Philips X2HR Fidelio Over Ear Headphone, Black

The X2s are one of the best headphones I’ve heard and they have directly replaced my Sennheiser HD600s. My review will be drawing comparisons between these two, well known, headphones.I’ll start by saying that the best thing about the X2s is that they don’t need an amp (please note that I use new Apple products, which are known to have better than average DACs and amps). My HD600 were power hungry, which meant they were chained to my desktop environment. With the X2s, I’ve noticed myself taking them to a couch, bed, or any comfortable environment to enjoy my music. I’ve tried plugging the X2 into my Schiit stack and did not notice a difference between plugging them in directly into my retina MacBook Pro.The build of the X2 is far superior than the Sennheiser HD600. This isn’t to say the Senns are bad, just significantly different. The X2 feel like they’re worth $300 or more. Everything is solid or plush where it needs to be. They are heavier than the HD600 but considering this isn’t a portable headphone, this shouldn’t matter too much. I was “wowed” by the build quality.In terms of comfort, I found that the X2 are slightly less comfortable than the HD600. The clamping force feels stronger on the X2 and they are less adjustable due to the strap design. I can also feel the additional heft on my head. The ear cup size is large and fully surrounds my relatively large ears. The material on the ear cups is soft yet provides adequate support against the head. Overall, I can wear the X2 for hours without discomfort, although I think the HD600 is just more comfortable.Now, let’s gets to the elephant in the room, the sound quality. The HD600 are known to be the standard in neutrality and clarity. This still stands, although the X2 are arguably just as clear in a different, warmer way. From my direct comparisons, the X2 is a higher fidelity headphone because it is incredibly source sensitive. On blind FLAC vs MP3 tests, I score 100% with the X2, whereas with the HD600s, I would attain 50% or less correct on the same tests. I believe this is due to the massive soundstage on the X2 along with the clarity and instrument separation. When there is a large soundstage, FLAC audio files have noticeable better frequency response and dynamics compared to MP3. I was shocked to hear these differences because I was a huge proponent of 320kbps AAC being indistinguishable from lossless. The soundstage on the HD600 begins to sound like a closed-back headphone after listening to the X2. The soundstage and unique sound signature of the X2 is what won me over from the HD600.The mids and treble on the HD600 is better. They are more clear. In fact, when I first listened to the X2, I thought they sounded muddy and I put them back in the box. I then decided to give them another chance and listened to them for a whole 2 weeks through many genres. I found that the strong bass response on the X2 is what makes the mids and treble sound slightly less exciting; however, after 2 weeks, I was adjusted to where I nodded my head to the bass yet heard the same clarity from the mids and highs in the X2 as I did from the HD600. Although the HD600 is still the king in vocal clarity, the X2 is a more well-rounded, pleasurable headphone. Most surprisingly, I found myself enjoying classical music (one of my favorite genres) far more on the X2. I found that the increased bass in the X2 was enough to bring out the big drums, cellos, bass strings, tubas, etc., in a very pleasure, unobtrusive manner. I think that the HD600 aren’t very good with classical music because it isn’t an accurate representation of what I’d hear at a live or studio event (note that I didn’t say that it isn’t an accurate representation of the instruments’ sound). I noticed myself becoming far more emotionally involved in the Rach’s piano concertos, Mozart’s symphonies, Liszt’s piano pieces, Chopin’s impromptus, and all other wonderful works.Okay, sure the HD600 will give you the most accurate representation of each instruments’ or vocal sound but this doesn’t mean that the music will necessarily sound more pleasing. I’m not a music producer, therefore, neutrality isn’t key for me. Like I mentioned above, I found that HD600s do not reproduce orchestral or symphonic music well because the 600’s don’t have the soundstage you would hear in a large hall at a live performance. This makes the music seem artificial in a sense whereas the X2 knocks it out of the park.The only con about the X2 sound that I noticed was sibilance in certain vocal tracks. For instance, in most Queen tracks, I pick up a good amount of sibilance, which forces me to turn the volume down a bit. The vocals are crystal clear but I can’t rock out as much with a lower volume. Perhaps, I’ll adjust to this overtime but that’s why I have other sets of closed-back headphones when I desire a different sound.Overall, this is one of the best well-rounded, biggest soundstage, high fidelity headphones that money can buy. No brainer for ~$250.

You gotta love it when you get a pleasant surprise when you buy something. I'm a rather serious audiophile and I have a nice collection of top notch headphones/earphones. For full size cans, I have a pair of HD650's, which are quite amazing. For earphones, I have JH Audio 13v2's, Westone UM Pro 50 SE's and Shure 535's. All three of these are amazing in their own ways (JH Audio's best overall of them). I bought these for one reason - I wanted to have a pair of full size headphones that were easy to drive. I didn't want to spend a whole lot - $300 was about all I wanted to put into this. The mighty Sennhesier HD650's fully deserve their stellar reputation - they are awesome. But they have a big catch - you need to be tethered to a powerful headphone amp to get the best out of them. Without proper amplication, they sound hard as soon as the volume goes up. I like full size cans over iems because they they are so much more comfortable and easy to deal with - and they don't have that "underwater" sensation you get with earphones. I have an Astell & Kern AK120ii DAP and my ideal would be a set of full size cans that had sound quality at least comparable to the HD650's but that could be driven straight out of the ak120. The ak120 alone can't drive the hd650's ( at least not very well). Based on reading a million reviews, I decided to go with the Phillips X2's. It was between the x2's and the Audio Technical MSR7's. I was hoping for parity at best with th hd650's, and frankly I didn't think I would even get that - I thought anything I chose would still be a cut or two below the hd650's. Well, I was wrong. To my astonishment, these x2's are actually better than my HD650's. And my JH13's, and my UM Pro 50, and my SE 535's. Pretty much everything - transparency, clarity, sweetness, coherency, etc. Although they dig nicely down into the deep bass (deeper than the hd650's), this is the only area where some of the others beat them. The JH13's and Westones have more bass power. But none of them can match the incredible sweetness of the x2's. They are simply incapable of sounding harsh or hard. The better the recording (especially DSD's) the more they reveal. They are the best I have ever heard on massed strings (so hard to get right). The air they put around instruments & voices is the best I have ever heard. The second I put them on (before any break in) I just went "ahhh". They just get everything right. Yes - they are quite easy to drive. But they still do benefit from amplification- they love both my Ray Samuels Predator and my Peachtree Shift.So there you have it - if you are an audiophile looking for high quality, easy to drive full size headphones, look no further. I'm pretty sure you will love these. Great job, Phillips!