DALI IO Headphones Combine Danish Design with ANC and Latest Wireless Technology

Introduced at IFA 2019 in September and already available in Europe, Lenbrook Americas formally announced the launch of DALI IO headphones also to the U.S. market. The new headphones reflect the combination of the Danish brand transducer expertise and design and combine all the features that consumers can expect. Two “over ear” models to start, the IO-6 ($499 U.S. MSRP) is an Active Noise Canceling (ANC) wireless headphone, while the IO-4 ($399) offers similar features and performance without ANC.

Lenbrook International announced that its BluOS Hi-Res Distributed Audio platform, will support Google Voice Assistant through Actions On Google. BluOS already supports Amazon Alexa voice control and Apple Siri with AirPlay 2 compatible products. Users of BluOS Enabled products from Bluesound, NAD Electronics, and DALI Speakers, will be prompted to update their players on or around October 8, 2019, to add hands-free control of their music from any Google Home device.

Following last year's evolution of the (former) European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) to the new (global) acronym Expert Imaging & Sound Association, coinciding with the admission of new members from all over the world, including the United States, the traditional winners of its 2019-2020 Awards have been announced. As always, audioXpress highlights all the audio-related winers in the Hi-Fi, Home Theatre Audio, In-Car and Mobile Devices categories. And there are a few surprises!

The CES Innovation Awards is an annual competition honoring outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products. As in previous years, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced the CES 2019 Innovation Honorees, including those products recognized as Best of Innovation Honorees, during the annual CES Unveiled event in New York. This year's nominees have a strong focus on sustainable and eco-friendly concepts. Audio products highlighted in the Innovation Awards include many surprises, including a Best of Innovation tube amplifier!

Support for Master Quality Authenticated (MQA), the technology that delivers master quality audio in a file small enough to stream, continues to receive consistent support across the audio industry. MQA adoption will be a dominant topic at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2018 show, October 5-7, in Denver, CO, where Astell&Kern and DALI, among others, will announce MQA support on new products and the company will be running two MQA Live events, as well as supporting its many partners.

Over the years, audioXpress and Voice Coil magazines have published several company profiles on speaker manufacturers. In 2015, a book was published to celebrate 100 years of the loudspeaker and, in particular, the remarkable contributions of the Danish loudspeaker industry (audio and electronics industry in general is the fourth largest exporting industry in Denmark). This is a valuable book that anyone interested about the loudspeaker industry needs to read.

An established annual tradition for more than 30 years, the prestigious European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) Awards, featuring more than 20 products in different audio categories, have been announced. Harman, Bluesound, Bowers & Wilkins, Chord, ELAC, Hegel, Marantz, Naim Audio, Pro-Ject, Sonos, Canton, DALI, Denon, Monitor Audio, Panasonic, Trinnov and Yamaha among the winners in Hi-Fi, mobile and home-theater categories. Winners for 2016-2017 will receive the awards at IFA Berlin 2016.

As usual, the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin is the stage for many industry announcements and a good share of award ceremonies. Among those, none is more important than the European Imaging & Sound Association (EISA) Awards, featuring more than 20 audio categories. OPPO’s PM-1 received the Best European Hi-Fi Headphone award.