The Sennheiser Orpheus 2? A First Look At The Sennheiser HE-1 (The New Orpheus)

[paradoxper]

The choice not to support HiFiMan is also simple enough.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

Shame. I would be interested to know how many sets of the HE-1 they actually sell in the first year. Guess enough units to justify the development and production costs?

I have no idea but I know when they were here in Toronto I was told by the store owner that they had taken deposits on 4 units that day. Truth or not, I don't know.

I don't think that the HE-1 isn't selling.

 

[336881]

Yeah, HiFiMan is behaving like Detroit automakers used to. A new model every year, whether it's needed or not, whether it's improved or not - of course, they will SAY that it's improved. Keep the suckers buying new stuff. HFM says some of their stuff is expensive "because it sounds so good." That's a quote to Tyll Hertsens at InnerFidelity. Nothing about cost of manufacture vs price. Then, they change it a year later, because... Because there are always new buyers. Never give a sucker an even break.

I prefer the Quad business model - design it right the first time, and you don't need to keep bringing out new versions. The Sennheiser HD 600/650 still sounds good a decade later because they worked it out before they put it on the market. Stax brings out new headphones when they think they have actually improved the technology, not because they are using the buyer as de facto beta testers. I think Sennheiser has a similar philosophy. If what you're selling is already among the best, why put out a new headphone just to say you have something new?

I love the hd800 for the record. I have tried out or owned all the recent $3-$4k headphones and I will take the hd800 and 007mk1 over all of them. Still as at least 1 hd800S owner has replied there is room for improvement. I personally think the hd800S and Sonarworks for that matter have too many tradeoffs and prefer the classic.

Sennheiser just sooooo reminds me of Technics right now. They had the most iconic piece of audio gear ever made, free word of mouth marketing and a good what 40 something year run but they took their audience for grain of salt and did not listen( beyond incredibly painfully long roll outs of new models) and really treated them like crap and eventually it got them. Allot of people think it was that the sl-1200 was so durable Technics eventually ran out of people to sell to after producing 3 million plus units. Or that CDJ's and controllers took over. It was actually hanpin outselling buy quite a margin several years in a row.

To me every good company needs to invest at least a percent or two of what it makes to customer gifts or giveaways. A thank you for their loyalty and hard earned money. I have seen this at every headphone meet I have been to. Technics did maybe .001-.002% throwing out a gold sl-1200 here and there at dmc championships that probably cost them 2 bits to make. Sennheiser may have been top dog for a long time but I could def. see Focal eclipsing them. If they really want to show they still care about what used to be their bread and butter hifi crowd they need to give away an HE-1 at a headphone meet. Just my 2 cents.

 

[up late]

Sennheiser may have been top dog for a long time but I could def. see Focal eclipsing them. If they really want to show they still care about what used to be their bread and butter hifi crowd they need to give away an HE-1 at a headphone meet. Just my 2 cents.

i know this is head-fi but we're still living in the real world

 

[astrostar59]

If what you're selling is already among the best, why put out a new headphone just to say you have something new?

Good post, but my point was if Senn is so huge a company, maybe they should have a bigger model range in Planars as well as conventional HPs, the IE range (and the unobtainium HE-1). If we look at the HD800 it has run and run, a minor tweak after 10 years? It can be beat by many other HPs according to the majority who post here. I never understood the fanboy base around it TBH, it was ok in the demo's I had with it, but didn't float my boat. It would be good news to have another big player in the Planar market such as Senn, and the real world priced Stat market as well, though the later isn't going to happen I am thinking.

 

[JimL11]

Sennheiser is a relatively big company, but audiophile headphones is probably a relatively small proportion of its business, and definitely the most squirrely . They make microphones for professional use, headsets for avionics and other professional users, etc. Most other headphone companies are not nearly so diversified.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Sennheiser is a relatively big company, but audiophile headphones is probably a relatively small proportion of its business, and definitely the most squirrely . They make microphones for professional use, headsets for avionics and other professional users, etc. Most other headphone companies are not nearly so diversified.

Totally, certain Sennheiser microphones are often quoted by the professionals in media industry as being the absolute best (I don't know which but I recall it being a Sennheiser model)

Good post, but my point was if Senn is so huge a company, maybe they should have a bigger model range in Planars as well as conventional HPs, the IE range (and the unobtainium HE-1). If we look at the HD800 it has run and run, a minor tweak after 10 years? It can be beat by many other HPs according to the majority who post here. I never understood the fanboy base around it TBH, it was ok in the demo's I had with it, but didn't float my boat. It would be good news to have another big player in the Planar market such as Senn, and the real world priced Stat market as well, though the later isn't going to happen I am thinking.

It would only complicate things sometimes, plus HD800S is easily the absolute most comfortable headphone in the world.

I mean the absolutely most comfortable headphone in the entire world.

I heard most of the high end headphones out there and honestly, HD800S can easily be the end-game headphone for one, many will have a slightly different signature but most of times HD800S already pulls all the details from the music, anything else will be a different presentation / different tuning, but HD800S should be able to render all the textures and details quite well.

I was impressed by a few other models, but once you reach the HD800S, you're mostly looking at different presentations and nothing else was this comfy, plus HD800S scan be changed with ease by using another AMP if another signature is required.

 

[Whazzzup]

Agree about TT incredible dac.

 

[Ali-Pacha]

Sennheiser owns Neumann, afaik.

Ali

 

[wink]

Yep....!! Sure do...... (But they don't own Shure).........

 

[336881]

i know this is head-fi but we're still living in the real world

I was too til I ate this blotter paper. Now I'm in bat country.

 

[up late]

you crazy guy

 

[raypin]

Mm..

 

[wink]

...

 

[Jmask5]

If anyone is interested Bay Bloor radio in Toronto is having a listening demo for this system next Friday and Saturday. You have to book a time.
https://baybloorradio.com/sennheiser-he-1-listening-event