Philips Fidelio FB1 review: the sledgehammer of soundbars

LEDs and leather

It is just a little bit shorter, at roughly 47 inches, than the bottom of a 65-inch TV. Since it is only 2.8 inches tall, neither the remote control nor your TV’s screen should be obstructed. But if it does, the FB1 has a connected infrared transmitter that is an optional feature that you may mount to your TV’s IR receiver.

A wired microphone for room calibration, a remote control with batteries, a power cord, and a set of wall-mount brackets are all included in the box. Oddly enough, Philips doesn’t supply an HDMI or optical cable. So be sure to put one in your trolley if you don’t already have one. The absence of a comprehensive user manual, however, is a much worse oversight. I can assure you that you will need the handbook, so download it right now.

A wired microphone for room calibration, a remote control with batteries, a power cord, and a set of wall-mount brackets are all included in the box. Oddly enough, Philips doesn’t supply an HDMI or optical cable. So be sure to put one in your trolley if you don’t already have one. The absence of a comprehensive user manual, however, is a much worse oversight. I can assure you that you will need the handbook, so download it right now.

The FB1’s up-firing height drivers now have LED lighting from Philips, which is a genuine surprise. There is a very bright alphanumeric display behind the front grille (which is luckily dimmable). They surprise me by lighting up anytime a Dolby Atmos signal is detected, which is why I say that. The front display will inform you if you are listening to Atmos, negating the need for the ring system. Thankfully, you can completely disable them or have the default setting turn them off after 10 seconds. or leave them on at all times! I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked that the business, which has long pushed its Ambilight TV feature, also likes to use LEDs on its other items.

An HDMI input, a two-way HDMI ARC/eARC port, an optical connector, and a USB port are all located on the back. Since there are no Ethernet ports or analogue inputs, all network functionality rely solely on Wi-Fi. The calibration mic input and IR blaster output are additional features. For those who have limited HDMI inputs on their TVs, having an HDMI input, particularly one that supports 4K and Dolby Vision passthrough, is useful. However, gamers should be aware that 4K is only available at 60Hz and that there is no variable refresh rate, so you should probably keep your Xbox or PlayStation directly connected to your TV.

Play-Fi blues

Let’s now discuss how to equip the Fidelio FB1 with surround speakers and a subwoofer. With its Fidelio FS1 Wireless Speakers ($300 per) and Fidelio FW1 Wireless Subwoofer ($500), Philips enables this option.

It should be a simple setup of this kind. Sony, Bose, and Sonos have undoubtedly mastered this technique. But, it turned out to be really awkward because to the difficulty caused by the two apps and DTS Play-Fi. The fact that the FS1 and the FW1 require different methods to connect to Wi-Fi, or the fact that after they are connected, you must use your best judgement to add them to the sound bar (there is no indication of how to do this) both irritated me.

I’m sure I would have received a fantastic surround sound experience if the DTS Play-Fi system wasn’t at the centre of the wireless connections between these parts. The FS1 speakers in particular, with their three-way drivers and up-firing 2.5-inch midrange driver, look very attractive on paper.

Yet despite numerous lengthy software upgrades on each speaker, numerous system recalibrations, and general hair-pulling (which didn’t help and left my head hurting), I could not for the life of me get these four devices to operate together.

The result was a subwoofer that sounded as if it had been covered in thick, wet animal skin, and a pair of rear surrounds that were slightly out of sync with the Fidelio FB1 sound bar. Worse yet, when actors with low voices talked, the FB1’s built-in subwoofers began to create an obnoxious pounding echo. Just 10 minutes into an episode of Better Call Saul, my family revolted, and I had to unpair the surrounds and subwoofer.

These kinds of audio problems can be annoying enough, but I also find it problematic how the PS Fine Tune software handles these speakers when they are arranged into a single home theatre arrangement. The Ambilight LEDs from Philips are installed in the FS1. The LED behavior cannot be changed once the surrounds for the FB1 have been grouped together. They’ll continue carrying out the tasks they were assigned before being grouped.

Furthermore, the FS1’s own settings cannot be separately managed within a home theatre group, despite the FB1’s remarkable number of level options for each channel.

It’s possible that this will be fixed soon because, according to a Philips spokesman I spoke with, firmware updates were scheduled because some of these issues were caused by known defects. But I can’t quite shake the nagging impression that Philips rushed the FB1’s release before it had a firm grasp on the user experience.

The Philips Fidelio FB1 is impressive for a single-speaker option. It delivers a Dolby Atmos experience that is unmatched at its price point and can compete head-to-head with sound bars that are significantly more expensive. One of the few sound bars that can persuade you that a subwoofer is an extra that’s not absolutely necessary.

Nevertheless, its dependency on the DTS Play-Fi technology for adding wireless subs and surrounds is a performance and complexity disadvantage (two apps versus one). It needs to do a lot of catching up in this area if it wants to compete with—or even match—the more sophisticated products from Bose, Sony, and—especially—Sonos.