Table of Contents
Philips has been making some very solid headphone, so we were intrigued to try out the Philips Fidelio NC1 . Philips Fidelio NC1 Headphones provide quite a lot of comfort and quality audio reproduction, although oddly noise cancellation is not their strong suit.
Philips Fidelio NC1: Design
Philips Fidelio NC1 Design
Their on-ear headphone are framed in a sturdy metal shell, with a pleasantly smooth feel. The hinges pivot horizontally and vertically for comfy wearing, while pressure is applied in all the right places, making the headphones light-weight and discrete when worn. They are nice for portability too: they can be folded simply to be transported and stored away within the hard travel case offered. The ear cushion are made of memory form, which feels comfy against the ears without feeling too tight.
Philips included an airline adaptor and a 3.5 mm braided, L-shaped mini-jack; sturdy and removable. The latter is supplied with a microphone and single-button control, which is a bit limiting if you wish to quickly adjust the volume without having to reach into your pocket. It would have been good to have a battery charge indicator, of which the re’s none.
Philips Fidelio NC1: Performance
Philips Fidelio NC1 Performance
There is minimal distortion at high volumes, a smooth-high end and rounded bass. The issue is, they do not fairly sound as good as its closest competitors within the price range. The key ingredients are all the re, they simply do not have sufficient oomph.
When energetic noise cancellation is activated, the volume didn’t alter dramatically. The treble has opened up slightly to deliver extra punch while the low-bass is also enhanced. The Philips Fidelio NC1 Headphones use an inbuilt battery that charges over microUSB, with claimed battery life of around 30 hours. Just like the Backbeat PRO headphones, they are additionally perfectly able to acting as regular headphones once the power runs out.
Philips Fidelio NC1: Comfort
Philips Fidelio NC1 Comfort
They have taken a light-weight approach to noise cancelling headphones, with an eye to the fact that you are likely to be travelling long distances carrying these particular headphones. They are very light, and have soft memory foam earpieces that act in an on-ear fashion where so many different sets of noise cancelling headphones cover the whole ear. That has some definite comfort benefit.
Philips Fidelio NC1: Verdict
Philips Fidelio NC1 Verdict
From a design standpoint, the Philips Fidelio NC1 is a wonderful on-ear headphone. It looks sleek, is sturdily constructed, comfortable to wear and comes with a nice carrying case.
