The genius of the Average

PriitM · November 25, 2019

To be totally honest, I went for the Fidelio a bit biased. I own several pairs SHP2000 and have always considered the name Fidelio as the highest form of Hi-Fi. Therefore, you may say im a Philips fanboy....

Yes and no. What drew me to the SHP2000 was its cheap price and what you get for it. 40mm angled drivers, velour pads and minimalist design. Open back too. What more could you want for 20$. Well, headband cushion would be nice, but cant complain for the price. Nor cant complain about the neutral sound with lots of bass. Perfect as a commuter headset that allows you to hear traffic while having the guts to punch some tunes when it gets quiet. And since they were cheap, not a big loss to replace them every 2-3 years when they got worn form all the dust, sun, rain, sweat and so on.

But something was missing. At that point I had heard Sennheisers, Koss, AKG. Even a couple of planars. High range was lacking in comparison. Even the mellow bass seemed lacking. What I needed...was a proper headset.

Then I remembered an ad I saw years ago about the first Fidelio X1. Instantly hooked on the classic curves and beefy grill. And thats what drew me to the Fidelios. The look. The average, classical clean look. Nothing fancy, but not lacking in style in any way. In a way, a more royal form to everything else.

And then came the magic moment I got a pair if X2HR-s. To be honest, I was not blown away, like with Senneheisers. I was not amazed like I had with planars. It felt like I was listening to SHP2000-s...but with a bit more volume. I really had to listen to the subtle difference in high range clarity and punchy bass. The funny thing is...I could listen to them, even concentrate on finding "it"

Reason being these headphones are the most comfortable pair I have ever tried. And even when they are full metal and weigh almost 2x to any Sennheiser or AKG. You simply cant notice them for extended periods of time. Elastic headband conforms perfectly to your head and the big velour memory foam cushions form a nice contact over the ears. Pressure has been well established with metal hoops and the leather binder is un-commonly sturdy. The metal construction has no creaks, no rattles.

And then comes the reproduction. Everyone will say its neutral, un-offensive, pleasing. Yet, somehow its has more bass than most of its competitors. Thanks to the 50mm drivers, they ought to have. Couple of other tricks Philips engineers pulled are angled drivers and very well tuned reflex port. Angled drivers point the radiation pattern away from your ear canals, allowing a passive filtering by manipulating radiating patterns. And the reflex port allows just enough rear end to bleed through to boost the bass.

All this coupled with neodynium motors and you have a pair if headphones that are...average. Nothing special, they do the job. And you might be thinking: thats a bit anti-climactic.

But here is the genius of Philips. While everyone else is busy making THE BEST, nailing the average takes more skill. It takes more skill to make something that you are not going to get tired of (which I was after a short period of time with fore mentioned high-end headphones) even after many many hours. Something that works and does it with classy elegance. And the best part is: Fidelio X2HR costs around 200$/€/£. Thats 2-3x less than most other high-end offerings. The funny thing is...you can get the same neutral warm sound for only 1/10th of the price too.

So to sum up this, I thought I would borrow from Old Top Gear and something either Clarkson, May or Hammond would have said. Comparing a modern hypercar to a beautiful classic. Its not difficult to put a 1000Hp engine in a body styled to look like a jet fighter, everybody is doing it. And its fun for that little while until you get scared or tired from spinning around all day. But if you have an old Jaguar E-type, you get the sensation of an average handling car that sounds magnificent, looks absolutely stunning. Is comfortable to drive...and does so for as long as there is a sunny summer road. And THAT is the essence of a car!

rice guru · November 25, 2019

Fidelio is one of my favorite low end reporduction muddy mess and boomy super fun. also had a few price drops recently due to the fidelio X3 coming out roughly $119-$150 right now pretty worth it IMO

PriitM · November 26, 2019

8 hours ago, rice guru said:

Fidelio is one of my favorite low end reporduction muddy mess and boomy super fun. also had a few price drops recently due to the fidelio X3 coming out roughly $119-$150 right now pretty worth it IMO

Agreed. They have a characteristic you have to search for. Not to say its not there, but for the compromise of over-all performance on 32 ohm's. And thats not a bad thing: listening fatigue is a real thing. Short term tinnitus (ringing) and long term hearing loss are things that most people dont think about. I could go into the science of hearing, but is it really the scope of this review?