DALI Rubicon 6C Wireless floorstanding loudspeakers

At the back of the Hub there are a series of physical inputs: analogue 3.5mm, stereo RCA, a digital coaxial and a pair of digital optical sockets. There are also stereo RCA pre-outs alongside a subwoofer pre-out, and (naturally enough) there’s a ‘Link/Connect’ button given due prominence. DALI has also included two expansion ports on the back of the Hub, allowing for later upgrades if and when they become necessary. Our review sample has one of its plug-in module slots occupied by a BluOS module that features an Ethernet socket and two USB inputs, and brings MQA certification with it too.

Given that BluOS is among the most stable, most logical and consequently most useful control apps out there, this is undoubtedly a good thing. But there’s also a remote control handset included, which covers the obvious functionality.

No matter the source you feed into the Hub, the audio information is delivered to the speakers (using either the 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz band) at 24bit/96kHz. For the purposes of this test, the Hub is connected to a phono stage-equipped Cambridge Audio Alva TT turntable via the stereo RCA inputs, a Cyrus CDt disc transport via digital coaxial, and via Bluetooth (the Hub can handle AAC, apt-X and apt-X HD) using an Apple iPhone X. In other words, although this is notionally a ‘next gen’ wireless loudspeaker system, it’s actually very easy to link to traditional audio equipment, without the haughty dismissal of calling these devices ‘legacy’.

Set-up is gratifyingly straightforward – it’s little more than ‘press the ‘Link/Connect’ button on a speaker, and then press the corresponding button on the Hub. Then do it again for the other speaker’. After that it’s simple to let each speaker know which side of the stereo pair it represents, and from there you’re good to go.

An extremely worthwhile 180g reissue of The National’s High Violet [4AD] is a good place to start, and the Rubicon 6Cs don’t waste much time establishing their credentials. Firing more-or-less straight ahead (DALI has long since suggested this is the best way to position its speakers) and standing a good 30cm from a rear surface, the Rubicon 6C establish a large, easy-to-follow soundstage and, even when playing a slightly murky mix like this, lay it out unequivocally.

There’s proper spatial depth and width to the DALI sound here, and a tasteful sort of tonality – just fractionally warmer than ‘neutral’, with a polite level of bite at the top end and an equally considerate serving of wallop at the bottom. Treble sounds are as airy as they are crunchy (not for the first time, DALI’s hybrid tweeter arrangement proves its worth), while the bass equivalents are properly shaped, texturally diverse and marshalled, well, martially. There’s just no overhang here; not a hint of blur or uncertainty where the entry into or exit from low-frequency sounds is concerned.

It’s in between, though, that the Rubicon 6C is at its most impressive – and it’s ably illustrated by a listen to Camera Obscura’s Underachievers Please Try Harder [Elefant] as a TIDAL Masters file. A copious amount of detail is revealed in the midrange, and as a result the DALI are communicative at an almost forensic level. No detail of vocal technique, no indication of effort or toil is overlooked. The Rubicon 6C system delivers the complete picture, in an utterly non-judgemental manner.

There’s considerable dynamic headroom available for when the going gets properly rowdy, but the DALI are capable of handing over the transient harmonic subtleties of Nils Frahm’s The Bells [Erased Tapes] just as readily. And while this system is able to generate quite oppressive volume levels, it retains all its poise and, just as importantly, its full frequency range presence, even when playing at very modest background levels.