Philips Fidelio L4 – Review

The Philips Fidelio L4 comes with a number of improvements and refinements to its predecessor, the Fidelio L3. With tough competition in the market, these changes were certainly required. Philips has also adjusted the price of the new device to make it more competitive.

Design

The Fidelio L4 are not the same as the L3, as there have been some changes in its design. First off, you will find that they weigh 320g as compared to the 360g of their predecessor. Therefore, they are actually 10% lighter. Likewise, their size has also been reduced a bit. The earpads now have a softer synthetic leather, which reduces the clamping force and makes them more comfortable on your ears.

The left earcup is where you will find the power button, while the right has the noise cancellation/mic button. You can use the latter to use the voice assistant on your phone. The right earcup also has a touch panel that is used to control playback. You can make adjustments to volume by swiping up and down and skip tracks by swiping acrosss. The Fidelio L4 are only available in the color black and it boasts an aluminum mounting ring in grey.

Features

In terms of features, you will find that the Fidelio L4 have everything that you can expect from premium headphones these days. They come with LDAC support as well as Bluetooth 5.3 support. The latter comes with support for the LC3 audio and LE Audio codec. You can also take advantage of the USB-C cable to listen to Hi-Res Audio.

They also deliver a great wireless performance. The call quality is downright excellent and the noise cancellation is quite effective. There is an adaptive four-mic hybrid ANC that has been integrated with AI technology. This certainly helps in enhancing the effectiveness of the noise cancellation. It may not be the best out there, but it is pretty decent considering the price tag.

As far as the Awareness mode is concerned, it does keep you alert to your surroundings. However, the sound suffers a bit in this mode, as it loses its weightiness and sounds thinner. In terms of battery life, Philips claims that the Fidelio L4 can last for 40 hours, better than the 38 hours its predecessor offered. But, it depends on your use of LDAC and ANC.

You can use the Philips Headphones app for customizing the headphones and for firmware updates. It allows you to track battery levels, adjust EQ and set noise-cancellation settings.

Sound Quality

The Fidelio L4 are great in terms of sound, as they are bright and warm and the quality remains smooth at all times. A new 40mm driver has been used for the headphones, which also has a graphene coating to reduce distortion. It also produces a cleaner performance, especially as compared to the predecessor. The headphones are relaxing and easy-going, but also offer rich details in terms of sound.