The IO-8 are the Danish brand’s third set of wireless over-ear headphones. At a premium C60,000 they nestle between the more ‘affordable’ IO-6, and the flagship IO-12 cans. At this price point, there’s strong competition from other luxury headphone brands, so how do they stack up? One feature that’s immediately worth flagging: these headphones can be used wirelessly, of course, but they can also function as hard-wired headphones even if they’re switched off or if their battery is flat. Dali provides a 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cable for this purpose, along with a USB alternative, in a compact travel case. Mind you, it will be negligent of you to let the IO-8 go flat. Battery life is a very decent 30 hours with ANC switched on, and an even better 35 hours if you turn it off – and from flat to full takes a shade under two hours. Better yet, you can charge the headphones via USB-C at the same time as listening via a hard analogue connection. That sound is delivered by a pair of big (50mm) full range free-edge paper cone drivers that are good for a frequency response of 10Hz-43kHz. When it comes to active noise-cancellation (ANC), the usual ‘on/off/transparency’ settings are available, but Dali is adamant it’s not looking for class-leading noise reduction, with what it rather self-consciously calls its ‘Audiophile ANC’. The IO-8s will deal with much of the external hubbub that might otherwise distract you from the sound your headphones are making, without impacting their audio characteristics.
They enjoy persuasively naturalistic tonality, and their frequency response from the bottom-end to the top is smooth and even. At the top-end they attack with real purpose, offering ample bite and crunch – but never threatening to get unruly or in any way out of hand. There’s shine to treble sounds, but not even a hint of hardness – instead, there’s substance to balance out the brilliance. The midrange communicates eloquently, which allows vocalists of all characters and all abilities to express themselves in full. Detail levels are as high here as they are everywhere else in the frequency range. Leave the EQ setting at ‘hi-fi’ and the low-frequency response is deep, properly shaped, nicely varied and confidently controlled. The ‘bass’ option simply hits a little harder and demands a little more prominence. Switch to a wireless connection via Bluetooth and all of the above, broadly speaking, still apply. There’s a predictable, though fairly minor, drop-off in detail levels, of course – but the IO-8 remain an expansive, informative and entertaining listen when heard this way.
The IO-8 are understatedly good-looking headphones and concealed inside the headband is the adjustment mechanism, with plenty of adjustment available, and nicely judged resistance, so getting comfortable inside the IO-8 is no problem even for the smaller-headed. On the left earcup are a couple of mic openings and that 3.5mm analogue input, while on the right there are a pair of mic openings and touch controls on the surface of the earcup for controlling playback. Around the edge of the earcup are the physical buttons that handle the EQ duo of choices, power on/off/Bluetooth pairing and ANC on/off/ transparency. Proof that a brilliant pair of headphones doesn’t rely on an exhaustive feature-set, the IO-8s are highly recommended – most importantly, the balanced, insightful and endlessly entertaining sound they make
Pricing and Availability
- Rs59,900
- dali-speakers.com