[Logu4]

Hallo, I am complaining of my IO-6 hissing while turned on (ANC on or off, doesn't matter). Unfortunately it is plain unbearable with quiet music. The left can hisses stronger. This should be a major flaw.
Does someone has an advice for me? Thank you.

 

[Logu4]

I decided to return the Dali.
Hadn't the issue with the hissing been not there the decision would have been much more difficult.

First of all the hissing: enjoying quiet music (Billie Eilish, Katie Melua, etc.) in a quiet environment is impossible. I have a pair of Sony ier z1 iem but sometimes I can not wear them, because my ear canals need a break. I wanted a good over ear headphone for home and on the move to bridge the time till I can wear my iem again. The Dali IO-6 does not fulfill the home requirement because of this hissing.

On the move ANC would come handy but as many of you already pointed out it is one of the worst executions out there. It really helps, and it is better than not having ANC, but it is miles behind the competition. Voices does not get muted at all. I thought about IO-4.

Eventually I thought that the sound quality of the Dali is not enough for what I want from a headphone. I have compared the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless, The JBL Club One, borrowed Shure SRH1540 and my own Sony ier z1 with the Dali to check where the Dali is situated. Among the wirelles headphones the Dali was the best. The Momentum 3 had this recessed midrange, a telephone like sound, which made Voices sound unnatural, distant and thin (not only compared to Dali). The Dali makes this much much better, even too much vor my taste. The voices sound more natural than the M3 and Club One. But then it was too much of a midrange or may be too flat a frequency response to me. The bass is good, less and better than M3, but the midrange seemed to overpower everything. Actually in wirelles mode I liked the Dali more than wired with lotoo Paw S2 or dragonfly Red and UAPP, because the midrange was not so strong. Wired there was excessive midrange for my taste, a huge difference. Everything was clearer but also shoutier wired. Switching to Shure SRH1540 was like a rescue island for my ears, such a sweet and spot on midrange, such a natural voice reproduction. And yes, a little bit more bass which made the music so much more enjoyable. At this point for me was clear, that I was not going to have the musical enjoyment from a wireles headphone the way I want it to be. The Shure is the more expensive headphone, it is expected to be better, but this is a huge difference in sound reproduction for me.

I suppose there is not wirelles headphone with the reproduction quality of the Shure. I was ready to spend a certain amount if the headphone covers my sound taste. Even the Beoplay H95 was not to my taste. I found its timbre not natural, I didn't like how the instruments sound how the H95 reproduced them especially in the higher frequencies. Too processed? It is a fun headphone, but one that costs so much.

 

[MatthiasHe]

I decided to return the Dali.
Hadn't the issue with the hissing been not there the decision would have been much more difficult.

..

On the move ANC would come handy but as many of you already pointed out it is one of the worst executions out there. It really helps, and it is better than not having ANC, but it is miles behind the competition. Voices does not get muted at all. I thought about IO-4.

 

[MatthiasHe]

I'd recommend to go for the io4 for all who - like myself - prefer the Dali sound signature over other wireless headphones. As you wrote, the io 6 ANC simply is not worth it, and it seems many io6 units have some hissing issues. The io4 - who has a simply one chip design and directly uses the digital amplifier of the qualcom bluetooth chip instead of routing everything over the sony ANC chip and the analogue amp stage of the sony chip whith a probably not perfectly interference hardened circuit design - is dead quiet / has no hissing at all, endless battery life, is (little) cheaper and has the same sound signature as the io 6.

If I need ANC / on the go, I use the Sony Wf 100xm3 in ears (I like their sound much more than the totally muddy over ear WH 100xm3/4). And cross my fingers Dali gets their acts together and sometimes will release a MK II version of the io6 with improved ANC and circuit design to get rid of all these interferences.

 

[ChrisGB]

Personally, I don't find the background hiss distracting. I've had two pairs of the i06 and both have this hiss. Driving them wired / passively from a Shanling M6 does reveal an extra level of detail (the product of slightly more midrange energy perhaps) and gives an inky black silence that improves space around interments.

The iO6 were my first foray into serious headphones. Where they are ideal for me is that they allow me to listen to music without disturbing people around me. Having said that, I can feel the need to go for something better and for when I don't have to worry about disturbing others, a pair of Quad ERA 1 are under consideration, pending an audition.

I still think the the i06 are as good as it gets in wireless land though.

 

[kadajawi]

I have decided to keep the IO-4, as the seal kept getting better to a level that I can live with.

However they seem to have developed an issue when using Bluetooth, where especially with YouTube the right side crackles while something is playing. Turning them off and on again changes behavior, and sometimes the problem goes away.

Has anyone experienced this before? Is there anything to fix this?

 

[ewetcr]

The crackling is (or was) due to faulty units, you should be able to get a new unit if it's on warranty. The crackling doesn't dissappear 100% though, but it should be hardly noticeable when musicc is playing.

 

[mdaps4shaz]

Hi all,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I've been going through a bit of a (self-inflicted) headphone crisis at the minute, and would be very much appreciate anybody's advice. It might help me having people tell me I'm just being pedantic/obsessed/compulsive...

I recently bought a pair of IO-6, having been impressed by my Dali speakers. I love the sound profile on them, and after trying about 5 sets of wireless cans, thought I'd found the one. (For ref: I've tried Sony WH3&4, Bose QC and NC700, B&W PX and PX7, Sennheiser M3 - I didn't get on with any of them, mainly because of the sound quality)

But sometimes it feels like there is clipping in the music i'm listening to. I'll give some song examples of what i mean below, but to describe the sound...it tends to happen in the higher range or when there are a lot of instruments together. It's difficult to describe, but it's almost like crunch/distortion sound. It's subtle, but enough that I'm finding it distracting, especially when it's on otherwise clean sounding recordings. This happened - to some degree - with all the other headphones as well (i know, i know)

The distortion is present in both wired and wireless listening.

So, my questions are - is there something wrong with all of these headphones (unlikely)? Is it the source of the streaming music (Amazon UHD/Spotify/Tidal etc.) I'm using, which basically means I'm going to get compression and clipping? Or is it, in fact, imperfections I'm hearing in the actual recordings themselves (I think given it happens in a lot of modern productions, i'm assuming no)?

I have no way to tell as I don't have a pair of quality wired cans available to compare. Apart from records, i only listen to music via streaming, hence getting a pair of wireless cans in the first place (my Samsung doesn't have a headphone jack)

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Here are some song examples and times where the clipping/distortion occurs. This is just from my listening session this

Tame Impala - Less i know the better - 0:20 - 0:22
U2 - Stuck in a moment - 0:03 - 00:04 - left ear, keyboard or piano clips
U2 - Beautiful Day - the final moments of the song, the keyboard/guitar in left ear peaks at certain bits and feels like it's pulsing
Braveheart OST - making plans/gathering clans - when the bass/orchestral drum drops at 1:03, in the left ear there's like a crackle; again at 1:20, when the bass/orchestral drum comes again, it happens in both ears, but more pronounced on the left
Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows; very subtle throughout the song, always on left channel. Like audible clipping on 00:10.

What I listened on: Mac desktop, Amazon Music UHD. Listening to Dali's wired (USB C-USB C).

I'm well aware that this makes me look extremely pedantic, but if somebody could give their take it'd be much appreciated. I might have to admit defeat otherwise and return a pair of headphones I otherwise love

Thanks a lot in advance

Thanks in advance.

 

[ChrisGB]

Reposted with post quoted!

 

[ChrisGB]

Hi all,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

I've been going through a bit of a (self-inflicted) headphone crisis at the minute, and would be very much appreciate anybody's advice. It might help me having people tell me I'm just being pedantic/obsessed/compulsive...

I recently bought a pair of IO-6, having been impressed by my Dali speakers. I love the sound profile on them, and after trying about 5 sets of wireless cans, thought I'd found the one. (For ref: I've tried Sony WH3&4, Bose QC and NC700, B&W PX and PX7, Sennheiser M3 - I didn't get on with any of them, mainly because of the sound quality)

But sometimes it feels like there is clipping in the music i'm listening to. I'll give some song examples of what i mean below, but to describe the sound...it tends to happen in the higher range or when there are a lot of instruments together. It's difficult to describe, but it's almost like crunch/distortion sound. It's subtle, but enough that I'm finding it distracting, especially when it's on otherwise clean sounding recordings. This happened - to some degree - with all the other headphones as well (i know, i know)

The distortion is present in both wired and wireless listening.

So, my questions are - is there something wrong with all of these headphones (unlikely)? Is it the source of the streaming music (Amazon UHD/Spotify/Tidal etc.) I'm using, which basically means I'm going to get compression and clipping? Or is it, in fact, imperfections I'm hearing in the actual recordings themselves (I think given it happens in a lot of modern productions, i'm assuming no)?

I have no way to tell as I don't have a pair of quality wired cans available to compare. Apart from records, i only listen to music via streaming, hence getting a pair of wireless cans in the first place (my Samsung doesn't have a headphone jack)

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Here are some song examples and times where the clipping/distortion occurs. This is just from my listening session this

Tame Impala - Less i know the better - 0:20 - 0:22
U2 - Stuck in a moment - 0:03 - 00:04 - left ear, keyboard or piano clips
U2 - Beautiful Day - the final moments of the song, the keyboard/guitar in left ear peaks at certain bits and feels like it's pulsing
Braveheart OST - making plans/gathering clans - when the bass/orchestral drum drops at 1:03, in the left ear there's like a crackle; again at 1:20, when the bass/orchestral drum comes again, it happens in both ears, but more pronounced on the left
Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows; very subtle throughout the song, always on left channel. Like audible clipping on 00:10.

What I listened on: Mac desktop, Amazon Music UHD. Listening to Dali's wired (USB C-USB C).

I'm well aware that this makes me look extremely pedantic, but if somebody could give their take it'd be much appreciated. I might have to admit defeat otherwise and return a pair of headphones I otherwise love

Thanks a lot in advance

Thanks in advance.

Interesting. I've had a listen to the tracks you mention to see if anything is showing up.

All source material from Amazon HD.
Listening on Shanling M6 connected via Aptx HD (Dall i06) and LDAC forced to HQ mode, (Shure Aonic 50) and Dali i06 via Galaxy tab pro S / USB. I've included the
Shure as these are about the most revealing wireless headphones money can buy and will lay bare any anomalies in the sounds.

Tame Impala track. I hear some distortion in the area you mention on all setups.This is more evident on the Shure than on the i06. To me, it sounds like an intentional combination of effect and gating in the mix, but is not distracting, just part of the texture.

U2 Stuck in a moment. I don't hear clipping, but there is some subtle switching noise in there. This occurs on all setups, more obvious on the Shure.

U2 Beautiful Day. The guitar is pulsing, It's part of the texture of the mix. Evident on all setups, blatant on the Shure.

Braveheart soundtrack. No crackle at all. Very slight airy fuzz on the bass drum at high levels. Probably drum skin noise?

Queens of the stone age. I hear some applied distortion in the mix, but not hearing anything that sounds like level induced clipping. It's a dirty, spiky mix!

As you say these things happen to an extent with all headphones, this means the "problem" may be the source path, try feeding the headphones via aptx from an android phone (apple seems to impose AAC on most of their phones, which is far from ideal). The only other thing I can think of is that you may have a form of frequency triggered tinnitus that can cause clicking in the ears in response to certain frequencies.

Hope this is of some help!

 

[mdaps4shaz]

Thanks for taking the time to do that test and respond.

So I tried again with both the Dali's and an old pair of WH1000M2, and I think it is just part of the recordings I'm hearing, as what you described is what I'm hearing....just maybe more pronounced? And I think maybe I'm just nitpicking because back in the days when I had earphones (talking 15 years ago) I always remember when they were on the point of breaking you'd hear a rattle.

Anyway, both pairs of headphones displayed the same 'issue' - again, maybe more pronounced on the Dali's, but I'm guessing that could be of the better clarity and less bass-emphasised sound stage. Test just there was done on Aptx for Dali, Ldac for Sony.

Just tried Richter's on the nature of daylight and the Dali's sound fantastic. There is a legit 'issue' found in that recording though, which would be the bum note at 3.50 - always cracks me up.

By the way, what are your thoughts on the shure?

 

[ChrisGB]

I did a write up of my comparison of the Dali and Shure here:

Post in thread 'Dali Headphones' https://www.head-fi.org/threads/dali-headphones.914701/post-16310655

Long story short, I find myself listening to the Dali more of the time, but both are excellent.

 

[mdaps4shaz]

Really interesting write-up, thanks. I've yet to try the Shure, but interesting what you say about them being super revealing and finding yourself 'losing yourself', for want of a better phrase, in the Dali's more. While I like the idea of Shure's extra detail, perhaps them being too analytical might not bode well with my super analytic pedantry...

Final couple of questions from me, as you're clearly much more knowledgeable in this area: what sounds best with Dali's - wired via 3.5mm (with headset powered on and off) or via USB. I'm assuming these are better than wireless. And would you say it is worth considering a mobile DAC for the Dali's?

Thanks again

 

[ChrisGB]

Really interesting write-up, thanks. I've yet to try the Shure, but interesting what you say about them being super revealing and finding yourself 'losing yourself', for want of a better phrase, in the Dali's more. While I like the idea of Shure's extra detail, perhaps them being too analytical might not bode well with my super analytic pedantry...

Final couple of questions from me, as you're clearly much more knowledgeable in this area: what sounds best with Dali's - wired via 3.5mm (with headset powered on and off) or via USB. I'm assuming these are better than wireless. And would you say it is worth considering a mobile DAC for the Dali's?

Thanks again

Hmmm... Difficult one. Driving the Dali from the USB connection gives a little more texture and perhaps better imaging. Driving the Dali passively from the Shanling M6 output seems to give a slightly more vibrant and punchy sound. Detail is definitely improved. Differences are subtle and I think part of this is down to more dynamic headroom being driven by a more powerful separate amplifier. The key reason for me buying the Dali was for the wireless convenience. Having said that, I'm listening on headphones more and more lately and I'm thinking of buying a pair of Quad ERA-1 and see if I can get the Dali involvement with resolution exceeding the Shure Aonic 50. May end up needing an amp to drive them. These forums cost me a fortune

I did find that I had better sound quality over aptxHD from the Shanling M6 than from my OnePlus 6 phone. Which is odd.

 

[ChrisGB]

The Aonic 50 are more detailed and definitely faster. I wouldn't say analytical, more very revealing. With something like Cardiacs: On land and in the sea album, the i06 really can't capture the manic ferocity of all that's going on quite as well. The Shure provides the more visceral listen. I need something that combines the best of each.