Gobsmacked about the Philips Fidelio X1

Shamrock said:
I don't know why I read these threads! I've already been through and cured my audiophilia addiction so definitely don't need any more headphones. I do miss the joy of the un-boxing ritual though.

If they ever drop back to £150 level I might be tempted.
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Might be tempted? I think what you mean is that you will be buying them asap :p

You know you want to ;)
 
Angerer said:
Purchasing HD600s to compare with these as I'm not too fond of the bass.

Maybe I'm just a treble head :p
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Can't say I find them too bassy here. Having had Senns for 10~ years I would say that Sennheiser headphones are mostly bass reserved focusing on a nautral laid back sound. The X1 has ample bass in all the right areas without overpowering anything else. Make sure you're not adding bass via EQ or software settings on your computer as well.
 
mrk said:
Can't say I find them too bassy here. Having had Senns for 10~ years I would say that Sennheiser headphones are mostly bass reserved focusing on a nautral laid back sound. The X1 has ample bass in all the right areas without overpowering anything else. Make sure you're not adding bass via EQ or software settings on your computer as well.
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Will do, thanks for the heads up mate! ;)
 
gjc10212 said:
I don't find them too bassy either, if anything I would prefer a touch more mid as the openess can be too hollow for me sometimes.
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sounds like you prefer the closed headphone sound signature like me i find open too airy and non impactfull
 
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Closed adds reinforcement for me, much like sitting in a room, studio, or such like. I enjoy the added weight/impact/depth. I guess I should try a semi-open at some point but my next purchase is another closed can.
 
Interesting.....

"Now, I actually have two X1 that I am testing. It is remarkable how different the two sound. Both have that signature sound - BUT they are different enough that I am very tempted to keep both though I won't as a matter of principle. "

"Really, the differences are so distinct that one could easily believe that these were two different model of headphones. To me, easily more difference than say, the HD650 and HD600. So this explains for my why some complain the X1 has too much bass while others may complain that the vocals are too recessed. The variation is significant. The most surprising thing to me is that one X1 sounds noticeably louder than the other when input the same power. I don't know how to explain this. "

http://www.head-fi.org/t/623013/new-philips-fidelio-x1/3825


Maybe mine are on the bassy side, more so than others.
 
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They are becoming more comfortable. But they're one notch under HD598's which truly can be forgotten about when wearing.

My mate had a listen to the X1's, he has 558's and said he wanted buy X1's.

We both find certain drum impacts very sharp, almost piercing. Whether its just more resolution that I need to get used to i'm not sure, some might find it fatiguing.

I only have one pair of portable closed headphones, the Beyer DT-1350 facelifts and the X1s feel closed in terms of bass response like the Beyers but open in soundstage like any open phone.

I will say that the sound they produce seems to come from right inside your head so not quite as wide a stage as the 598's.
They isolate external sound very well, with 598's I can hear PC fans even, with X1's I can't hear someone speaking at normal volume levels.

They leak sound similarly to HD598's however.

To reiterate what others have said, these are worthy of their RRP and anything less than that can be considered good value.

They happen to be the best headphones I have ever heard (I've not particularly heard many, though) and seen.

They make music, well, musical and can be considered audio phile grade in my opinion.

I am enjoying going back to music I have not listened to for a while as well as discovering new artists/genres. They play all genres well I feel.
They are very resolving but cohesive, the whole song is in harmony/makes sense. The Beyers are resolving, maybe more so in critical listening but the whole song sometimes does not 'quite' fit together on them.

The opening synthesised bass line of George Michael's 'White light' is electric on the X1's, it's 'weirdly-good' is the only way I can describe it

Well done Philips
 
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I have just read that you cant replace the pads and phillips cannot change that as they glued on ? anyone else find it utterly bizzare how such a high quality built headphone doesn't have replaceable pads ? that's a deal breaker for me was going to get a pair but whats the point the pads will need replacing after a couple of years don't care how careful you are or use covers it's the padding comfort that just wears out and you wont be able to replace them.Shall await the x2 hopefully phllips will allow replaceable pads.

I think the price of these will continue to drop simply because of non replaceable earpads just my opinion ill pick up a pair maybe still if the price is right.
My as new momentums are going on the bay as people pay silly money for them on there I am actually going to make a nice profit on them lol.
 
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Philips won't be making the X2, the company they sold the line to will. The lack of replacement pads is really a non issue for the reasons already covered in this thread.

Fwiw I found the HD598 soundstage to be less wide than the x1. The bass is direct as you'd expect and is more in line with a speaker setup with a sub where the bass feels like it's directly in the middle of the sound.
 
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