[RMSKFX]

Exactly, I hope this doesn't end up being another rare limited headphone...
They need to put this up on Amazon and sell it like any other regular products so we can get our hands on it one day.....

Start holding your breath about NOW!!

 

[HugoFreire]

.

 

[Sal1950]

 
Yes, of course.  However, without any evidence at all they're claiming these are the best headphones ever made.  Maybe they are.  Sennheiser's a GREAT company.  They make GREAT products.  But it's still arrogant for them to make such claims before there's any real world experience.  It would be very VERY different, if they said, "We believe these are the greatest headphones ever made."
But to say they are the best headphones ever made is presumptuous.  They need to PROVE it.  The logic goes like this: They need to prove that the price is justified by the stunning sound that's better than anything made so far.  They can't expect (most of us) to believe these are the best ever simply because they're priced so highly and therefore "must be great."  KEY POINT: I'm NOT saying they aren't the greatest ever made.  With a company of this caliber, they may very well be the very best ever.  But for them to make this claim prior to even releasing the product--without qualifying it as their opinion rather than an established fact--should be troublesome, even for people who really like that company (like me).

Why all this negativity? You guys for the main are all major subjectives. The number 1 guru has declared these the best can's he's ever heard by a wide margin as have the few others that have heard it. In time there'll be plenty more reviews, some not so glowing I'm sure. But in any case as one of the few objective supporters here I'm getting a real chuckle hearing all this calling for "PROOF".  LOL

 

[scorpio187]

  Why all this negativity? You guys for the main are all major subjectives. The number 1 guru has declared these the best can's he's ever heard by a wide margin as have the few others that have heard it. In time there'll be plenty more reviews, some not so glowing I'm sure. But in any case as one of the few objective supporters here I'm getting a real chuckle hearing all this calling for "PROOF".  LOL

 
I though the number one guru was Tyll?  

 

[purk]

I though the number one guru was Tyll?  :rolleyes:

I thought that was me!!!

 

[jude]

  ...And I must say that I'm a bit disappointed that Sennheiser made "our" Jude ( of all people ) pay his own way to see and hear this system...

 
They didn't make me pay my own way, I just chose to show up places.
 
Sennheiser was very gracious, actually, and very kindly brought the Orpheus to my hotel room. Yes, I voluntarily paid my own way to Paris (and London, Berlin, and one more place coming up), and I also pretty much invited myself to all of their Orpheus events so far. Sennheiser has been beyond welcoming in all cases, though.

 

[icebear]

If you design anything and make small steps of variations along the process, you will have to keep some factors the same or you have no clue which of the variations has contributed to the change you perceive. If you design a headphone at some point you will have to make a decision to choose a certain DAC and a certain amp topology and stick with. Then the headphone will be fine tuned to sound the ultimate best with this combination. Consequently a change to a different DAC or amp will produce a different sound than the developers have been aiming for.
 
Perfect example is the much discussed HD800. IMHO these phone are dead honest. They tell it like is on the recording. Combining them with a bright DAC or amp will produce a bright sound, that's not the fault of the phones though and they are not "picky". They just let you know when something in the set up is out of whack. Acc. to the developer of the exasound DACs, these were developed using the HD800 as listening tool. In my set up the HD800 sounds as close to perfect, as I can imagine and I compare to live acoustic music. Any other headphone can possibly inch still a little bit forward in certain areas but to expect a SQ jump even by investing $55k's is delusional.
 
Coming to the Orpheus II finally, I completely understand that Sennheiser wants to control how these headphones are listened to. Combining them with a unsuitable amp or DAC will get weak bass or overly bright highs etc and the blame will come down on the headphone. Nobody blames a speaker for the bad sound when it's combined to an unsuitable amp. It's pretty obvious that the set up needs to match in order to play at the best possible level. The more accurate a transducer is working, the more obvious it will be when the pairing is not a good match. The HD800 is already at that level and most likely the Orpheus II is pushing the limits even further in this respect. Given the unique in cup amping approach in the HE1060, it is quite unlikely that there will be other amps available to drive these unique phones any time soon.

 

[icebear]

... That's true, but why? 
Because measurements don't lie, they help to put things in perspective.
They bring things back from the marketing world to the engineering world.
...

LOL, yeah... take a look at Tyll's measurements of the HE1000

and still a lot of people love the sound.
Distortion figures of the Orpheus II are supposedly better than anything else.

 

[tonykaz]

Mr.Jude,
 
Phew, that's quite a Tour.  
 
My wife would insist on being left alone in Paris if I were traipsing around like this. My final cost summary would be staggering.  
 
The Sennheiser people know everyone, having them introduce you will be a valuable result. Europe, in total, is a larger Economy that the USA.  
 
Get a semi-formal suit but don't dress over the top of those Germans.
 
I wish you well on this adventure, it's brave.
 
Tony in Michigan

 

[James-uk]

looking forward to some measurements on these bad boys ! I'm expecting a HD600 looking Frequency response in the midrange with obvs better extension both ends and lower distortion across the board, combine that with some quick ass response and perfection is achieved in my book.

 

[Music Alchemist]

So Tyll is gonna hear the new Orpheus soon? Sweet. Hope he talks about it on InnerFidelity.
 

  If you design anything and make small steps of variations along the process, you will have to keep some factors the same or you have no clue which of the variations has contributed to the change you perceive. If you design a headphone at some point you will have to make a decision to choose a certain DAC and a certain amp topology and stick with. Then the headphone will be fine tuned to sound the ultimate best with this combination. Consequently a change to a different DAC or amp will produce a different sound than the developers have been aiming for.
 
Perfect example is the much discussed HD800. IMHO these phone are dead honest. They tell it like is on the recording. Combining them with a bright DAC or amp will produce a bright sound, that's not the fault of the phones though and they are not "picky". They just let you know when something in the set up is out of whack. Acc. to the developer of the exasound DACs, these were developed using the HD800 as listening tool. In my set up the HD800 sounds as close to perfect, as I can imagine and I compare to live acoustic music. Any other headphone can possibly inch still a little bit forward in certain areas but to expect a SQ jump even by investing $55k's is delusional.
 
Coming to the Orpheus II finally, I completely understand that Sennheiser wants to control how these headphones are listened to. Combining them with a unsuitable amp or DAC will get weak bass or overly bright highs etc and the blame will come down on the headphone. Nobody blames a speaker for the bad sound when it's combined to an unsuitable amp. It's pretty obvious that the set up needs to match in order to play at the best possible level. The more accurate a transducer is working, the more obvious it will be when the pairing is not a good match. The HD800 is already at that level and most likely the Orpheus II is pushing the limits even further in this respect. Given the unique in cup amping approach in the HE1060, it is quite unlikely that there will be other amps available to drive these unique phones any time soon.

 
I thought the HD 800 sounded painfully bright, harsh, and artificial much of the time. Not honest or neutral at all. Never under any circumstances do real instruments sound as bright and harsh as the stock HD 800 makes them (sometimes) sound. (This description is not uncommon. The peaks in its frequency response are well documented. Many people have to modify it or use it with specific gear to even be able to tolerate it.) And I heard it on a MOON Neo 430HA (as well as briefly on a Sennheiser HDVD 800, which sounded the same as far as I could tell) for hours with my own music in nearly all genres. In contrast, even an entry-level electrostat like the STAX SR-207 (which I owned) was easily more neutral overall, with nothing standing out or missing to ruin the experience, and the measurements support this. In fact, when I turned the treble all the way up on another STAX model I owned (using the tone controls of a speaker amp), it still wasn't as bright and harsh as the HD 800 I heard was! (I think this is also because electrostats can somehow avoid "peakiness" even when the frequency response is trebly.) More importantly, the STAX was much more transparent. It sounded more like real life, whereas, while the HD 800 sounded excellent as long as there wasn't high frequency content in the music, it still didn't sound much like real life, at least to me. Some experienced HD 800 owners actually agree with my assessment, but with the addition that you need to use the right tube amp and R2R DAC with it, at which time its problems mostly disappear.
 
Anyway, my point here is that electrostats have clear advantages, especially in terms of accuracy. I can only imagine how many advantages the HE 1060 will have.

 

[saidentary]

  Why all this negativity? You guys for the main are all major subjectives. The number 1 guru has declared these the best can's he's ever heard by a wide margin as have the few others that have heard it. In time there'll be plenty more reviews, some not so glowing I'm sure. But in any case as one of the few objective supporters here I'm getting a real chuckle hearing all this calling for "PROOF".  LOL

My gripe is this: They're claiming, as a fact, these are the best in the world--prior to their appearance on the market and prior to allowing very many people to listen to them.  Maybe they are the best in the world.  But this is an opinion held by Sennheiser and a few other people. 
 
Using the word "proof" was probably a bad idea, in terms of the audiophile hobby.  This isn't like target shooting where everyone can agree on which shot was the best.  It's clearly a largely subjective hobby, because one's sonic preferences play a large role in the evaluation of sonic merit for any particular product.  So what I should have said is that they're providing sparse "evidence" to support their bold claims.  The claims are impossible to "prove" or "disprove."
 
Jude's testimony counts as good evidence.  The high price for the system does not count as good evidence. 
 
So, I feel they should have said, "In our opinion, and in the opinion of several other very highly discerning individuals, this is the very finest headphone system ever created."
 

Spoiler: Also, I've done my part to reach out to them with an altruistic offer, to which they have yet to respond. Click to see the text of this offer here.

[img]http://cdn.head-fi.org/2/24/38x38px-ZC-24bc006f_ScreenShot2015-06-02at4.40.31PM.png[/img]
saidentary
Nov 4, 2015 at 7:39 pm

Hello Sennheiser,
 
As a service to your company, I would be willing to accept one of your Sennheiser HE1060/HEV1060 units at ABSOLUTELY NO COST TO SENNHEISER.  That's right, you send me the unit and it costs your company ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  A win-win for both parties.  If you wanted, I could even post some impressions about the sound quality.
 
I'm making this kind and generous offer because I feel it's the right thing to do to help your company.  When you accept this offer, I will provide a suitable shipping address.
 
Thanks in advance.  I look forward to being of service!
 
-Bill

 

[Fearless1]

Unsubscribed. The last thing I want to read are these inexperienced ramblings again.

@post 566

 

[saidentary]

Unsubscribed. The last thing I want to read are these inexperienced ramblings again.

You'll be back....

 

[Windsor]

Jude, thank you for bringing this milestone achievement in the history of headphones to us in such a passionately eloquent, fun way! I think your enthusiasm for the Orpheus II resonates with so much of us all.

Sennheiser sure know how to contribute to the art of headphones, and I deliberately emphasise the word art. Their products are so well made and account for some of the many reasons I am so grateful to be alive.

I am thrilled to see the Orpheus II. To me it is such a gorgeous work of art. I very much look forward to experiencing it!