This review will be fairly short as I'm not a big writer but it was an amazing experience being able to enjoy these headphones in a quiet environment with my own music for a solid hour.
Background:
Fortunately since I live in San Francisco, Sennheiser opened up a flagship store right downtown and you can book time with the HE 1 as often as you'd like! I setup my appointment and they have a very nice upstairs closed off area of their store there they have a great setup with the headphones and a macbook streaming tidal as well as a vinyl player and some music local to their laptop to pick from.
Pictures:
I only snagged a couple (and forgot landscape, I'll update the pictures when I go back with better ones) but they are BEAUTIFUL.
The Sound:
This is where I was completely wowed. For reference I have heard the MrSpeakers Electrostats, Stax 009 out of BHSE, various high end Sennheiser, Hifiman, Audeze, etc. (many of them in my home setup). Currently I'm between things with headphones, just a liquid carbon, HD 650 and Gungnir Multibit at home but I mostly listen to speakers now a days (my setup is nearing $10k for that).
Highs:
I listened to a number of tracks featuring cymbals and hi-hats and nothing ever sound piercing or sibilant, everything was perfectly smooth and extremely detailed and extended. I tend to be somewhat sensitive to a sharp treble and had no issue at all with these.
Mids:
My go to here are James Blake and Adele. Both of them sounded sublime on the HE 1, voices carried without any sense of harshness, but carried the weight and range of both the lower and mid vocal notes from each.
Lows:
Oh bass, this is where there is so much contention among audiophiles. My song of choice here is Doin' it Right by Daft Punk. Having listened to this song many times on a REW balanced speaker system w/ a perfectly integrated sub I know how it feels in a room. The deep and heavy bass will either feel underwhelming and slightly rolled off (HD800) or overblown and boomy (Most basshead focused headphones). With the HE 1 it sounded like a perfect balance and extended all the way down to the lowest registers without ever getting boomy. Clean hard hitting bass that balanced perfectly with the mids/highs.
Soundstage:
The HE 1 has an amazing soundstage slightly smaller than the HD800. For this I use Paint it Black as the opening drums can give a great sense of the size. Where the HD800 can feel just a bit unreal in the size, these are perfect.
Details/Dynamics:
For this two tracks I like to use are Dorset Perception by Shpongle and Brace Brace by Bonobo. Lots of varied instruments at different volume levels. The speed and dynamics of each instrument and placement was top notch. Every little detail around an instrument could be heard and the varied levels of sound all were extremely balanced.
Conclusion:
These are hands down the most balanced and real sounding headphones I've heard to date, there isn't any real flaw I could pick out where I can for most other headphones.
Would I buy these? Only if I became a $100MM+ in net worth. Were they the best headphone setup I've heard to date? You betcha.
Background:
Fortunately since I live in San Francisco, Sennheiser opened up a flagship store right downtown and you can book time with the HE 1 as often as you'd like! I setup my appointment and they have a very nice upstairs closed off area of their store there they have a great setup with the headphones and a macbook streaming tidal as well as a vinyl player and some music local to their laptop to pick from.
Pictures:
I only snagged a couple (and forgot landscape, I'll update the pictures when I go back with better ones) but they are BEAUTIFUL.
The Sound:
This is where I was completely wowed. For reference I have heard the MrSpeakers Electrostats, Stax 009 out of BHSE, various high end Sennheiser, Hifiman, Audeze, etc. (many of them in my home setup). Currently I'm between things with headphones, just a liquid carbon, HD 650 and Gungnir Multibit at home but I mostly listen to speakers now a days (my setup is nearing $10k for that).
Highs:
I listened to a number of tracks featuring cymbals and hi-hats and nothing ever sound piercing or sibilant, everything was perfectly smooth and extremely detailed and extended. I tend to be somewhat sensitive to a sharp treble and had no issue at all with these.
Mids:
My go to here are James Blake and Adele. Both of them sounded sublime on the HE 1, voices carried without any sense of harshness, but carried the weight and range of both the lower and mid vocal notes from each.
Lows:
Oh bass, this is where there is so much contention among audiophiles. My song of choice here is Doin' it Right by Daft Punk. Having listened to this song many times on a REW balanced speaker system w/ a perfectly integrated sub I know how it feels in a room. The deep and heavy bass will either feel underwhelming and slightly rolled off (HD800) or overblown and boomy (Most basshead focused headphones). With the HE 1 it sounded like a perfect balance and extended all the way down to the lowest registers without ever getting boomy. Clean hard hitting bass that balanced perfectly with the mids/highs.
Soundstage:
The HE 1 has an amazing soundstage slightly smaller than the HD800. For this I use Paint it Black as the opening drums can give a great sense of the size. Where the HD800 can feel just a bit unreal in the size, these are perfect.
Details/Dynamics:
For this two tracks I like to use are Dorset Perception by Shpongle and Brace Brace by Bonobo. Lots of varied instruments at different volume levels. The speed and dynamics of each instrument and placement was top notch. Every little detail around an instrument could be heard and the varied levels of sound all were extremely balanced.
Conclusion:
These are hands down the most balanced and real sounding headphones I've heard to date, there isn't any real flaw I could pick out where I can for most other headphones.
Would I buy these? Only if I became a $100MM+ in net worth. Were they the best headphone setup I've heard to date? You betcha.
Update: I booked a session in 2 weeks. But they only gave me 30 minutes.