[mtinhk]

Hi...

I wonder if you've fallen into the horrible Philips trap...

Normally (and, please - no-one pull me up if I have this back to front, this is for illustration purposes!) with the jacks that plug into the headphone cups, it is tip positive, bottom negative, happy days, but - Philips, they do it differently, theirs are left cable, tip positive, bottom negative, and the right cable, middle sector positive, bottom negative - don't ask me why, but - that is how you've just described it, what I feel your problem is.

Exactly! At the time I got the OpenHeart cable, it was custom made for me. Now I see they are offering it more widely for the X3. But I thought that once the cable addressed the polarity issue, being able to play normally from any DAC, so it would be able to be coupled with any adapter as well. Is that not the case?

 

[Duncan]

I would say no, if you have to half unplug a cable to get it to work, that sounds very wrong…. Sorry if you’ve already mentioned this, to ask - does it work correctly in ANY scenario?

 

[mtinhk]

I would say no, if you have to half unplug a cable to get it to work, that sounds very wrong…. Sorry if you’ve already mentioned this, to ask - does it work correctly in ANY scenario?

The 4.4mm Open Heart cable works excellently with any DAC/Amp, so I would assume it should work with any adapter as well. It does not work with the 3.5MM TRS GU Craftsmen adapter at all (sound comes from left ear cup only). The 3.5MM TRRS Shanling adapter works in intermediate positions. It's all very weird, and my (uneducated) guess is that the GU Craftsmen adapter is not functional. They were, in fact, amazingly nice to refund me. We will know soon once I get the YY Audio adapter. Will update the thread once I have it with me.

 

[mtinhk]

The 4.4mm Open Heart cable works excellently with any DAC/Amp, so I would assume it should work with any adapter as well. It does not work with the 3.5MM TRS GU Craftsmen adapter at all (sound comes from left ear cup only). The 3.5MM TRRS Shanling adapter works in intermediate positions. It's all very weird, and my (uneducated) guess is that the GU Craftsmen adapter is not functional. They were, in fact, amazingly nice to refund me. We will know soon once I get the YY Audio adapter. Will update the thread once I have it with me.

Update (and thanks so much, folks, for the support): problem solved. It was just indeed, unfortunately, a defective adapter. New adapter by YY Audio working perfectly. A pity the GU Craftsmen did not, as it is otherwise so amazingly well built. Rare occurrence, I am sure, and they were just brilliant in after sales.

 

[Ufasas]

Quick question please.
Was thinking of getting the Philips Fidelio X3 headphones (£145), but looking at comments on this thread I am thinking the Philips Fidelio X2hr (£70) may suit my needs.
I listen to trance and also rock music, and the bass on the X2hr may suit my music tastes better.
Thoughts please.

2 More months later: i want to love x3 more, because i got them cheap, sound signature is relaxed too. But hd560s by Senn is taking over as a daily driver for me more and more, i want to use x3, x2hr and sony ma900 sometimes (like 1-2 days in a month), but just hd560s does everything i want, and taking over all those 3... I am kinda thinking, that i wasted money in buying x2hr, x3, sony ma900... even though i got all of them cheaply and those 3 becoming almost unecessary in my collection...

 

[Yaw69]

Really like the x3 for watching movies. Spacious and comfortable for long time

 

[orcus286]

The X2s & X3s are now listed as discontinued on the Philips website.

 

[trellus]

Awwww…. I liked these so much better than the X2 - those were too big for my small head, and these have a more delicate sound I like.

 

[Youcan1]

The X2s & X3s are now listed as discontinued on the Philips website.

I loved the X2 when they first came out. My first "good" pair of headphones. I would be mildly curious to hear them again all these years later now that I've gone through a bunch of other models to see how well they hold up. The X3 not so much.

 

[orcus286]

I wonder if we will ever see an X4

 

[Twizzleshnizzle]

The cable system was the big problem for me. The X2HR worked beautifully for gaming with a vmoda boom mic pro.

 

[Sitilac]

The cable system was the big problem for me. The X2HR worked beautifully for gaming with a vmoda boom mic pro.

Yeah the X2HR were my go to gaming headset because of this exact setup was disappointed the X3 didn't have this cable system.

 

[Twizzleshnizzle]

Yeah the X2HR were my go to gaming headset because of this exact setup was disappointed the X3 didn't have this cable system.

Very much the same here. I can't even stick a mod mic on them. Shame as the tuning is great for gaming.

 

[dpump]

All you have to do to fix the cable issue on the X3 is to remove the right channel driver baffle and move the positive cable from the ring connector to the tip connector. Then you can use a 'normal' cable that works with most headphones that are wired tip positive and sleeve negative. You won't be able to use the stock cables that came with the X3 unless you replace the right channel connector and wire it tip positive and sleeve negative.