[tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tin ears /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tyll has stated it will be a new dynamic headphone in this thread. He appears to have inside info about the new Senn HP. He and his company are the early/major promoters/originators of the balanced Senn 650 (others later) and balanced HP concept in general, manufacturing balanced amps to match. Senn appears to be talking to them about the new model. It would be very silly to think Senn has not listened to multiple pairs of balanced 650's by now. It would also be silly to think Senn does not realize there are many companies making balanced headphone amps. After all, If you were Senn, would you want everyone saying their old balanced 650's sounded better than the unbalanced new model, particularly when all that is required to balance a 650 is an aftermarket cable swap? The Senn 650 is the phone that created this balanced trend. I posted the idea about using Diamond or Beryllium drivers in an earlier thread. The idea is sound, but expensive. Some of the world's best speakers are made with these compounds (Focal, B and W, Usher, to name a few). It began with tweeters, but Usher is now using Beryllium for its high end midrange units as well. I believe Accuton may have a diamond midrange unit that is being utilized in $50,000 speakers. Point being, the drivers could likely be made into full range transducers for headphones. If someone had sufficient R and D and desire to build state of the art headphone transducers, I think these two compounds could take headphone audio performance to the next level, as it has in the speaker market. The ultimate new dynamic headphone would therefore be balanced, with a beryllium or diamond transducer. Yes the initial R and D would be expensive, but you could recoupe costs as you trickle the tech down to your lower end models. The marketing potential for these two compounds has been great for speaker makers. The Senn Diamonds. How can you get any better than that?

For your info, diamond IS carbon. And there are plenty of carbon based drivers thus far. I read beryllium is mainly used for tweeters, not woofers.

I doubt the new one will be balanced, or at least they would supply an adapter with it to make sure the largest group of people using single ended amps are also served!

 

[tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steaxauce /img/forum/go_quote.gif So what we have is confirmation from Headroom that there will be a new, expensive dynamic from Senn that will not be called the HD700, and will not resemble the HD580/600/650. We also know that another store has listed an HD800. People seem to think this new headphone will come out in the first quarter of 2008, but I don't know where that information originated. Contrastique tells us that a Senn rep has told her that they will be coming out with a new Electrostat, but would not give any other specifics, such as release date or retail price. The rep also said that he could not discuss any upcoming high-end dynamic offering. One person has said that Senn will be coming out with a headphone priced at about 1000 EUROS, but he did not say where he got that information from. He speculated that because an electrostat would be more expensive, this headphone is probably a dynamic. Tyll from Headroom has implied that he hasn't been informed of the introduction of a new electrostat. Someone else has mentioned new offerings from Beyer that he is not allowed to go into any detail about. I am inclined to think that there will be both a new dynamic and later, a new electrostat. There was no confirmation of any timeframe for the release of new products in this thread (though there may be in others), but I'd expect that the dynamic headphone, probably called the HD800, will be released first, since Tyll from Headroom doesn't know about the electrostat. I can see Senn being willing to discuss the electrostat before the dynamic even if the dynamic is coming out first, because the electrostat won't make any current products obselete. There has been a lot of speculation on this thread about the possibility of the rep who mentioned the electrostat having been disingenuous, but I think that this is not the case. I wouldn't expect Senn to lie to customers to throw them off the trail of what's really going to be introduced. That would be dumb. Then again, I would've expected Tyll to know about a new electrostat before reps started discussing it with customers, as was the case with the new dynamic. It could be that Tyll and the dealers haven't heard about it because its release date isn't so near as that of the dynamic.

That sums it up pretty much, dynamic, around 1000 euro mark and probably released in the first quarter of 2008.

That's all we got.

The hd800 name originates from someone in canada, he was asking his local shop and all of a sudden the hd800 and a pricemark of 1000 euro's showed up on their system without any specifics.

Tyll also confirmed it won't be called hd700, so the hd800 name could be the real deal, stating that the hd800 is leaps above the hd650?!

I could do with a really good headphone since i feel headphones are getting a little behind the really good speaker systems.

 

[steaxauce]

I'd like to see a termination that can plug into a standard quarter-inch jack but can also be used in balanced configuration. Maybe add a fourth conductor at the back of the plug. The plug would be a bit longer and wouldn't go all the way into a standard jack, but when plugged into Senn's balanced amp all four conductors would be used. The two ground conductors would be merged until the headphone was plugged into the balanced amp, which would actuate a switch that would separate the two grounds.

 

[steaxauce]

Tourmaline, where did you hear that it would be priced at about 1000 Euros?

Edit: Heh, sorry; you just said didn't you. Oh well, +1 for my post count.

Off topic, I just want to say that THE HD650 SUXORZ!!! QC3 > HD650

 

[greggf]

Yeah, I prefer the sound signature of the HD600, too.

I'm beginning to think that all of the hoopla over the HD650 (and then the AKG K701 !) was just . . . hoopla.

For overall quality, the 600 can't be beat. The 701 and 650 are just as good, but NOT "better" and not "an improvement." They just sound DIFFERENT.

Diversity is good, though!!

 

[ktm]

There are few headphones in that $800-1200 bracket.
If they could hit it with a true performance set of cans,
instead of just hyping one up to that price, it would be a good thing.
The incremental steps between 580/600/650 made it hard to justify price
differences. Someone's got to raise the bar so that all the other
manufacturers have to hustle a little. We don't need another
$5000 set of "dream cans". We need a set that is not cheap, but
can be had with a bit of planning and saving.

 

[HiFlight]

This thread makes me wish I would have kept my old Stax Sigmas...Funny looking as they were, they did sound great, IIRC. That was about 30 years ago, so my fond memories might be a little jaded, but I remember thinking how foolish I was to spend $350.00 for a set of HEADPHONES!!!! :>)

Of course that included the amplifier as well.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder /img/forum/go_quote.gif I must say I prefer the sound signature of the HD600

You are not alone. Just goes to show that newer isn't always better, no matter what the fanboys say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFlight /img/forum/go_quote.gif This thread makes me wish I would have kept my old Stax Sigmas...Funny looking as they were, they did sound great, IIRC. That was about 30 years ago, so my fond memories might be a little jaded, but I remember thinking how foolish I was to spend $350.00 for a set of HEADPHONES!!!! :>) Of course that included the amplifier as well.

...and they still sell for more then 400$ 30 years later.

Great headphones but makes you look like a complete idiot. The sad part is that their true potential hasn't been fully discovered until the current high power OTL amps came along.

 

[Towert7]

Ah, I'm glad to hear more info on this.

I like to think that a new dynamic is comming out first, and then a new electrostatic, or another type of headphone.

Well, I wait for more info. Keep us posted O msytical Sennheiser Reps, oh... and you too Tyll.

 

[Michgelsen]

I don't know what the Dutch rep knows that others don't, but as I stated in the other "speculation" thread, I heard of a new stat by Sennheiser too, through my dealer.

 

[tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michgelsen /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know what the Dutch rep knows that others don't, but as I stated in the other "speculation" thread, I heard of a new stat by Sennheiser too, through my dealer.

I haven't heard of it yet. Only the new top dynamic headphone hd800. My dealer doesn't know squad about the new to come headphones. It's more a sidetrack for them then real business! Headphone sales(especially high end section) is not a big deal in europe in general. Biggest market is speakers!