Audiopilot
New Head-Fier
Hi everyone,
I just recently decided to take the plunge into the world of headphone audio, and after reading many reviews on here and around the internet - I purchased the Dali IO6 wireless headphones. I thought I would give a review mainly focused on the sound quality of these as there are many reviews already floating around that go in depth about ANC, Bluetooth and the technological side of things.
Before I go into it, I have a background in Audio - a music technology degree, experience working in some studio's, composing music and also play a variety of instruments. So with this background, it really helps to understand a lot about properties of sound, timbre, nuances and detail. I can only afford to purchase what I can stretch my budget to. With this in mind, I set a budget of around £400 with the usual wireless suspects of Momentum M3, B&W PX7, Dali IO6 and some others. I spent hours and hours here reading many reviews here that you good folk have contributed and other places on the net too, well everyone has different ears, different taste to music, so it is all subjective. However, some of these usual wireless headphones seemed to have a consistent theme to them.. overly exaggerated on bass, too bright, unrealistic sound, or lack of bass, hollow sounding, too much of that EQ'd "V" sound, fatiguing to listen to. One stood out the most with just the right amount of bass, natural sounding and detailed - it was these Dali's, hence I took the plunge.
I guess with my conditioning of a musical background, I'm more naturally drawn to natural sounds as that is what I appreciate the most and it reflects on the type of music I listen to mainly.
So, what magic have the Dali IO6 done for me out of the box: it definitely has made me rediscover my music collection again and somehow appreciate some of them more. I've been listening to these headphones for a few days spending hours and hours just listening away at low to moderate volumes. I don't have any DAC or professional setup for headphone audio 'yet', so a bluetooth connection to my macbook pro and Iphone 6S plus is it - a few times using the supplied USB-C cable on the laptop. I'm sure this will all change now as these headphones have now got me really curious.
What I love about these headphones the most - they actually are natural sounding, so my gut instinct was right - already a win situation. Upon listening to some of the songs, lets just take 'Why Worry - Brothers in Arms' for example. For some of you who know this track very well, there is this hi hat sound way back in the mix which panned slightly to the left. Over the years, I've heard many high end systems where the hi hat is just gone, disappeared from the mix as if it doesn't exist, or its just way too faint that you need to really pump up the volume just to hear it - but then everything else gets unbearably loud. What these Dali do is, they bring that hi hat out from the mix, it brings it out in a way where its really well balanced into the mix up there in the air and to the left. It brings out detail in this track in a special way - the finger slides, the ambience and reverbs, delays, depth, resonance and dynamics. Think of the 'detail' as a person, he walks in the room and makes his introduction, you both happily acknowledge each other and he takes a seat in a nice armchair smoking a cigar - you know he is there. He is not the kind of 'detail' that walks in the room and suddenly starts boasting about what he can do and wants to be the centre of attention. This is the kind of 'natural detail' I am talking about.
On another track, let's take "Angel - Sarah McLachlan" - the detail and nuances in the piano that really start to become noticable. The dynamics of those keystrokes, the depth of the bass notes from the piano, the resonance of some of the keys that are sustained, the actual timbre and nuances of those stringed instruments that subtly fill the low end and the occasional panning to the right. Her voice has such a beautiful velvet airiness to it, there's no harsh sibilance going on here, it's very well controlled and smooth. The dynamics of her voice have really come out and produce a really nice soundstage, it doesn't become too overbearingly loud with a powerful in your face midrange, it's very controlled as you would expect as if she was singing in front of you. What I am really impressed with the most from these headphones, is the weight of the lower frequencies and depth. It doesn't become overpowering at all anywhere in the track, this is how the real depth and weight of these instruments are supposed to sound, and these headphones replicate that very well in such an immersive way - like a good secure foundation.
Trying something with a lot more dynamics and attack, lets take "The Bass Walk - Abraham Laboriel" - Probably one of the most appreciated bass guitar players out there, how musical is this track through these headphones with the volume turned up a notch - very! From the drums, the guitars, the keyboard and that bass guitar. These headphones just play the bass so well, all the details like the attack, speed, depth and control are there - its not super accurate like serious studio headphones but it's really good for what it is. It doesn't become overpowering anywhere even with the volume turned up and sits as it should be expected to in real life - this is what makes it so musically enjoyable in a natural way. The key thing here is, because these headphones have a natural bass response, this is why you can hear all that detail. I suspect if the bass was overly bloated as some of the other headphones, quite a bit of those subtle details would get lost and become muddy, things would start getting out of control and would be a little messy. The ride cymbal sits very well into the mix panned far to the left with the snare drum and it's ambiance just veering off slightly to the right off centre. This is another good example of instrument separation on the headphones. Again, a good example of how these headphones reveal details in a natural "just right" way.
I can go on and on here with many many tracks as these are just so enjoyable to listen to.
I'm very impressed, it is what I expected it to be as a good natural sounding headphone that does not tire you out after listening for hours and hours on end in terms of sound quality. In terms of sound stage, it has just the right amount for now and I wouldn't want any more or less as this could just make things sound pretty unrealistic, but then again some experimentation wouldn't hurt. Detail is not overpowering and it comes out well balanced with the rest of the music and instruments, it's 'almost' how you would expect to hear it in real. High frequencies are not in your face, they are there but gentle and smooth, it can reach high when it needs to bring that shine, sparkle and sheen out as and when dictated by the music, this is what makes it enjoyable, dynamic and engaging. If it was constantly in your face or obvious, I would get tired of listening to it and probably would become fatiguing after some time. The Low frequencies are like a well mannered gentleman, that it doesn't want to be in competition with everything else and over power them, it's more of "hey let's all work together as a team" - again well balanced and natural.
Comfort wise, these are very comfortable to wear. However, I have pretty large ears so the round cups don't make a complete seal so once in a while I find myself adjusting them here and there on the ear. I don't have that issue with my Beyerdynamic DT150's, but those are a different shape - it's not the headphones fault I have big ears. I'm sure the pads will bed in nicely and should become a better fit over time. I wear glasses, so when I take my glasses off the cups somehow make a slightly better seal, therefore the low frequency improves very slightly. Even with my glasses on, it's still good enough.
One thing I have noticed with these is that there is a 'sweet spot' with the sound in correlation to the volume. For me it is around the halfway mark where everything just sits in so nicely, so silky smooth and transparent - very apparent with Cigarettes After Sex. It's hard to put my finger on it but it's something like "yes, there is it.. right here". That point where you can listen to these forever. There's nothing wrong with going any louder but, it just the 'sweet spot'.
So where does this leave me with the Dali IO6 so far, it has a very good impressive strong foundation that makes it a sound solid investment right out of the box. It has also planted the seeds in my mind of the potential these have and if I could experiment to see how much more I can extract from them by pairing it with the right DAC/Headphone amp. This is important because as these are natural sounding headphones from what I have experienced so far, I don't want to take away from them and also don't want to push them too much into sounding something it's not meant to be. Maybe just a little more here and there would be the icing on the cake.
For the price - bang on!
All my listening so far has been done with the ANC turned off, I don't need it on in the house as the isolation is good enough here.
I'm sure as I dive more into the world of headphone audio and as the gear list grows, I can perhaps revisit this again and see what changes I have noticed. It would be nice to know your thoughts and if you use any DAC/Headphone amp with the Dali IO6 and your experience with it.
Thanks!
Nik
I just recently decided to take the plunge into the world of headphone audio, and after reading many reviews on here and around the internet - I purchased the Dali IO6 wireless headphones. I thought I would give a review mainly focused on the sound quality of these as there are many reviews already floating around that go in depth about ANC, Bluetooth and the technological side of things.
Before I go into it, I have a background in Audio - a music technology degree, experience working in some studio's, composing music and also play a variety of instruments. So with this background, it really helps to understand a lot about properties of sound, timbre, nuances and detail. I can only afford to purchase what I can stretch my budget to. With this in mind, I set a budget of around £400 with the usual wireless suspects of Momentum M3, B&W PX7, Dali IO6 and some others. I spent hours and hours here reading many reviews here that you good folk have contributed and other places on the net too, well everyone has different ears, different taste to music, so it is all subjective. However, some of these usual wireless headphones seemed to have a consistent theme to them.. overly exaggerated on bass, too bright, unrealistic sound, or lack of bass, hollow sounding, too much of that EQ'd "V" sound, fatiguing to listen to. One stood out the most with just the right amount of bass, natural sounding and detailed - it was these Dali's, hence I took the plunge.
I guess with my conditioning of a musical background, I'm more naturally drawn to natural sounds as that is what I appreciate the most and it reflects on the type of music I listen to mainly.
So, what magic have the Dali IO6 done for me out of the box: it definitely has made me rediscover my music collection again and somehow appreciate some of them more. I've been listening to these headphones for a few days spending hours and hours just listening away at low to moderate volumes. I don't have any DAC or professional setup for headphone audio 'yet', so a bluetooth connection to my macbook pro and Iphone 6S plus is it - a few times using the supplied USB-C cable on the laptop. I'm sure this will all change now as these headphones have now got me really curious.
What I love about these headphones the most - they actually are natural sounding, so my gut instinct was right - already a win situation. Upon listening to some of the songs, lets just take 'Why Worry - Brothers in Arms' for example. For some of you who know this track very well, there is this hi hat sound way back in the mix which panned slightly to the left. Over the years, I've heard many high end systems where the hi hat is just gone, disappeared from the mix as if it doesn't exist, or its just way too faint that you need to really pump up the volume just to hear it - but then everything else gets unbearably loud. What these Dali do is, they bring that hi hat out from the mix, it brings it out in a way where its really well balanced into the mix up there in the air and to the left. It brings out detail in this track in a special way - the finger slides, the ambience and reverbs, delays, depth, resonance and dynamics. Think of the 'detail' as a person, he walks in the room and makes his introduction, you both happily acknowledge each other and he takes a seat in a nice armchair smoking a cigar - you know he is there. He is not the kind of 'detail' that walks in the room and suddenly starts boasting about what he can do and wants to be the centre of attention. This is the kind of 'natural detail' I am talking about.
On another track, let's take "Angel - Sarah McLachlan" - the detail and nuances in the piano that really start to become noticable. The dynamics of those keystrokes, the depth of the bass notes from the piano, the resonance of some of the keys that are sustained, the actual timbre and nuances of those stringed instruments that subtly fill the low end and the occasional panning to the right. Her voice has such a beautiful velvet airiness to it, there's no harsh sibilance going on here, it's very well controlled and smooth. The dynamics of her voice have really come out and produce a really nice soundstage, it doesn't become too overbearingly loud with a powerful in your face midrange, it's very controlled as you would expect as if she was singing in front of you. What I am really impressed with the most from these headphones, is the weight of the lower frequencies and depth. It doesn't become overpowering at all anywhere in the track, this is how the real depth and weight of these instruments are supposed to sound, and these headphones replicate that very well in such an immersive way - like a good secure foundation.
Trying something with a lot more dynamics and attack, lets take "The Bass Walk - Abraham Laboriel" - Probably one of the most appreciated bass guitar players out there, how musical is this track through these headphones with the volume turned up a notch - very! From the drums, the guitars, the keyboard and that bass guitar. These headphones just play the bass so well, all the details like the attack, speed, depth and control are there - its not super accurate like serious studio headphones but it's really good for what it is. It doesn't become overpowering anywhere even with the volume turned up and sits as it should be expected to in real life - this is what makes it so musically enjoyable in a natural way. The key thing here is, because these headphones have a natural bass response, this is why you can hear all that detail. I suspect if the bass was overly bloated as some of the other headphones, quite a bit of those subtle details would get lost and become muddy, things would start getting out of control and would be a little messy. The ride cymbal sits very well into the mix panned far to the left with the snare drum and it's ambiance just veering off slightly to the right off centre. This is another good example of instrument separation on the headphones. Again, a good example of how these headphones reveal details in a natural "just right" way.
I can go on and on here with many many tracks as these are just so enjoyable to listen to.
I'm very impressed, it is what I expected it to be as a good natural sounding headphone that does not tire you out after listening for hours and hours on end in terms of sound quality. In terms of sound stage, it has just the right amount for now and I wouldn't want any more or less as this could just make things sound pretty unrealistic, but then again some experimentation wouldn't hurt. Detail is not overpowering and it comes out well balanced with the rest of the music and instruments, it's 'almost' how you would expect to hear it in real. High frequencies are not in your face, they are there but gentle and smooth, it can reach high when it needs to bring that shine, sparkle and sheen out as and when dictated by the music, this is what makes it enjoyable, dynamic and engaging. If it was constantly in your face or obvious, I would get tired of listening to it and probably would become fatiguing after some time. The Low frequencies are like a well mannered gentleman, that it doesn't want to be in competition with everything else and over power them, it's more of "hey let's all work together as a team" - again well balanced and natural.
Comfort wise, these are very comfortable to wear. However, I have pretty large ears so the round cups don't make a complete seal so once in a while I find myself adjusting them here and there on the ear. I don't have that issue with my Beyerdynamic DT150's, but those are a different shape - it's not the headphones fault I have big ears. I'm sure the pads will bed in nicely and should become a better fit over time. I wear glasses, so when I take my glasses off the cups somehow make a slightly better seal, therefore the low frequency improves very slightly. Even with my glasses on, it's still good enough.
One thing I have noticed with these is that there is a 'sweet spot' with the sound in correlation to the volume. For me it is around the halfway mark where everything just sits in so nicely, so silky smooth and transparent - very apparent with Cigarettes After Sex. It's hard to put my finger on it but it's something like "yes, there is it.. right here". That point where you can listen to these forever. There's nothing wrong with going any louder but, it just the 'sweet spot'.
So where does this leave me with the Dali IO6 so far, it has a very good impressive strong foundation that makes it a sound solid investment right out of the box. It has also planted the seeds in my mind of the potential these have and if I could experiment to see how much more I can extract from them by pairing it with the right DAC/Headphone amp. This is important because as these are natural sounding headphones from what I have experienced so far, I don't want to take away from them and also don't want to push them too much into sounding something it's not meant to be. Maybe just a little more here and there would be the icing on the cake.
For the price - bang on!
All my listening so far has been done with the ANC turned off, I don't need it on in the house as the isolation is good enough here.
I'm sure as I dive more into the world of headphone audio and as the gear list grows, I can perhaps revisit this again and see what changes I have noticed. It would be nice to know your thoughts and if you use any DAC/Headphone amp with the Dali IO6 and your experience with it.
Thanks!
Nik
