When it comes to headphones, there are quite a few makes out there. While some of them go for looks, other go for comfort, while others stand out purely on the basis of their sound quality. Many names exist, and Philips has a long history of creating sound equipment. While we have already featured the Philips Fidelio M1 , we were really pleased when Philips sent us one to try out.
What is it?
A headset that works with your phone, with a built in microphone, allowing you to take calls, but most of all, provides a great sound quality and comfort.
The looks and feel:
Philips have worked very hard on giving this the best possible looks, and they have not done a bad job at all. These headphones look gorgeous from every angle. The headphones are covered with genuine lamb skin leather, high class aluminium and stainless steel, making it not just beautiful, but also lovely to touch as well as extremely light.
The earphones are on ear rather than over or in. While this may seem like a bad idea, and give you ear ache, the headphones are very comfortable. I wore them for a few hours, and I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable they were. This comes as a result of memory foam cushions that have been specially designed for this purpose.
The split cable:
The headphones feature a split cable, meaning that you can either use the original cable, or use something else that you may have wired already.
The noise cancelling effect:
While these do not provide active noise cancelling, the on ear fit is so perfect that it actually provides passive noise cancelling. Once again, this is due to the memory foam cushions, which adjust themselves according to whoever is wearing them.
The sound quality:
Testing these headphones was quite a pleasure. Not just because these look and feel great, but just as they look good, the sound quality is great as well. We tried a bit of Florence and the Machine, and a bit of Metallica. Florence provides us a vast variety of notes, while Metallica is good for trying out for bass.
The sound was found to be quite good. The high notes from Florence were quite perfect, and the noise cancelling surround sound performance given by the headphones.
The bass was once again very impressive, but we found a lack of that ‘thump’ that you want from low notes. Having said that, it is only noticeable if you are only listening to this kind of music, and are bit of an audiophile.
Call quality:
The headphones are so good that you almost forget that you can use them to take calls as well. It is as simple as most headphones. You press the button to take a call, and double press to redial your last call. As expected, the call was perfect, and both the speakers as well as microphone work well. The only observation I would make is that the noise cancelling effect may end up you forgetting everything else going around you, which may or may not be a good thing.
Price:
This is the only thing where these may fall short in the big picture. These cost £160, and while the look, feel, luxury and comfort point towards it, the fact that the bass falls slightly short may mean that it might feel a bit pricey.
Verdict:
While a bit pricey, these give you a great feel, are very light, extremely comfortable, and work great. If you’re in the market for something that looks and feels good, is very light weight, and gives you good sound, these are definitely the ones to go for.
1 thought on “Review: Philips Fidelio M1 Headphones”