Elysium Fideliio Headphones Review

This review’s outline is not consistent with our other audio gadget reviews as we have recently reviewed our criterion, focus points and scoring system for speakers and headphones. This article may be updated in future to ensure consistency

Today, I’ll be reviewing the Elysium Fideliio “Hi-Fi Stereo” Headphones.

I actually bought this together with my Elysium Zeon III Portable Speaker in the IT show 2016 (it was selling as a special offer combo set). The Elysium Zeon III Speaker was a really powerful USB speaker with good sound quality for its size and price, (More on that in a future review/article, I haven’t had a lot of time to write much articles), and it impressed me. Today, I’ll be (Finally) opening up the Elysium Fideliio Box to review and see, exactly how good are Elysium headphones?

Today, You can buy this headphones via QOO10. The link is authentic and if I’m not wrong, you would be served by the actual distributor of this headphones. Buy this headphones via: http://www.qoo10.sg/su/409224929/Q107310323

Design – Retro yet classy

To me, the Elysium Fideliio looks a bit retro styled, yet classy. It comes in space grey and red colour, so it’ll look pretty cool and fitting to today’s clothing trends. I also like the detail put into the exterior of the headphones. The headphone earpad height can be adjusted via the retro looking slider, which has little line markings to help you ensure that you’re adjusting both sides to the same height.  

What’s in the Box – Basic Accessories, nothing too fancy!

Out of the box, you get the headphones, 1 detachable cable (for the headphones) and a simple paper manual. And a nice looking box. You do not get a pouch for the headphones, but for the price of $30, i don’t think we should expect much freebie accessories either.

Comfort and Fit – Cool looking, but not very comfortable

This headphone is an “Over the ears” type of headphone, with the earpads resting on your ears. The top part of the headphones (that rests on your head) is padded so it does not cause much discomfort. The length of the headphones can be extended to reach your ears. However, I could not get the earpads to comfortably rest on my ears. Somehow the design of the headphone forces the individual earcups of the headphones to pull against the top of your ears. This makes the headphones quite uncomfortable to wear for extended periods. Furthermore, the sound isolation is also negatively affected as a result, with some background noise leaking in due to the earcups not effectively resting at the lower part of your ear.
Other Plus Points
While the comfort aspect isn’t too good, I love 2 of the features that this headphone brings.
1)  DETACHABLE CABLES! – A Rare feature for a cheap pair of headphones
This headphone actually has detachable cables, so in the event that your cables are spoilt, you simply replace the cable and continue using the headphone! This is a very rare feature, even in much higher end ($50-$150) headphones, so I commend Elysium for bringing in this feature to such budget headphones.

2) Built in volume control and Mic, Nylon wrapped wires
The cables included in the box are wrapped in cloth type material, so I think these will last quite long (provided you don’t abuse it!). The cables actually have a volume control slider built in, so you can control the volume of your music without having to reach for your phone or computer volume settings. This is really convenient and is another feature that’s quite hard to find on budget headsets. There is also a mic and multifunction button for calls/music control when using this headphones with your android/iOS devices.

Sound Quality – Suitable for bassheads and EDM music (V-shaped sound signature)
Test Equipment: My Ears (lol), Creative X7 Amplifier, Elysium Fideliio Headphones, My Laptop.
After doing a burn in of the headphones for a few days, I proceeded to test the headphones with the following music of various variety. The music I listen to are available in youtube, just click the title of the music below and you’ll be able to listen to it! How convenient!
Roses Fingerstyle by Peter Gergely:
The bass of this earphone is pretty solid. However, the midbass of the earphones (within 100hz to 200hz) is a bit too much, thus making the guitar sound quite bloated. As a result, in the chorus part, the individual guitar strings sound a tad muddied. The treble is not harsh sounding, but the sharp tones ‘b’ and ‘e’ guitar strings seem a bit laid back and lost in the rest of the mix.
Closer – Chainsmokers ft. Halsey
Again, I find the bass of the earphones pretty solid, the synth drum beats really packing a sort of punch. But the midbass is again too strong for my taste, so the music instrumental sounds abit bloated. The mids are also a bit lacking, so vocals don’t sound very natural, especially the male lead’s vocals. The female’s voice also sounded quite restrained. The treble again shows that it is pretty laid back in the high frequencies, with the artificial cymbals not sounding clear. Instead, it sounded more like a hiss. But I think bassheads would be pretty happy with this earphones since it covers the synth and bass notes really well.

Titanium – David Guetta ft. Sia – Official Acoustic Music Video – Madilyn Bailey
When I played this cover, I find that the female vocals sounded quite recessed (again). The female vocals sounded clear though. The piano sounded a bit muddied due to the over-emphasized mid bass. But the good thing is there was quite a bit of definition that i could hear, I could hear the echoes of the vocals pretty clearly. However, During the part with the piano, cello and vocals, the sound separation wasn’t too good, so some details are lost in the mix.
Titanium / Pavane (Piano/Cello Cover) – David Guetta / Faure – ThePianoGuys
The strong bass of the headphones shows itself again in the drum beats and low notes of the cellos. The bass was strong yet just right to fit the music. However, The cello sounded quite bloated, and yet still lacking body due to the emphasis of the midbass and lack of mids. The piano also doesn’t sound too natural either to this sound signature. In the chorus parts, I find the individual instruments and notes a bit hard to pick out. Some details are thus loss from the mix.
“Outsiders” – Against The Current (Live Music Video)
Bass is pretty good and enjoyable, I can hear the bass guitar and almost feel drum beats very well. However, most notably, But the electric guitar solo does not sound real and lively. The gain/distortion sound from the electric guitar isn’t very well played out, and is abit lost in the whole song. Chrissy’s voice (the female vocal) also sounded quite restrained. The male background singer isn’t so easily heard due to the lack of sound separation. Treble is quite good but the Cymbal crashes don’t sound very realistic and lack air, and the snare drums don’t sound too realistic. However, the treble isn’t harsh to the ears so overall, the music was quite enjoyable to listen to.
Overall sound quality
This headphones almost has a V-shaped frequency curve. Bass is well emphasized, and yet isn’t too strong to the point that it causes headaches. Midbass is a bit bloated/over-emphasized, although bassheads may actually love this. I realize that Most headphones that are advertised with heavy bass actually have this type of sound signature. Also, While the mids are reccesed and the treble lack a little definition, for the price of $30, I think the sound overall is very competitive and would beat most of the other headphones in this price range.
Conclusion
The overall sound quality of this headphones, for the price, is really good. For the price of only $30 SGD, it would be hard to beat this headphones. The design actually looks really cool, and it has really good additional features such as volume control. In fact, This is the first headphones that I know of, in this price range, That also allows you to replace a spoilt cable really easily on the fly! The sound of this headphones would satisfy bassheads and suit the latest in trend EDM/Pop music really well. The comfort of this headphones isn’t too good (since the earcups don’t rest comfortably on the ears), but depending on your head size, it may actually be a good headphones to use.
I hope you found this review helpful, and I’d encourage you to have a listen to this headphones. For the price, I think it’ll be hard to beat this one!

Sidenote: If you do decide to buy this headphones, at this point of time, the headphones is going for a COMEX IT SHOW price of $29.90! You may not find this price elsewhere, especially now that the IT fair has ended. Buy from the following link to get yourself a pair today: http://www.qoo10.sg/su/409224962/Q107310323