Philips Fidelio L1

[catscratch]

Man, that blows goats. Yet another inexpensive high-end capable headphone disappearing, and such a legendary headphone at that. I don't want to see the headphone market following the speaker market but it seems to be heading in that direction.

[blessingx]

It was all downhill when the HD580s disappeared. *sniff sniff*

[The Monkey]

Man, that blows goats. Yet another inexpensive high-end capable headphone disappearing, and such a legendary headphone at that. I don't want to see the headphone market following the speaker market but it seems to be heading in that direction.

word. Essentially, the HD 600 gets replaced by the $1000 HD 700. Lame.

[MoonShine]

It was all downhill when the HD580s disappeared. *sniff sniff*

I love my HD580's.

[The Monkey]

For some reason, whenever I have a new headphone my go to tracks tend to be Dire Straits. They sound great out of the Fidelio-Yo-Yo. Perhaps tilted a bit toward the midbass, but, to my midfi ears that's a forgivable and conscious design decision. Some grain up top, as mentioned by Tyll. But smooth and lots of fun. One of those headphones whose flaws are mostly guilty pleasures (nice bass, plenty of mids) and the sins are mostly of omission (e.g., not the last word in detail, soundstage is pretty limited). I think some of you will think the bass a bit too much. There's definitely some thump there. But the mids are very nice and the treble, while slightly grainy, stings in the right places.

[The Monkey]

Heh. Of course, right after I make the above post, "Wild West End" by Dire Straits comes up...and sounds like shit. It's lossy, so there's that. But it sounds hot, tizzy, and aggressive. Not at all what I usually get out of this track. So, not perfect. But what's perfect?

[blessingx]

On the bright side the difference between the HD580s discontinuance and the HD580s disappearance seemed like years.

[spritzer]

The HD600 leaving us is sad news indeed. I think I need to borrow a set and spin some Dire Straits...

[deepak]

On the bright side the difference between the HD580s discontinuance and the HD580s disappearance seemed like years.

That's true. And even some blowout sales like the $120 pairs at Newegg.

[Wmcmanus]

I've been thinking about picking up another pair of headphones of late, I guess because I don't have enough of them, or else I'm really bored. Was debating between the L1 and the best of whatever Bob Marley is selling these days.

Of course, not having heard either and not having any real need for either, I wisely decided to put this non-decision off for a while. Well, now I'm pretty much settled on the L1 being the right ticket to punch. Or at least the Marley offerings didn't impress me much at all when I wandered upon them at Miami International the other day. Even their top of the line model (the $299 silver one, which was quite well built), left me flat. Just a pretty lustless listening experience to my ears.

Shame. Would have loved to support Bob. He seems to need the money these days.

[Tyll Hertsens]

The Exodus is pretty damned good, but it'll have limited long term appeal to an old fart like you.

And I agree on the TOTL silver one.

The L1 is a good choice.

[purk]

I love the HD650 too and think the world of them in balanced form. I wish I still have them. Sold them for $230 shipped.

[K3cT]

Back then the "hi-end" affordable headphones were dominated by the HD600/650, K701 and the Beyer DT880/600 Ohm. Those were the days...

[morphsci]

Back then the "hi-end" affordable headphones were dominated by the HD600/650, K701 and the Beyer DT880/600 Ohm. Those were the days...

Yep, had all of them. Still have the 650s and K701s. The Beyers have gone bye-bye.

[Duggeh]

My pre-registration forays onto head-fi convinced me I needed a Beyer DT880.

I bought a Koss ESP-9 and many many headphones later still haven't heard the Beyer.

Sennheiser have to have shifted a lot of HD600s though. Sales must be well down in the age of Beats to discontinue them.

[blessingx]

Back then the "hi-end" affordable headphones were dominated by the HD600/650, K701 and the Beyer DT880/600 Ohm. Those were the days...

Back it up a little and I remember attending a local meet proudly with new CD3000s ("The baby R10!"). I finally had a real can. Then saw all dozen others had Sennheisers (and mostly Singlepowers) and little interest in anything else. I think the Sony was moved once because they needed the chair it was sitting on.

Later other meets solely for group aftermarket cable tests.

Oh, yeah the L1...

Edited April 5, 2012 by blessingx

[RudeWolf]

Speaking of the Senn dynamic duo- have any of you compared the older version versus the silver driver one? I seem to have a pretty good offer (for EU) for a used HD650 which seems the older one. Supposedly those are slower and even more darker sounding. Is there any truth to such claims?

[Tyll Hertsens]

So I decided to double check the HD 600 discontinuance as I wasn't sure where I heard it.

Good thing, Eric Stubbert, said they're still in the mix, but it had been considered.

So the HD600 is still on.

[blessingx]

You tease.

[deepak]

Time to get a spare headband or 2 if they are reasonable.

[postjack]

Anyone here heard the Fidelio X1?

 

$272 at amazon right now:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B3QD94O/ref=s9_wish_gw_d2_g23_ir04?ie=UTF8&colid=2XATW4WLXS21R&coliid=I2QU1AHXV9CI17&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=06RZM1YT2J02CSW67P2D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846

 

I'm looking for a phone that will serve dual purpose as a fun EDM phone (read: slamming bass without fatiguing highs) and late night television watching (read: comfortable and again non fatiguing).

 

I know Tyll likes them:

 

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/big-bottom-and-lively-top-philips-fidelio-x1

 

Trying to decide between the X1 or the V-Moda M100. The M100's closed design could be nice for listening in the office. Can't believe I'm going to have a job where I can listen to headphones at work, so awesome.

 

Currently using my Shure 215s for these purposes, which are great IEMs but I don't always want to cram something into my ear canal.

[Tyll Hertsens]

I think I'd take the X1 over the M-100 if you can getaway with not having the isolation. The X1 seems extraordinarily even despite the bass emphatic FR.

 

Replace the cable; too many Ohmages in it.

[postjack]

I think I'd take the X1 over the M-100 if you can getaway with not having the isolation. The X1 seems extraordinarily even despite the bass emphatic FR.

 

Replace the cable; too many Ohmages in it.

 

Gotcha, thanks for your input Tyll.

[postjack]

Picked up the Fidelio X1s. As stated above, I've been looking for headphones that sound great with EDM, meaning great bass response, but without the piercing highs that often accompany headphones described as "good for EDM". I didn't need headphones that were super duper accurate, but I didn't want them to be terribly inaccurate either. 

 

The X1s definitely fit the bill. Really fantastic bass impact on electronic music and rock music. With rock in particular, I get that over emphasized bass thump that I'm used to hearing from loud ass amplifiers at live shows. This is just what I wanted. The midrange is pretty damn awesome taboot. There is a bit of that pinchy upper midrange, but its not so bad it annoys me. When vocals hit that upper midrange level the "pinch" is most noticeable (think of the way pretty much any mid tier AT phone sounds, and you know that pinch I'm talking about). In fact sometimes the emphasized upper midrange can sound pretty sweet, like with electric guitars. Think of the Grado midrange but not quite as clear.

 

Comfort wise these phones are top notch after some adjustments, even with my gigantic head. Phones with this kind of fitting mechanism are typically the bane of my audio existence. The first two phones I bought back in 2005 were the K701 and SR60. I've hated "one size fits all" self adjusting headband mechanisms ever since that K701, I just couldn't get the ear cups to comfortably fit over my ears. While the X1 uses a similar mechanism, since the headphone is a metal construction, I was able to easily squeeze the headband together and reshape it. The result is an obvious hard crease on the top of the headband, but now the cups sit comfortably over my ears. The earpad material is top notch, I have worn these headphones for two hours plus at a time (listening and studying for the cpa exam) with zero fatigue, either physically or audio wise.

 

These are a warm, bassy, but remarkably balanced headphone. They are constructed beautifully for a sub $300 phone, hell they look like phones costing 2-3 times as much. I think when newcomers to the hobby not wanting to spend a ton of dough ask about a starter phone, this will be my new recommendation, so long as they aren't bothered by a heavy bass presence.

 

This is the first budget phone I've really enjoyed in a long time. Kudos to Philips, and thank you Tyll for the review that ultimately put these on my head.

Edited October 6, 2013 by postjack

[Tyll Hertsens]

No worries, mate, glad you like them.