[Efgp]

Season's Greetings, Head-Fi!

​

ICYMI: A few months ago, we opened the Audiophile Experience Center (AEC) in our Tullamore, Ireland factory Well, to celebrate the opening, we’re sending THREE lucky people AND their +1 to Tullamore for the audiophile experience of a lifetime. You’ll get to:

• Tour the same factory where we make our audiophile line of headphones
• Experience the HE 1 for yourself in our dedicated listening room
• Meet some of the people behind the Sennheiser sound
• Witness the real-time production of headphones made by our skilled team
• Tour the Tullamore Dew distillery
• Visit a local Irish pub
• Check all of the above off your bucket list with some of the most devoted members of the hi-fi community

​

Here’s what to do:

• Read the entirety of this post—the important details are below and in the links provided
• Reply to this very post you are reading with your country of residence and which album you’d listen to on the HE 1 and why. Spare no detail or creativity—we're looking for the most passionate audiophiles to bring to Ireland
• Click the below links for Privacy Notice and T&Cs
• Of course, you must be able to travel internationally if required

Details: open to residents of the contiguous United States, United Kingdom, France and German residents only, and must be 18+. Promotion ends December 31, 2023 at 11:59PM PST. Winners will be contacted from the @Sennheiser verified account only via private message by January 4, 2024. If winners do not respond to prize notification within 48 hours of message, a new winner will be selected. By participating you confirm that you have read and understood the Sonova Privacy Notice: https://bit.ly/3RSpLDL. Full Terms and Conditions: https://bit.ly/3GORKha.

Happy HD-olidays!

-

From France here ! If I happen to land a spot in the lucky three, my top pick for the HE 1 would be "Jazz at the Pawnshop."
Now, some might see this as a typical choice, but let me shed some light on why it means so much to me:
Picture this: In 1976, Gert Palmcrantz setting up his gear for just another normal recording session... Little did he know that one of those recordings, at Stampen, the jazz club in the Old Town of Stockholm, would become legendary among music lovers all over the world.
No formal sound checks or planned balance tests—just pure, accidental brilliance captured on that particular evening.
Palmcrantz's incredible recording process, tape after tape, adjusting levels in real-time, speaks volumes about the exceptional harmony among the musicians, and save for a tiny cut in Egil Johansen's drum solo, the entire performance unfolded seamlessly. And with this, Palmcrantz's hands-off approach allowed the musicians' skill, creativity, and inspiration to shine through in a natural and raw way that is really only beaten by a live performance.
But it's not just about the music. This album captures ambient details—clinking cutlery, bits of Swedish conversations, and the distant hum of another jazz band, the Gamlingen, playing below. It's not just listening; it's a journey into that specific moment and place in time.
So, when I choose "Jazz at the Pawnshop" for the HE 1, it's not just about my love for music; it's about immersing myself in an experience, being able to feel that moment at the Stampen, and catching the subtle details that elevate good music to greatness; and for that I don't think it gets much better than the HE 1 .
A big thank you for this fantastic opportunity, and my best wishes to all participants. Here's to hoping the winners soak in the magic of the HE 1 at the new Experience Center.
Warm regards and best wishes for the holiday season, along with hopeful thoughts for a successful outcome!

 

[jchandler3]

Season's Greetings, Head-Fi!

​

ICYMI: A few months ago, we opened the Audiophile Experience Center (AEC) in our Tullamore, Ireland factory Well, to celebrate the opening, we’re sending THREE lucky people AND their +1 to Tullamore for the audiophile experience of a lifetime. You’ll get to:

• Tour the same factory where we make our audiophile line of headphones
• Experience the HE 1 for yourself in our dedicated listening room
• Meet some of the people behind the Sennheiser sound
• Witness the real-time production of headphones made by our skilled team
• Tour the Tullamore Dew distillery
• Visit a local Irish pub
• Check all of the above off your bucket list with some of the most devoted members of the hi-fi community

​

Here’s what to do:

• Read the entirety of this post—the important details are below and in the links provided
• Reply to this very post you are reading with your country of residence and which album you’d listen to on the HE 1 and why. Spare no detail or creativity—we're looking for the most passionate audiophiles to bring to Ireland
• Click the below links for Privacy Notice and T&Cs
• Of course, you must be able to travel internationally if required

Details: open to residents of the contiguous United States, United Kingdom, France and German residents only, and must be 18+. Promotion ends December 31, 2023 at 11:59PM PST. Winners will be contacted from the @Sennheiser verified account only via private message by January 4, 2024. If winners do not respond to prize notification within 48 hours of message, a new winner will be selected. By participating you confirm that you have read and understood the Sonova Privacy Notice: https://bit.ly/3RSpLDL. Full Terms and Conditions: https://bit.ly/3GORKha.

Happy HD-olidays!

-

Hey Sennheiser, thanks for the opportunity. I'm a USA resident.

If I had to choose only one album, it would be the score to God of War Ragnarok, by Bear McCreary.

I don't mean to get sappy, but it's a meaningful choice to me. I suffer from severe depression and for those who don't know its impacts... it's hard to do anything, even get out of bed. But I have a family to care for so I need to keep going somehow. Going through the game God of War Ragnarok was a bonding activity for me and one of my sons, and it gave me something to look forward to with him. We loved going through the story together and the music is such a powerful element that ties the whole experience together. Listening to it brings me back to some of the only good parts of a very dark time.

Aside from sentiment, it's masterfully arranged and the orchestration is beautiful. I'd love to hear it on the HE-1.

 

[Chefguru]

Sounds fun... USA resident.


Herbie Hancock's SEXTANT has a really nice complex instrumentation and arrangements. A wide array of instruments, sounds, and musical textures in his arrangements, from lush strings and horns to funky electric pianos, synthesizers, and basslines. I often use this to test my estat systems. The complex interplay between all these elements is challenging to reproduce accurately. Tier 1 headphone systems allow you to pick out all the subtle details.

Additionally HH is a brilliant jazz pianist and composer with a very advanced rhythmic sensibility. This album was 50yr ahead of it's time and often hailed as the birth of true hip-hip. The interlocking grooves, syncopations, and micro-timing in his music are complex. Many of Herbie's recordings feature wide and expansive soundstages, with different instruments and elements spread out left, right, and center - SEXTANT is the most extreme in this regard. I'm curious when pushed, how the he-1 will recreate this spaciousness and imaging. Lastly, the emotional resonance of the album is a good fit for the trip. Hidden Shadows is at HH at his best; full of soulfulness.

 

[LuthierJeff]

Hi all, and thank you to Sennheiser for offering this up! I'm tempted to just listen to everything that everyone's mentioning in this thread, they all seem very thoroughly though-out. High-fives to ostewart and theintention, I loved those albums you mentioned. And jchandler3, thanks for describing God of War Ragnarok, I'd love to hear it. Haven't played the game yet, but I could imagine the father/son dynamic in it to be powerful.

One album... metal is dearest to me, but in a situation like this, I'd probably go with Songs of Supergiant Games. It's an album of songs written for different games by Darren Korb and sung by Ashley Barrett, but for this recording they got an orchestra to play at Abbey Road Studios. It sounds damn amazing, but also I have a particular emotional attachment to their music. I stumbled on Darren and Ashley doing a duet + guitar set years ago that just melted me, and comes back when I listen to them.

Anyway, cheers! USA resident here, also.

 

[DivinesGaming]

I'm from the USA.

I'd like to listen to not an entire album, but the single "Imagination" by Foster the People. I find their modern day take on music has accented electronic charm that can only be brought out by some of the most resolving speakers, headphones, and IEMs. I'd love to try HE-1's, because when I went to CanJam LA I wasn't on the reservation list to have a chance at them. If I was given the opportunity to try an entire album it would have to be Third Eye Blind's self titled EP. It's just among my favorites of all time, and would be magical. Hope I get a ticket to make that experience possible! Cheers guys.

Imagination

 

[Zachik]

I reside in the US. Album will likely be Dire Straits' Brother in Arms, because it is one of my all-time favorite albums.
This album is a classic, and I do not think it needs any explanation or reasoning. In fact, I listened twice to "Brothers in Arms" track on my HE-1 session in previous CanJams. What a treat...

 

[NickT23]

Only first world country able to enter the contest. Why only these 4 country ?

 

[psklrdk]

Hello from Germany,

I had an opportunity to hear the HE-1 only for few minutes on High-End in Munich but the enviroment was not music listening friendly.
From what i have heard i was very impressed and would like to repeat it in an more plaesant location which is Irleand.
The Green Island is my escape place.


The Album to Choose?
Today i would take Hania Ranis Esja.


This album accompanied us last year driving through Ring of Kerry.
Sublime experience.
Beautiful country and fantastic people. A perfect place for an escape from stresfull enviroment and work.

 

[saeldur]

From USA.

This sounds like an amazing opportunity.
For me, if I could only listen to one album on HE-1, it would be World of Walker by Alan Walker, because it has a good mix of:

• Soft vocals that I enjoy by various artists
• Epic scores - re-mix of couple of Hans Zimmer scores
• Catchy electronic music that doesn't overpower

 

[Whazzzup]

Canada

if I listen to he 1, and I like it more than hd800S, how am I supposed to rationalize that? Compartmentalized I just heard wonderful afterlife like harmony deep smart base, harmonious mid grooves and tantalizing highs like sugar plums dancing in my head. Then what? I leave get wasted at some Irish pub on my 10th Guinea going, sheesh I want he1 but got this darn hd800S that I thought was just great. Fine in fact, but noooooo. Now I’m like a jilted lover, betrayed and left to meander in my acoustic depression.
nay, I would not leave without said he1. so these rules and I have an impasse.
Concerning what I’d listen to. If I had one song prince u know, or the album art official age. Just cause it’s a baseline test album with good separation.

 

[jerryjose46vr]

France, I would love to listen Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven by Godspeed you! Black Emperor.

This album and GY!BE in general has been influential to me, and helpful in life at many instances. To the extend that I have a tattoo of the album art. Also, I was lucky to have few minutes with HE-1 sometime ago, and managed to get through the start of track 'Storm'. The instruments sounded incredibly layered, and I was able to focus on the location I want and instruments then. I want to immerse myself in its entirety. Cheers.

 

[KcMsterpce]

Season's Greetings, Head-Fi!

​

ICYMI: A few months ago, we opened the Audiophile Experience Center (AEC) in our Tullamore, Ireland factory Well, to celebrate the opening, we’re sending THREE lucky people AND their +1 to Tullamore for the audiophile experience of a lifetime. You’ll get to:

• Tour the same factory where we make our audiophile line of headphones
• Experience the HE 1 for yourself in our dedicated listening room
• Meet some of the people behind the Sennheiser sound
• Witness the real-time production of headphones made by our skilled team
• Tour the Tullamore Dew distillery
• Visit a local Irish pub
• Check all of the above off your bucket list with some of the most devoted members of the hi-fi community

​

Here’s what to do:

• Read the entirety of this post—the important details are below and in the links provided
• Reply to this very post you are reading with your country of residence and which album you’d listen to on the HE 1 and why. Spare no detail or creativity—we're looking for the most passionate audiophiles to bring to Ireland
• Click the below links for Privacy Notice and T&Cs
• Of course, you must be able to travel internationally if required

Details: open to residents of the contiguous United States, United Kingdom, France and German residents only, and must be 18+. Promotion ends December 31, 2023 at 11:59PM PST. Winners will be contacted from the @Sennheiser verified account only via private message by January 4, 2024. If winners do not respond to prize notification within 48 hours of message, a new winner will be selected. By participating you confirm that you have read and understood the Sonova Privacy Notice: https://bit.ly/3RSpLDL. Full Terms and Conditions: https://bit.ly/3GORKha.

Happy HD-olidays!

-

I'm in Germany.
I would listen to Dream Theater "A Dramatic Turn of Events", simply because listening to this album loud makes my spine tingle. As a guitar enthusiast, and a lover of top-tier musicianship, this group blows my mind at how well they work together, with mind-twisting key changes and masterful rhythmic cadence, played in tandem. The lengthy instrumental breakdown in "Outcry" gets more and more complex, and confusing, but they're so tight as a group it's like they are a single mind, just spread across eight hands. What's even a bigger surprise was at the time, Mike Mangini took over for Portnoy as drummer, and I didn't think anyone could replace him. After seeing them perform live in Seoul that year, I left the concert going "Mike who? Oh, do you mean Mangini?"

 

[Inju]

First, thank you for this opportunity. I'm a USA resident. I would listen to Andrew Lloyd Webber's, Requiem. The dynamic range of the album is excellent with a DR score of 12 on CD. There are some shocking moments in the album which really pulls on your emotions.

The album was written for his father that had died that year as well as a tragic story about a Cambodian Boy who had to choose between his own life or his sister's. The album won a Grammy award in 1986 under the Classical Contemporary Composition category. I play the cello in a philharmonic orchestra and really listen to the accuracy in classical music pieces and find many classical music pushes the boundaries of speakers and headphones in terms of dynamic range.

The album has a full chorus, three soloists (tenor, soprano, treble) an orchestra that includes organ, drum kit, and amazingly a synthesizer. The album also features Sarah Brightman who has a beautiful voice as well as Placedo Domingo. The album was recorded in the famous Abbey Road Studios and debuted in New York in 1985. They used a tree mic setup above the conductor to record the piece. As with many classical music with a wide dynamic range, it's more difficult to deal with clipping when brass and loud chorus comes in. In this album if you listen to Offertorium at 3:57 you will hear a bit of clipping at that point. Also if you listen carefully you will hear movement from the orchestra and other slight background noises throughout the album. It really brings you into the studio with all the very slight imperfections when recording live with a full orchestra and chorus.

 

[warrenpchi]

Reply to this very post you are reading with your country of residence and which album you’d listen to on the HE 1 and why. Spare no detail or creativity—we're looking for the most passionate audiophiles to bring to Ireland

USA. Because it's good!

P.S. - The number of people not replying to the first post - and thus submitting ineligible entries - is staggering!

 

[Bytor123]

• Visit a local Irish pub

...ought to be first