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

[raypin]

Mm..earpads are angled.......from the inside. Taking it apart was easy. Getting it back was a b....

Pads and headband goes to the dehumidifier box tonight before some gentle vacuum tomorrow.

 

[mulder01]

Not a lot of room in with the drivers - I thought part of the amplification was in there?

 

[raypin]

OMG, talk about stripping a Super Model...look at these Porns! Thank you! This is eyes watering satisfaction . Now, her amplifier

mm...I'm not that crazy .

More impressions: it does not perform well with bass heavy tracks....by bass heavy I mean bass HEAVY. It can adequately play to satisfying levels, say, RATM's Fight the Power or Killing in the Name of.......Anything more than that you need heavy artillery. Not surprised. This is a reference system, not a headphone boombox.

 

[raypin]

Not a lot of room in with the drivers - I thought part of the amplification was in there?

Mm....it is there (it gets warm once in operation). Unfortunately, I do not have the tools to unearth it.

 

[VandyMan]

Mm....it is there (it gets warm once in operation). Unfortunately, I do not have the tools to unearth it.

Isn't the amp on the other side of the drivers (i.e. the room side, not the head side)? When I demoed it, I had the impression that the outer part of the cup had small heat sink fins for the amp.(However, I don't see anything like that in the pictures, so maybe my memory is faulty on this.) Besides the cost, the heat and weight of the amps was my biggest negative after demoing them. I assume the built-in amps must make a big difference to the sound, because ergonomically it would be a much better headphone without them.

 

[raypin]

mm...not sure where it is since it is not visible on either side of the headphone. Ergo-wise, I have no issues at all except for the warmth caused by the amp, mitigated by the heatsink and by using the headphone in a cool place (my room temp is a constant 23 degrees celsius). It is finely-balanced or the weight is evenly distributed and, in the 25 odd hours I've put into it, I have not experienced a single hotspot on any part of my head or ears. Clamp force is just perfect (for my head size). It is very, very comfortable to wear (for my head size).

The only issue I have with it, thus far, is I have a difficult time trying to keep it at a reasonable (and healthy to my ears) volume. lol!

 

[Whitigir]

Woa..those tubes get that warm ? What type of tubes

 

[raypin]

mm...no...the warmth from the separate amp (solid-state power amp) that is in-built in the headphones itself, not the warmth of the main amplifier/pre-amp (where the 8 vacuum tubes or valves are located).

 

[13candles]

Interesting to see an owner of the HE-1 posting here. I would add to balance the opinions on the 009s capabilities, the jump from being driven by the 007T or my last Stax amp, the SRM-717 to my next amp the KGSShv was huge, another headphone completely. Everything got bigger, wider, smoother, deeper, more 3D. Referring to bass in particular, no contest really, the 009 goes deeper and faster on KG amps.

Later when I got the KGSShv Carbon, it scaled up again with even more textured bass and a massive soundstage. Treble extension went up as well without any harshness or edges creeping in and layering shot up again. So I am wondering what the gap would finally be with a well driven 009 v the HE-1? Maybe just flavours? I will get my ears around the HE-1 for a quick demo in 2 weeks at Can-Jam so may get an 'idea' though not ideal conditions or what I would call a full demo TBH.

Congrats on your HE-1, no taking away from it, it has to be the ultimate 'off the shelf' HP system.

Keep the feedback coming Raypin!

I was fortunate enough to audition the HE1 for a 15min slot during this year's CanJam Singapore.

The HE1 demo was in a private room so listening conditions was more than ideal. First 3 tracks were all BINAURAL. Strategically chosen by the Senn reps to impress me. Yes i was rather impressed to be honest but then again who wouldn't be with binaural tracks from any good headphone system??. Then i told them i wanted to see what else they had so i chose some Metallica, Prince, U2(tracks which i know all too well and love) but definitely not that overplayed Hotel California

Long story short; without that binaural magic, i would be hard pressed; maybe even under duress to choose the HE1 over the Stax009 + BHSE + HoloSprings LVL3 Kitsune Tuned Edition which i also heard on the same day

 

[raypin]

Deleted

 

[astrostar59]

[QUOTE="raypin, post: 13587082, member: 154560"

More impressions: it does not perform well with bass heavy tracks....by bass heavy I mean bass HEAVY. It can adequately play to satisfying levels, say, RATM's Fight the Power or Killing in the Name of.......Anything more than that you need heavy artillery. Not surprised. This is a reference system, not a headphone boombox.[/QUOTE]

Do you mean it gets distorted or overloaded? Or do you mean it just sounds muddy when the recording has oner the top (poor) bass mastering? I listen to quite a lot of Trance which is very well recorded but has a LOT of fast bass, and the 009 and Carbon and my Audio Note DAC 5 handle it fine.

 

[raypin]

Mm...no distortion but just lacks in quantity and punch that the track calls for. Example track: Release the Freq. It is not a basshead headphone. That's for sure. Where the HE 1 really excels are vocals both male and female (eerily live, organic, natural), acoustic music, complex orchestral pieces, chorus or group singing (you can easily pick out individual vocalists), jazz and instrumentals. As with any headphone system, you do need it feed it with good quality recordings. Garbage in, garbage out.

All my mini-impressions thus far are from Flacs from either Tidal or from ripped CDs.

I am slowly compiling a playlist for the HE 1.

 

[mulder01]

10 points for feeding this Rolls-Royce-of-headphone-setups some RATM and just enjoying it and giving honest feedback.

Thought anyone who bought one of these would spend all day mulling over the nuances in audiophile reference recordings and using colourful adjectives to exaggerate how when you wear these headphones you are transported to a higher plain of existence where the word 'enjoyment' is a borderline offensive understatement that can't begin to describe the level of elation you feel when you hit 'play' on this work of art that exudes perfection.

Well, maybe not quite to that extent but you know what I mean. Good on you anyway.

 

[raypin]

Mm...He he he.....I am sure someone in Germany is horrified! 99 Luftballons, anyone?

 

[astrostar59]

Mm...no distortion but just lacks in quantity and punch that the track calls for. Example track: Release the Freq. It is not a basshead headphone. That's for sure. Where the HE 1 really excels are vocals both male and female (eerily live, organic, natural), acoustic music, complex orchestral pieces, chorus or group singing (you can easily pick out individual vocalists), jazz and instrumentals. As with any headphone system, you do need it feed it with good quality recordings. Garbage in, garbage out.

All my mini-impressions thus far are from Flacs from either Tidal or from ripped CDs.

I am slowly compiling a playlist for the HE 1.

Interesting. It might be personal taste, or may be your exposure to big bass HPs such as LCD4 or Abyss? So maybe your expectations are higher than mine in the bass department.
I dunno. But for me, modern dance and trance music, house music, all with pumping deep bass really is something on the 009. I compare it to my big speakers and it is on par IMO, and I have 12 inch woofers and a Velodyne sub. In some HPs particularly cheaper versions of IEM they have an exaggerated bass response, a happy V shaped EQ. It is passable I guess in those on the move IEMs but if that sound was scaled up into a good speaker setup, it would drown out the rest of the music and become a house shaking boom box IMO. I am personally convinced electrostatic HPs get close to reality, and in that way, won't have the response that would exaggerate huge amounts of bass energy. Makers of budget IEMs are playing to the market expectations on possibly younger buyers (huge generalisation, but you get me drift).

Interestingly, and IMO, a single drive speaker or HP will always struggle to do big bass energy and still maintain mid range detail and treble transparency. The energy in the bass can 'overload' the HP and simply reduce back any decay and transparency that electrostatics major on. This is my opinion anyway. The 009 driven well gets to my close ideal of the best of both worlds. In fact, to me, until I left the Lambda range for the 007 and 009, I was under the impression stats couldn't 'do' bass.

Going back to the HE-1 I would say from your impressions it is a superb HP, possibly the best ever made. But maybe isn't or shouldn't be a negative mark against it if it is not a bass head if it is balanced like the 009 for example. I will hear it on Saturday, can't wait....