This helmet is presented by Philips (actually Funai Electric Copour which bought its audio / video branch of Philips, Philips granting the right to Funai for the next 5 years, dapposer the brand "Philips" on ViaMichelin outgoing products its own factories) as a mobile headset.
It's not totally my opinion because of its isolation: it is barely passable for noise from outside but the outward leakage is huge which prohibits all use in common trips. Blame it on the grid at the back of each ear (which, however, is beautiful in its many very good sound quality).
It is also regrettable that no protective cover is provided: a simple soft tissue pocket, it does not really protect.
So for the "nomadic" character, it seems below the V-Moda Crossfade M-100 or Sennheiser Momentum Over The Ear to take two examples in the same price range but very different in terms of sound signature.
It is, among said helmets "nomadic", a more comfortable, although it can be improved at the bow.
His side is the very good surprise. This helmet is almost neutral (but less than L1). It may therefore not appeal to lovers of electro or metal as bass are not swollen. I personally prefer the neutral helmets:
- They restore music as the artist intended (if they want more bass, they would have added when mixing).
- It's not a helmet to impose a sound aesthetic but the listener to choose it. There equalizers for this but much can be achieved easily change the sound aesthetic of a neutral helmet, so it is impossible to make a roughly neutral Basseux helmet.
That said, if we find fault with this headset, it seems a bit flattering in the bass and treble. If it's pretty well controlled in the bass, which are well defined, cymbals sometimes tend to flicker and the piano can sound slightly metallic.
This is actually a fairly balanced helmet with good spatial but is however not at that of some sedentary helmets in the same price range.
Finally, what this helmet suffers (as L1) is an ambiguous position: semi-nomadic, semi-sedentary (we also regret the absence of a long cable for connection to string Hi fi).
As nomadic, it would be the sound levels, a possible contender for the V-Moda Crossfade M-100 or Sennheiser Momentum Over The Ear. Pity about the problem of isolation.
As sedentary, it is facing a pretty tough competition, both in terms of comfort:
(Sedentary of this price level are true circum-aural while Philips, the V-Moda and Momentum are supra-aural: the headset does not contain all the earlobe but in majority of cases, based in part on the ear lobe)
That sound rendering (Fidelio L2 will not make me give up my Sennheiser HD650 old)
The L2 Fidélio really needs to be tried before, even if only to get a personal impression of its isolation.
If insulation suits you but you find that lack of bass, do a comparative listening with the V-Moda Crossfade M-100
If insulation and sound reproduction right for you, however, I recommend a comparative listening with the Sennheiser Momentum Over The Ear and even the Philips Fidelio L1: the three headsets are known as "neutral" but have their own personality.
In conclusion, this is a very interesting helmet, very well built, with excellent quality sound reproduction, and that definitely deserves 5 *.
Finally, note that at the time I write this comment, this helmet is sold around 200 (including postage) by amazon.it.
PS For a good sound reproduction, careful to respect the left / right direction because of the pre-tilt speaker.
PP-S. My tests were done on a listening without headphones prowled during the running to avoid me into a biased opinion at first (it is difficult to get rid of a negative first opinion) and any addictive (I plug the headphone amp on and he "sent" different music for thirty hours).