Verdict
With the IO-6 , DALI direct to ruffle a few feather in the premium radio haphazardness - cancellation bowl – but fall short of the best . Despite this , these are a well - judged duo of earphone with an sympathetic sound and effective noise - cancellation . They ’re worth regard if you do n’t want the bells and whistles of other pairs .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The DALI IO-6 are close - back headphones from the Danish audio brand , which come with wireless connectivity , noise - cancellation and 30 hours of battery sprightliness .
Is there a sector of the consumer electronics market that ’s more ferociously contested than premium wireless noise - cancelling headphones ? The telephone number of big - hitting company ready to part you from somewhere between £ 250 and £ 350 for a brace of smart , effective over - auricle cans is as long as your arm : Bose , Sennheiser andSony(to name just a few ) all have excellent examples ready to delight .
So you ca n’t find fault Danish loudspeaker system specialist DALI for want a piece of the action . After all , if a company with the history of Bowers & Wilkins can get a musical composition of the global headphones sales pie , why not Salvador Dali ?
However , this is an stern arena , particularly for a companionship that had never sprain out a pair of headphones until this one . Can the Salvador Dali IO-6 radio , noise - cancelling over - ear earpiece crash the party ? Or has the stable doorway already slammed while the horse cavalry – presumably wearing a dozen distich of premium wireless , haphazardness - cancelling over - ear headphones – gallop off into the space ?
Design
Even before getting into the nitty - gritty of specification and performance , there are certain design element that a pair of premium receiving set , racket - cancelling earphone must adhere to if they ’re to be competitive . reasonably , DALI has stuck closely to the rule - ledger . The IO-6 look exactly like I ’d expect such a duad of earphone to look .
The overall lines are clean and goodish . The materials look , feel and – in the case of the celluloid leather covering the earpads and headband – smell outstanding . The bottom of the headband is nicely pad , and the inside of the earpads are filled with memory foam .
Both earcups pivot through 180 degree , which makes them soft to a ) hang around your neck , or b ) pack in their traveling subject when they ’re not in use . There ’s wad of adjustment on offer in the headband , too , as well as decent voice in the hinge that connect earpad to earcup . Getting a well-off scene , then , is easy .
Build quality is just as reassuring . Everything that ’s meant to move does so mutely and smoothly ; there are no creaks from the plastics . Plus , the 325 g free weight is terrifically judged to propose real quality without shit the IO-6s a incumbrance to wear .
In damage of polish , you have a alternative of Iron Black , Army Green or Chalk White .
Features
As far as getting music into the IO-6s is concerned , you have a few options . Wireless mental process is evidently most sept ’ preferred method , and the DALIs featureaptX HDBluetooth and Apple AAC . So wireless connectivity , in terms of sound timbre , battery life history and dispirited latency , is good .
Pushing the music out again is the responsibility of a yoke of 50 mm free - boundary , newspaper - fiber drivers ; there ’s one behind each comfy , warmth - immune earcup . Frequency reaction , according to DALI , runs from 10Hz ( a bass voice frequency not so much aural as physical ) to 20kHz ( which will drive your dog nuts ) .
The atomic number 3 - ion electric battery is good for the thick end of 30 hours ’ use from a unmarried charge , even with interference - cancellation engaged the entire time . But should you be unheeding enough to let the shelling race mat , there ’s a 3.5 mm parallel remark on the left earcup in rescript to use the IO-6s the previous - fashioned way .
All the other action centres around the right earcup . As well as power on / off , Bluetooth pairing and noise - cancelling on / off buttons arranged at the bottom of the natural enclosure , there ’s a USB - C socket . This can be used for charging – from two-dimensional to full in two hours , say DALI – and as an audio connexion from Windows or Mac .
In the center of the right-hand earcup ride a few button - controls . turn / pause , mass up / down , skim forwards / backwards and respond / reject call control are accessible here , which is more than decent . It just feels a little less premium than the touch equivalent .
So far so good , then . However , there are a few feature that some rival incorporate – not essentials , of course , but niceties – that the Salvador Dali do without . Accelerometers , for instance : take the IO-6s off your head and the medicine keeps coming until you instruct it otherwise . Some option will auto - pause in these consideration .
There ’s no control app either , so consequently no fiddling with EQ scene or stage of noise - cancellation . In fact , the IO-6s only have two position for active haphazardness - cancellation : on or off .
Noise - cancelling , despite its blunt - instrument on or off positions , is effectual when plant to on . There is n’t quite the consummate lack of external sound pitch by Microsoft’sSurface Headphones , but then neither is there Microsoft ’s undefined - but - definite sensation of stop ears .
With the Salvador Dali it ’s potential to isolate yourself from the majority of what ’s happen outside but without putting yourself in danger of being tend over . There ’s also a transparency setting , which pauses euphony and gives a aristocratical boost to exterior sounds .
Call timber is equally enough . The mics rise effective , and that helps with instructions given to the voice helper too .
Sound Quality
Since DALI has had the beneficial taste to play tricks out the IO-6s with aptX HD capability , it seems only sensible to bug out with one of the best - sounding portable experiences around : Tidal .
A full - fatMQAfile of Nirvana ’s In Bloom dead vaults from the Dali , dilute with detail , impulse and fervor . For the first few Browning automatic rifle the IO-6s fathom slightly on the skimpy side of indifferent , but listening just a minuscule longer confirms this is a false alarm .
The overall sonic touch is heady – the IO-6s are a tonally convincing listen , three - dimensional and with just enough pizzazz to keep things interesting .
The exceptional bottom - goal action during The Flaming Lips ’ Waitin ’ for a Superman is solidly deep ( although not 10Hz deep ) , but controlled and direct - edged at the same clip . Bass sounds are well integrated into the rest of the frequency range and do n’t drag at tempos or put rhythms off - kilter .
There ’s lot of detail in the mid - range , and sufficient way for a Isaac Bashevis Singer to stretch out and busy their own part of the soundstage . Wayne Coyne ’s vocal during the same Sung dynasty is deliver with every eighth note and approximative sales talk of his voice intact , making him sound completely vulnerable . This is exactly how he ’s meant to sound .
Up at the top - end , three-fold sounds are crisp and loaded with attack . However , they ’re never uncouth or too hard , even during the high - closing onrush of Blawan ’s Many Many Pings . integrating throughout the frequency grasp is convincing ; there ’s a unity to the IO-6 introduction that ’s by no means a give from their challenger , not even at this monetary value .
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Should you buy it?
A well - judged audio operation that ’s convincing from the top of the frequency range to the bottom .
As good as the DALIs are , they ’re not the best at this price point with some problematical challenger .
Final Thoughts
This review commence by spotlight that there a push-down list of options when opt a product such as this , and that has n’t change just because you ’re approaching the end of it .
It ’s almost too obvious to bring them up , but Sony ’s superbWH-1000XM5are pretty much universally admire – and for just grounds . Fit , comfort , sound timber , bioengineering and noise - cancellation are all top - notch .
Or you could consider theMomentum 4 Wirelessby Sennheiser . Not quite as aesthetically attractive as previous models but private-enterprise in every area and less expensive than the damage the DALIs incur even today .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every exercise set of headphones we retrospect thoroughly over an extensive menstruation of time . We utilise manufacture standard tests to compare feature film by rights . We ’ll always tell you what we feel . We never , ever , accept money to review a product .
Find out more about how we try out in ourethics policy
FAQs
There is no adaptive ANC on this model . Noise - cancellation is either on or off .
Full Specs
