PHILIPSFidelio 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!!!

First thing I noticed was how smart and solid-looking these were compared to the all-plastic headphones I have seen (and returned recently to Amazon). The heavy duty bits of these are in metal.Next I noticed how comfortable these are. The ergonomics are first rate, and that's impressive, as these are not small headphones. The headband hammock is self adjusting to a perfect fit, and the ear cup padding is simply luxurious with its soft velvety covering. I just didn't want to take these off. Wearing glasses was not a problem.I love that the cable is detachable using standard 3.5mm jacks at both ends; it not only makes it easy to replace if necessary, and to connect with my stuff, but it also lets me add on a third party boom mic in-line for games, chat etc.A braided cable is supplied, so if you are careless about where you position it, it will pick up noise from your shirt etc. This was especially tricky being left handed, with it being the same side as the lead itself. Im getting a clip.Then it came to the sound quality. And at a price point of £150ish these are perfectly positioned for quality sound of mixed-source listening. I've tried these out on Classic FM, on Internet videos, music and voices of various types on YouTube, and on console gaming.If you are an audiophile snob just keep walking. These probably aren't for pseuds. You will need to check out the £800 headphones.The bottom line is that these are great sounding, warm sounding headphones but with a clear top end. They reproduce whatever you put through them. If you clip them into a top-end biased source, a game with resonating sound effects, or listen at low volumes (these are open backed), these phones will be welcomed as they extend the bass and provide decent sounding treble even at quiet volume levels.If you put high quality sources through them, every detail - incuding the flaws in the original source - will be presented. Even the recording location dynamics of theatres, street performances, concert halls, recording studios and sound engineer preferences etc will colour the sound that will be presented to you. Thats why source stuff has tone controls or EQ settings. But unlike most cheaper headsets music can sound great through these.Classical & orchestral music was smooth, and I loved the low end double bass and cellos, the detail of the oboes. Trad Jazz was just perfect. Every instrument was appropriately clear and discrete. Even the washboard. When I listened to Clanedonia on YouTube the bagpipes were superb, and when I adjusted the lower frequencies on my tablet EQ, every drum had its own specific sound, every beat was distinctive and clear. Listening to Classic Argentine Tango street music I could hear every nuance of the bandwidth limits of the old recordings as if I was actually there. Solo piano recital was enchantingly clear and precise. Gregorian chants were very variable & depended on the location they were recorded in and the particular effect that the sound engineer was trying to get. However a BBC Radio3 live choral performance was simply incredible for both presence and tonal quality. I turned down the bass for one recording of Beethoven's 9th, and enjoyed a superb musical experience. Finally I tried Widor's Toccata. If anything was going to reveal an issue it would be this. I decoupled the EQ to get the natural audio. Mind Blowing. Absolutely, ab-so-lute-ly INCREDIBLE. I was so impressed I listened to three other renditions. Each one sounded different. For each one I could hear the unique tonal differences of the organs played, and the effects of the hall or Cathedral where it was played. That really, really impressed me.So in summary, yes I know these have a V shaped frequency response, but that means excellent clarity and detail at the top, and a bass boost when you want it on typical TV and audio equipment. When you dont, you can get whatever sound you like from these by adjusting the frequency curve/tone control.With these headphones you are listening to (and adjusting) the quality of the sound source to your preferences, not just the content. You tune them accordingly. For gaming whizz bangs (or a bit of Widor or 1812) they are fantastic. Yet you can get genuinely quality sound from them to suit your needs and taste.I'm not spending £300 or £500 on pair of headphones, and certainly not a further £150 on top of that for a headphone amp to make them work well.At the £100 price point I found unacceptable compromises in sound quality for music with which I refused to live, even on leading brands and highly rated individual models.These X2HRs hit the sweet spot at £150. You could easily pay double or treble that for something else and still get worse sounding phones. For me this is the entry point for quality listening for a whole range of listening uses. I'm delighted with these - Im definitely not srnding these back!