Dali IO-8

Exquisite audio from these high-end noise-cancelling headphones

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₹59,900, dali-speakers.​com

The IO-8 are the Danish brand’s third set of wireless over-ear headphones. At a premium ₹60,000 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.