Wireless Noise-Cancellers of the Year
HEADPHONES
It’s a tough call to compete in the wireless noise-cancelling headphone arena against established brands like Sennheiser and Sony. All the more kudos to Danish loudspeaker company DALI for taking its time to research and develop its first headphones, approaching them as if they were building loudspeakers for the head. These are not a ‘me-too’ headphone. While relatively compact, the iO headphones manage to incorporate large 50mm cone diaphragms which show DALI’s speaker heritage in using not the common Mylar or other synthetic material, but honest-togoodness paper/fibre cones. The over-ear enclosures are braced and stiff like speaker cabinets, with rubber dampeners inside to eliminate vibrations. Even the fabric inside guarding the diaphragms is imprinted with a matrix structure like a loudspeaker grille.
The result is genuinely distinctive, and luxurious in feel. The ‘memory’ foam for the ear pads is covered in a soft synthetic leather. The padding under the headband is durable but soft silicone rubber, which can be cleaned; indeed they’re IP53-rated, so good against all but the worst dust, and against light rain. They are wonderfully comfortable.
They are startlingly easy to use, as well — a slider switch turns them on, a voice announces the remaining charge and whether the headphone have connected to their previous source (which they will usually do). The centre of the right headshell is the play/ pause/last/next button, while the ring around it is a handy volume control; this large-scale control is the most successful system we’ve enjoyed for many a long review, though there’s none of the smart sensing of some designs, which pause playback when you remove the headphones, for example. Then again, these can play via USB when plugged into a computer (charging at the same time), while the Bluetooth implementation includes both AAC for Apple users and aptX HD for Android users whose phones support it.
There’s also no app, which means no EQ available; this is only a problem, of course, should you not like the balance served up by the iO-6. We would predict that you will. DALI eschews the undue pushy emphasis down low as delivered by so many brands to make people go ‘Cor!’, but which can become fatiguing and bloomy with many tunes and over-extended listening. There’s simply none of that here. A sweep sounded utterly flat down to 70Hz with a smooth and slow decline beyond that to the low frequency limits of hearing, with none of the usual ‘push’ down low followed by a gap further up. The response was flat, not bumpy, sounding entirely natural, and sailing through our torture tests with flying colours. They sound more open than many closed dynamic headphones; their warmth and balance beat several of our references hands-down — far smoother and less pumpy than Sony’s premium noise-cancellers for example, though their case is rather larger!
Though priced at $699, the high end of the market, DALI has scored a first-time hit.
More info: www.ambertech.com.au