Philips has been making high-end audio equipment and striving for acoustic innovation for over 50 years now. So, when we were given the opportunity to review a pair of the best headphones the company currently makes, how could we say no? The Fidelio L3 wireless headphones from Philips are their attempt to throw everything and the kitchen sink into one product and once again make themselves a household name in personal audio.
Philips has been one of the largest electronics companies in the world for the past 130 years, and with a focus on technology, they innovate for people with one consistent belief: there’s always a way to make life better. With a recent renewed focus on meaningful innovation, the CEO of their Connected Care Division said it best – “To be a successful global brand in the 21st century you need to be agile and locally relevant” This could not be truer than with the L3s.
The Fidelio L3 wireless headphones are very impressive in several ways, first, let us start with the build quality. These closed-back over-the-ear headphones are made from lightweight satin-finished aluminum with responsibly sourced Muirhead leather ear-cup rings embossed with the Philips Fidelio branding. They look and sound like high-end earphones that could go toe to toe with the best from Sony. You also get some responsive touch-sensitive controls for music and calls and allow for quick track changes and volume adjustments with a swipe of a finger. Additional buttons on the ear cups also let you turn ANC on and off but more on that later.
One thing that we appreciate about the L3s is that you have a dual connectivity option. Meaning you can use them wired or wirelessly and you can connect to multiple Bluetooth devices at once like smartphones, laptops, and more at the same time. A feature we absolutely believe is unappreciated is that Philips has included built-in sensors into their headphones that can detect your presence and automatically pause what you are listening to when you take them off. Now that is clever.
But how do they sound? Philips set out to include a laundry list of features in these headphones including some powerful and perfectly balanced 40mm drivers delivering some crisp full sound and tight bass plus support for the best streaming quality for Bluetooth via AAC and aptX HD support. In fact, these are Hi-Res certified for the absolute best possible listening experience. This is also paired with their own Hybrid Active Noise Cancelation Pro+, which uses one external mic and one internal mic on each earcup to filter out unwanted sounds and it works incredibly well. Par for the course is a pretty good awareness mode and these same dual microphones also make these the perfect headphones for taking clear and crisp calls on the go.
We are also big fans of the accompanying Philips app that can further let users tune their listening experience including the ability to adjust the level of noise cancellation by switching between preset ANC modes and a welcome dedicated equalizer for fine-tuning those bass, mid and low frequencies to your liking. Last and certainly not least is the battery life. In our testing these destroyed all other headphones we have tested in standby and listening time, we were clocking close to 40 hours, and this was with ANC turned on! They currently sit at number 1 for battery life in our books in 2023.
To sum up, the Fidelio L3 continues the long tradition of the company producing top-tier headphones that can sit with the big boys at the top. They may not be everyone’s first choice or have the same brand recognition as the others but ignoring these would be a flawed conclusion. They really are that good!
Get yours today at https://www.usa.philips.com/c-e/so/headphones/fidelio-l3-headphones.html