Every time a reader opens a comparison page on this site, we count it. Bots are filtered out. In October readers opened 22,703 different speaker and subwoofer pairings, and another 4,287 amplifier and receiver pairings.
The one at the top was the DALI Opticon 6 MK2 vs DALI SONIK 7. It was opened 22% more often than number two. It was second over the whole of September, so this is not a one-month blip.
DALI Opticon 6 MK2 on the left and the newer DALI SONIK 7 on the right
Last month I wrote that most of you have already picked a brand and are choosing a model. October says the same thing, only more so. And DALI is still the brand most of you are choosing inside.
Quick facts
- 18 of the top 20 speaker comparisons were two models from the same brand. In September it was 17.
- 7 of the 20 were an old model against its direct replacement.
- DALI is in 8 of the top 20, and in each of the top 6.
- On amplifiers, a pair of Denon AV receivers came first, and Marantz is in 5 of the top 12.
- On subwoofers, SVS is in 3 of the top 5.
The top 10 speaker comparisons
Click any of these to open the full comparison.
- DALI Opticon 6 MK2 vs SONIK 7
- DALI Oberon 5 vs SONIK 5 (old vs new)
- DALI Oberon 3 vs SONIK 3 (old vs new)
- DALI SONIK 1 vs KUPID
- DALI Oberon 1 vs SONIK 1 (old vs new)
- DALI SONIK 1 vs SONIK 3
- KEF LS50 Wireless II vs Cambridge Audio L R X
- DALI SONIK 5 vs SONIK 7
- KEF LS60 Wireless vs LS LUXE
- KEF LS50 Wireless II vs LSX II
The first six are all DALI. Seven of the top ten have a SONIK in them. DALI launched that range in February, and it reached the US in April.
Here is the full top 20, sorted into the three kinds of question.
The 20 speaker comparisons our readers opened most in October 2026
Why the Opticon 6 MK2 against the SONIK 7?
This one is not old against new. The Opticon 6 MK2 is from 2021, but DALI still sells it, and Opticon MK2 is the dearer of the two ranges. The SONIK 7 replaced the Oberon 7, not the Opticon.
So you would expect the Opticon to be the bigger speaker. It is not. Here is how they line up, from our own pages:
- List price, per pair: SONIK 7 $2,800, Opticon 6 MK2 $3,500. The SONIK is $700 cheaper.
- Woofers: SONIK 7 has two 7 inch woofers. The Opticon 6 MK2 has two 6.5 inch woofers.
- Width: SONIK 7 is 305 mm wide, the Opticon 195 mm. Height is the same, about 1 metre.
- Impedance: SONIK 7 is rated at 6 ohms, the Opticon at 4 ohms. Sensitivity is about the same, 88.5 dB against 88 dB.
On paper, the cheaper speaker has the bigger box, the bigger woofers and the easier load for your amplifier. I am fairly sure that is the question readers are asking.
| FEATURE and SPECS COMPARISON | |  |  |
| Model | DALI Opticon 6 MK2 | DALI SONIK 7 |
| Speaker Type | Passive Floor-standing | Passive Floor-standing |
| Enclosure Type | Ported | Ported |
| Driver Setup | 3-way | 3-way |
| Tweeter | 17 x 45 mm ribbon + 1.125" Soft-dome + ribbon Hybrid Tweeter | 0.6875 x 1.75" Planar Tweeter |
| Mid-Range | - | 1.125" Midrange |
| Woofer | 2 x 6.5" Wood Fiber Woofer | 2 x 7.0" Wood fiber Woofer |
| Frequency Range / Low | 49Hz | 36Hz |
| Frequency Range / High | 30kHz | 30kHz |
| Impedance Nominal | 4Ω | 6Ω |
| Sensitivity | 88dB | 89dB |
| Max Power (RMS) | 200w | 180w |
| Crossover Frequency | 800Hz, 2200Hz and 14,000Hz | 2300Hz |
| Port Position | rear | rear |
| Available Colors | Satin Black, Tobacco Oak, Satin White | Black Ash, Natural Oak,White,Walnut |
| Finish | MDF/Wood-grain vinyl | MDF/Wood-grain laminate |
| Grille | Yes | Yes |
| Height | 1010.0mm | 1005.0mm |
| Width | 195.0mm | 305.0mm |
| Depth | 340.0mm | 331.0mm |
| Weight | 19.30kg | 16.23kg |
| MSRP(pair) | 3500USD | 2800USD |
| Check Current Price | Amazon | Amazon |
Street prices make it closer. On 1 November one US dealer, Safe and Sound, had the SONIK 7 at $1,999 a pair. It had the Opticon 6 MK2 at $1,299.50 each, so $2,599 a pair, but out of stock in every finish. That is one shop on one day, so check before you rely on it.
What the SONIK 7 does not settle
A bigger box does not mean a better speaker. The Opticon is the higher range, and DALI assembles it in Denmark. What you pay the extra for is the build and the drivers, not the size, and a spec sheet cannot tell you whether that is worth $700 to you. We compare specs here. We do not measure sound.
The Opticon’s 4 ohm rating also matters if you have a small or cheap amplifier. The amp-speaker matcher checks that for you before you buy.
What moved since September
September was the first month I could compare against, so this is the first time I can say what is rising. These ranks are against the whole of September. Last month’s post covered only the 1st to the 24th, so a few places differ from it.
| FEATURE and SPECS COMPARISON | |  |  |
| Model | KEF LS50 Wireless II | Cambridge Audio L R X |
| Speaker Type | Powered Bookshelf | Powered Bookshelf |
| Driver Setup | 2-way | 2-way |
| Max Power (RMS) | 380 watts | 800 watts |
| Tweeter | 1" Hard-Dome Tweeter | 1.1" Hard-Dome Tweeter |
| Woofer | 1 x 5.25" Woofer | 1 x 5" Woofer |
| Frequency Range / Low | 45Hz | 35Hz |
| Frequency Range / High | 28kHz | 24kHz |
| Height | 277.8mm | 333.4mm |
| Width | 200.0mm | 201.6mm |
| Depth | 322.3mm | 292.1mm |
| Weight | 20.10kg | 10.39kg |
| Ethernet Port | | |
| MSRP(pair) | 2999USD | 2299USD |
| Check Current Price | Amazon | Amazon |
Amplifiers: Denon receivers first, Marantz most
Denon AVR-X3900H, half of the most compared amplifier pairing in October
The top amplifier pairing was two AV receivers, not two stereo amps. The top five:
- Denon AVR-X3900H vs AVR-X4800H
- Marantz Model 40n vs Model 60n
- Marantz PM6007 vs Denon PMA-600NE
- Rotel A10 MKII vs A8
- Marantz PM6007 vs Yamaha A-S501
Marantz is in 5 of the top 12 amp pairings, down from 7 in September. Denon is in 4. Further down, at 7th, is Fosi Audio V3 vs ZA3, by far the cheapest pair in the top 12.
| FEATURE and SPECS COMPARISON | |  |  |
| Model | Marantz PM6007 | Denon PMA-600NE |
| Type | Integrated Amplifier | Integrated Amplifier |
| Amplifier Class | Class A/B | Class A/B |
| Power into 8 ohms | 45 watts | 45 watts |
| Power into 4 ohms | 60 watts | - |
| Minimum Impedance | 4 ohms | 4 ohms |
| THD | 0.08% | 0.07% |
| Signal to Noise Ratio | 102 | 105 |
| Frequency Bandwidth | 20 Hz-20 kHz | 20 Hz-20 kHz |
| Damping Factor | 100 | - |
| Built-in DAC | | |
| DAC | AK4490 24-bit/192kHz | 24-bit/192kHz |
| Max Bit Depth | - | 24 |
| Max Sample Rate | - | 192 |
| Analog Inputs | 4 | 4 |
| Phono Input | | |
| Phono Type | MM | MM |
| Optical Digital Inputs | 2 | 2 |
| Coaxial Digital Inputs | 1 | 1 |
| USB Input | No | No |
| Preamp Outputs | Sub | Sub |
| Headphone Output | 1/4 | 1/4 |
| Bluetooth | No | Yes |
| AirPlay 2 | | |
| Chromecast built-in | | |
| Roon | No | No |
| BluOS | | |
| HEOS | | |
| Tone Controls | | |
| Handheld Remote | | |
| Height | 105.0mm | 121.0mm |
| Width | 442.0mm | 435.0mm |
| Depth | 399.0mm | 323.0mm |
| Weight | 7.59kg | 6.82kg |
| MSRP | 899 USD | 499 USD |
| Check Current Price | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo |
Subwoofers: still mostly SVS
SVS is in three of the top five subwoofer pairings again. The most opened was the SVS SB-2000 Pro vs SB-1000 Pro, just ahead of the KEF KC62 vs KC92.
| FEATURE and SPECS COMPARISON | |  |  |
| Model | KEF KC62 | KEF KC92 |
| Driver | 2 x 6.5" | 2 x 9" Polypropylene |
| Enclosure | Sealed | Sealed |
| Firing Direction | Side | - |
| Amplifier Power (RMS) | 1000 watts | 1000 watts |
| Amplifier Class | Class D | Class D |
| Frequency Response | 11-200 Hz | 11-200 Hz |
| Low Pass Crossover | 40-140 Hz | - |
| High Pass Crossover | 40-120 Hz | - |
| Phase | Yes | Yes |
| Room Correction | Yes | Yes |
| Line Level Inputs | Stereo RCA/LFE | Stereo RCA/LFE |
| Speaker Level Inputs | Yes | Yes |
| Speaker Level Outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Wireless | Optional | Optional |
| Height | 245.0mm | 352.0mm |
| Width | 258.0mm | 330.0mm |
| Depth | 281.0mm | 361.0mm |
| Weight | 14.05kg | 20.00kg |
| MSRP | 1500 USD | 1999 USD |
| Check Current Price | Amazon | Amazon |
What this list does not tell
- A view is not a purchase. Someone opening Opticon vs SONIK may already own one of them.
- The numbers behind each rank are small. Places close together, say 12th and 15th, are close to a tie.
- Soundbars are left out. They are a different kind of product, so I count them separately from amplifiers.
- Dealer prices move. The sale prices above are one shop on one day.
What I fixed because of it
Our Opticon 6 MK2 page still showed the 2021 launch price, $2,500 a pair. US dealers list it at $1,750 each now, so $3,500 a pair. That is fixed. Without it, the SONIK 7 would have looked like the dearer speaker, which is the wrong way round.
I did not link the two as old and new. DALI still sells the Opticon MK2, so the SONIK 7 is a cheaper alternative, not a replacement.
So, if you were choosing between these two DALIs, which way would you go: the bigger, cheaper SONIK 7, or the Opticon?
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