent sensation of sonic weight where the music called for it, without making any other part of the sound bloated or overly slow or thick. The Dali needed no EQ to perform well, but I did try to EQ them to see how they would convey detail if they mimicked the Aonics frequency response. Although superficially similar, it became clear that although the EQ could be set to make the Dali mimic the Aonic’s frequency response, the Shure still demonstrated more resolution and separation. I tried using the Shure with AptX HD instead of forcing LDAC max quality, but this did not make any obvious differences to the sound. I found the Dali at their best with no EQ applied. Moving to steaming from Amazon HD, I was unable to get a satisfactory EQ of the Shure’s bottom end. The Amazon app only provides a slider at 60Hz, which, if boosted, causes the sound to bloat. I tried cutting everything above the 60Hz EQ point (if in doubt take it out, good advice for EQ and surgery) and this gave a more satisfactory result, but the really low frequencies are still almost missing in the Shure when streaming from the Amazon app.
Comfort / wearing:
The Shure have larger, softer pads and seem to clamp a little less than the Dalis. The headbands on both seem to be almost identical in height at their maximum setting. The Dalis clamp more and have a slightly smaller ear cup. The Shures seem to heat my ears up much more quickly than the Dalis, but neither are unpleasant. So both comfortable, but I’d say the Shure very slightly more so. Something to note, although not strictly comfort related, is that with the Dali, the sound is more sensitive to placement than the Shure.
Conclusion:
Both of these headphones offer an excellent sound. The Shure Aonic 50 presents a clean crisp and very hi-fi experience. If your listening tastes include stuff from the Orb and FSOL, or orchestras for that matter, they will need some sort of EQ to rescue the many very low frequency events and weight that these kinds of music include. The Dali counters with a more slow burning approach to musical presentation that covers the full audio spectrum without EQ. Ultimately, the Shure is a star performer. If you want detail and pace, I’d say it was ahead of the Dali. However, I cannot ignore a simple fact that demonstrated itself time and again while listening to these ‘phones. With the Shure, I consistently found myself aware of many of the wonderful elements and subtle details in the music, whereas, with the Dali, I consistently became quickly consumed by the music. For me, that makes Dali the winner. You pays your money and takes your choice!
As an aside:
My first pair of i06 started to show signs of developing the power switch fault, (sometimes completely failing to power up unless the switch was jiggled to the bluetooth pairing position and it was getting worse) so I ordered a set of Army Green ones (to ensure recent production) while the return of my older Iron Black ones was being processed. This gave me the opportunity to have a pair with over 100 hours on them to compare to a box fresh pair. Was there a difference? Well, yes, a big difference. The box fresh ‘phones sounded OK, but noticeably tight and veiled compared to the well run in pair. The sound of the 100 hour plus pair was more open, bigger soundstage, more “outside the head” more fluid in presentation. Both sweeter and with more textural information. Unfortunately, the new pair developed a charging fault on their second charging cycle (amber light flashes but no charging takes place), so they are being exchanged Friday for a third pair. Fingers crossed, third time lucky and does anybody want to buy my lightly used Shure Aonic 50 ?
This mirrors my experience exactly. The Aonic are like a microscope. That is fun for a while, but with the Dali the music grabs me and draws me in. It’s more enjoyable.
sometimes I wish I could bastardize my fav headphones. Like I did with audio components. Choose drivers, choose the housing, choose the amp etc. The whole anc headphone thing is so boxed in.
I hope Dali can up the build quality and comfort for the next iteration (oval earcups!). And keep the SQ as is. It’s perfect.
Hey guys. I was one of the first to receive the Dali IO6 and have already posted hear. Meanwhile my first pair has been replaced because of the defective power button. Now I have received my second pair. Still happy with the sound BUT I've experienced a really annoying issue.
I had short breaks and crackling randomly, when using them with Bluetooth.
After a short google search, it seems, this is a problem in Android 10.
Here you find a fix.
https://parthipannatkunam.medium.com/fix-bluetooth-audio-issue-on-android-10-e1eb9bde1d39
Further most phones have AVRCP Version 1.4 by default. You can change this to version 1.6. as well.
This is the audio / video remote control Profile.
On my device, I had to apply AVRCP 1.6 disable hardware offload, reboot, and then enable hardware offload again. Then it worked.
I had short breaks and crackling randomly, when using them with Bluetooth.
After a short google search, it seems, this is a problem in Android 10.
Here you find a fix.
https://parthipannatkunam.medium.com/fix-bluetooth-audio-issue-on-android-10-e1eb9bde1d39
Further most phones have AVRCP Version 1.4 by default. You can change this to version 1.6. as well.
This is the audio / video remote control Profile.
On my device, I had to apply AVRCP 1.6 disable hardware offload, reboot, and then enable hardware offload again. Then it worked.
Last edited:
I have been using the IO-6 from the moment they launched. As many here have said: the passive isolation is already very good and the sound quality is great. I have some other pair of headphones, some more expensive, that do not have the detail retrieval and imaging the Dali's can bring. I guess many benefits are due to the quite large driver they are using. Great for dynamics, indeed.
Recently, mine have been replaced by Dali due to the power button issue as others have reported. So I've a Dali brand new in the box. Even though they are great, due to changes in work travel, I'm not needing a closed back noise cancelling anymore. I'll be working mainly from home now and will resort to my open-back headphones. If anyone is interested in the headphones for sale, hit me a PM (shipping from Belgium).
And to all the others, who are comparing with the Sony: imo the Dali is better in sound quality and i never needed more noise cancellation than the passive one when i was on the train. So at least where I live and used to commute, the level of noise cancelling required is not that high.
Recently, mine have been replaced by Dali due to the power button issue as others have reported. So I've a Dali brand new in the box. Even though they are great, due to changes in work travel, I'm not needing a closed back noise cancelling anymore. I'll be working mainly from home now and will resort to my open-back headphones. If anyone is interested in the headphones for sale, hit me a PM (shipping from Belgium).
And to all the others, who are comparing with the Sony: imo the Dali is better in sound quality and i never needed more noise cancellation than the passive one when i was on the train. So at least where I live and used to commute, the level of noise cancelling required is not that high.
Maukey
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2011
- Posts
- 707
- Likes
- 1,275
It’s been a while since I’ve visited this thread. Is everyone still enjoying their iO6/iO4?
I‘m wondering have any of you had a chance to compare the Dali headphones to the the B&O H95 and/or AirPods Max. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.
I‘m wondering have any of you had a chance to compare the Dali headphones to the the B&O H95 and/or AirPods Max. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.
Garreth83
Head-Fier
I have compared them to the B&O Hx, and if that is anything to go by than the Io6 is still more natural and hifi sounding.
Buildquality of the B&O was another story. I would have almost kept it just as a thing of beauty. Everything felt right. The sound and that’s what matters was a letdown. Too artificial and grainy.
Maukey
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2011
- Posts
- 707
- Likes
- 1,275
I haven't tried the HX, but my understanding is that it's a step or 2 down in sound quality from the H95. Thanks for your input though, that still speaks highly of the Dali
mikidonald
New Head-Fier
BT is not working. PC or phone does not find it. Great. Third pair and still faulty.
fiolmattias
New Head-Fier
Strange, I have had mine for a very long time now and I have never had an a Bluetooth problems. Other problems, yes, but never Bluetooth problems.
mikidonald
New Head-Fier
Bought them when they ~launched, november 2019.
Some point on/off button did not work. Contacted retailer and they gave me new pair. Unfortunately new pair was also from faulty patch and it ended up with same error.
Now I got third pair and they worked just fine. Headphones turn itself off by certain time of inactivity. And when I tried to turn on, it says it's on, and ANC works, but devices can't find headphones. Removing headphones and new pairing - nothing; Reinstalling firmware - nothing.
Some point on/off button did not work. Contacted retailer and they gave me new pair. Unfortunately new pair was also from faulty patch and it ended up with same error.
Now I got third pair and they worked just fine. Headphones turn itself off by certain time of inactivity. And when I tried to turn on, it says it's on, and ANC works, but devices can't find headphones. Removing headphones and new pairing - nothing; Reinstalling firmware - nothing.
fiolmattias
New Head-Fier
Yeah, I bought my first pair when they were released as well, and I also had the on/off problem so I got a new pair. The rep explained that even if there is a switch it is still a software button that turns them on/off and if you leave them idle for too long they go nuts. Since then I have been careful with my new pair and had zero problem, except for the famous crack in the headband. Perhaps your Bluetooth problem is related to the on/off problem? Do you leave them on so they turn themselves off?
ChrisGB
100+ Head-Fier
Have you tried a factory reset to fix the BT problem?
Sonic Defender
Headphoneus Supremus
Shame as it sounds like these headphones have really well tuned sound signatures, but some of these issues are quite serious it sounds like.
MatthiasHe
New Head-Fier
I had a faulty switch in my first iO-6 (which got exchanged), but never any bluetooth connection issues or issues with cracs in the headband. I had very little digital noise in the left earcup of both my original and the swapped iO6 - definitly not noticable when listening to music but - sometimes - in very quiet environments without music. More of an cosmetic issue - far from being as bad as f.e. the Beyerdynamic Aventho which has a terrible digital noise also in the left earcup which renders these totally unusable for me - but still something which shouldn't be there in a headphone targeted towards a critical audience.
After I really love the iOs sound signature and rarely need the noise cancellation - which isn't to effective anyways - I now switched to the iO 4 which to me is perfect (well, of course I hope the switch issues are a thing of the past). Battery live is endless, and they are perfectly silent in both channels without music. I guess the iO 4 has less issues with interferences after it uses a simple single chip design with an Qualcom QCC3034 as bluetooth/dac/amp, so the amplified signal leaving the Qualcom chip is routet directly to the drivers; also the QCC3034 has a class-d amplifier so no audio is processed as relatively low level analog signals. The iO 6 uses the QCC3034 as Bluetooth/dac, the analog signal is passed to the Sony NC processor and then an analog amplifier. This setup is always active doesnt matter if NC is on or off, which is also why the iO 6 always uses more battery power. So quiet some analog audio path, which, with probably a design which is not perfectly hardened against interference, is much more likely to show noise issues.
For now I am happy with the iO4s - well lets see if Dali sometimes will release a Mk 2 version where they ruled out the existing quirks (f.e. a little bit wider headband would be nice, also little bit spacier or oval cups). If they do, I hope the sound signature will remain exactly as it is.
After I really love the iOs sound signature and rarely need the noise cancellation - which isn't to effective anyways - I now switched to the iO 4 which to me is perfect (well, of course I hope the switch issues are a thing of the past). Battery live is endless, and they are perfectly silent in both channels without music. I guess the iO 4 has less issues with interferences after it uses a simple single chip design with an Qualcom QCC3034 as bluetooth/dac/amp, so the amplified signal leaving the Qualcom chip is routet directly to the drivers; also the QCC3034 has a class-d amplifier so no audio is processed as relatively low level analog signals. The iO 6 uses the QCC3034 as Bluetooth/dac, the analog signal is passed to the Sony NC processor and then an analog amplifier. This setup is always active doesnt matter if NC is on or off, which is also why the iO 6 always uses more battery power. So quiet some analog audio path, which, with probably a design which is not perfectly hardened against interference, is much more likely to show noise issues.
For now I am happy with the iO4s - well lets see if Dali sometimes will release a Mk 2 version where they ruled out the existing quirks (f.e. a little bit wider headband would be nice, also little bit spacier or oval cups). If they do, I hope the sound signature will remain exactly as it is.
Last edited:
Users who are viewing this thread
