Disclosure: I’d like to thank Lenbrook Industries for sending me the DALI IO-8 for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and Lenbrook Industries had no say or input for the contents of this review.

Most might know DALI (Danish Audio Loudspeaker Industries) from their long heritage of high-quality speaker systems, often regarded as some of the best-sounding loudspeakers in the audio industry. Today though we are looking at one of two recently released ANC Bluetooth headphones from DALI, the IO-8 (with the bigger brother being the IO-12). The DALI IO-8 promises excellent active noise cancellation, Hi-Fi audio performance, a 35-hour battery life, and an app-free listening experience for the price of $900 USD. Let’s see if they live up to all of these expectations.

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• DALI IO-8
• 1.2m USB-C to USB-C cable
• 1.2m 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable
• Hard zipper travel case

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The DALI IO-8 comes in two colors: Iron Black and Caramel White. I have the Caramel White version for this review, and personally, I think the color scheme looks very elegant and classy. The fabric cover over the headband adds to the premium look and feel, as do the user-replaceable leather earpads. The IO-8 is mostly made of plastic but feels extremely solid and high quality.

Comfort is generally good. The earpads have a nice cushy feel to them, though I wish they were a little deeper and larger. Those with larger ears may want to try the IO-8 beforehand to see if it will adequately accommodate them. The headband padding could also be a bit thicker, as after about an hour of wearing the IO-8 I started to feel a pressure point on the top of my head, forcing me to slightly adjust the angle of the headphones. Generally, though the headphones are comfortable, and on a more positive note I didn’t notice too much heat build-up when wearing them, especially compared to the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM5 and Sonos Ace.

For the controls, everything is located on the right earcup. The outside of the earcup features a giant circular button that is used to control playback: press once for pause/play, twice for the next track, and three times for the previous track. The outer ring of the circular button controls the volume, pressing the top of the ring increases volume, and pressing the bottom of the ring decreases volume.

The edge of the earcup features the rest of the controls and indicators: Sound Mode button, Power On/Off button, Bluetooth and Battery indicators, reset button, USB-C connection (charging and USB audio), and the ANC button. The left earcup houses the 3.5mm connection jack.

The included travel case is excellent. While it’s on the slightly larger side, there’s a good amount of room inside to store cables and other accessories. The outer shell is a harder fabric texture, which helps prevent the headphones from being crushed when placed in a bag or luggage, for example.

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All of the controls are extremely responsive, and I was never left waiting for the headphones to finish performing the action when using the controls. This is a very refreshing change from other ANC headphones that generally have some sort of lag or input delay, usually due to using touch controls (I’m looking at you Sony XM5).

As well, when toggling the ANC mode, Sound mode, and Power, a voice quickly tells you what you are toggling. It is a little on the louder side in my opinion, but otherwise I found it useful and the speed at which the announcements happened is perfect, in my opinion.

This brings me to my last point about usability, there is no companion app for the IO-8, nor is one actually needed. All actions and functions are performed on the headphones, with no need to customize any of the buttons. This trends in the opposite direction the industry has taken, where every audio product released has its own companion app associated with it, leading to software bugs and just generally overcomplicating things, so this is a refreshing change.

The DALI IO-8 features three modes: ANC On, ANC Off, and Transparency mode. ANC Off simply disables the noise cancellation functionality, which does work quite well since the IO-8 has very good passive noise isolation.

Transparency mode allows you to hear your environment, such as traffic when crossing the street, or being able to engage in conversations. It works well and I encountered no issues with how it performs.

Looking at the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) performance, it is very good. It’s not the best I’ve heard, but it is extremely effective at blocking out the majority of outside noise. The Sonos Ace is still the reigning champ here, and right behind that is the Sony WH-1000XM5, which I think the IO-8 is almost as good as. The XM5 does a better job at filtering out higher-pitched sounds, but the IO-8 almost keeps pace with it. I’d put the Sennheiser Momentum 4 as having the weakest ANC of all the headphones mentioned here, but in reality, all of them perform well.

One thing that the DALI IO-8 does a bit differently than all of the above-mentioned headphones is that the sound signature doesn’t change when you change the ANC mode, meaning you will get the exact same sound regardless of which sound mode you are in. It’s a refreshing change, as sometimes you don’t need to have ANC enabled but still want to have good sound quality, which is exactly what you get here.

The IO-8 features two distinct sound modes, Hi-Fi and Bass, which can be toggled by using the sound mode button on the right earcup. When toggled, a voice quickly The Hi-Fi sound mode is the default sound signature, which I cover later in the Sound Quality section. The Bass sound mode elevates the bass region further, which can be beneficial if you wear thicker framed glasses that break the earcup seal.

The DALI IO-8 can be used in four different connectivity modes: Bluetooth, Wired Powered On, Wired Powered Off, and USB.

Bluetooth mode connects using either the SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, or aptX Adaptive codec. The overall Bluetooth performance is excellent, and I never encountered any stability or transmission issues. I do wish they would have LDAC support though, especially for the asking price.

Using the included 3.5mm cable, you can connect the IO-8 to any 3.5mm headphone jack, either powered on or powered off in passive mode. I didn’t really enjoy the sound quality in passive mode, so I wouldn’t recommend using the IO-8 in that way, but powered on and using the 3.5mm cable you have access to ANC, as well as the Sound Modes. The overall sound quality with the 3.5mm cable is a bit more detailed and resolved since the limitations of Bluetooth are not holding it back.

USB mode allows you to plug the IO-8 into any USB-C device to use the built-in DAC of the IO-8. The max supported sample rate of the DALI IO-8 in this mode is 24-bit/96kHz. Just as with the 3.5mm cable, you have access to the ANC and Sound Modes.

The DALI IO-8 is rated to last 35 hours of playback time with ANC off, and 30 hours with ANC. DALI isn’t breaking any records here, but these numbers are very respectable. I was able to consistently hit these numbers, give or take 20 minutes, so the IO-8 will definitely last many commutes and flights without having to be recharged. They take about 1.5h to be fully charged from a depleted battery, but I noticed that about 15 minutes of charge time gets you back up to 30% battery.

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The Dali IO-8 has one of the best out-of-the-box sound profiles that I’ve heard in a Bluetooth ANC headphone. Typically, ANC headphones favor bass above all else, but usually to the degree in which it drowns out the midrange and treble. While the bass is the most forward aspect of the IO-8, it doesn’t overwhelm the midrange and treble. The midrange is warm with a good level of detail and clarity, and the treble has a rich sound with a slightly airy nature to it, though it’s on the softer, more polite side. For Bass Mode, the bass gets elevated even more, which bassheads might like but I found it to be much too overwhelming most of the time, especially since it comes at the cost of midrange and treble detail.

Bass

The IO-8, like most ANC headphones, features abundant bass. What the IO-8 does differently is having bass that doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the sound profile, but still has excellent presence and impact. It’s very resolving while providing rumble and thump when needed. There’s a richness here too that adds a nice weight and texture to the low end. Take the Avaritia by deadmau5. The bass for the majority of the song can be extremely overwhelming to many headphones, but the IO-8 is able to give the bass appropriate presence and authority without letting it take over the rest of the mix.

Listening to tracks from bands like Dire Straits and Alice in Chains, bass guitars and kick drums sound full and authentic, and are placed well within the overall soundscape.

Midrange

The lower midrange benefits from the elevated bass with added note weight and texture. There’s a warmth here that helps drive an overall richness to the sound, which particularly benefits female vocals by helping them sound clear and resolving. Male vocals sound slightly recessed, but are still detailed and rich, particularly with acoustic or live tracks. Touch, Peel, and Stand by Days of the New really showcase what the IO-8 is capable of here.

The mid and upper midrange has a rich and energetic sound that helps balance the weight of the lower midrange nicely. Instruments sound detailed and clear with good control, but resolution suffers a bit due to the elevated bass presence.

Treble

The treble carries the richness that the bass and midrange have, while also sounding slightly airy. It has excellent texture and detail but is very reserved to prevent any kind of sibilance. Cymbals sound detailed and natural, but there’s a roll-off that prevents it from being piercing or sharp. This translates into a very polite and unoffending treble that is easy to listen to and prevents listening fatigue. Overall this balances nicely with the elevated bass and makes the whole sound profile very harmonious.

Soundstage and Imaging

The Dali IO-8’s soundstage is on the more open side. It sounds spacious when it needs to be, but the shallow depth of the earcups prevents any real immersion, at least for me. Imaging performance is very solid. I had no problem placing instruments when listening to them, and it passed my Yosi Horikawa test (listening to the beginning of the track “Letter” by Yosi Horikawa, with the pencil writing moving from left to right).

Microphone Quality

The IO-8 performed well when taking calls. The person on the other end had no issues hearing me in quiet environments, or in environments with slightly elevated noise (such as coffee shops and walking down the street). Wind is the worst enemy of these microphones though. Overall the IO-8 performs like most other Bluetooth headphones in this category.

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DALI doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to Bluetooth headphones, but what they offer is an extremely solid package that executes almost perfectly on all the basics, and adds many quality-of-life features as well. The build quality is solid, with only minor comfort and fit issues. The responsive physical buttons are something that I have longed for lately, and the sound quality is simply excellent, one of the best out-of-the-box tunings I’ve heard for wireless headphones.

The price is definitely going to be the main issue for most. At $900 USD, these are not inexpensive wireless headphones. You don’t get LDAC support. You don’t get a companion app to change sound profiles or customize button functionality. They aren’t even the most comfortable wireless headphones on the market (the Sonos Ace is still the king of comfort, at almost half the price too). What you do get though is absolute no-nonsense audiophile quality sound, with responsive controls and a refreshing take on many of the features. When it comes to sound quality and usability, I can absolutely recommend the DALI IO-8 wireless headphones.

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I’m not always able to cover all the details of a product, both hardware and software, in our reviews. If you have any specific questions you’d like answered about this product please feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly.

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