After a lull in the personal audio segment, the Philips brand has released new wireless headphones
FerraPhilips Fidelio L3 Rating
Table of contents
- Design
- Control
- Materials (edit)
- Sound
- Noise suppression
- Autonomy
- application
- Competitors
Recently noticed a crack in the rim attachment andcups at their headphones - and thought about the need to replace. Philips' offer to try their Fidelio L3 came in handy. Firstly, I was able to test an interesting novelty, and secondly, I decided on my new headphones. In terms of the overall impression of the exterior, sound quality and user experience, this model is almost perfect. I tell you how they were able to impress me.
Design
Philips Fidelio L3 - Full Size Overheadheadphones with rather rare round, not oval-shaped cups in this class. The headband is attached to the outside of the earpiece. Usually I consider this a red flag in terms of design (it looks like a rocker on the head or you start to resemble a Cheburashka), however, the brand's designers managed to find the optimal form of connecting the parts of the headphones so that they do not look bulky. As a result, for my personal taste, their shape and size are close to ideal.
The Fidelio L3 looks low-key, but not boring.Different materials and textures (and this is the relief of leather and suede, the shine of anodized aluminum and matte plastic) make the appearance of the headphones moderately complex and interesting. There is no doubt that the design is "expensive" here. The model is perfect for men and women, and it will also look appropriate with any clothes. Fidelio L3 will fit into a classic business suit, a casual outfit and even a sophisticated cut of avant-garde Asian fashion designers. Unless they may look strange with purely sportswear, but hardly anyone will take on these headphones to prepare for a marathon.
The only drawback is that the design is not folding.However, with fewer mobile connections, the earbuds promise a longer life cycle. It should be borne in mind that only the cups rotate, so the Fidelio L3 will take up quite a lot of space in a backpack or bag.
Control
After smartphones on early Android and laterWindows Mobile has gotten sick of the awkward (and sometimes useless) buttons on gadgets. iPhone showed that you can live fine without unnecessary controls - and launched touch fever. The lack of physical keys and switches in technology began to be associated with manufacturability and premium, but in some cases it plays a cruel joke with ergonomics.
For example, if you find on the headphone casea scattering of buttons, in terms of aesthetics, they will go to the minor league. Approximately where the Chinese nouns are now sitting for a couple of thousand rubles. And if you go on about the beautiful design and make full touch control for the on-ear headphones, it will be a disaster in terms of ergonomics. No kidding, there are models where the sensors cannot be turned off, and a single touch of the cup is assigned to play / pause. As a result, the music randomly turns on and off every time the collar of the jacket touches the earphone or when you turn your head when the earbuds are hanging around your neck. Absolutely cursed.
Philips designers and engineers went for the onlya possible compromise so that the headphones do not look outdated, but at the same time they would not want to be thrown out due to false alarms of the sensor. There are only three physical buttons on the body (power on on the left earpiece, bluetooth and an assistant on the right), and sensors on the surface of the right cup are provided to control the volume and switch tracks. A metal ring that connects the headphones and the headband partially saves from accidental touches. And if all the same it does not help - the sensitive panel is completely disabled through the application. It would seem an elementary solution. But not everyone has such an opportunity.
Materials (edit)
I think Fidelio L3 is one of the most premium, andat the same time practical and durable earbuds. The headband is made of metal, adjacent to the cups of the rings, too, they also serve as additional protection against impacts and scratches.
Movable joints are also packed inmetal sheath. It often happens that the on-ear headphones break at the attachment point of the retractable headband (the plastic cracks and stops fixing the rim), but here everything looks reliable. I suppose the life cycle of the headphones will turn out to be so long.
Leather is used on the outside of the headband and on the ear padsfrom the Scottish company Muirhead. And the part in contact with the hair is made of suede. It's a vegan-unfriendly solution, but it's impossible to please absolutely everyone. There are clearly more advantages in the materials chosen by Philips designers. Firstly, leather is an environmentally friendly material, and its manufacturer is a member of the Sustainable by nature committee. Secondly, having paid a decent amount of money for headphones, we finally get a premium product, not only in terms of technology, but also materials and appearance.
And the skin shows itself better in use.at a long distance. Have you tried wearing headphones with some eco-friendly material for several years in a row? Then you probably know about its tendency to eventually begin to crack and crumble into small flakes. This won't happen with the Fidelio L3.
Sound
The Fidelio L3 is equipped with 40mm drivers with a proprietary three-layer diaphragm, where a rigid damping layer of PEEK polymer is installed in the center of the sandwich.The frequency response is 7 Hz – 40 kHz, which fits into the Hi-Res Audio certification.AAC, aptX and aptX HD wireless codecs are supported.Another important point is the connection to two Bluetooth devices at the same time, as well as a rare feature for this class that the enabled noise cancellation does not lead toto a noticeable deterioration in sound quality.
The sound quality of the headphones is excellent.The volume headroom is very large, but the drivers do an excellent job even with the maximum level. The bass is juicy and well-felt, which provides a sweeping panorama. The mids are well developed, the high details are excellent. The Fidelio L3s do well in all genres, whether it's complex female vocals, punchy guitars, or bass-heavy electronics. I listened to all my favorite tracks with pleasure - and was delighted with how the headphones play.
Noise suppression
Active Hybrid Noise Cancellationimplemented by four microphones: a pair of external and two internal. There are three modes to choose from: always active (without the possibility of changing the strength of the action), "transparency" with the translation of amplified external sounds into the headphones, and also adaptive, which must adapt to the environment. For myself, I still don't understand the meaning in the latter mode, it doesn't matter whether we are talking about the Fidelio L3 or any other headphones. Transparency copes with its duties as expected and allows you to select the volume of external sounds through a companion smartphone application. The usual active noise canceling mode is close to ideal in terms of the quality of canceling the sounds of the surrounding world. It copes perfectly in any situation, from the noise of a coffee shop to an old subway car.
Two microphones are also used for callson each earpiece. They accurately transmit the voice and remove extraneous sounds. There are no complaints about using the Fidelio L3 as a headset. You can at least quickly answer a call, or even sit out an entire meeting in Zoom. In addition, voice control is supported, the headphones are compatible with Google Assistant and Alexa.
Autonomy
Battery life is another strongside of Philips Fidelio L3. The manufacturer claims 32 hours of playback with active noise canceling or 38 hours off. In reality, you can subtract about 2-3 hours from this - and you get the present time of work at a volume slightly above average.
The battery life of the Fidelio L3 is excellent, considering that classmate headphones last about 25 hours on average with ANC activated.For recharging, by the way, a USB Type-C cable is used, the time on the wire is fromzero to one hundred is about 2 hours.And if you don't keep track of the charging and at some pointto hear the sad "Battery low" in the headphones, there is a chance to stay with the music after all – Fidelio L3 is supported byWired connection with the supplied 3.5 mm cable.
application
You might think that a picture of idealheadphones, better than which you will not find anything on the market. This is approximately the case, but only until you launch the proprietary companion application. The feeling that the product was made by cool designers and engineers, and the software was outsourced to some forgotten Chinese province. I will not say about the version for the iPhone, but on Android there is not even close to the premium that the use of headphones gives.
1/7
Set of official product images
It takes a long time to start, during the start process the headphonesfor some reason they can turn off the music and reconnect to the smartphone. There are localization problems. For example, if you want to disable the optical sensor that stops playback when the headphones are removed, look for the item "Wear sensor". Always on ANC is referred to as "Noise Reduction Theme", Transparency is listed as Awareness, and Adaptive is labeled as Custom.
Saves that there is no frequent launch of the applicationmeaning. Of the useful things in it, only the switching of ANC modes, an equalizer and a couple of settings for enabling or disabling touch controls, as well as an optical sensor. Should you pay attention to this drawback when buying? The answer is negative.
Judge for yourself, the headphones have a top-end design,body materials, sound and autonomy. In general, everything that can no longer change is at the highest level. Unlike the headphones themselves, which you take "as is", an update can be released for the application at any time, where the Russification will be corrected, and the writing of large / small letters will be put in order, but at least the interface will be redrawn.
Competitors
Almost everything can be recorded as rivalspopular headphones with a price of about 30 thousand rubles. For example, the fourth generation Sony MDR-1000X and Bose QuietComfort 45 sound great and offer better noise cancellation, but are significantly inferior in exterior and body materials. The Beats Studio 3 Wireless has good battery life and iPhone bonuses, but compared to Philips, they feel significantly cheaper than their price.
The carbon version of the Bowers & Wilkins P7 or the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless is on par with the Fidelio L3 in terms of sound, design and noise cancellation quality, but they lose outWell, Bang & Olufsen with their over-ear headphones playsOne gets the impression that in terms of sound, materials used, design and autonomy, the productPhilips, if not the best, is certainly one of the best products in its class.
Everything is super-thoughtful and flagship, there is nothing to complain about. For fans of the genre of on-ear Bluetooth headphones with sound "as expected" and good noise cancellation - we recommend
9/10Ferra ratingPhilips Fidelio L3Pros
- Aesthetic design
- Premium materials
- Very high quality sound
- Effective noise reduction
- One of the best in terms of autonomy
- Switchable touch controls
Minuses
- Extra large case
- Does not fold up for transport
- Android app of questionable quality
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