Philips Fidelio X2HR Review (headphone)

[Jimbob54]

Okay, one more word

Alas, no.

 

[solderdude]

I say... let the man do his evaluation and post his findings.
Hoping for him the X2HR can capture the essence that resides in melodies and harmonies through the cold and mechanical device a headphone is.
It remains to be seen if Carlos will be able to experience the shiver on his skin caused by a song that touches his heart, or the tears that well up in his eyes when listening to a melody that touched him deeply or that the slight excess of treble prevents him from hearing the beauty and artistic expression that music provides yet still is transformed by the magic that emanates from each chord.

 

[IAtaman]

I say... let the man do his evaluation and post his findings.
Hoping for him the X2HR can capture the essence that resides in melodies and harmonies through the cold and mechanical device a headphone is.
It remains to be seen if Carlos will be able to experience the shiver on his skin caused by a song that touches his heart, or the tears that well up in his eyes when listening to a melody that touched him deeply or that the slight excess of treble prevents him from hearing the beauty and artistic expression that music provides yet still is transformed by the magic that emanates from each chord.

I disagree. He can post whatever he wants of course, and admins can deal with that as they see fit, but I dont think that "review" belongs here. Not because these are his personal subjective opinions but because none of those personal emotions or experiences has anything to do with the headphone being reviewed here. He might as well talk about the double rainbow he saw while he was smoking weed in Yellowstone while wearing these cans, and that would be as relevant in my opinion.

 

[isostasy]

I respect all you lot so come on, stop engaging with a troll. There's no way this isn't parody, no way:

Okay, one more word, what I wanted to say was... A cold, mechanical test ear doesn't have the capacity to capture emotion that the human ear so delicately embraces. As accurate as it is in reproducing sounds, this ear devoid of sensitivity cannot capture the essence that resides in melodies and harmonies.
The human ear is a divine instrument, capable of discerning the subtle nuances that permeate each musical note. It connects with the soul and translates into emotions what is transmitted by sounds. It is through him that we can feel the joy of a festive song, the sadness of a melancholic melody and the serenity of a soft chord.
The test ear can be useful to evaluate the technical quality of an audio equipment, but you will never be able to experience the shiver on your skin caused by a song that touches your heart, or the tears that well up in your eyes when listening to a melody that touches you deeply. . Emotion transcends the mere reproduction of sounds and dwells in the unique interpretation that each human being is capable of performing. It is a subjective and personal experience, shaped by our experiences, feelings and perceptions.
So while the test ear is just a mechanical device, the human ear is a window into the beauty and artistic expression that music provides. It is through it that we are graced with the ability to feel, to connect with the sound universe and to be transformed by the magic that emanates from each chord.

Absolutely no way.

I think kids call it rage bait?

'Ignore' button is the only solution.

 

[markanini]

You are weak in argument so you go for the insult. And you think others are so limited that they need you to tell them what to do, shame on you.
I ignore you troll

No, he's right. You were given honest answers but you only interacted with a few despondent replies. Exactly what a troll would do. Consider what impression you give, before criticizing others perception.

 

[AdamG]

Let’s try to be a touch kinder in the words we chose to use. Or don’t post or reply if you are only going to hurl insults. If you really think this is “bait” don’t take it. Member is new here and maybe doesn’t understand that we are a Science Based Forum.

Belay that. All gone now. In the end it was the wrong place and time.

 

[Robbo99999]

Let’s try to be a touch kinder in the words we chose to use. Or don’t post or reply if you are only going to hurl insults. If you really think this is “bait” don’t take it. Member is new here and maybe doesn’t understand that we are a Science Based Forum.

Belay that. All gone now. In the end it was the wrong place and time.

I think you did the right thing, but I was just curious what he was gonna write about the X2HR just for entertainment purposes, purely entertainment purposes!

 

[alumnicesar]

not recommending this is very interesting. i dont agree with that

 

[TUC]

reiterating that I am fully satisfied with these headphones, in a sleepless night I tried a little with cunning and a little with the software to create a not too aggressive filter to correct the slightly disturbed response in the high part of these philips.
using the measures of you friends I created a target curve with rew

to apply here
Philips Fidelio X2HR Frequency Response Relative Measurements with 1/3 octave smoothing

then i had rew create me a filter by brassing over 12 heavily processed dots, so i simplified these to 7 while listening to their influence on my favorite records. the expected measure and this, this is my filter.

touching the high part has deleterious effects on the sound and on the processing power required and I preferred to leave it as mother philips did.
this filter has been applied to DskFX the only sufficiently complete free mac application that I have found.

thanks to those who took the measurements to those who give advice on programs to those who spend a few words to help a friend

 

[Barry_Sound]

Got these for a brief test and I think they sounded pretty good. I couldnt stand the physical "thickness" on the ears though. Are there lightweight headphones anyone could recommend instead with somewhat similar sound signature? For super-critical listening I prefer my speakers anyway.

 

[BrynWZL]

Got these for a brief test and I think they sounded pretty good. I couldnt stand the physical "thickness" on the ears though. Are there lightweight headphones anyone could recommend instead with somewhat similar sound signature? For super-critical listening I prefer my speakers anyway.

My girlfriend listened to mine for a while and had the same response. They certainly are a bit chonky. The AKG 712 Pro is a decent comparable option I've found. They are still a little large, but definitely lighter and less 'thick' than the X2HR. But in terms of spacial sound qualities I found them reasonably similar.

 

[Plumbus the Wise]

Been really enjoying these lately for Metal. Have a very unique sound. Using some pretty thick leather pads, which definitly increased low end a bit from the velor...and as you can see from my subbass boost I am a big fan of the low end...even at the cost it comes with in headphones like this.

 

[johny_2000]

How well do they handle sub-bass boost with EQ? I'm talking about the range of 20-40 Hz.
+6dB...+8dB, is the sound normal or distorted?

Based on these measurements, at 20 Hz there is about -8 dB SPL relative to 50 Hz.

 

[johny_2000]

Received today. The first impression is that the sound is very smooth! As always, I found this sound too warm straight out of the box. I applied Oratory PEQ compensation to Harman curve and was blown away by the sound of my favorite soundtracks. I need to give it more time to compete with my previous hero HD650 to make a decision.

P.S. I'm thinking of giving it competition with the Sennheiser HD 490 Pro and FiiO FT3.

 

[Nango]

Where does one find that PEQ pls?

 

[staticV3]

Where does one find that PEQ pls?

Here's oratory's PEQ preset: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b09edinwg6tw5vi/Philips Fidelio X2HR.pdf?dl=0

Or you can make your own using https://autoeq.app/.

 

[johny_2000]

Here's what I took and applied from the AutoEQ archive:

AutoEq/results/oratory1990/over-ear/Philips Fidelio X2HR/Philips Fidelio X2HR ParametricEQ.txt at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses - jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

github.com

Preamp: -6.4 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 7.8 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 64 Hz Gain -7.1 dB Q 0.68
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 4982 Hz Gain 4.2 dB Q 0.79
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 5096 Hz Gain -8.2 dB Q 2.97
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 29 Hz Gain 1.2 dB Q 4.24
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -1.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 1660 Hz Gain -2.7 dB Q 4.61
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 261 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 5.02
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 2026 Hz Gain 0.9 dB Q 4.49
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 2996 Hz Gain 1.2 dB Q 6.00

Adjust the gain of bands #1 and #6 to your liking.

Here's oratory's PEQ preset: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b09edinwg6tw5vi/Philips Fidelio X2HR.pdf?dl=0

It's strange that these values don't match its own report in the AutoEQ database archive.

 

[staticV3]

This is what I took from AutoEQ archive

AutoEq/results/oratory1990/over-ear/Philips Fidelio X2HR/Philips Fidelio X2HR ParametricEQ.txt at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses - jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

github.com

Preamp: -6.4 dB
Filter 1: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 7.8 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 64 Hz Gain -7.1 dB Q 0.68
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 4982 Hz Gain 4.2 dB Q 0.79
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 5096 Hz Gain -8.2 dB Q 2.97
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 29 Hz Gain 1.2 dB Q 4.24
Filter 6: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -1.2 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 1660 Hz Gain -2.7 dB Q 4.61
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 261 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 5.02
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 2026 Hz Gain 0.9 dB Q 4.49
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 2996 Hz Gain 1.2 dB Q 6.00


It's strange that these values don't match its own report in the AutoEQ database archive.
View attachment 363076

Not strange really.

AutoEQ takes oratory's raw data, then runs its own automated code on it to find optimal PEQ values.

In contrast, oratory's PEQ presets are manually designed by him.
Naturally, they won't match.

 

[johny_2000]

Not strange really.

AutoEQ takes oratory's raw data, then runs its own automated code on it to find optimal PEQ values.

In contrast, oratory's PEQ presets are manually designed by him.
Naturally, they won't match.

Oh, thanks for explaining this difference. I've always wondered why they don't match.

 

[johny_2000]

In contrast, oratory's PEQ presets are manually designed by him

I'll have to try them too and listen to the differences. So far I really like the AutoEQ values with my own High Shelf band gain adjustment.