Hm, I must say I'm with
@kp297 on this one. I've heard the Orpheus twice, and both times I was thinking, well, this is just another headphone. Was not impressed at all. At the third opportunity, I didn't even bother. To be fair, I don't think it is
meant to wow you on a cursory listen, and oftentimes the things with the biggest wow factor just end up getting on your nerves in the end while you stick with the "growers". Also both times were under show conditions which is not comparable with listening to your own music at home, but anyway, it just left me cold.
The DMP-Z1 on the other hand ... All I can say at the moment is that I've never heard music presented this way. It's really unlike everything I've ever heard. Note that this is not necessarily positive. I mean, this thing has made short work of some of my most beloved tunes. Entire songs that might suffer from a lackluster production I wasn't even aware of beforehand have completely fallen apart under its scrutiny, rendered virtually unlistenable -- harsh, untight, instruments all over the place. I listened for two or three hours last night, and there was a moment when I had the revelation that for me it's not about the technical prowess, it's entirely about the music. The hunt for the best sound has become a sport for some of us, and it's easy to fall into this mindset. And it's absolutely okay if you do, I think it's just not my way. I will always love my favorite tunes, no matter if I hear them on some sort of megabuck system or streamed on a crappy mono speaker, because of the memories, the situations, the people I've shared them with.
Then again, Björk, Dead Can Dance or Sigur Ròs never sounded this good. Ethereal, unearthly, otherworldly. Just now, I was playing Alva Noto's cover version of "A Forest" by The Cure.
I'm not exaggerating when I say my jaw dropped. I literally sat there open-mouthed like an imbecile for minutes. It was one of those situations where you cannot believe that what you're hearing (that sub-bass!) is coming out of such small things (in this case DMP-Z1 and IER-Z1R). What a huuuge sound. I can't imagine someone hearing this and not being touched to their core by the experience.
It's incredible what difference a really black background makes. In the best moments, it's like you're standing in a room in pitch-black darkness and someone is painting with light around you, colors that bloom and then vanish again in complete blackness. For me, high-end has always been very much about separation, basically taking a lump of sound and dissecting it into distinct elements, surrounding them with air and assigning them a position in a three-dimensional space. But sometimes this can be taken too far, and I think this sort of dissection might in fact be detrimental to the impact of certain songs that might profit from just this "wall of sound" effect. So over the course of the coming weeks, I will have to see how my own music collection fares with the DMP-Z1, how it will treat all of my Redbook files and vinyl rips. Only a small portion of my music is in hi-res; it's an increasing number, but I have thousands of CD's and records with lots and lots of pop and electronic music that I want to continue to enjoy, and if the DMP-Z1 should turn out to be too ruthless towards them, well, lets just say I know where my allegiance lies. If 40 % of my music sounds stellar and 60 % terrible, that obviously will not suffice. It's funny, in a way I almost feel like I'm only just coming to terms with what true high-end sound really is, and it definitely takes some getting used to. There have been moments with the DMP-Z1 that were intense to the point of being overwhelming and dizzying. It's not so much ear fatigue as mind fatigue, like it's too much to digest. But this is all very interesting, and I'm curious where it will take me. (At the moment, I'm not sure what I'm even getting at with these incoherent ramblings. Sorry for the stream of consciousness, maybe I shouldn't have listened while typing.
)
I guess what I want to say is this:
@Rob49, there is absolutely no need to be "jelly". Nobody needs something like the DMP-Z1, or at least I guess that's true for me. It's overkill, and it's most certainly decadent. Music does not have to sound as good as it does at the best moments to be enjoyed. A true love for music is something that money can't buy. Music does not cost the world either, and the older I get, the more often I find myself turning towards the songs and tracks that have accompanied me all my life anyway. Do I want them to sound good? Sure I do, but sometimes good is good enough. I really do think that this is an item for those who have everything else. If money is no issue, then go ahead and buy one. If best performance is your ultimate goal, if you see it more as a sport, then buy one and tweak the hell out of it. I don't think that ultimately it will increase your enjoyment of the music; instead you might just end up listening to the gear, and I think a lot of this is just compensation. That is one more thing I'll have to evaluate in the coming weeks. At the moment, this very piece of gear often sounds so spectacular that I'm absolutely floored. The thing is, I don't want to listen to the gear.
Or maybe it's just the midlife crisis talking. Excuse the rambling, everyone. And enjoy the music.