Philips Fidelio X3

INTRO

The problem with business trips is that when you leave with audio review backlogs, you return home with more. I arrived from a 5-day work-related road trip to find the Philips Fidelio X3 (list price: $349) already waiting for me at home. I ordered this on April 19 via Amazon, and it arrived on April 23. Man, that was fast! And they were at 60% off, btw. Thanks to “El Patron” for giving a heads-up on this fantastic deal!! You are a godsend, Sir.

Before I start, please mind the confirmation bias, as this is a personal purchase. As far as humanly possible, I shall avoid the pitfalls of natural bias. I am not connected with Philips; all content, opinions, conjectures, and errors herein are my own.

Out of the Box









Unboxing was a delight, albeit straightforward. The headphones look premium and well-built. It feels sturdy, and the Muirhead leather headband is something to behold (and get a whiff of). For the Scottish craftsmanship, I’d say that the headphones are well worth the price. The leather headbands indeed passed the “smell test.” They smell like genuine, high quality, and soft leather expertly crafted and built into one superb “Alice band,” as the Scots would call it. With the stylish and durable Kvadrat speaker fabric, suited up in a sexy black and grey colorway, you’ve got one of the best-looking headphones I’ve seen. A combination of excellent Scottish and Danish materials and design. As a side note, I was fortunate to visit Scotland, and they have amazing craftsmen there. I purchased some quality Amy Britton Harris Tweed accessories years ago, and they hardly look worse for wear now. I’m expecting the headband of the X3 to age well and withstand wear and tear.







Sound Impressions

Listening was at a relatively high 83 dB for my go-to initial test track: Hotel California at 24 bit 192 kHz on the Aune Flamingo amp/DAC on op amp mode (and then later, tube mode) using the stock cable. Here are a few quick takes on the X3:

• The sound signature is a little bright, brighter than most of my headphones. I suspect it shares a slightly similar replay as the Sennheiser HD880 (I’ll A/B test them to confirm). But with that amount of brightness, somewhat aggressive treble, and high frequencies come very welcome clarity and detail—treble-heads will like this set of cans.
• The bass presentation is good, just enough oomph for me, but it might prove lacking for some, particularly bass-heads.
• The soundstage is satisfyingly wide, not the widest among my headphones. Still, I suspect it’s wide enough to enjoy live tracks, classical music in concert hall settings, instrumentals, and musical scores. I think I’ll enjoy Metallica’s entire S&M album on these.
• The mids are a bit recessed or pushed a little further back. Hence some vocals may seem a bit thin to some ears. It sounded a tad anemic to mine on a few tracks. However, the overall sound replay improved a lot when I used tube mode on the Aune Flamingo. Some of the treble were rounded off, and bass replay became more satisfyingly substantial, not necessarily more powerful, but with more presence. The mids for me are now ok, very nice actually, particularly on instrumentals.
• One stand out is the audio panning and positioning on certain tracks with left to right or vice versa sound replay. I think gamers might like this Fidelio X3 skillset. This also translates to a good reproduction of the live track The Foxey Lady by Joe Satriani, Steve Vai & John Petrucci. Their dueling trio of electric guitars sounded surprisingly good despite the treble-forward tendencies of the X3—that tube amp mode really helped a lot.

OUTRO





I look forward to trying this pair with other sources to discover hidden synergies and compare them with my headphones at or near their price bracket. But this has to wait as I have to finish my mini-reviews of the Hiby R6Pro2 DAP and Crystal6 IEM. For now, this beauty will remain on a dedicated stand to brighten up my home office.

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