Philips Fidelio B1
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According to our soundbar expert
The Philips Fidelio B1 is a powerful soundbar for small rooms. Thanks to their compact size, you can position the soundbar and the wireless subwoofer wherever you like. The double drivers on the sides and in the middle are placed in a crosswise setup, which means they have 180-degree audio dispersion, creating a more spatial sound field. It'll also give added clarity and power to your favorite songs, as well as movie soundtracks. If you want to put on some music, just use Bluetooth to wirelessly stream your music collection from your mobile device to the soundbar. Thanks to the aptX protocol, it'll be just like listening to a CD.
Connecting the Philips Fidelio B1 Soundbar to your TV
Use an optical, HDMI, or analog cable to connect your soundbar to your television. This cable isn't included.
Built-in WiFi | ||
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Bluetooth | ||
Width | 40,8 cm | |
Height | 5,67 cm | |
HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) | ||
Sound reproduction | Surround |
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Half an hour after UPS delivered the package, the deep sound of the Fidelio B1 was already ringing through the room. It's amazing how a few pictures without text can explain the different ways to use the Fidelio.
The system consists of a compact soundbar that is placed under the TV screen and a woofer for heavy work. The woofer connects wirelessly to the soundbar. Sound sources are connected to the soundbar via HDMI, optical link, or bluetooth. A USB stick with music can also be plugged in (not tested by me).
The bluebooth connection works sublimely and brings the music from Spotify from tablet or smartphone to life, filling the room. Classical and modern music are thus very pleasant and comfortable to listen to.
When watching TV, the sound can be offered as an optical signal or by directing the HDMI signal from the network provider's set-top box via the soundbar to the TV. In the latter case, my (philips) TV recognizes the Fidelio B1 as a content source and the sound runs perfectly in sync with the TV image. Unfortunately, I don't have Fidelio sound this way when watching movies with the netflix (or youtube or other apps) in my smart TV.
To be able to watch both TV movies and Netflix material with Fidelio sound, it seems logical to use the optical output of the TV. This is indeed going well, except that the TV sound then lags behind the image. This does not seem to be solved, neither with synchronization on the remote control of the Fidelio, nor with synchronization in the audio configuration of the TV. The TV sound is synchronized when I use the optical output of the set-top box to feed the Fidelio, but with that the netflix app is out of the game again.
Therefore, two possibilities must be used: the hdmi input for TV sound and the optical input for the netflix app. A disadvantage of this is that when switching between watching TV and Netflix you also have to convert the audio setting to Fidelio. For watching TV, it is then required that the Fidelio is switched on. For netflix (and youtube etc) that is optional, it can be listened to both with the TV speakers and with Fidelio.
As mentioned above, the sound of the little rascal is impressive. The spatial distribution of the sound is very convincing. In a gaming environment, the deep basses will come into their own. For normal movies (speech) I find the low tones quickly sound exaggerated. In my evaluation, the bass setting was usually between -6 and -4. This will undoubtedly be an age effect. My old ears (67) only work in the low frequency range and are then quickly overdriven by so much bass force.
The design of the soundbar looks modern and simple. The woofer looks too much like a desktop computer and you prefer to keep it out of sight. This is always connected to the mains. Hopefully the standby energy consumption is negligible.
I would like to advise the men/women designers of this product to provide the next version with one or two additional optical inputs; possibly even at the expense of the hdmi connections. It is then possible to watch TV without having to turn on the Fidelio. NOS news, DWDD, Radar and Pauw can then be viewed without using 300W of extra power. We only do that for games, action films and music programs. Soundbar then becomes sound booster, so to speak.
Willem van Meurs
18 May 2017
Automatically translated from Dutch
The soundbar is very easy to install. A few simple steps and it is ready to use. In addition, the Fidelio can be very conveniently connected to the TV and setup box by means of an HDMI cable that is plugged into the soundbar and then transmits the image after filtering out the sound. A small disadvantage is that no (HDMI, aux and RCA) cables for connection to the TV are included with the Fidelio.
When the Fidelio B1 is connected, it is immediately ready for use. The pre-programmed sound settings for voice, music or movie are very well adjusted. A big difference with the -really not bad- sound from our TV. The Fidelio really adds a dimension to watching TV. Even in a large room the sound is really good.
Somewhat inconveniently, if the Fidelio is connected via HDMI and you want to use a Playstation or Chromecast via a different HDMI input, the Fidelio must be switched off to get sound via the TV.
Sipke Stuiver
15 May 2017
Automatically translated from Dutch
The product is very compact! With great sound surface, nice big box Handy with exposing to play music via phone! No regrets at all!! Highly recommended
Marieke Biermans
4 February 2017
Automatically translated from Dutch
Product number | 742436 | |
|---|---|---|
Manufacturer code | B1/12 | |
Brand | Philips | |
Warranty | 2 years | |
Processing of your defect | Carry-in warranty | |
Old product returned for free |
Height | 5,67 cm | |
|---|---|---|
Width | 40,8 cm | |
Depth | 11,5 cm | |
Weight | 8,03 kg | |
Color | Black |
Separate subwoofer | ||
|---|---|---|
Wireless subwoofer | ||
Subwoofer height | 43 cm | |
Subwoofer width | 86 cm | |
Subwoofer depth | 25 cm |
Sound quality according to customers | Very good | |
|---|---|---|
Number of audio channels | 5 | |
Number of subwoofer channels | 1 | |
Sound reproduction | Surround | |
Surround sound | Virtual surround sound | |
Surround sound systems | DTS, Dolby Digital | |
Hi-Res audio | ||
Radio |
HDMI connector | ||
|---|---|---|
HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) | ||
Digital optical connector | ||
Network connector | ||
USB port | ||
USB function | Play media |
Bluetooth | ||
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Built-in WiFi | ||
Plays from network | ||
Multi-room audio | ||
NFC |
Controls via app |
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Best tested |
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