TechAudioHeadphonesPhilips Fidelio T1 review: about as good as true wireless earbuds getThe Philips Fidelio T1 excel across the boardWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictIf you don’t mind spending a fair amount of cash then the Philips Fidelio T1 are some of the best true wireless earbuds there are. The sound is top tier, the noise-cancelling is very effective and you get loads of battery life - they may look a little bulky but that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.Reasons to buy+Phenomenal audio quality+Excellent battery life+Very effective noise cancellingReasons to avoid-Huge case and chunky buds-No manual equaliser, only presets-Small amount of sound leakageWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
TechAudioHeadphonesPhilips Fidelio T1 review: about as good as true wireless earbuds getThe Philips Fidelio T1 excel across the boardWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictIf you don’t mind spending a fair amount of cash then the Philips Fidelio T1 are some of the best true wireless earbuds there are. The sound is top tier, the noise-cancelling is very effective and you get loads of battery life - they may look a little bulky but that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.Reasons to buy+Phenomenal audio quality+Excellent battery life+Very effective noise cancellingReasons to avoid-Huge case and chunky buds-No manual equaliser, only presets-Small amount of sound leakageWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
The Philips Fidelio T1 excel across the board
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)T3 VerdictIf you don’t mind spending a fair amount of cash then the Philips Fidelio T1 are some of the best true wireless earbuds there are. The sound is top tier, the noise-cancelling is very effective and you get loads of battery life - they may look a little bulky but that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.Reasons to buy+Phenomenal audio quality+Excellent battery life+Very effective noise cancellingReasons to avoid-Huge case and chunky buds-No manual equaliser, only presets-Small amount of sound leakage
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
T3 VerdictIf you don’t mind spending a fair amount of cash then the Philips Fidelio T1 are some of the best true wireless earbuds there are. The sound is top tier, the noise-cancelling is very effective and you get loads of battery life - they may look a little bulky but that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.Reasons to buy+Phenomenal audio quality+Excellent battery life+Very effective noise cancellingReasons to avoid-Huge case and chunky buds-No manual equaliser, only presets-Small amount of sound leakage
T3 VerdictIf you don’t mind spending a fair amount of cash then the Philips Fidelio T1 are some of the best true wireless earbuds there are. The sound is top tier, the noise-cancelling is very effective and you get loads of battery life - they may look a little bulky but that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
T3 Verdict
If you don’t mind spending a fair amount of cash then the Philips Fidelio T1 are some of the best true wireless earbuds there are. The sound is top tier, the noise-cancelling is very effective and you get loads of battery life - they may look a little bulky but that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
Reasons to buy+Phenomenal audio quality+Excellent battery life+Very effective noise cancellingReasons to avoid-Huge case and chunky buds-No manual equaliser, only presets-Small amount of sound leakage
Reasons to buy+Phenomenal audio quality+Excellent battery life+Very effective noise cancelling
Phenomenal audio quality
Excellent battery life
Very effective noise cancelling
Reasons to avoid-Huge case and chunky buds-No manual equaliser, only presets-Small amount of sound leakage
Huge case and chunky buds
No manual equaliser, only presets
Small amount of sound leakage
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
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If you’re willing to splash out on a pair of headphones, this Philips Fidelio T1 review is exactly where you need to be. These are some of thebest true wireless earbudsyou can buy right now, even though their price tag might make your eyes water.
When I gave the Philips Fidelio T1 buds a test run, I could barely find any downsides at all. The ANC easily competes with thebest noise-cancelling headphones, they sound absolutely incredible and there’s an impressive array of features.
Admittedly they are quite bulky but that hasn’t impacted how they feel to wear so does that really matter? Read on to find out more.
Philips Fidelio T1 review: price and availability
A premium pair of earbuds, you can buy the Philips Fidelio T1 now for £249 in the UK - that could be somewhere around $300 in the US or AU$450 in Australia but we don’t have any official pricing information for those regions. The widgets on this page will let you know where you can buy a pair and for how much.
If you don’t fancy spending anywhere near this much, then take a look at T3’s guide to thebest cheap headphonesinstead.
Philips Fidelio T1 review: design and fit
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Seriously sophisticated is the best way to describe the Philips Fidelio T1 true wireless earbuds. That’s because they are made from aluminium with a sleek brushed metal finish. You can buy them in either black or white, both look mature and premium.
Each bud has circular touch controls extending outwards which read Philips on the left and Fidelio on the right. The charging case takes things a step further with a layer of leather across the top of the lid and the Philips logo imprinted into it.
When you have them in, it’s very obvious you’re wearing them as they cover almost the whole width of your ear unless you have long hair to conceal them. That design won’t be for everyone.
Each earpiece has a bright LED light that lets you know the status of the buds, for instance blinking white means you’re connected to a device, flashing blue and white means they’re ready for pairing, flashing blue means the battery is low and so on.
Honestly, it’s quite difficult to remember which means what but if you’re having problems connecting them at any point it’ll be useful to be able to refer to the user manual.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The charging case is huge in comparison to other true wireless earbuds. It’s about the size and shape of a bar of soap so it’s not going to fit into a tight jeans pocket but you’ll be fine to slip it into your bag. It feels robust and well built with magnets to snap the buds back into the case without the need to fumble around. If I were to nitpick, I’d say that the leather strip along the top might be easily damaged over time.
As they’re made from metal and are so long in shape, you’d think these earbuds wouldn’t be comfortable but actually, I forgot they were even in my ears. In the box, they come with three sizes of foam ear tips and four sizes of rubber tips so you’re pretty much guaranteed to find the right fit.
When I tested them out, I wore them on and off throughout the day as well as for workouts in the evening. They stayed firmly put the whole time. It was a while before I grew tired of having them in.
The Philips Fidelio T1 are IPX4 rated so while they won’t survive being submerged in water, they should be fine with splashes of water. That means they’ll be perfectly alright to use for sweaty runs or getting caught in light rain.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
You can control the music using the touchpads on the outside of each bud. Unlike other headphones, to pause or play the music you have to press down on just the right bud (as opposed to a quick tap on either side). Having to hold the press did sometimes mean I knocked the earbud out of place which could be annoying.
With ANC switched on, you’ll get 9 hours of music and the charging case will give you an extra 25 hours on top of that. If you have it switched off then you’ll get about 13 hours of playtime from the buds and 35 hours on top of that from the case which is great. During the workweek, you’ll rarely need to remember to plug the case in.
Through the USB-C connection, it’ll take about 2 hours to recharge the case to 100%. Once fully charged, the light on the front of the case will switch off so you know when to unplug it. Also worth knowing is that a quick 15-minute charge will give you an hour of playtime so if you did forget about charging them, there’s always a last-minute backup.
Philips Fidelio T1 review: performance and features
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
If you’re looking for high-quality sound, that’s exactly what you get when you listen to the Philips Fidelio T1. Audiophiles will fall over themselves to pick up a pair of headphones that sound this good.
The level of balance and detail is impeccable, you can literally hear every inch of the track from the twang of a guitar to the soft clang of a piano. Plenty of power comes through these too, the bass is deep and rich without being overbearing while the mids are energetic enough to push through clearly. The treble stands out too, you don’t miss a single lyric even when there’s a lot going on in the track. When you pop these in your ear you do feel completely immersed in the music.
While you won’t get manual equaliser settings, there are four preset EQs to choose from in the Philips Headphones app, those being Bass, Powerful, Voice and Treble.
The only problem is that there is a small amount of sound leakage so the person sitting next to you in the office might hear your music when you have the volume dialled all the way up.
If you want Active Noise Cancellation then you most definitely get that here - the ANC does a phenomenal job at blocking out distracting sounds. My name had to be shouted a good few times before I knew anyone was talking to me, it even managed to cut out the sound of a TV that was right next to me while the music was playing.
Philips Headphones app(Image credit: Future)
Philips Headphones app
Philips Headphones app
(Image credit: Future)
You get a lot of control over the noise-cancelling - you can choose to set it to High, Low or Wind Noise Reduction. There’s also an Awareness mode that you can adjust according to how much noise you want to let through, and it can be set to only allow voices as well.
Finally, there’s the Adaptive mode which will modify the noise-cancelling according to where you are and what you’re doing. All of them work well and you can hear the difference as you switch through them.
To save battery, there’s an Auto-Off feature as well that you can set to switch the buds off after 30 minutes, 1 hour or 2 hours not being used, or choose to disable it entirely.
One last feature to mention is the multi-device connectivity. You can hook these up to two of your devices at once so you can switch between your tablet and phone seamlessly, for example.
Philips Fidelio T1 review: verdict
(Image credit: Philips)
(Image credit: Philips)
Try as I might, I’m struggling to find any reasons why you wouldn’t want to buy these headphones if you’re into your music. The price tag could be one, but in saying that, they’reso worth itbecause they sound phenomenal and the noise cancelling is about as good as it gets in a pair of true wireless earbuds.
Another downside could be that the buds and the case are just too big, yet that doesn’t actually impact how comfortable and secure they are to wear, and it’s not like the case doesn’t still fit in a large pocket or in your bag. So that’s something I’m sure a lot of people will be able to look past as well.
To sum things up, the Philips Fidelio T1 are a truly fantastic pair of earbuds, they aren’t perfect but they have placed Philips centre-stage to compete against the likes ofSonyin the premium headphones space. As you can probably tell, I’d find it hard not to recommend them.
Philips Fidelio T1 review: also consider
TheSony WF-1000XM4are the most obvious competition to the Philips Fidelio T1. They’re comparable in almost every area, with excellent sound and super effective ANC, although they probably top the T1s when it comes to design because they’re much more compact. They’re marginally cheaper too.
Another pair of buds you should consider are theBowers & Wilkins PI7- they have near-perfect sound and they’re pricier than the Philips Fidelio T1 but they’re more discreet in the ear. Don’t buy them if you have small ears though because they may not fit you.
Philips Fidelio T1: Price Comparison
$59.99View$78.99$59.99View$84.99View$84.99View$431.44View
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$78.99$59.99View
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