Philips Fidelio X3 Wired Open-Back Headphones

[VSG]

Philips has previously offered excellent value for money and a generally pleasing sound signature with the Fidelio X2/X2HR. The all-new Fidelio X3 aims to bump things up a few notches in all regards, be it with higher-end materials, a revamped driver system, or fully balanced mode!

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[Mescalamba]

Wonder if it would sound better without that fabric.

Otherwise looks rather good for me. Myself I like as flat as possible headphones.

For that price I think it might be worth it.

Thanks for review.

 

[Chomiq]

Knowing Philips they'll go down in price by half in two years. My X2's are still the most comfortable headphones I owned so far, that's including HD 6xx.

 

[stimpy88]

Thanks for the great review!

But I will be sticking with my Beyerdynamic DT990 (250Ohms) Pros! These, my o2 DAC/AMP and Equalizer APO FTW! I like a bit of bass, not a fan of light and fluffy sound.

 

[Pjokerxp_]

ooo they look comfy

 

[VSG]

ooo they look comfy

Incredibly comfy, and in the time since I wrote this review I've grown to like it further in this regard. I think it's definitely a case of needing some time to get into its own, so quickly done reviews might be unfair.

 

[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

Please include the price of the products in the introduction, having to go all the way to summery to see the price is jarring

 

[Mescalamba]

Think I understand that part of being very comfy, long time ago I owned very comfy Phillips headphones, rather cheap, but also with very good sound. When they broken I just bought same ones, till they stopped making them.

Definitely could teach some other manufacturers what comfy headphones are..

 

[VSG]

Please include the price of the products in the introduction, having to go all the way to summery to see the price is jarring

This one is on purpose, I'd like to have readers go through the whole story and learn about the features/how well they work before knowing the price, else I feel it would bias things one way or another.

 

[Space Lynx]

This one is on purpose, I'd like to have readers go through the whole story and learn about the features/how well they work before knowing the price, else I feel it would bias things one way or another.

What are your thoughts on the HD58X? just curious

 

[VSG]

What are your thoughts on the HD58X? just curious

I have never had hands on the HD 58X before, so unfortunately I don't have any useful thoughts.

 

[Lupierz]

I feel like I'm coming a little late to the party but I wanted to check on others' opinions on the balanced vs 3.5mm cable.

I got these for Christmas at a nice discount for £169 and I gave them some time to break in. I'm running them off SMSL M9 and was happy to get some more low-end umf moving from my S598. Today I wanted to use them with a guitar amp and electric piano so I plugged the 3.5mm cable and I was shocked by the difference between the balanced 2.5mm and regular 3.5mm cable. I've used balanced cable before with my Shure 846 and I barely heard a difference but on these, I feel like it's a different pair of headphones.

Does anyone else have a similar experience or is it just me?

 

[stimpy88]

I feel like I'm coming a little late to the party but I wanted to check on others' opinions on the balanced vs 3.5mm cable.

I got these for Christmas at a nice discount for £169 and I gave them some time to break in. I'm running them off SMSL M9 and was happy to get some more low-end umf moving from my S598. Today I wanted to use them with a guitar amp and electric piano so I plugged the 3.5mm cable and I was shocked by the difference between the balanced 2.5mm and regular 3.5mm cable. I've used balanced cable before with my Shure 846 and I barely heard a difference but on these, I feel like it's a different pair of headphones.

Does anyone else have a similar experience or is it just me?

Balanced should only sound better if you have lots of RF interference where you listen. Remember that the audio industry is awash in snake oil.

 

[Deleted member 220197]

One big difference between these headphones and others on the market? These are balanced headphones and come with a 2.5mm balanced jack and a quality balanced cable. So try to find this in headphones at this price?!? Philips always has great sounding headphones at better pricing than other name brands. And the audio quality is excellent across all frequencies. And the build quality and durability longevity is high above most brands.

Also listening to these through a unbalanced cable doesn't do them justice. You must use a balanced headphone amp and the balanced cable that these headphones come with. The sound quality then really opens up, more dynamic across the whole audio spectrum.

 

[stimpy88]

One big difference between these headphones and others on the market? These are balanced headphones and come with a 2.5mm balanced jack and a quality balanced cable. So try to find this in headphones at this price?!? Philips always has great sounding headphones at better pricing than other name brands. And the audio quality is excellent across all frequencies. And the build quality and durability longevity is high above most brands.

Also listening to these through a unbalanced cable doesn't do them justice. You must use a balanced headphone amp and the balanced cable that these headphones come with. The sound quality then really opens up, more dynamic across the whole audio spectrum.

Do you know how a balanced cable works? Maybe you could explain it here so maybe we can learn? But I suspect we won't be hearing from you again...

Your post reads like an advertising bot or paid salesperson. Strange that you were only motivated to sign up to this forum to lavish praise on a headphone, on an old thread that was dead nearly 5 months ago.


Then after you tell us how balanced audio cables work, and just why unbalanced seem (in your opinion) to result in bad audio quality, despite most the best headphones in the world being unbalanced then please, let's discuss these gems...

1.) "Philips always has great sounding headphones at better pricing than other name brands" Please tell us how you arrived at this conclusion?
2.) "The build quality and durability longevity is high above most brands" Same... Examples at the same price point - Are you saying Philips use materials or techniques that others don't?
3.) "The audio quality is excellent across all frequencies" What does this even mean? I think my headphones have very bad audio quality at 205Hz, but 206Hz sounds great!
4.) "You must use a balanced headphone amp" Do you have an AMP recommendation for us?

I'm totally up for a discussion of your claims. I'm eager to learn, and to find out what I have been missing out on all these years...

 

[R-T-B]

Balanced headphones cables are a technical innovation that completely eliminate line noise, FWIW. It does this by running two copies of the signal and doing some fancy comparisons when they arrive. You can find details online, I'm probably botching the technical description, but they do what they say: no line noise.

 

[stimpy88]

Balanced headphones cables are a technical innovation that completely eliminate line noise, FWIW. It does this by running two copies of the signal and doing some fancy comparisons when they arrive. You can find details online, I'm probably botching the technical description, but they do what they say: no line noise.

Exactly right R-T-B, this does not make a audible difference in sound quality unless there is something wrong with what you are comparing it to, or you are using the AMP/headphones in an exceptionally electrically noisy environment.

But I noticed the advertiser didn't stay to verify all his marketing claims.