Philips Fidelio S2 in-ear headphones evaluation report

In 2013, Philips launched the Fidelio S2, a high-end small earphone product, after launching the Fidelio high-end brand [Series]. The price is 999 yuan [currently priced at 999 yuan]. Its appearance is also the same as other Fidelio models. In the past, the SHx series was even better. Thank you for providing this test sample.

As a thousand-yuan in-ear earphone, the Fidelio S2 earphones show a refined side from the beginning of packaging. As an in-ear earphone, the appearance of the S2 is not new, but it is actually some traditional structure and shape. But in recent years The structure of the in-ear headphones seems to be very small, with the S2's excellent appearance, it looks very beautiful.

Philips Fidelio S2 headphones are available in white and black. The photo is a combination of white and gold. The white part of the earphone is made of alloy material. The white surface of the lens is bright and hard, no matter the gloss. Still weight, feel a little porcelain feel [glass feel?]. The outer side of the earphone is made of gold mesh structure, this is the appearance of the decoration, but also the micro-holes with the air inside the earphone, Philips officially also emphasized this Application of technology.

In such a large area of ​​ventilated in-ear headphones is not much, even in the headphones we tested, we specifically blocked the venting micro-holes of these headphones, in fact, the changes are very small. And S2 this The function of the aeration structure plays a significantly larger role, with a slight occlusion by hand, and the sound changes significantly. This open-ended design can theoretically make the sound performance more stretched.

In the S2 earphone, the 13.5mm diameter dynamic speaker unit is used, which uses multi-layer diaphragm technology, which is an essential technology for high-end dynamic ring earphone speakers, but the technical details are obviously unknown. The impedance of S2 is 24 ohms. With a sensitivity of 107dB, it is a small earphone that is easy to match with a portable sound source. In the outer part of the speaker, the white part is decorated with gold metal, which seems to be slightly less delicate under the macro lens. It is indeed a structure and a metal texture. There is a gap between the top products of Beats. But the actual eye looks very beautiful, and the gold color of the plating is very positive.

The Philips Fidelio S2 headphone cable uses a different color on both sides of the flat "noodle line". The light brown color seen in the picture actually looks like a "golden" texture at a warmer color temperature. This also fits the headphones. It has its own white and gold effect. In addition, the S2 headphones also have a built-in remote control and microphone to answer and hang up when connecting to the phone.

After receiving the headset, we took the headset down for more than 400 hours. Although the netizen has been using it for a while, we think it is worthwhile to take a long time to take the opportunity. Its neutral tight style is in the ç…²After the machine will be significantly more stretched. As a thousand-yuan headphones, Soomal will generally choose Vsonic GR07 MKII, and will also consider the Westone W4R as a reference. Due to factors such as earphone type, sound style and price, this evaluation has no Consider adding W4R as the main comparison object. Test the sound source, with iPhone 6 Plus and vivo X5 Max as the main reference.Monitor 06 MX, Lotoo Paw Gold, FIIO X1, etc. as a simple reference.

Overall impression: Fidelio S2 just got the feeling of listening on the iPhone is not good, because listening to some saliva songs, the sound is a bit worried, style neutral, light, restrained, S2 sounds like a GR07 MKII There are also a lot of earplugs. Of course, we can easily find that this traditional in-ear structure and open-ended air-conducting micro-holes make the S2's low-frequency sounds not like in-ear headphones, the sound is slack and the volume is relatively small. [In-ear headphones] The S2 is an earphone that is easier to drive than the GR07 MKII. On the iPhone, the S2's mid-range and low-frequency dynamics are better than the GR07 MKII, but on the X5 Max, the GR07 MKII has some high-frequency ç‘•ç–µ. However, the dynamic obviously catches up with S2.

High-frequency performance: The overall sound style of the Fidelio S2 is neutral and restrained. Compared with the GR07 MKII, it is more restrained and the sound is cleaner and straightforward. However, in the performance of popular music, this very neutral and straightforward style has some sense of hearing. People are not easy to adapt. In terms of high frequency, S2 has excellent resolution and good transient performance in dynamic earplugs, while the high frequency of GR07 MKII is even softer [under the iPhone]; under X5 Max The high frequency of S2 will be better controlled, and the degree of detail is not much better than that under the iPhone. The same trend is also seen on Paw Gold and 06 MX.

However, the overall style of the Fidelio S2 is restrained and delicate. In the high-frequency instruments of classical music, such as the violin performance, the style of the S2 is smoother than the GR07 MKII. The air feel is slightly better than the GR07 MKII. The transient performance is faster and cleaner. For the high-pitched performance of stringed instruments, S2 and GR07 MKII are two different styles: S2 is more fidelity and more straightforward. I really didn't expect to have this neutral straight white style than GR07 MKII. Appeared; while the latter GR07 MKII turned out to have some soft decoration feelings. However, in the performance of percussion and plucked instruments, the rapid transient response of S2 makes its sound a bit woody, and the details are not soft enough. The sense of hearing of GR07 MKII is more natural and warm.

In fact, this style also makes S2 very comfortable when listening to small music, high-frequency delicate and introverted style, but in general pop music, the hearing resistance is obviously not as good as GR07MKII, high frequency dynamics are not enough, lack of tension [iPhone There is no dynamic aspect of GR07 MKII, and it needs better sound source].

IF performance: The mid-range of the Fidelio S2 is not as "positive" as the GR07 MKII. In this part of the sound style, it seems to show the trace of the S2 "semi-open" design. Its intermediate frequency is slack and easy to drive, not suitable. Pushing with a strong driving source, for example, under the 06 MX, PawGold, the S2's IF dynamics will be improved, but the sound will become more compact, and the vocal performance will not be as soft as the X5Max or even the iPhone. .

Similarly, under the iPhone, the medium frequency of the GR07 MKII is very neutral, the female voice is solid, and even some are too straightforward. The female voice of the S2 is later, especially the performance of the mature female S2 is more slack. The thick male voice performance, the dynamics of S2 is much larger than GR07MKII. On the X5 Max, the IF dynamic gap between these two headphones is even bigger, GR07 MKII is obviously better, the sound is full and powerful. Fidelio S2 shows at this time The sound style is too delicate, and the sound is always faint.

The mid-range such as the S2 has shown a lack of intensity in the slightly lively pop music or a slightly larger symphony. In fact, it is somewhat weak. The GR07 MKII is more powerful. But in the X5 Max or Under the better sound source, S2's intermediate frequency resolution and level have a good performance, but the output of more power will make the middle and low frequency parts of S2 become introverted, and the softness is reduced.

Low frequency performance: S2's low frequency does not win in volume in the in-ear headphones, but it is very characteristic. S2's low frequency relaxation, dive depth is better, compared with GR07 MKII, the lower part of S2's low frequency even feels More. But this part of the low-frequency resolution is not good, the extra sense of the volume also makes its low frequency accompanied by some loose and uncontrollable traces. In the low-frequency part, S2 relatively loose low frequency can not be provided in the big dynamic Sufficiently solid, neutral performance, S2 seems to have a slight disjoint in the low and mid-low frequencies. Compared to the neutral style of GR07 MKII, Fidelio S2 seems to be trying to make some modifications at low frequencies. Indeed, On the iPhone-level audio source, the Fidelio S2's mid-low frequency and low-frequency performance will not be as strong and solid as the X5 Max, but will give a softer feeling to the overall listening.

We have always used Vsonic GR07 MKII as the reference model for high-end in-ear earphones. In addition to confirming that it is indeed significantly higher than the overall quality of Sennheiser 8 models, it is also rare to have a relatively neutral style in in-ear earphones. The Philips Fidelio S2 is more restrained and straightforward in the mid-range and high-frequency. It makes it more clean and delicate when it comes to some high-frequency instrumental music. It is suitable for small music appreciation. Compared with GR07 MKII, S2 is more Clear, and GR07 MKII is even softer. The same S2 also has Soomal evaluation of high-end headphones in dynamic headphones. In the low-frequency part, Fidelio S2 seems to put a little too much, the low-frequency modification tastes slightly heavy, no retention and medium frequency, high Consistent neutral style, some up and down.

In fact, before the Fidelio series, Philips also introduced in-ear earphones [SHE9900] of more than 1,000 yuan, although Soomal has not been evaluated, but after listening to this earphone, the sound performance is poor, and it is not worthy of its price. The performance of the Fidelio S2 is better for the current thousand-yuan dynamic in-ear earphones. The sound performance is in the same level as the GR07 MKII and SONY EX1000, and even better in some aspects, and slightly weaker in dynamic performance. When paired with the vivo X5 Max, the overall performance is slightly better than GR07 MKII [high frequency is significantly better than GR07 MKII]. And Fidelio S2 also has a better appearance than GR07, although the price is higher, it is still worth considering.