Philips SHP9500 Review

When I first went to search for headphones to purchase was after my latest set had broken for the third time. Safe to say, I am not very good at taking care of my headphones and ensuring they last.

I went digging for anything that would make my experience in gaming that much better. I'm a big believer in purchasing something expensive to get the best experience, and I decided I was going to splurge on my headphones. It was on a deep search that I stumbled upon the word "audiophile", and I began digging and learning as much as I could about the term.

The Philips SHP9500 is the set of audiophile headphones that I landed on for their affordable price in comparison to the competition and how wonderfully it was received. As I received my set, I was convinced that there was no way such a thing as "audiophile" quality existed, and I would have died on the hill that audio is just audio and there is no difference to how it sounds. I respectfully took back my arguments and beliefs the instant I put on the headphones and listened to my first song.

The entire first day I received the Philips SHP9500 I spent listening to music with my wife — I'm not kidding. I don't listen to music in the sense of sitting down and focusing on the words and taking in the instruments, yet the headphones had me seated listening to every song and I excitedly looked for the next song to listen to experience the beautiful quality.

Let's talk technicals for those that understand, and teach those that don't. The Philips SHP9500 is an open-back set of headphones that allows the soundstage (the 3D effect caused by high-fidelity audio) to be wider and better than closed-back variants. This open design also allows for more breathability which prevents the ears from getting hot with extended use. However, it does add an audio bleed that allows anyone to listen in, and the Philips SHP9500 is no exception in this category.

The soundstage is gorgeous, breathtaking, enchanting, with the audio quality really making some things sound so much more clearly in comparison to other headphones or even sound straight from devices such as my CX OLED TV.

The Philips SHP9500 is a wired set of headphones and it comes with a very long 3.5mm cable that allows me to be a reasonable distance from my TV and maneuver comfortably around without worrying about pulling either of the two ends of the headphones.

That being said, gamers that care for a microphone will have to think twice before getting this set, granted that it doesn't have a built-in one. Given its price and purpose as an affordable audiophile set, however, I quickly overlooked it and was astounded by how much better it made my gaming experience. I could hear things I hadn't previously, and everything else just sounded so much more real and in-depth.

Remember how I said I went through three pairs before I landed on my Philips SHP9500? Apart from cherishing this headset as if it was the last drop of water on earth because I was fearful of breaking them from my sheer adoration, I failed miserably and have actively dropped them throughout the years after aggressive yanking from my pug running at the door and playing guard. That being said, as a testament to the Philips SHP9500's endurance, both the set I bought for my wife and mine have suffered several severe drops and neither of them have broken despite repeated yanking from a 10kg pug hellbent on murder.

To say I was floored by the audio quality of these headphones would be an understatement, and I know I can't put into words how wonderful audiophile sound quality is without first the person trying out the headphones. I was convinced that with time I would get used to the quality and move on, however, several years after using this same set I continue to be astounded by how good everything sounds. It's safe to say that the Philips SHP9500 turned me into a big lover of OSTs in videogames simply by how wonderful so many of them sounded through the headphones, and playing games such as Ori and the Blind Forest became such an invigorating experience that I had to replay several OST-heavy games just to have the pleasure of listening to them through these headphones. The experience these headphones brought to the music sphere for me, both in terms of gaming and not, is equivalent to seeing colour for the first time.