The premium headphone market has never been more competitive, which means manufacturers have to work harder than ever if they want to part you from a few hundred dollars. Nobody could accuse Philips of skimping on sound quality with the Philips Fedelio X3 cans, but do they have quite enough of life’s luxuries to justify their $350 price tag?
Let’s start by sorting out what these headphones are and what they’re not. These sizeable, over-ear open-back headphones are well suited for the home and studio, but they’re an uneasy travel companion. They’re a wired headset, supplied with two enormous 3m cables, one with a 3.5mm jack and one with a 2.5mm. There’s a quarter-inch jack in there too for plugging into hi-fi equipment, as well as a much-needed cable tidy.
The X3s are not the first set of headphones you’d reach for when leaving the house with your smartphone, though. Even if you could live with the size of these cans on your travels, the lengthy lead is impractical, and the split-cord design that sends a jack to each ear means you can’t just reach for a shorter 3.5mm cable.
But then most smartphones wouldn’t have the power to make the most of these extraordinary headphones. They need to be plugged into serious sound equipment.
Philips Fidelio X3 sound quality
The Fidelio X3 cans are pitched in the direction of audiophiles. They’re equipped with 50mm neodymium drivers that deliver a frequency range of 5Hz to 40kHz.
That all combines to deliver an immaculately balanced sound that delivers oodles of detail, no matter what type of music you’re listening to. On Bjork’s Hunter for example, the aggressive cello strings, swirling vocals and rapid drumbeats all combine to deliver an amazing sound stage where no part is drowning out the other. You can almost train yourself to listen a different detail every time.
Bass is particularly well handled, especially when you edge up the volume, whereas other similarly priced headphones, such as the Sony WH-1000XM4, can let the bass get away from them. The whomping bass sound on Christine and the Queens’ Tilted is a great example of where the X3s let the bass almost lift you out of your seat without polluting the vocals.
Orchestral music poses no problems for the X3s, either. Throw the Tidal ‘Master’ quality of the John Williams in Vienna album at them and you can delight at the delicacy of the strings and the sheer force of the brass and percussion. There really is nothing to criticize about sound quality, as long as they’re paired with a high-quality source.
Design decisions
The design of the headphones is where Philips and I start to part ways over the merits of these headphones. Philips describes these headphones as having “feather-like comfort”, from which I can only assume Philips are plucking their feathers from ostriches. They’re not oppressively heavy and they are comfortable to wear, but you’re not going to forget you’re wearing them, either. They clamp your head tightly and they’re not letting go.
The earcups are velvet-covered memory foam, not the soft leather you might hope to find on high-end headsets. Philips does slather leather over the dual-headbands – it even includes a little booklet telling you about the Scottish tannery it came from – but personally I’d rather the budget had gone on the earcups.
The backs are covered in a textile of the type you would normally see covering smart speakers. The overall design is subtle and elegant, but they don’t scream luxury and they do leak sound. If you want people to know you’ve blown a few hundred dollars on headphones, these aren’t the going to broadcast the fact.
The lack of luxury extends to the accessories too. The supplied bag is a limp sack of unbranded polyester that will provide less protection than a cocktail umbrella. Again, you don’t feel like Philips is matching first-class sound with first-class design.
Verdict
If you’re simply looking for superb quality headphones to pair with your hi-fi set up, the Fidelio X3 headphones should definitely be on your shortlist. They deliver sound that has to be sat back and appreciated.
Where Philips lets itself down is with cost-cutting on design and accessories. If I’m paying $350 for headphones, I want to be turning left at the cabin door. The X3s just aren’t luxurious enough to qualify for business class and their lack of flexibility – no Bluetooth, no noise cancellation, not lightweight enough for travel – makes them a niche product.
The much cheaper Philips SHP9600 cans ($129) are well worth considering if you’re in the market for a home headset but can’t stretch to $350. They don’t sacrifice an awful lot of sound quality and they’re a shade more portable. The Fidelio X3 headphones are, alas, a few refined touches away from greatness.
