[lovethatsound]

Just had a good look at this on the what hifi site and i think it looks great . I've also got a feeling that it's gonna sound pretty special as well.

 

[Fidelity King]

The hype is strong with this thread

 

[derbigpr]

Most people who dislike the marble ignore the fact that a lot of people who will buy this have homes where a marble amp would fit nicely. IMHO I don't like it because it reminds to of grave stones too much.

 

[pearljam50000]

from a different website..:
"

1. That’s no ordinary stone – it is fine Carrara marble of the type once used by Michelangelo. It was chosen for its mass, purity and solidity. It houses an amplifier and is the foundation for this device.

1. The headphones use 2.4-micrometre thick, platinum-vapourised diaphragms. Sennheiser’s research suggests this is the optimal size for sound reproduction.
2. There is an ultra-wide frequency range from 8 Hz to more than 100 kHz. That far exceeds the human auditory range; you couldn't perceive it all unless you had the combined hearing abilities of bats and elephants.

"

 

[derbigpr]

  A couple years ago I had a carrara marble wash table, exactly as Senn amp looks like.  With build-in box and mirror... It was not too expensive...
I heared Orpheus several times and can say, this hp was/is only so good because the HEV90  was excellent tailored for HE90. The same HE90 at the LST (my Stax Transformer with two jacks for Stax and HE90, plus separat BIAS for every hp ) and e.g. Accuphase Pre and Poweramp, is in comparison with 009 indeed no more sooo good. Or/and 009 is that much better as with customary estat amps. In my opinion - both is true. Thus, the question is, do we become really a new Senn statement product, much better as Orpheus or 009 is? The marble Senn DAC-Amp (digitalamp) looks not so much promising. What´s about e.g. enough place inside for a big highend power supply? And: Is it to expect the hot tubes run down as "cold tubes" about 30 Minutes after switch off the amp??
I don´t want bash the new Senn, but as well I don´t understand the excitement of last 20 pages without one tone heared from somebody. Otherwise, I possesed HD800 two times and every time sold these, because lack of satisfaction. But, maybe, this set will be so many times better as so many times more expensive is in relation to the Stax System?  Who knows...
@edstrelow: + 1

 
 
"It was not too expensive..." -  Marble is NOT as expensive as people think.  This marble casing was probably cheaper to manufacture than it would if they machined a solid piece of aluminium.

 

[Beagle]

  mmm.....but if it were priced, say, USD 2,500.00 for the whole system, none of you would be b_____ about the design?, Huh? Honestly.

 
Anything over $2000 I would bitch at. T'ain't worth it....I don't care how good it sounds. It's still only a headphone. People seem to forget that.

 

[Rockcoon]

It's a huge marble thing, that nailed together and should be weight a tonn. I finaly remember, where i saw it:

[VIDEO]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Dz6FOE_Gk[/VIDEO]

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Even at $10k it's still stupid and ugly to put marble.

mmm.....but if it were priced, say, USD 2,500.00 for the whole system, none of you would be b_____ about the design?, Huh? Honestly.

 

[complin]

I still think it looks like its been designed by a committee!
 

 
 
Quote:

Just had a good look at this on the what hifi site and i think it looks great . I've also got a feeling that it's gonna sound pretty special as well.

 
Nah the marble look was done over 20 years ago (1992/4) by a small boutique British manufacturer but IMO with much more style than the above..............here are what they came up with for amplifiers
 

 


 
 
Quote:

   I guess making amps from rocks is trending.  Yaba daba doo! 

 

[derbigpr]

I wonder how many people are going to be fooled into paying extreme amounts of money for this amp just because of the marble, which takes literally 2 minutes to design in any CAD program due to how simple the design (or lack of it to be precise) is, and any quarry and stone worker will make an exact copy of it for about 500 dollars, yes even out of carrara marble. Hell, give me 500 dollars, and in 24 hours you'll have an exact shape amp enclosure with all holes cut, polished to glass-like finish, made out of the white stone that you'll find in the White House ,that's right, quarry where they mined that stone is 1 hour away from where I live.

 

[icebear]

  from a different website..:
....
There is an ultra-wide frequency range from 8 Hz to more than 100 kHz. That far exceeds the human auditory range; you couldn't perceive it all unless you had the combined hearing abilities of bats and elephants."

 
If this frequency range is coming without a spec indicating +/- X db it's pretty worthless.
And this is coming from Sennheiser must fly in the face of their own engineer Axel Grell.
Here an interview with him mentioned earlier in the HD800 thread:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/650510/the-new-hd800-impressions-thread/19770#post_11852101

 

[Jedaite]

  No, I am saying my wallet will run away at the thought of the price tag as I read more details. which I have yet to see. I liked my HD800's when I owned them but if these are in the same housing, I will not even consider them as they will not fit my head well for long periods of time. Besides, I dont have the budget for anything over $2k ever. I just rather have multiple headphones at that price.

I'll trade in the 4 chicken drum sticks that I *personally* cooked tonight for the fine pair of headphones (and amp) in the picture.
Sennheiser should be feeling lucky. What do you guys think??

 

[icebear]

 
I'll trade in the 4 chicken drum sticks that I *personally* cooked tonight for the fine pair of headphones (and amp) in the picture.
Sennheiser should be feeling lucky. What do you guys think??

Certified organic free range audiophile drum sticks?

 

 

[purk]

  Re: Price...Too many people are caught in what Kevin Gilmore gave as an estimate early in the thread. ($40K)
 
When Kevin speaks about circuitry and design, we all stop to listen (I have one his designs a KGSSHV with 009s and it is superb)...but I think in this case he was just giving us a (very) educated guestimate, difficult at best without knowing what's inside, and whether or not this is for limited mass production, or indeed a very limited hand-built and numbered statement piece. (unless Dr. Gilmore was commissioned by Sennheiser for the design process and he's teasing us with a little inside info...please say it ain't so).
 
That said, $40K is what many well-heeled audiophiles will pay for the very best speakers (literally dozens of speakers at any high-end show), or even a limited production, handcrafted turntable. So not out of line in today's market (though I might question releasing this on the week of the latest stock market turmoil).
 
In the Spring, I witnessed a consumer install of $350,000 Genesis's flagship speaker. The room wasn't treated and was more for home theatre, so the speakers did not live up to what they are capable of, but they were mind-blowing nevertheless....and Genesis does sell a few pairs of these each year...so there is a market for this "outrageously" priced stuff. Just try to order a La Ferrari or whatever its successor is...all 400 are sold out almost the day it was revealed. 
 
If Sennheiser does a limited run of a few hundred (to hold the value), they WILL sell them...if they are better than the original Orpheus...and, a big if,...the amp is step up from the current SOTA designs by Dr. Gilmore, and in particular, the BHSE that Jason builds, Woo's statement piece (no one batted an eyelash when he introduced his $15K amps last year), and the superb sounding new Cavalli amps. That is a big "IF" though, yet if anyone besides Stax could pull this off, I would put my money with Sennheiser's R&D + the work that has done in this community by the best builders and designers (Woo, Headamp, Cavalli, Dr. Gilmore, etc.).
 
I would bet Dr. Gilmore a T2 that it's around $19,995 to $24,995 USD for this system. But I must say, that compared to the original Orpheus, the Jason's BHSE or any Woo design, the amp is ugly.

Your post makes some sense until you mistaken some dude named "Jason" for Justin Wilson, the owner of Headamp.com  

 
I happen to think that KG's price speculation may not be too far off base.  Assuming that this amp is as good as the DIY T2 (tough task IMO), the amp will likely cost Sennheiser around 10K to make if not more (those precious marble is not cheap).  Thus, the retailed price of this amp will be around 20-25K.  Plus another 3-4K for top-end built-in DAC, and then over 10K for headphones.  That alone is at least 35K, so his 40K estimated is just about on the money.  Can you guys imagine someone accidentally drop this system by mistake?  No dent to worry about...just several broken pieces of what used be a very expensive headphones system.  I personally think this system will be over 40K IMO.
 
BTW, the parts cost for the DIY T2 is actually north of 7,000 dollars.

 

[Frank I]

 

I heard over 15K Euro so somewhere north of 20K US