Philips Fidelio X3 coming soon
- Thread starter shankly1985
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Caporegime
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yeah i saw the x2's for £100 on HUKD a few times now.
it's why i wouldn't touch the X3's with a barge pole. if you wait you will be able to get them in 2-3 years time for a similar price when the X3's are about to come out.
i don't need any more headphones. if i was going to get these then i'd need to sell probably my AKG's or HD700's
it's why i wouldn't touch the X3's with a barge pole. if you wait you will be able to get them in 2-3 years time for a similar price when the X3's are about to come out.
i don't need any more headphones. if i was going to get these then i'd need to sell probably my AKG's or HD700's
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Caporegime
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If you have the HD700's you quite likely don't need the X3's
They are completely different though.
The Phillips don't have maybe the accurate Hugh resolution however they are much more fun to listen to.
Which is why sound is so subjective.
You get to a point where you don't care about the quality as much but what pleases your ears.
So once you hit a standard of acceptable quality for what you are used to and educated to look for after that it's much more about the sound signature.
Also different headphones suit different uses. My old tube dac I sold made vocals sound so pleasant as if it was a live session I was listening to.
I sold my HD700's eventually, they're a very analytical headphone but for extended periods of listening they become extremely fatiguing.
I might try out these X3's when they come down in price as I'd be very surprised if they were worth £300 if they stick to their "fun" sound.
I might try out these X3's when they come down in price as I'd be very surprised if they were worth £300 if they stick to their "fun" sound.
The X2 were about £270 on release and arguably worth the asking price. Absolute no brainer since being discounted. Only issue is i believe they experienced quality control issues after Philips changed ownership and the X2s were rebranded as x2hr. Hopefully they got back on track before designing the new model
The X2s were manufactured by Gibson and Woox, I think the latter had the removable pads and some say a better sound. They were followed by the X2HR, reading reviews back the nothing was clear about what the differences were to regular X2.
I've owned the X1 and X2, wish I never sold them now. The X3 looks good but, from the links in the OP, they are open back whereas the others were semi-open which gave them the "fun" sound. If they are easy to drive like the earlier models and reviews look promising I'll definitely be getting a pair.
Just checked my X2s and can confirm the ear cups clip into place and are easily removed, I haven't tried X1s. The X2HR were just a rebrand, but suffered QC issues.
I paid full price for the X2s a few years back and have no regrets. Not sure they're 'semi-open' though, surrounding sound is quite clear when wearing them. The Fidelio 'L2s' are semi-open, perhaps you're thinking of those?
Associate
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Release date is tomorrow apparently at £300. AO have them listed now.
Hopefully soon we have some sound reviews to know what they've done compared to the X2's.
Hopefully soon we have some sound reviews to know what they've done compared to the X2's.
Here's hoping for the X2's boosted bass with lower distortion, a little bump in the upper mids to help them not sound drowned out and a smoother treble; one can dream eh. Basically just merg a HD650 and philips X2 into one headphone with the HD650's resolution, done you have a winner.
That's too much to ask for though.....
That's too much to ask for though.....
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Here's hoping for the X2's boosted bass with lower distortion, a little bump in the upper mids to help them not sound drowned out and a smoother treble; one can dream eh. Basically just merg a HD650 and philips X2 into one headphone with the HD650's resolution, done you have a winner.
That's too much to ask for though.....
Sounds good to me. I've been close to buying them but I've been put off buying blind in the past. RS have them for £280 with code HP20 if you want to go first!
When I hear words like resolution being thrown about around hd650's im left scratching my head.
Mine sound lifeless and anemic with no resolution compared to x1 and x2hr.
I used them once and they've remained in the box eversince.Sennheiser over ear momentums had way more resoltion than the hd 650 when I had momentums.
Mine sound lifeless and anemic with no resolution compared to x1 and x2hr.
I used them once and they've remained in the box eversince.Sennheiser over ear momentums had way more resoltion than the hd 650 when I had momentums.
Out of interest what were you powering the hd650's from? With weaker amps they do tend to sound lifeless, ive heard thi is due to a large impedance hump around 100hz. All i know this has been my experience with my pair when using weaker amps.
schiit magni 1 and then ae5 plus on maximum gain, I don't rate them but can see how they could be rated so high 20 years ago
Thats fair enough. I did own the fidelio x1 and magni1/modi stack years ago along with my hd 650's, i personally found the magni/modi to be fairly bright compared to other amps i tried such as the vali and my current QDAC that replaced it. The brighter sound worked better with the fidelio's as it tamed the excessive bass somewhat but it did not sound good with the 650's. Always interesting to see other peopels opinions on this stuff.
I'd look to your gear. Lifeless and Anaemic is the opposite of what the HD650's sound like. The HD650 can pull out as much micro detail as the HD800 but the HD800 has far more treble resolution, bass distortion and extension. The HD650 is one of the most gear dependent headphones I've owned, I heard one out of an Eddie Current Zana Deux and that's when I realised the guys at Changstar at the time were not talking crap about the scalability of the headphone. Even the LCD-2 can't pull off the same subtle details as the HD650, it's such a great example of good German engineering and how good a dynamic can sound.
There's headphones that do out resolve the HD650, the Focal Clear, maybe Focal Elex but those headphones lack the treble smoothness, timbre and the HD650 on a good chain can easily match them while having the better tonal balance. The 650 isn't perfect, bass distortion could be cleaner but then again this is comparing them to much more expensive headphones. When Isee people paring their HD650 with entry level gear I just think it's such wasted potential, people will happily buy source gear at 1k for their LCD-2's which don't even benefit from it but a headphone like the HD650 which shows clear improvements they don't because it's cheaper. The Magni is a very lean, bright aggressive amp, much different compared to the HD650 and it wasn't the most technical amp even at the time. A good Tranformer Coupled amp would give you a much better experience but it really depends on which direction one wants to go. The X2 is a very bassy, bright headphone where as the HD650 leans towards warm, more balanced sounding so it can sound less exciting in comparison.
I'm tempted to bite the £280 deal on the X3, I dunno, I'd rather wait till amazon have it as the returns is painless!
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I have to agree. I don't use my X2's as there's something off which the Senns do just right. It's in the mid/treble region I don't get a long with, so I just don't use them.
Really I just want the 600/650 with more bass extension. That would be the perfect headphone for me currently without getting into the ridiculous price realm.