Bob-23
Senior Member
Thanks for this. I have been thinking about getting the X2HR phones. I remember your favourable discussion of them on your site, but also noted your concern about quality control with them, that they seem inconsistent pair-to-pair. This is one reason why I am still hesitating about them.
I've got them, too - and I like them very much. Replacement pads are indeed not available anymore (seem to have been), and as Solderdude pointed out, aftermarket pads may change the sound (to the bad, or to the good). I read somebody put K70? (don't remember which ones, think it was K702) on them, and he was satisfied. I could imagine that the pads of the K712 would be most adequate, being gel pads as the X2Hrs pads. And apart from that, X3's pads seem to be the same (?), and Philips might sell them in the future (?).
Soundstage is most important for me, and it is true, that the K702 deliver a bit more of it - but K702 are extremely picky with the quality of the recording, brutally honest exposing even the slightest flaw of a recording. They are best on slow floating wide soundscapes (instrumental music, think of Cinematic Orchestra).
X2Hr, on the other side, are very forgiving, and work well in every genre. And X2Hr have more 'body' and 'warmth' and 'punch'. So, even if X2Hr present a little less soundstage width (compared to the K702), for me it's (nearly) compensated by a very spacious soundstage, and the plus in 'body' and 'warmth', and it might even be - at least sometimes, in some recordings - that its soundstage is a bit more precise and integrated. I eq'd mine to Oratory1990, I think that's a must.
Rtings writes:
"The Philips X2HR have a very good passive soundstage. Thanks to their open-back design, their soundstage is very spacious and open and music is perceived as being in front of you as opposed to inside your head."
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/philips/fidelio-x2hr
Physical build quality is excellent, relatively heavy (because of that), clamping pressure can be reduced by bending the the headband. Mine don't have quality issues. - And they are half the price now they once were. I think it's a bargain.
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