Note; Limited stock remaining.
Price drop alert for high-end Phillips headphones. Features:
High resolution audio
Over-ear
Deluxe memory foam cushions
Pretty cheap price as per CamelCamelCamel.
Note: this are older Fidelios and shouldn't be confused with the newer 'HR' ones which cost a little more and have enhanced earcups See reddit post which explains differences.
CamelCamelCamel 
Keepa.
They're very different bits of kit. The Sonys are closed portable headphones, so they'll block sound coming in/out while you're using them. The Philips are open, they don't block anything but the soundstage is much better. Sound quality on both is meant to be good, I haven't heard the Sonys but I've got the Philips at home and I love them.
If you want them purely for home use I'd say get the Philips, otherwise the Sonys will be a lot more versatile.
Well i'll see how my Sony MDR-1A sounds when it arrives. Amazon France recently had a huge sale on it.
Please update price as £129.99. Then I will remove my duplicated post.
No. VAT is removed in the checkout reducing it to £122.99 delivered. This is the price in the checkout. Price in this thread title is correct.
Order Summary
Items: GBP 108.33
Postage & Packing: GBP 14.66
Total before VAT: GBP 122.99
VAT: GBP 0.00
Order Total: GBP 122.99
VAT gets removed at checkout. Too slow, see per Holly's comment above.
Lol, first post on Ozbargain is a dupe, has incorrect price anyway, then tells a mod to "update" the (already correct) price in the mods post.
1st of all this is my second post. Secondly he only beat me by 20 minutes. I knew this deal in the morning already but was kept by work. Not racing with anyone.
@eco2: All good mate, not having a go at you, just thought it was slightly humorous that you were incorrectly trying to correct a mod with 500+ posts. Appreciate you taking the time to post something.
The OP's price of £122.99 is right - you have to deduct VAT and add postage to arrive at this final price.
FYI, the X2HR can be had for A$255.20 using "PRESENT" - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/324135
I think the only difference between the X2 and X2HR is a slight change in the earcup design.
Good on you for posting a deal, better luck next time!
Thank you.
Be quick - showing as only 4 in stock.
Aja I got my headphones a while back, from the deal you posted.
Pretty happy! The sound stage is so wide, I find the most pleasure in hearing distinct details in songs I have never heard before.
Originally I felt a bit disappointed with the bass and vibrancy (maybe I am easily pleased bass-head), but I think my taste is slowly adapting.
The annoying thing about these headphones is probably the creaking when walking with them.
By the way. Amazon claims that there's only 4 units left in stock now. Be quick!.
I posted this one a little too late, HUKD had it up for a few hours already.
OK. That's the final price.
And what other price would it be?
haha it's gone back to 5 units in stock. Some one must have just cancelled their order. Who would cancel at this price?.
Amazon must have just added more stock, because it's gone back to In Stock status.
Hey hangon it's gone down to just 2 in stock. These must be selling fast. It's about to be sold out!.
Edit: hey this is funny, it keeps going to about to be sold out back to In Stock status again. What is Amazon playing at.
It's strange. It's showing as In Stock on the product page. But when you click on the list of sellers it's showing this. Saying it's back-ordered?. I think the In Stock status on the product page is inaccurate.
£129.99 Amazon Prime TM
& Eligible for FREE UK Delivery. Details
New
Amazon.co.uk
Back-ordered. Due in stock August 26 — order now to reserve yours Want delivery by Thursday, 31 August? Order it in the next 5 hours and 25 minutes, and choose Priority Express at checkout. See details
Nominated Day Delivery available.
Delivery rates and return policy.
What the hell people!? I need a new laptop and you just made me buy a new pair of headphones!!
Note: this are older Fidelios and shouldn't be confused with the newer 'HR' ones which cost a little more and have enhanced earcups
What does the HR stand for exactly?
A bit misleading that this model which is not HR, is being called X2 Hi-Res don't you think?
The writing says High Definition not Resolution btw.
The writing says High Definition not Resolution btw.
Look again.
The one on the left (X2) says Hi Def, the one on the right (X2HR) says Hi Res.
In either case, it's just marketing buzzwords. Only one has it in the model number, but they are both marketed as "Hi Res Audio", which is basically meaningless (in terms of a headphone). Ignore.
(To be clear, I am not commenting on whether or not Ho Res Audio, as a format is legit or not - that is an argument I do not care for. Just saying that the "Hi Res Audio stamp of approval" on a headphone, as opposed to playback of Hi Res Audio formats, is pretty much marketing BS.)
@caprimulgus: Ah my bad. The pic was so zoomed in, I only saw one driver and thought that was the one he was pointing to.
I always thought resolution applied to video, not sound. No idea what high resolution sound even means.
@lostn: tldr; It's irrelevant for these headphones (because they're analogue), and it's debatable wether we can even hear the difference. You certainly wouldn't hear it on a $200 set of cans like this. As caprimulgus said above, it's just marketing buzz.
Actual explanation:
When sound is stored in digital formats, like on a CD, it is sampled at a certain frequency. For CD's, it's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/44,100_Hz
This looks like a square waveform (random graph I found on gogole images: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/4423/146550028611482/160…)
In the graph above, the red lines are what is stored in a digital music file. The Digital-to-Analogue-Converter (DAC) averages this out into an analogue signal (the grey line), which is what gets sent to your headphones / ears. As you can see in that graph, this is not 100% accurate.
More recently, the music industry has been trying to push "High Resolution" audio (files and equipment), which are sampled at of 96 kHz and 192 kHz. The idea is that what you hear will be a more accurate representation of what was recorded.
Whether there is any benefit is relevant for the headphones, because they are connected via the 3.5mm jack, which outputs an analogue signal. The only time this would be relevant for headphones, would be if they were performing the digital to analogue conversion (lightning cable headphones for iphones, bluetooth headphones, etc).
The thing is, this is irellevant, because these headphones are analogue (what comes out of your 3.5mm jack is an analogue signal.
@idonotknowwhy: Are there any digital headphones yet? Are Apple's new Lightning Earpods digital, or is there some analog conversion being done along the way?
@lostn: There will always be an analog conversion at some point, because our ears are analog.
Bluetooth headphones perform this dac themselves, which means they need to support high res audio in order to produce this.
Lightning port or usb-c, same deal.
The HR model also uses the same drivers apparently; should be acoustically the same.
They have improved/more comfy ear pads and headband.
So the resolution is the same then?
Yep. Resolution is irrelevant for an analogue signal :)
Great price! Not the cheapest ever for this line of headphones (X1 was ~$180 during the $150USD lightning sale when I got mine, which was a crazy good deal, and the X2 has been $192 delivered before), but close enough, and a great price nonetheless! It's usually more than $200 when it's on sale, so this is a solid price.
And an awesome headphone for the price too! Great bass for an open headphone, and great for gaming too. Haven't heard the X2 myself, but it's meant to be an improvement over the X1, which was a great headphone in the first place (I am a basshead, and would probably actually prefer the boomier bass of the X1 over the X2, but for most people the X2 would be better).
As noted, the X2HR is a minor upgrade in pads/headband only, and should sound pretty much the same, so I would save the $55 bucks and grab this for sure!
I am a basshead as well. How much more bass is in the X1 versus the X2?
The mids and treble on the X1 sounds alright?
Have a read:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/boss-philips-fidelio-x…
http://www.headfonia.com/philips-fidelio-x2-evolution-sound/…
However, this following review contradicts everything else I've read/remember about X1 vs X2 bass:
http://headphoneaddict.com/fidelio-x1-vs-x2-review/
I would put more trust in Tyll and Headphonia personally, especially since it seems generally unanimous that X2 is tuned more neutral than the X1…but make of that what you will.
To be honest, I think you won't go far wrong with either one. I'm comfortable sticking with the X1, being less neutral, but if I was buying again, I'd probably just get whichever is cheaper. In the scheme of things, they're probably more similar than they are different.
Also, I have no problem with the mids and treble. Tyll complained about "gritty" treble, but I have never noticed anything myself, YMMV:
https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/big-bottom-and-lively-…
I've had these headphones for about a year and a half now. Fantastic headphones, definitely an absolute steal at this price. Sound signature is quite V shaped with good soundstage, decent instrument separation and good bass impact and extension. Definitely recommend for music if you're into any kind of electronic or dance music, and they do well for pop and rock/pop rock kind of music as well. Probably not the greatest for metal (I don't listen to it, but I'd imagine you want something slightly more mid focused for that).
Fantastic for gaming as well, the expansive soundstage really helps pinpoint sounds in first person games, and the sound signature with its large amount of bass and highs helps to make footsteps and gunshots and the like easy to detect. Overall really immersive and accurate for gaming.
They also don't need any form of external amplification, they can run easily off a phone or your on-board motherboard sound output.
Overall a great pair of headphones that I'd recommend to anyone.
How comfortable are they after 5 hours? Because these are like 380g or so, which is on the heavy side.
I'm also not a fan of V shaped sound. I prefer close to neutral but slightly bright.
I've worn these for a 9 hour flight… very comfortable (the ear cushions are a soft yet firm). The headband is top notch as it is a soft padded floating band that rests on your head. You will feel the weight initially, but should quickly get accustomed to it (atleast in my case that's what happened).
These are bright, but not harsh to the point of sibilance. They have a very tight bass response IMHO, but not very voluminous.
I agree with gearhead - the suspension headband is brilliant. And the ear pads are very cushioned, making it a very comfortable headphone. They're definitely a bit bright, but not sibilant, but I wouldn't call them neutral by any definition.
I've got the X2 from Amazon Spain (they shipped from Amazon's UK warehouse) and they have the exact same cushions and headband as my friend's X2HR. I got them from this offer (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/323080).
I think you must have got one from an early batch which still had the better earpads. Good score for you.
Is this any better than the Sony MDR-1A headphone which recently went on sale for $149.20 delivered?.