Philips SHL5905BK/28 CitiScape Uptown

Hi Headfiers. Am a beginner headfier and this is my first review , so do take it with a grain of salt. The CitiScape Uptowns are my first pair of respectively good over ear headphones so I accept any criticism on my review. I bought These 3 years ago when they were released and am happy ever since. Am not a musician or anything like that , nor an audiophile so my use for these is casual listening to music. 


 





Sound:


In general the sound of these is better that its expected in the price range , especially now that their price dropped drastically. I bought them for 140 $ 3 years ago and they were still in my opinion a great value. Their sound is if i had to explain their frequency response graph a "V" shaped  but a very slight one. They aren't that much bassy or with a very extended treble. I can't claim that they are flat sounding , but the bass is there its punchy and fast , I could say accurate , but it's not the focus of the sound signature. Mids on the other hand are exceptional. Compared to other headphones I've heard that can compare to these (like the M50s from audio technica ), their mids are no comparison to that of the Phillips. the Uptowns are more accurate and it is shown when u play some classical or some jazz when u really need to hear these vocals. Also the treble is not very extended , its present a little more forward than the mids I should say but not overwhelming either. The bass and treble presence is a little stronger than that of  the mids but not in a way that makes the headphone "industry sounding" like most of the "V" shaped sound signatures that completely recess the mids. Its enough not to make them flat and "studio monitoring" accurate but also enough to make them fun to listen to with almost any genre. Having that frequency response its obvious that they will best suit with electronic music and rock , but they are good with any genre even though electronic and rock are its strong points.


 


Comfort:


The comfort of these is a major pro , mostly cause of their light weight and their soft leather pads that make them an all day comfy listening experience. At first they will push a little on the side of your head but if you give them a little time you wont be noticing them in a few weeks. You can also stretch them to decrease some of the side pressure. In my experience I can wear them without itching or sweating for about 5 hours. Then they become noticeable but not uncomfy and annoying. 


 


Isolation:


About their sound isolation I can't say much. Its ok I guess , it cant beat my comply foam tips (not even the comfort ones) but in a house like environment sound doesn't leak in. If used outside yes you can hear background noise but if you bump the music a little bit it fades away , but that not what I like doing. I can't not recommend these for outside use (cause in public transport they cancel enough of the outside noise). Even thought they are closed back their best place is home listening with minimal background noise. A very good pro about the isolation is that sound doesn't leak out at all. I gave my dad these to have a listen and he turned the volume all the way up and I could barely listen to the music. If you listen to normal level others around you won't hear a thing.


 


Cable:





The cable is maybe their second largest flaw. Its not detachable it has cable noise if you are moving around , the volume rocker gets easily bumped and changes the volume , and the mic is not as good as it should be ( Every time when I used these on my phone for a skype call people were complaining about the sound quality and that they picked up background noise like pc fans). It also looks really fragile even thought I didn't manage to rip it of using them for 3 years but I believe that if i wasn't careful enough I would rip it off easily. Good thing about this cable is that it can be used on recessed jack cases. I had a lot of Iphone cases most of them recessed and the cable fits through just fine .


 


Accessories:


They don't have any except from a little extension cable. No carrying case or anything else like that .


 


Amped- Not Amped:


These don't need an amp in my opinion. Yes they sound better with one  (I use the Digidzoid Zo2) but I don't think they are that good of a pair that you need to spend extra money to buy amps. Amped they sound more full and alive more punchy and fast but to a very small degree so in my opinion just use your iphone as a source and you will be fine. If you are thinking about amping better consider a more serious pair of headphones.


 


Design:


Their design is not something that I personally like. Even though they are comfortable they can't fold or have any extra features like many headphones today have. I Also don't like the color xD but that's my opinion and not a major flaw. My biggest complaint with these it that they cant be used for traveling. Without having a detachable cable , carrying case or the ability to fold and save up space , and the fact that they have cable noise thats more present when moving around and traveling , they can't be used in my opinion for traveling. 


 


Conclusion:


If you are a traveler don't buy these even if the sound is for you because they will most probably break in the process . I am still happy with these after all this time and I am open to suggestions for an upgrade (For university life -style). I would also be happy if you criticize my review because it's my first one and I want to improve. 


 

i never usually write reviews, but when i do, its usually with underrated earphones/headphones, because i think they do deserve some justice.
 
just a background, i owned headphones/earphones like brainwavz, sennheisers, superluxes,  beyerdynamics, etc. Some of them on come and go fashion, buy and sell. im no heavy audiophile, but i love listening to music in all aspects of genre.
i bought it because it was on sale.
this will be a short review since headfier manveru already wrote a conprehensive review. this will be to highlight and add some.
here goes:
 
initial impressions: for its price, i say it is very beautiful. pictures dont give justice since feeling it rather than seeing gives justice to its quality. feels more expensive than its price, with premium feel and faux leather. it sounded closed out of the box, but after 100hrs burn in, god they opened up.
 
bass: one of its strong points. accurate, does not bleed, punchy, tight, and appears when needed, disappears when not. 
 
mids: average. not recessed, not forward, but is there when needed. 
 
highs: its very bright sounding, decay and attack excellent. some siblance on very high frequencies, but rarely
 
 
comparisons: 
with brainwavz hm5: blows it out of the water. the brainwavz may have been bassier, but is muddy with poor details. the philips uptown is more versatile and fun sounding with no compromise on retails.
audiotechnica ath m50: the philips uptown has more control on bass than the m50s, with more vibrant highs. but depth portrayal and soundstage the philips uptown had it. I had to say philips give better value than m50s, even in build quality.
creative aurvana live: the aurvana live gives more details no question. but bass reproduction, soundstage, and versatility, i give it to philips uptown. 
 
 
conclusion:  one of the headphones i was forced to make a review since i find it hard to understand how such headphone with excellent quality came unnoticed. 
its more or like v or u shaped, but fun and versatile. if your looking for neutral then steer away from this. but if your a music lover looking for fun versatile headphones, i highly recommend you take a second look. its philips testing the audiophile waters, and i give them credit for making the uptowns.
 
highly recommended underrated headphone.

Build quality.
 
The earcup padding is exquisite with it's soft, smooth faux leather, as well as the beautifully padded headband.  The model I bought for £49 off Amazon was the all black one without the volume control as I had demoed the silver one with the volume control and it had a channel imbalance, so I thought that the all black version would be a safe bet.  I like the understated look, the satin finish of the earcups is very nice as well as the excellent stitching of the faux leather.
 
Sound.
 
The bass is dynamic and when called for, goes deep.  Generally the bass is above neutral but does not overshadow any of the rest of the sound signature.  Mids are quite detailed with a warm sound, highs are clear and just right in amount, sparkly enough and not veiled.  I am now selling my open-back Philips HP890 due to warmer sound and more bass of the uptowns, despite the fact that the instrument separation is slightly less defined on the uptowns due to slightly narrower soundstage.  Having said that, the soundstage on the uptowns is wide enough to be like an open backed set, possibly due to the angled drivers, definitely impressive for closed-back headphones.    I have tried many headphones and none have surpassed the sound quality of the HP890s, so these uptowns have earned the right to surpass them!  My other set of headphones is the Yamaha HPH-200 and the sound of those are more detailed and sharper but more fatiguing with allot of treble and less bass extension.  Compared to my Philips SHP5401 the uptowns have more bass and less upper midrange.  I have read that the uptowns are better than the m50s and Brainwavz HM5 and in my opinion they are underrated, like many other Philips headphones.