Yet where I was sold on the glitzy, feature-laden Bathys as a value proposition, I’m more conflicted on the Dali—its minimalist design and lack of app and tech features are potential minuses, and its highest and best use is as a wired can paired with a desktop amp, rather than as a portable wireless set. Its bass quality is also a notch under the best of the breed. That said, the IO-8’s tonality is at the top of its class, especially in these fraught times, they will certainly yield you a grand’s worth of pleasure.

There is a new player in the world of high-end over-the-ear wireless headphones, and that is Dali IO-8. They come packing strong technology. They have good looks. They have very capable ANC noise correction. They have a great battery life and, most of all, they sound notably good.

It’s hardly competing at the budget end of the market with the IO-8, but nevertheless DALI has taken a big chunk of what makes the IO-12 such an uncomplicatedly delightful pair of headphones and finessed it to the point that it ‘only’ costs £599. Some prospective customers will be put off by the lack of a control app, and some will find the lack of a vegan option rather wilful - but the rest of us will be free to revel in engrossing, confident and utterly convincing sound from a pair of headphones that look and feel almost as expensive as they sound.

There is no touch sensitive panel to pause, skip and rewind, either, rather a button on the right can (press once, press twice etcetera). But these aren’t about bells and whistles, they’re about quality of sound and build, and on those terms, the iO-8s are among the best on the market at this price point.

Dali’s IO-8 is a superb effort combining competitive battery life, high-quality build and terrific sound quality

The Dali IO-8's downsides are a) minor and b) nothing to do with the way they sound. Dali has challenged itself to create a competitive wireless headphone at a (relatively) real-world price and come up smiling…

Proof that a brilliant pair of headphones doesn’t rely on an exhaustive feature-set, the Dali IO-8 get on with the important business in a deeply satisfying manner. If you’re in the happy position of having this sort of money available for wireless headphones, you need to hear these.