[ozyx]

I've decided to buy either the X1 or the X2 but I am not sure which and when.
 
As was mentioned earlier Amazon.it has the X1 for €183 and the X2 for €229 (not in stock)
 
Should I wait for the X2 to become more available to read more reviews of it and hope that at that point the X1 and/or X2 will be cheaper?
 
Or should I buy the X1 now, €183 seems like a good price and it seems that the X2 will replace the X1, so it is likely that the X1 will stop being available soon.
 
Or maybe I should order the X2 now, locking that €229 price? I am thinking that they might jump back to €299 once they are in stock. Then again if the X2 are just "tweaked X1", then soon they should be available at X1 prices.
 
If the X2 doesn't have any issues and it sounds at least as good as the X1, then it seems that those extra €43 might worth it, as you get a better cable, replaceable earcups and apparently better fit for bigger heads. But the reviews of the X2 are extremely limited right now so would I be taking a risk ordering them now?

 

[waynes world]

I've decided to buy either the X1 or the X2 but I am not sure which and when.

As was mentioned earlier Amazon.it has the X1 for €183 and the X2 for €229 (not in stock)

Should I wait for the X2 to become more available to read more reviews of it and hope that at that point the X1 and/or X2 will be cheaper?

Or should I buy the X1 now, €183 seems like a good price and it seems that the X2 will replace the X1, so it is likely that the X1 will stop being available soon.

Or maybe I should order the X2 now, locking that €229 price? I am thinking that they might jump back to €299 once they are in stock. Then again if the X2 are just "tweaked X1", then soon they should be available at X1 prices.

If the X2 doesn't have any issues and it sounds at least as good as the X1, then it seems that those extra €43 might worth it, as you get a better cable, replaceable earcups and apparently better fit for bigger heads. But the reviews of the X2 are extremely limited right now so would I be taking a risk ordering them now?

You know, I'd like to be helpful. But you have the defined the current state of the conundrum about as well as it can be defined lol! Unless the X2's are a significant upgrade SQ-wise (which so far, it doesn't appear that they are), then I think you would be good going for either one at their current prices.

 

[SunshineReggae]

Yes, waiting one more month will most likely buy you a much better decision. We will simply know what exactly are the improvements and if that is worth some money. So rushing now is the foolish thing to do.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

  I've decided to buy either the X1 or the X2 but I am not sure which and when.
 
As was mentioned earlier Amazon.it has the X1 for €183 and the X2 for €229 (not in stock)
 
Should I wait for the X2 to become more available to read more reviews of it and hope that at that point the X1 and/or X2 will be cheaper?
 
Or should I buy the X1 now, €183 seems like a good price and it seems that the X2 will replace the X1, so it is likely that the X1 will stop being available soon.
 
Or maybe I should order the X2 now, locking that €229 price? I am thinking that they might jump back to €299 once they are in stock. Then again if the X2 are just "tweaked X1", then soon they should be available at X1 prices.
 
If the X2 doesn't have any issues and it sounds at least as good as the X1, then it seems that those extra €43 might worth it, as you get a better cable, replaceable earcups and apparently better fit for bigger heads. But the reviews of the X2 are extremely limited right now so would I be taking a risk ordering them now?

 
TBH if literally all they did was make the pads replaceable, give a better cable, fix the headband, and secure the jack, then that small price bump is kinda worth it. Those are all significant issues. 

 

[Jimmy80]

   
You say that like the X1 is this insanely bass-heavy headphone, but remember on an actual scale, the X1 isn't even a basshead headphone. It's bassy, yes, but not basshead. 
 
People on here really start to lose perspective on what "massive bass" is because they get used to more neutral gear so they hear something like the X1 with its gentle tilt and go "OMG THIS BASS IS RIDICULOUS". 
 
The X1 is only considered very bassy FOR AN OPEN BACK. You stack this thing up against even cheap bassy headphones like the Sony X10 and it's not even close. It's a significantly better headphone, but it's not nearly as bass heavy. So when you say "compared to the X1 maybe" it just shows how far away from the notion of bass-heavy your reference points are. The DT880 is a VERY bass-light can. I'm a former DT770 owner, a Beyer product people say "bassheads will love", and I did not. It was incredibly disappointing as a bass lover. So keep that in mind when you start saying the L2 is in any way, shape, or form "bass heavy".
 
What did you test the L2 against? Did you test it against any genuinely bass-heavy headphones? The M100? Sennheiser Momentum? Monster DNA? Beats? Perfect Sound Dido? Denon? Fostex? 

 
 
X1 is vary bass heavy if you compare it with other open back headphones. I would absolutly recommend X1 to someone that want a open bass headphone.
 
In a closed back (or semi closed as the L2) with isolated pads(like leather or pleader) you will in most cases feel the bass a lot more, this does however not mean that the headphone has more bass then a open headphone.
 
If I listen to a couple of songs where the bass is rather low in headphone A (example DT880) then put on headphone B (example L2) and hear a lot of bass that never was there in headphone A, then the headphone B would be graded a bass heavy headphone to me. This is exacly the case whith the the L2 and X1. And now when thinking about it, the L2 may have hade more inpacted bass then the X1 but I did never do a side by side test between them.
 
All bass heavy headphones I have listen to so far is losing a lot of detail to the sound, I suspect that there is only one element in most headphone and that the bass simple vibrates that much that the more detailed sounds get lost. But Im a noob at headphones so there might be other explainations.
 
As i already stated, these was the headphones I tested side by side : Beyerdynamic DT880, Beyerdynamic DT990, Sennheiser Momentum and Sennheiser HD598. I did also test the Philips X1 with the same hardware but it was only side by side with the Sennheiser HD598 and Beyerdynamic DT990.

 

[ozyx]

   
TBH if literally all they did was make the pads replaceable, give a better cable, fix the headband, and secure the jack, then that small price bump is kinda worth it. Those are all significant issues. 

 
I agree but can we be sure that they will sound at least as good as the X1? If I was certain that they can not be worst than the X1 then I would have ordered them now. But there are 50 grams "missing" for no obvious reason.
 
By the way, is the headband of the X2 genuine leather? The X1 mentions "Genuine calf leather" while nothing is mentioned about leather for the X2. Maybe that is where those 50g went? Or maybe something that was metal on the X1 is plastic on the X2?
 
http://download.p4c.philips.com/files/x/x1_00/x1_00_pss_engsg.pdf
http://download.p4c.philips.com/files/x/x2_00/x2_00_pss_.pdf

 

[CoiL]

exagerations... 
 
IMHO, X1 is NO WAY very bass heavy. Even among open backs it`s not very bass heavy. Yes it is bassy but in a good way. Lot of too neutral analytical headphones out there imo that doesn`t give You "real" bass. Get better low impedance cable and good matching amp/dac for X1/X2 and it actually becomes pretty balanced HP with only tinybit bass extension. 
For what it matters, I hate basshead/bassy cans and I do not even consider X1 being one of them. With stock high-impedance cable and no amping - I agree, its bass department is littlebit loose and overall sound slightly too warm and "muddy" because of it. And guys, look at X1 measurements made by Tyll - if it is basshead / very bass heavy can in Your opinion, then You must be leaned to brighter/too neutral sounding cans by personal taste. All this is only my subjective opinion of course. 

 

[dailysmoker]

Ymmv

Bass light may be an exaggeration



If so massive bass is even more so. The L2 will never be recommended in the basshead thread without tons of scoffing. The x1 barely holds up there. The dt880 is considered a basslight hp. The x2 may have variations just like the x1 where ppl have reported to have two pairs sounding different. Also this may be the case with the l2

 


Yeah i heard them for a good day and they do have a good amount of bass,but not as deep and low as the X1's.....

 

[Jimmy80]

  exagerations... 
 
IMHO, X1 is NO WAY very bass heavy. Even among open backs it`s not very bass heavy. Yes it is bassy but in a good way. Lot of too neutral analytical headphones out there imo that doesn`t give You "real" bass. Get better low impedance cable and good matching amp/dac for X1/X2 and it actually becomes pretty balanced HP with only tinybit bass extension. 
For what it matters, I hate basshead/bassy cans and I do not even consider X1 being one of them. With stock high-impedance cable and no amping - I agree, its bass department is littlebit loose and overall sound slightly too warm and "muddy" because of it. And guys, look at X1 measurements made by Tyll - if it is basshead / very bass heavy can in Your opinion, then You must be leaned to brighter/too neutral sounding cans by personal taste. All this is only my subjective opinion of course. 

 
Okay, Im noob so you probably right, but yet again of all the headphones I tested side by side the X1(compared to the other openback) and L2 hade with out a doubt the most bass. I tested with what I would grade as regular hardware, if this is not enouth then the headphone would not be for me any way.
 
After about a month of looking for a new headphone set I most say that the measurments says vary litte about the real sound. I supose there is other things that builds the sound characteristics, like pad isolations and so on.
 
I do like high detailed headphones and this would probably mean bright/natural sounds, BUT I do want some bass to come with that, the DT880 is a bit so less for my tast, the DT990 is a lot better but the hights is just to high. So far it feels like more bass means less detail and when I have to choose I choose more detail over bass, the hard part is to find the right balance for me.
 
Anyway, Im really suprised that the X1 is so popular, to us it just sounded to muffled like there was to much fabric stoping the clearness in the headphone. But, yet again, I come from more brighter headphones so the lose of detail may be more pronounced to me.

 

[CoiL]

No, your`re not noob, just try not to exaggerate about bass and consider other nuances also It might give false impression to ppl who may want to buy X1/X2.
But then again, of course this is Your opinion and output based on Your experience and that`s also useful to many. 
 
Btw, what did You use as AMP/DAC when listening to X1 / L2 ? X1 do benefit with good matching DAC/AMP imo, and of course, better cable recommended.
So far, based on my own experience, baycode review/opinion and headphonia X1 review - seems like X1/X2 sound best with tube amplifier, tube buffered dac or "tubey" sounding SS.
I really love how my X1 sounds with Aune T1 (Siemens E88CC + ELNA SilmicII`s @ +10dB gain) and DX50 is only little behind it (SU 1.3.3 @ mid gain).

 

[SomeGuyDude]

No spare pads makes no sense, because why would they make them removable? 

 

[Jimmy80]

   
My info comes from the PH guys...

 
 

  No spare pads makes no sense, because why would they make them removable? 

 
I am talking about the L2 but probably the X1 as well. We already knows that the X2 has replacable pads and there should be replacable to buy as well.

 

[cheeno50]

When will they be out in north american and how can I get them in Canada?

 

[Jakkal]

  When will they be out in north american and how can I get them in Canada?

The Philips representative told me that they will be most likely not available in US for now. They have some issues with the distribution in US.
But of course you can always buy from Amazon. 

 

[ozyx]

  Yes, waiting one more month will most likely buy you a much better decision. We will simply know what exactly are the improvements and if that is worth some money. So rushing now is the foolish thing to do.

Well, the price is back to €299 at Amazon.it
 
Lets see if and when we will see a €229 or better price again!
 
The price of the x1 went up also. €199 is the best deal now.