Philips Fidelio L1 Pro Reviews

Want a pair of comfortable, easy-going headphones? Give these Philips Fidelio L1s a go and you won’t be disappointed

The Philips Fidelio L1 headphones' performance, build quality, and comfort place them in the top ranks of $300 full-size headphones. For the price, the Fidelio L1s far outclass most competing sets in terms of build refinement and sound, and I recommend this model to anyone looking for a boost in audio hardware.

These headphones might not have the greatest bass response in the world, but with a bit of EQ from your device, you can almost certainly boost that. We used an iPod Touch with "bass boost" turned on for most of our listening. This is because we favour a little more than flat EQ on most music. Some tracks will be better without any boost, but that's really up to you to decide. We find bass to be an issue that divides people. Some think a banging low-frequency track is the hallmark of quality. Some people think, in moderation, bass can be quite nice, and some utterly hate it being over-emphasised. Music choice plays a big part in this, so we'll let you decide how to set up your MP3 player. But it's worth knowing, these headphones do have a flat output and you do have to force them to produce low-end a little. But none of that matters, because we got them to sound magnificent with very little effort. Clarity was generally superb - although some pop tracks sounded as if they existed only in the mid-range, which is quite tedious. We adored wearing the L1s, because they are both comfortable and sound terrific. Long listening periods were no problem, and we found ourselves favouring them over speakers to listen to music. The cost is an issue, but if you want a set of headphones to last you several years, these Philips cans are likely to fit the bill.

The Philips Fidelio L1 headphones are designed for the discerning listener more than the street-walking basshunter. If you want to look down with the kids and have your head blown off with bass and nothing else, Beats by Dre are more your bag. But the L1's are about taking music from its source and delivering it to your brain in the most natural way possible. This may lead to a lack of immersion when it comes to really deep bass, but the clarity and detail on offer elsewhere in the soundscape will be enough for some to make this purchase worthwhile. Ultimately though, we expected a slightly better all-round performance from a pair of cans that cost well north of £200. And that's why we've given them 4 stars only. If you can find them for cheaper, or if a bit of bass being shaved off the bottom end is not troubling to you, these could easily be the cans you've been waiting for.