Philips Fidelio M1BT review

It can be tough to find a pair of Bluetooth headphones that look and sound good. However, that isn’t the case with Philips’ latest Fidelio on-ear headphones, which uses the aptX standard to ensure you get the best possible sound when listening wirelessly.

Based on the fantastic Fidelio M1s, the Fidelio M1BTs take the same sleek design and excellent build quality and add Bluetooth connectivity for greater convenience. The leather stitching around the headband, raw aluminium on the hinges and black metal mesh on each ear cup easily make these some of the prettiest Bluetooth headphones around.

A small control wheel on the right ear cup lets you adjust volume and change tracks without reaching for your smartphone. You can also play and pause tracks remotely. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack on the left ear cup that lets you enjoy audio via a cable connection to your media player, which is extra handy when the Bluetooth receiver runs out of power. We couldn’t spot any differences in sound quality between wired and wireless connections.

You charge the M1BTs via a micro USB port in the right ear cup, and the headphones take around three hours to recharge fully from flat. Philips says you can expect 10 hours of use from a single charge, but we often saw a longer period between charges. We used them when commuting to and from work, and only had to charge them once at the end of the week.

The padded cups sit on your ears rather than envelop them completely, but they sit comfortably thanks to plenty of cushioning, and do a surprisingly good job at limiting the amount of noise leakage when you wear them. As for sound isolation, we could still make out a few of the sounds of our commute, but you don’t need to turn up the volume to unbearable levels to drown out most exterior noise.

Thankfully you don’t need to listen at high volume to appreciate the detail in your tracks. The M1BTs retain the same warm, powerful sound we experienced with the M1s, with a clear and precise mid-range that lends itself perfectly to rock and electronic music. Pushing the M1BTs to their limit didn’t reveal any sound distortion, and there’s more than enough volume to suit anyone that likes it loud.

Philips tends to favour rich, vibrant bass with its Fidelio headphones and the M1BTs certainly deliver. The M1BTs didn’t boom, but still managed to provide a good amount of low-end grunt. Bass is pronounced, but it doesn’t overpower the high-end. However, there’s no question that it forms a large part of the mix when listening to certain genres.

We loved the look and feel of the M1BTs, but their rich, bass-heavy sound won’t suit everyone. The M1BTs are expensive, but the build quality, design and the convenience afforded by Bluetooth connectivity mean they’ll quickly become your favourite pair.