[davidhunternyc]

 
Rest assured there's minimal use of plastic in the headphones.
The frame around the ear cups is CNC'd from billet aluminium, there is steel mesh protecting the transducers. The ultra-thin diaphragm (1/40th as thick as a piece of paper) is coated with platinum. The head band is steel and leather. The ear pads are leather. They feel solid, but not overly heavy (and this is a good thing) - they look heavier than they are. Believe me though, when you pick them up, there's nothing on them that looks or feels cheap.

Whew. Thank you for your reassurance. Yes, there is a role in the world for plastics, for example, an artificial heart. High-End headphones? I doubt it. No matter what anyone says. Sure, there are different kinds of plastics. Sure, I hope someone proves me wrong. The Sennheiser HD800 doesn't stand muster. I am crossing my fingers that the Orpheus 2 stands the test of time. Perhaps, even, my rant against plastic influenced Sennheiser's engineering department. 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/399951/sennheiser-hd800-spray-painted-plastic-and-the-new-acid-washed-jeans

 

[up late]

i wouldn't be surprised if they were aware of your point of view

 

[Ultrainferno]

Have you ever seen the black HE-1 besides in the Senn advertising?
 

 
And did you know they actually made one in red?

 

[icebear]

I guess it's about time for some impressions of this set up ...

And some pics of course:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I had a chance to listen to quote Sennheiser "The world's best headphone" today in their Soho (NYC) pop-up store. Mrs store manager was about 1 1/2 hrs late to the party to open the store and the guy in front of me with a 11am time slot for audition started his session around noon. As I had no appointment and still got a chance to listen to these headphones this was a treat, so not too much to complain about the wait. The Orpheus set up for the listening sessions is located in a separate sound proof room in the back of the store.
 
I brought my own CD's (source was a T&A player) I am not sure if analog out from the player was used or digital output and the D/A of the Orpheus II. It doesn't really matter in my book.
 
I listened to:

track 4, Children of the night
 

track 6, September in Montreal
 

track 1, Allegro, Rachmaninoff 3
 
Excellent impulse of hard hitting piano notes, typical electrostatic speed in this aspect, gorgeous decay of fading final notes, very natural female voices all very nice and state of the art but ... the sound stage, at least for my ears and brain is not comparable to the HD800. Since this is crucially important for my enjoyment of listening to headphones, this in-head localization is annoying. The HD800 is maybe 95% as good (with a matching set up) and has a wider, out of my head sound stage. I thought the decay of notes was particularly nice on the Orpheus II with the Anne Bisson track but I listened to the same on my home set up just a few minutes ago and w/o having both set ups available for direct A/B, I'd say the HD800 is pretty darn close.
 
I only heard the SR-009 once, powered by a BHSE and from memory the Stax had this "sound out of nowhere" airiness to it but the Orpheus II has more "meat" to it ...mmh, not sure if that makes sense to anyone?

 
Other than the acoustic impressions:
The opening and closing sequence with lid lifting and tubes being elevated is maybe interesting the first time when you see it but then it's a gimmick. The headband has to be pushed into the smallest setting every time the headphones go back into their vault and you would have to adjust new every time you listen taking the phone out of the box

. I guess the owner will start cursing latest after the 3rd time. The phones seem slightly heavy, definitely heavier than the HD800. They get warm pretty quickly, I am not sure if I would comfortably be able to listen longer than 1/2 hr.
 
Even if I won the lottery, I wouldn't buy this set up. It sounds very good but for me the HD800 is close enough to the live event when it comes to jazz and classic. I think Sennheiser really hit it out of the park with the HD800 already and if the reproduction is so close to the original recorded sound, how is it possible to get closer? This obviously is my very personal point of view with the ideal of Hi-Fi as accuracy and not personal preference of sound.
 
As there is so much controversy on the HD800, as it just reveals the sound of the amp and source with no mercy, so it will present a very different sound depending on the pairing, I can totally understand Sennheiser's "package" approach for their statement headphones.

 

[ubs28]

I do wonder how the Chord Dave + HD 800 S sounds in comparison to the Orpheus 2 system. The HD 800 S is insanely good on the Chord Dave. 

 

[Jahn]

Here in the NYC oculus mall they have a presentation of the new Orpheus. You can't play it (open cans do badly in the mall) but they said you can demo it on Prince Street here in NYC. Worth a trip over maybe! Here are some pics of the display:


They had the $2k DAC there too, whoa!

 

[icebear]

Here in the NYC oculus mall they have a presentation of the new Orpheus. You can't play it (open cans do badly in the mall) but they said you can demo it on Prince Street here in NYC. Worth a trip over maybe! ...

 
As I described 3 post above ... my session listening to the HE-1 at the Prince street pop-up store.
 
You will need a scheduled appointment though, or get lucky that there is a spot available when you show up.

 

[Sennheiser]

Thanks for the pics and impression, guys! 
 
Quote:

  I guess it's about time for some impressions of this set up ...

And some pics of course:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I had a chance to listen to quote Sennheiser "The world's best headphone" today in their Soho (NYC) pop-up store. Mrs store manager was about 1 1/2 hrs late to the party to open the store and the guy in front of me with a 11am time slot for audition started his session around noon. As I had no appointment and still got a chance to listen to these headphones this was a treat, so not too much to complain about the wait. The Orpheus set up for the listening sessions is located in a separate sound proof room in the back of the store.
 
I brought my own CD's (source was a T&A player) I am not sure if analog out from the player was used or digital output and the D/A of the Orpheus II. It doesn't really matter in my book.
 
I listened to:

track 4, Children of the night
 

track 6, September in Montreal
 

track 1, Allegro, Rachmaninoff 3
 
Excellent impulse of hard hitting piano notes, typical electrostatic speed in this aspect, gorgeous decay of fading final notes, very natural female voices all very nice and state of the art but ... the sound stage, at least for my ears and brain is not comparable to the HD800. Since this is crucially important for my enjoyment of listening to headphones, this in-head localization is annoying. The HD800 is maybe 95% as good (with a matching set up) and has a wider, out of my head sound stage. I thought the decay of notes was particularly nice on the Orpheus II with the Anne Bisson track but I listened to the same on my home set up just a few minutes ago and w/o having both set ups available for direct A/B, I'd say the HD800 is pretty darn close.
 
I only heard the SR-009 once, powered by a BHSE and from memory the Stax had this "sound out of nowhere" airiness to it but the Orpheus II has more "meat" to it ...mmh, not sure if that makes sense to anyone?

 
Other than the acoustic impressions:
The opening and closing sequence with lid lifting and tubes being elevated is maybe interesting the first time when you see it but then it's a gimmick. The headband has to be pushed into the smallest setting every time the headphones go back into their vault and you would have to adjust new every time you listen taking the phone out of the box

. I guess the owner will start cursing latest after the 3rd time. The phones seem slightly heavy, definitely heavier than the HD800. They get warm pretty quickly, I am not sure if I would comfortably be able to listen longer than 1/2 hr.
 
Even if I won the lottery, I wouldn't buy this set up. It sounds very good but for me the HD800 is close enough to the live event when it comes to jazz and classic. I think Sennheiser really hit it out of the park with the HD800 already and if the reproduction is so close to the original recorded sound, how is it possible to get closer? This obviously is my very personal point of view with the ideal of Hi-Fi as accuracy and not personal preference of sound.
 
As there is so much controversy on the HD800, as it just reveals the sound of the amp and source with no mercy, so it will present a very different sound depending on the pairing, I can totally understand Sennheiser's "package" approach for their statement headphones.

 

Here in the NYC oculus mall they have a presentation of the new Orpheus. You can't play it (open cans do badly in the mall) but they said you can demo it on Prince Street here in NYC. Worth a trip over maybe! Here are some pics of the display:


They had the $2k DAC there too, whoa!

 

[astrostar59]

  I guess it's about time for some impressions of this set up ...

And some pics of course:
 
As there is so much controversy on the HD800, as it just reveals the sound of the amp and source with no mercy, so it will present a very different sound depending on the pairing, I can totally understand Sennheiser's "package" approach for their statement headphones.

Was it that close to the HD800s? I ann thinking from when I heard the HD800s at various shows, that the Stax 009 and the Abyss are better by a decent margin. If the Stax 009 was driven by a BHSE or T2 I wonder if it would thus beat the HE1?
 
Was the HE1 warmed up, i.e. you weren't the first in the day to use it?

 

[mulder01]

That's probably the least shiny review I have read of these.  But, I know a lot of HD800 owners are fairly married to their sound, and the amount of perceived difference is going to vary from person to person, taste dependent.

 

[astrostar59]

  That's probably the least shiny review I have read of these.  But, I know a lot of HD800 owners are fairly married to their sound, and the amount of perceived difference is going to vary from person to person, taste dependent.

Agree. Also music type and loudness listened to as well. Some systems break apart in a sense as they go louder. Not distortion, rather they become less realistic more 'hifi'. Dynamics and speed on the 009s is something else. 
 
I am guessing but, I would say the HE1 system being a complete unit, DAC, Amp and HPs is going to have some factory tuning and tweaking of the sound. This will give it a clear advantage to the rest of use going the mix and matching route. My take on the 009s is tame them with a smooth DAC, preferably tubed, and use a decent amp to power them.
 
Going back to the HD800s, and the times I have heard them (at shows) it does seem to be the soundstage that is remarkable. I wouldn't say I particularly liked anything else about them TBH. And of course the brightness does cause problems with some front ends.

 

[icebear]

  Was it that close to the HD800s? I ann thinking from when I heard the HD800s at various shows, that the Stax 009 and the Abyss are better by a decent margin. If the Stax 009 was driven by a BHSE or T2 I wonder if it would thus beat the HE1?
 
Was the HE1 warmed up, i.e. you weren't the first in the day to use it?

 
With my set up and my sample (#26xxx) of the HD800 and my music preference I'd say it's pretty close (as I mentioned above 95%) to being there. And with "there" I mean startling close to the original acoustic sound of a live instrument. I have attended a concert of Janine Jansen playing Prokofiev's violin sonata in Zankel Hall (basement space of Carnegie Hall) and I was about 10ft away. When I listen to her recording of the same piece (not same hall and same performance) the acoustic image of the violin is further away (maybe 25ft) than when I heard it live. Otherwise the tone of her instrument, the dynamics from loud to barely audible are as good as it gets. I am not missing anything.
 
I don't compare the sound to other equipment I compare it to the live event/concert.
 
And yes, for me the HD800 is indeed so close that I just close my eyes and forget that I am listening to a recording ... when the recording is that good. When the recording has some kind of defect, I will hear that too. So given all that, the standard was pretty high and the HE-1 for me, with my own music examples, was not able to significantly improve on that. More importantly the sound stage of the HD800 is better, the HE-1 gave me the typical between my ears/inside my head impressions, consequently I wasn't really enjoying the experience.
 
I take it, the HE-1 and amp were properly warmed up, I was second in line about 1hr after they finally opened the store. I didn't touch the tubes of housing of the amp. The in-phones amp integrated with the grayish ribbed heat fins were slightly warm. Listening position of the volume pot (remote controlled) was between 12pm (C.Wilson / A. Bisson) and 1:30pm (Rachmaninoff). The sound was absolutely clean and free from any distortions.
 
I am not easily impressed (esp. by price tags

). Also when I listened to the HE-1000 with Fang Bian showing his prototype, I didn't like it.
Lot's of others like the Hifiman offering and there was lot's of hype. Not me

 

 

[james444]

  More importantly the sound stage of the HD800 is better, the HE-1 gave me the typical between my ears/inside my head impressions, consequently I wasn't really enjoying the experience.

 
X2, pretty much mirrors my own impressions:
 

 
One thing I forgot to mention is soundstage / imaging. Coming from A/B listening to the HD800 and HD800S only minutes before I got to hear the Orpheus II, I felt quite a bit mystified about the latter's spatiality. Sure, it's an extremely resolving and transparent headphone, but its spatial presentation is considerably more in-the-head than that of the HD800 and HD800S. To be more precise, you get ample width and a good sense of open space to the left and right of your head. However, the openness at both sides doesn't extend all the way to the center stage, and lead vocals are rendered right in front of your nose, with hardly any sense of forward projection or depth.

 

[icebear]

   
X2, pretty much mirrors my own impressions:
 

... nice to hear that I wasn't imagining something or just having a grumpy day.

 

[Articnoise]

  I got to listen to the Orpheus 2 for 15 minutes on Sunday. It was a private session that Sennheiser held on a hotel in Stockholm. The sound was good but not spectacular in my opinion. I actually prefer the sound of me setup with a mod HE6 lol. Am serious!

 

It was too short listening for me to point out more than the overall character. It should also be taking in to account that I like the sound to be full, natural and the treble to be a bit sweet. The sound of the Orpheus 2 was more on the neutral side with really good clarity and details. The bass was fast and very firm, but didn’t have the last bit of bottom. The sound was truly clean and effortless. The soundstage lacked depth IMO. The Abyss for example has a more 3D and out of the head sound. 

 

 

 
The soundstage it created was descent in wide, but was a bit shallow and in my head IMO.