Philips Fidelio series earphones are named after Beethoven's only opera, but this love story opera does not seem to have much to do with the characteristics of this series of earphones. The flagship headphone of this series is X2. Although it is not of the highest quality at the same price, if you like the relaxed style, you will never regret buying it.
Before discussing the sound, let's first look at the appearance design of the X2 earphone. The X2 with an open design is destined to be a earphone that can only be used to enjoy music alone indoors, which greatly reduces the practicability of X2, because X2 is not sound proof, and there is also a very obvious leakage. If the volume is slightly increased, The X2 will immediately become two super loud speakers, which is similar to a mobile phone playing music at the maximum volume.
It is commendable that the X2 is quite comfortable to wear. The ear wrap design will not cause any pressure on the auricle. The head beam with good elasticity will not have a sense of pinch, and there is no need to adjust the length of the head beam before wearing it. Anyway, it is good to wear it. Although the X2 shell uses a lot of metal materials, there is no obvious sense of encumbrance when wearing it.
The ear pads can be disassembled, which means that users can change the ear pads to adjust the sound direction according to their own preferences. However, the sound produced by the original ear pads is good enough. If there is no special need, the original ear pads should be used. However, the original suede ear pads absorb dust too much, which can easily make people feel dirty.
The unit is a 50mm diameter inclined design, and the official said that X2 uses a rubidium magnetic forehead driver.
The length of the original wire is close to 3 meters, which is quite troublesome to store, and the attached clip is better than nothing. The 3.5mm replaceable wire on both sides is a great design.
The front end of audition includes but is not limited to:
Sony PHA-3, Sony ZX1, laptop integrated sound card.
The audition tracks include but are not limited to:
Cai Qin's Ferry;
Li Ronghao's Model;
Li Keqin's Serenade at the Half Moon;
Long time no see by Eason Chan;
Miracle of Women's Twelve Music Circles;
Bertie Higgins《Casablanca》；
Michael Jackson《Beat It》；
The Eagles《New Kid in Town》；
Linkin Park《Crawling》；
Paganini《La Campanella》。
Low frequency:
The low frequency diving of X2 is good. It has enough sense of volume but not too much. It is very thick. When appreciating the works of Cai Qin and Li Ronghao, it has played an excellent contrast to the human voice, greatly increasing the feelings and thickness of the human voice. This is also very obvious when appreciating Eason Chan's voice, but the rebound speed is slow when the low frequency goes down, Although the slow low frequency will have a good atmosphere contrast effect for slow rhythm songs, it seems powerless when dealing with fast rhythm music.
intermediate frequency:
X2 The whole IF is more or less affected by the low frequency, of which the voice is the most obvious, X2 is quite targeted for the performance of vocals. The voices of those singers who are mellow themselves will be more mellow, soothing, delicate, and extremely pleasant to listen to on X2, while female voices such as Faye Wong and Liang Jingru, who are a little more ethereal, will lack flavor, and even the voices of singers like Michael Jackson are quite ordinary on X2. In addition, X2's vocal position is moderate, not particularly close to the ear, but also not far enough to be completely covered by the accompaniment, occasionally affected by low frequencies.
High frequency:
X2 The high-frequency extensibility of is good, but generally it is dark, so there will be a little illusion of insufficient extensibility. However, after increasing the thrust at the front end, the high-frequency can still be brighter, but the effect is not obvious. The dark high-frequency has no advantage when it is used to appreciate Paganini's violin music and the works of the Women's Twelve Orchestra, and the instrument lacks the sense of flexibility, But it is enough for listening to pop music.
Sound field:
X2 with an open design naturally performs well in the size of the sound field. The sound field can not touch the boundary. As for the sense of hierarchy and stereoscopy, it depends on the thrust of the front end. For example, when using ZX1 direct push, the sense of hierarchy of the sound field is not obvious enough. After being enlarged through PHA-3, the sense of hierarchy of the sound field is obvious and the sense of stereoscopy has doubled several times, The sense of sound envelopment comes up at once. It is very comfortable to have this sound field when listening to soothing music. Of course, the premise is that there should be a front end with enough thrust.
Analytical force:
The analytical power of X2 can only be regarded as qualified for its price. In terms of analytical power, X2 is inferior to the price and only has its ordinary iron triangle M50, so naturally, X2 is not only difficult to find a clean and agile feeling when appreciating musical instruments, but also difficult to restore the details of the singer's breathing when singing. The overall voice is smooth and soft, without any sharp sense, which is naturally difficult to satisfy those who like sharp voices, and for the works of the Women's Twelve Orchestra, X2 is really difficult to separate various musical instruments clearly. In addition, the music has a fast rhythm, so it will inevitably feel disorganized.
Ease of drive:
Not bad. I used to use X2 as the audio and video entertainment headset for my laptop. It's perfectly OK to watch movies and listen to music. It's also good enough to push it. Using ZX1 can also drive it OK, but the phone is hopeless. On the front end where the thrust is insufficient, The sound of X2 is very poor in extension. The high-frequency is darker, and the low-frequency diving is more ordinary. So I suggest that the front end of X2 should be at least a computer. Of course, it would be better to have an ear amplifier or a console.
When X2 is inserted into the console, the quality of X2 has been significantly improved (nonsense). Compared with the PHA-3 earphone push, there is another difference, but the overall sound direction will not change much. X2 is quite good in terms of potential.
Matching:
X2 has a distinct personality. When changing the front end of different styles, there is no obvious impact on the overall sound direction of X2. Personally, I recommend to use a neutral sound or a cold sound front end. Because the X2 sound itself is warm, it will be too divided when using a warm sound front end. In addition, the thrust must be sufficient.
Summary:
X2 is a headset with very distinctive personality. At the price above 2000, it is quite far away from the word "high quality". The overall slow rhythm setting also makes it weak in the face of fast-paced music. All qualities are only qualified after integration. How high is the cost performance ratio? I don't think so, and the open design is too limited for use scenarios.
Isn't X2 useless?
Absolutely not. X2 is a very good earphone, because X2 is qualified, and it has a distinctive tuning feature. The mellow male voice played by X2 is hard to extricate oneself, and the slow rhythm country music has a very unique and wonderful taste. The overall slow rhythm, warm and soft voice is very durable.
What's more, X2 doesn't choose the headphone at the front end. Even if there is no special high-end player or console, it is a great choice to plug it into the computer to enjoy music and watch movies at home. In particular, watching movies, the wide sound field brought by the open design and the low-frequency setting off atmosphere, whether watching art films, action films or even animation, are excellent, And it's very comfortable to wear.
advantage:
Sound thick and durable;
Wide and natural sound field;
Replaceable ear pad and wire design;
Good wearing comfort;
It is easier to drive than some products at the same price, and there is a good potential to tap on the machine.
Disadvantages:
The original ear pad has its own vacuum cleaner attribute;
Quality is not outstanding among products at the same price, and high frequency is dark;
The songs with slow rhythm and steady bass are preferred, and the performance of high-frequency instruments is general;
The original cable receiver is very weak;
There is no sound insulation capability, and sound leakage is serious.
Is it worth buying?
If you like warm, comfortable, listening and grand voice, X2 is worth buying, but if it is quality/musical instrument/female drug control, you'd better go around.
