Philips Fidelio X2HR Over-Ear High Resolution Wired Headphones | Open-Back Design | Double-Layered Ear Shells | 50 mm Neodymium Drivers | Deluxe Memory Foam Earpads

Simply put, the best headphones I've ever owned and well worth the 110 I paid, thanks Amazon!These are what I would call 'fun' in their response. You can get "truer" units with a flatter response curve, but these give rich plentiful sound that is more akin to being in a room with a decent speaker setup, than wearing headphones. Bass is well defined, and not overwhelming. Kids are clear and rich. Treble, which I am sensitive to, is not too much and if not absolutely Cristal (if I am being super critical), is bang on to my taste without having to play with the EQ.The clarity is simply incredible, even using my phone (but note the 3m cable is not ideal for this use case).Build quality is spot on, even the cable is great. They are heavy in the hand but very light on your head and very soft around your ears. As a glasses wearer, and having a larger head, I find it hard to find comfort in a pair of headphones, but again, these are the most comfortable units I've ever encountered!!!Being open can design, some sound is leaked, so public use, i.e. train, you want something else... However for home use you would be hard pressed to get better for the money, I would suggest these are worth 150 of anyone's money easy, even if the RRP is a bit of a stretch. The open can design however, means I can listen to whatever I want and still hear others, the OH and the kids etc, without needing to remove them, which can be useful.The 'stage' of these is again, simply incredible... Wearing these you can get a real sense of direction of sounds and find yourself fully immersed. Whether you're listening to say, the Doors and listening to Jim Morrison's whisper track, clear as day during riders on the storm, or using them for gaming, if the sound profile suits you I am sure you will be blown away, at least I was.If you are looking for a gaming headset, or do VR and want immersive sound, look no further. Forget all these poor quality gaming headset s and myths over 5.1 and 7.1 headphone units, this will have better quality and all you need is a Vmoda mic or modmic to make it into a super-decent gaming headset. Personally I can't see the point in multiple driver headphone units because you only have two microphones in your head (your ears). What gives sound 'direction' is actually how the sound waves are manipulated by the direction and your ear itself (hence why our ears are not just flat dishes, evolution of ear shape was not simply accidental, lol).I have worn a number of headphones that are more expensive even, yet have not performed like this. Now they seem to have fixed initial quality issues from a couple of years back these are simply great, highly recommended!!!

I’ve had these for a little over 24 hours now so this is an early review. If anything substantial changes I’ll come back and add more.I bought one of the nearly new X2HR headsets and I was a little nervous I would get a return for some of the reasons in other reviews such as one sided volume or glued on pads but negative to either of those issues. These arrived in as good a condition you would expect for nearly new. They had a bit of dust on the ear pads but they attract it so I was not surprised but other than that as new in original box with all the ancils, that makes me happy as I saved over £25!The headphones themselves are very well made, weighty and robust and look cool and modern. The cable is a braided type like you get on decent gaming keyboards and doesn’t tangle up from what I’ve experienced so far.Comfort wise they are a little tight right now but not so much that I’m desperate to take them off and I am sure over time they will loosen off a little. They fit over my ears really well and feel very securely in place on my head. The cushions are comfortable and it’s easy to position themFor optimal tone.Sound wise I am coming from a set of AKG K702’s which are great headphones in their own right so I will compare them occasionally to them.My frustration with the 702’s was a slight lack of bass. I have a good iFi DAC which can drive a good amount of bass but the AKGs struggle a little when you crank the metal on with a little too much distortion so I was looking for something with as close a sound stage and clear crisp sound as the AKGs but more bass. The X2’s are filling the gap.I have spent a good couple of hours tweaking the EQ on my computer to get the optimal tone for me and I’m pretty close to where I want to be and they are handling it fine. I’ve got clear crisp hi freqs and nice deep and thumping bass with just enough miss to be clear and not lost but not too much.The bass is great on these, it really is. I don’t get any distortion when pumping through bass at high volume. They somehow manage it but maintain good clean upper freqs.The downsides are very minimal, to me they don’t sound as open as the AKGs but not by much. They are fine for gaming although they will never beat the AKGs for the width of soundstage. Some of the instruments sound a little muffled to my ear but I’m being very picky.Overall I’m really happy with my purchase and look forward to many more hours of listening to tunes through these.Edit: after having these for nearly a week and a half and spending many hours with them I’m really very happy with them. They are a different tone to the AKGs (I’ve also been comparing them to AKG 7xx as well as 702’s) and I’m now preferring them (X2’s) for music. I’ve pretty much nailed the EQ for them and I’m getting great (an I mean oodles of) bass and it’s nice, punchy and clean. The highs are great as well, the 702’s prob pip them their but only by a tiny amount. They are slightly more “closed” than the AKGs but the sheer energy of the music compared to the clinical and laid back AKGs is infectious. I don’t think the perfect headphones exist but damn these are mine so far!I’m getting a pair of Senn 6xx’s in the next few days so will do a bit of a 3 way comparison.

I paid 68 quid for these, reviews sounded good, I wanted a pair for wearing around the house with my fiio amp which I also use on my senh ovation 600 but they are lovely but bulky I also have Sony in ear xm4 things, I don't really get on with them so if out I have bowers Wilkins px7se great sounding, when the Phillips arrived I thought god that's a big box, I didn't realise how big these cans were yep as big as my ovations.... Bugger... But for the amount I paid I thought we'll it not that expensive mistake, let's give them a blast, WOW they are amazing even at full price about 150, I think, there fabulous at this price but at under 70 I am blown away. Fantastic sound, spacious and open, build quality top notch. I cannot recommend enough, brilliant kit.OK this is an update of my review, I've have been really giving these headphones a hard time over the last 4 months, bashing them up, out in rain OK not hammering it down but just general abuse, I reckoned under 70 quid just use and abuse them, man there good, still look unmarked, sound great, just a total pleasure to use and so comfortable, I really wish I bought 3 or 4 pairs at that price.