I find these comparisons pretty consistent with my quick listening experiences.
The FR measurement of the IO-12 in the French magazine looks very bad with that 5-6K peak, and not typical of an active headphone, but it seems it was meant to be used with ANC on.
When/if I make up my mind to buy them, I can measure them against some passive headphones (HD650, D7200, D9200, e-stats, etc). Not that it would be conclusive, but a spectrogram would be more revealing to me than the FR. My interest in these headphones is purely as wireless ANC with acceptable sound for mainly home / office use. For that they need to sound at least butter smooth, not harsh, or hard (like Focals, Hifimans etc), with good body, tonality, harmonic structure.
The drivers Dali uses might make this possible, but that driver enclosure looks cheap, and the digital processing seems to be very basic. I can't imagine them being able to compete with e-stats in any aspects, as Dali has been stating, but let's see. If they would compete with closed headphones with bio-cellulose drivers of similar price range, that would be good enough. These headphones look like a compromise made for the 1000 eur bracket, likely having the M&L 5909 in mind for competition, focusing on putting the best driver in a cost optimized enclosure, with minimal DSP and no app costs.
Intuition tells I should wait for their next model, that will possibly redraw this compromise based on their first real experiences with this market.
But they look interesting enough to buy, and I like Dali products and design approaches.
What I hope to see in the future is a headphone with drivers and enclosure on par with the Denon D9200 (or D7200), but made wireless with NC. Focal and others have attempted that, but with too basic drivers. This seems to be the first serious driver used in wireless headphones, but the acoustic environment looks compromised, probably thinking they will compensate this with DSP. Making a very shallow cost estimation, IMHO Denon could probably make a wireless D7200 for around 1000 euros, which might wipe the floor with the competition (but being less portable). I am not sure the T+A Solitaire T drivers qualify for this level, but currently they seem to be the safest bet for my preferences outlined above.
A side note: it seems it would be easy to attach other ear pads to the Dali, if someone needs smaller or deeper pads. The sound will surely change. Deeper pads will elevate the midbass (and might make it less clear / more muddy), and smaller opening will reduce / alter the sound stage. To me these ear pads look very close to what I wished to see, so I keep quiet
.
"
