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Godmachine
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2003
- Messages
- 10,472
*WALL OF TEXT INC*
So I picked these up after lots of great buzz from the community at large at the value you can get out of these. They launched at $400 I believe? (not sure) but Amazon has them for $232 right now and has gone as low as $150 during a sale.
So let me start off by saying that for what these cost they are amazingly well made. Solid metal construction with plastic kept to a minimal (a rare thing in this category) and it feels absolutely rock solid .. like it could take abuse and shrug it right off. This is something I wish all headphone manufacturers would take more seriously. I can't stand the all plastic construction and feel we so often get even when we dump hundreds of dollars into a set of cans.
So how is the sound? The meat and potatoes of this review.. well in a word? Absolutely above what you should get for only $232. I would place these almost near dead even with HiFiMan HE-400 which is a planar magnetic headphone I might add and while the HE-400 can do image separation better than anything else I still think the X1 comes close and makes up for any loss with value. The X1 is able to capture almost every range quite exquisitely and without the bulky requirements of the HE-400. It handles bass in a way VERY few open headphones can , most of them (even the legendary HD650's my personal favorites of all time) simply fail at without lots of extra help in the form EQ adjustments (which I don't think are really a solution). I'm not going to start using terminology that sounds closer to describing food than fucking headphones , I get immediately turned off from reviewing a review when I hear "texture" or "gushing" as catch phrases from anyone that reviews cans. To put it in a clear set of words .. these headphones work and work really damn well.
The biggest benefit versus HD650 and the HE-400 I believe is that the X1 doesn't require monster amplification like those two do to really shine. In fact you can plug them right into an iPhone/iPad/whatever and get very much the same sound as a nice amped source. Of course I plugged them into everything I had , my Schiit M&M stack , my Schiit Asgard 2 , my Audioengine D1 and my Fiio E17. My Audioengine seemed to jive the best with them overall. But again no amplification required. The fact that these X1's can sound as impressive as HD650's and HE-400's without an amping source AND that they are cheaper than either of those is absolutely an achievement for the Philips team truly. That means portability without carrying hundreds of dollars of extra equipment that can get broken/lost/stolen. But there are some downsides...
The ear pads are not replaceable .. yea I know it sucks. You have to send them in to get replaced , however I think the community will figure out a mod that will deal with this. The pads are velour and everything on this Earth seems magnetized to them. These cans are not for those that don't often take care of their headphones , you will be regularly cleaning these to keep the pads in good condition for a long time to come. The other downside is that these are snug NOT uncomfortable .. these are more comfortable than the HD650's and the HE-400's which is really saying something. But the design is similar to the AKG 701 series with a very "fit" posture on your dome. I love this and find it very comforting. However if you have an oddly shaped head or are very sensitive to clamping "force" as its called you may want to demo these first.
They are of course open headphones but they seem to leak out sound even more than then usual open headphones do. So anyone trying to listen to music without pissing off a loved one will need to look else where.
Otherwise these are probably my personal favorite right now for many reasons. If you are a gamer these are PERFECT for use on a PC or with the PS4 controller or Xbox One controller (with the proper attachment) and they are nice and loud if you want them to be so. Hell I even hooked them up to my 3DS and they sounded just great and frankly everything but ear buds sounds way to quiet on the 3DS , I was impressed. They run very happily on almost anything which for headphones that rival much more demanding types is just an engineering feat in this price range.
The bad news though? Philips says this is it for their audiophile grade headphone line. So if you are expecting long term support that'll probably be an issue. And no more revisions to improve upon this one (which sucks). However this shouldn't deter you as the community always figures out a way to mod and improve upon almost everything.But they are built so well I HIGHLY doubt a design flaw will rear its head.
For PC gaming these are just incredible. You can even buy the V-Moda 3.5mm cable with an embedded inline microphone and use it as a complete solution for PC gaming. The soundstage on these cans is only rivaled by maybe two other headphones I can think of near this price range but not enough to truly effect your capability online.
I'm giving these a 8.5/10. Just amazing for the price. If you are in the market for some new headphones and don't mind the price , pick them up with a V-Moda 3.5mm cable with an inline mic and you'll be golden even running off onboard audio.
So I picked these up after lots of great buzz from the community at large at the value you can get out of these. They launched at $400 I believe? (not sure) but Amazon has them for $232 right now and has gone as low as $150 during a sale.
So let me start off by saying that for what these cost they are amazingly well made. Solid metal construction with plastic kept to a minimal (a rare thing in this category) and it feels absolutely rock solid .. like it could take abuse and shrug it right off. This is something I wish all headphone manufacturers would take more seriously. I can't stand the all plastic construction and feel we so often get even when we dump hundreds of dollars into a set of cans.
So how is the sound? The meat and potatoes of this review.. well in a word? Absolutely above what you should get for only $232. I would place these almost near dead even with HiFiMan HE-400 which is a planar magnetic headphone I might add and while the HE-400 can do image separation better than anything else I still think the X1 comes close and makes up for any loss with value. The X1 is able to capture almost every range quite exquisitely and without the bulky requirements of the HE-400. It handles bass in a way VERY few open headphones can , most of them (even the legendary HD650's my personal favorites of all time) simply fail at without lots of extra help in the form EQ adjustments (which I don't think are really a solution). I'm not going to start using terminology that sounds closer to describing food than fucking headphones , I get immediately turned off from reviewing a review when I hear "texture" or "gushing" as catch phrases from anyone that reviews cans. To put it in a clear set of words .. these headphones work and work really damn well.
The biggest benefit versus HD650 and the HE-400 I believe is that the X1 doesn't require monster amplification like those two do to really shine. In fact you can plug them right into an iPhone/iPad/whatever and get very much the same sound as a nice amped source. Of course I plugged them into everything I had , my Schiit M&M stack , my Schiit Asgard 2 , my Audioengine D1 and my Fiio E17. My Audioengine seemed to jive the best with them overall. But again no amplification required. The fact that these X1's can sound as impressive as HD650's and HE-400's without an amping source AND that they are cheaper than either of those is absolutely an achievement for the Philips team truly. That means portability without carrying hundreds of dollars of extra equipment that can get broken/lost/stolen. But there are some downsides...
The ear pads are not replaceable .. yea I know it sucks. You have to send them in to get replaced , however I think the community will figure out a mod that will deal with this. The pads are velour and everything on this Earth seems magnetized to them. These cans are not for those that don't often take care of their headphones , you will be regularly cleaning these to keep the pads in good condition for a long time to come. The other downside is that these are snug NOT uncomfortable .. these are more comfortable than the HD650's and the HE-400's which is really saying something. But the design is similar to the AKG 701 series with a very "fit" posture on your dome. I love this and find it very comforting. However if you have an oddly shaped head or are very sensitive to clamping "force" as its called you may want to demo these first.
They are of course open headphones but they seem to leak out sound even more than then usual open headphones do. So anyone trying to listen to music without pissing off a loved one will need to look else where.
Otherwise these are probably my personal favorite right now for many reasons. If you are a gamer these are PERFECT for use on a PC or with the PS4 controller or Xbox One controller (with the proper attachment) and they are nice and loud if you want them to be so. Hell I even hooked them up to my 3DS and they sounded just great and frankly everything but ear buds sounds way to quiet on the 3DS , I was impressed. They run very happily on almost anything which for headphones that rival much more demanding types is just an engineering feat in this price range.
The bad news though? Philips says this is it for their audiophile grade headphone line. So if you are expecting long term support that'll probably be an issue. And no more revisions to improve upon this one (which sucks). However this shouldn't deter you as the community always figures out a way to mod and improve upon almost everything.But they are built so well I HIGHLY doubt a design flaw will rear its head.
For PC gaming these are just incredible. You can even buy the V-Moda 3.5mm cable with an embedded inline microphone and use it as a complete solution for PC gaming. The soundstage on these cans is only rivaled by maybe two other headphones I can think of near this price range but not enough to truly effect your capability online.
I'm giving these a 8.5/10. Just amazing for the price. If you are in the market for some new headphones and don't mind the price , pick them up with a V-Moda 3.5mm cable with an inline mic and you'll be golden even running off onboard audio.