[apaar123]

I don't think anyone will buy them because I dont think the sound is 45000 $ better than the stax sr009 or any other flagship but would love to try them once

 

[kaiserh]

Sennheiser already have backorders covering the first 12-18 months of production. People are buying them, just not you and I.

 

[JimL11]

Recently, I was in NYC and had a chance to audition the Sennheiser HE-1 at their shop in SoHo.  I popped into the store on a whim, and they scheduled me to return in the afternoon.
 
Now, all the caveats:  it was a 1/2 hour audition but the first 5 minutes was demoing a "3D" sound loudspeaker setup that Sennheiser was promoting. On the plus side, I had my own music on a USB stick, which they ran into a Mac computer using iTunes (no, I don't know what the cable was between the Mac and the HE-1).  On the minus side, I'm not a very critical listener and usually the only thing I can tell on a brief audition is whether it's making noise or not.  Also, my hearing cuts off above 14 kHz or so.  I listen at comfortable (i.e. not head-banging) levels.
 
The headphones were very comfortable, somewhat heavier than my SR-007s, and they didn't get warm after listening.  One thing odd I noticed about the imaging (I'm definitely NOT critical when it comes to this parameter) was that the soloist on one piece I listened to seemed to be located toward the back of my head.  In terms of tonality and detailing, it sounded very close to my SRX-Plus and Stax SR-007 Mk II with spritzer port mod.  Overall, the audition left me very happy with what I have.  Of course, this is only my impression after a brief audition, literally worth 2 cents.  
 
Anyway, it was pretty easy to get in, so if you are in NYC between now and Feb, I recommend that you bring our own music in a portable format and take a brief trip to SoHo to sign up for a listen.   The reason I say February is that the Sennheiser store is a pop-up and it may or may not be there after Feb, although the person I spoke to there said they hope to make it permanent if they get a good response.  Sennheiser also has a store close to the 9/11 Memorial (a must see IMHO) although it doesn't have the HE-1 for audition.

 

[Sennheiser]

Thanks for visiting our pop-up store in SoHo, @JimL11! And yes, anyone can just come by and book a slot to listen to the HE 1. 

 

[FritzS]

Sennheiser HE-1 are indeed very good headphones.
I had the chance to hear them last year an now on the Sennheiser exhibition stand on ‘Klangbilder‘ in Vienna.
 
The only drop of bitterness - the price about 50.000,- EUR
 
PS: I compared HD800 and HD800S too - for me, my favorite is the older HD800.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

A local audio store here called me and said they are having a pair on demo this weekend.  Obviously, I booked an appointment.

 

[Sennheiser]

Here's a video of our SoHo pop-up store which you can visit and listen to the HE 1: 
 
 

 

[bigfatpaulie]

So I had an opportunity to hear the HE-1’s at Bay Bloor Radio.  Everyone was given 15 minutes with the statement setup.  There was a gentleman, Wally, from Sennheiser who gave a brief explanation of the key design elements (the drivers, headphones, silver cable and so one) afterwards he played a chunk of a few selected tracks that were recorded with Neumann microphones (Sennheiser owns Neumann).  One was a raw studio take: no editing, no mastering, no crappy ‘engineer’ messing things up.  Then he let me go rip-snorting on Tidal…
 
I walked into the demo with the blessing of my wife to buy a pair knowing full well that if I had the space for a speaker system I would have already long surpassed the price of this little rig.  I walking into the session knowing that I was going to hear an over-priced, gimmicky set of headphones designed for executives with fancy objet d’art a la M.A.D. Gallery: an item that looks out of place and when you push a button does something that will make even the most jaded person pause and take notice.  Something made for people who listen 15 minutes a week.  Sadly, the set was already up and running so I didn’t get to see the silly startup show.  And that’s okay because 15 minutes would be more than enough time for me to spend with the over-priced headphones.  Diminishing returns would come cascading down like an anvil in a Loony Toons cartoon.
 
Honestly, I’m glad I only had 15 minutes.
 
I walked out thinking that they sounded very good.  Emphasis on ‘very’.  But my wallet is very safe.  Emphasis on ‘very’.   
 
I chatted for a little bit with another fellow from Sennheiser (whose name escapes me) and he did NOT suggest that there would be a new dynamic flagship in the next year or so.  Nope.  Pas ici.  But stay tuned.
 
We also talked about the 18 month lead time to get a pair of HE-1’s and also that they are not limited in total production, just limited in their ability to produce the HE-1’s as they apparently are a lot of work to make and go through very rigorous testing and individual tuning.
 
The look of the Carrara marble, from photos, to me, looked lackluster.  In person I saw the design magic – the gentle sloping of the marble and careful attention to its finish.  It reminded me of the pull down marble trays you can get in the back seat of a Maybach.  German opulence at its very finest.  This thing truly is a luxury item, through and through.  It is supremely well crafted and the design in photos is deceptive and well-lost: just like any other purebred luxury object.  It’s actually a masterpiece.
 
But it was all a whirlwind.  What do you really do with 15 minutes?  Particularly considering all that there is to take in.
 
After hearing them I sat for a while in silence and tried to really articulate what I heard.  I mean, I was expecting some divine experience, and it would have to be given the price, right?  There was nothing supernatural about it at all.  Tears did not uncontrollably explode from eyes.  My body didn’t go numb.  My mouth wasn’t dry and my arms weren’t like my mom’s spaghetti.
 
One of the tracks I played once I commandeered the Tidal account that I know oh so well was Eva Cassidy’s take on Stormy Monday from Live at Blues Alley.  The clapping at the beginning was behind me.  Let me restate that: The audience was behind me.  I don’t mean like in a headphone with Out Of Your Head running behind me kind of way, I mean they were there sitting in the room in a physical sense behind me kind of way.  Cassidy starting singing and she blossomed up out of a totally vacant space, filling it completely.  The gentle hi-hat was tapping away in the room and the piano to my left had to be rolled in.  It wasn’t about staging or imaging, I was inside the microphone.
 
The HE-1 exactly portrayed what the microphone heard.  Emphasis on ‘exactly’.
 
I could go on but the HE-1’s are outstandingly detailed and portray every nuance, every speck, every space, everything.  But that’s not what makes them special.  What makes them special is how they do it organically.  They are so natural sounding even the strictest vegan or paleo fanatic would approve.  Aside real life, I have never heard something so real sounding.  Not from speakers, not from a BHSE + 009 or DNA Stratus + HD800, not from Moon 600i + Abyss or DAVE + Utopias.  Upon reflection that’s more and more what comes to mind.  We headphone folk talk about things like being ‘smooth’ or ‘natural’ vs ‘neutral’.  This system makes all those discussion moot.  None of it is up for debate.  Everything just sounds like it does and there isn’t much to be said about.
 
“This, gentlemen, is how it sounds.”  Is Sennhesier’s statement with its Statement; its Magnum Opus.
 
If I tried to put them in normal headphones terms, the highs are masterful, the mids are rich and full and the bass is dynamic fluid if not a bit light (these are estat headphones after all).
 
They are deceptively good.  They aren't in your face good.  They are quietly masterful.  Have you ever had a restaurant server who was always there just when you wanted them, and never when you didn't?  When your water glass somehow was never empty no matter how thirsty you were and the next course always arrived just as you thought, "I'm ready."  A server who was so good that you almost didn't recognize it because it was so effortless?  Have you ever seen a talented painter paint?  Or master chef cook?  Simply put, they make it look easy so it can be easy to misjudge and underestimate their mastery of their craft.
 
The headphones vanish.  Actually, no they don’t that’s wrong.  Other good headphones vanish.  You vanish.  You vanish from the room and are transported to where the microphone was sitting.  You are shrunk and humbled and are fit in that tiny transducer behind the pop shield.  I can't emphasize this enough: you are the microphone, for better or worse.  This, my friends, is a very, very special system.  But is it worth $74,000CAD? 
 
Honestly, I’m glad I only had 15 minutes.
 
Because the answer just might be yes.

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

I too had the pleasure of experiencing the HE1 at Bay Bloor Radio and would like to thank the staff for the hospitality and organizing this experience. 
 
To echo bigfatpaulie and to save from making additional superfluous statements, I was not moved with emotions but I was left impressed. There was nothing I was left wanting, it just sounded real. Anyone that is fortunate enough to acquire a set will be looking for a new pastime. Personally, I'm content with my HD800, it's good enough. Knowing this now I'm happier, the next level up is not within my reach and all things considered, not worth the money but this is not a product for people like me. If you have the means, stop wishing and buy one. If you're curious just how much better it gets track down a pair of HE1 - you'll be surprised.
 
Like anything else luxury or exotic I've had the pleasure of enjoying, happy to say that I have experienced it. I can stop wondering now.

 

[astrostar59]

  So I had an opportunity to hear the HE-1’s at Bay Bloor Radio. 
 
Honestly, I’m glad I only had 15 minutes.
 
Because the answer just might be yes.

Great post bigfatpaulie. I get a real buzz of excitement that a new stat product has hit a new level. I can appreciate the headphone design, the tube gain stage, but I think there is some magic going on in the combo box i.e. the DAC and gain stages. I don't know anything about the DAC itself, is it a FPGA or a Sabre chip? I can imagine having the whole unit as one gave Sennheiser the opportunity to tune the system to work together and compliment each other to a level not possible buying separates. For example tweaking the frequency response to be perfect at the HP output.
 
IMO the Stax 009s and the BHSE or Carbon with a great DAC can do magic. It can also sound too bright and 'hifi' if those elements don't compliment each other. My recipe / theory on that is mate the amp with a smooth sounding DAC with strong bass, and maybe try a slight EQ in the Music player / server to adjust things a bit. Get it right it can sound amazing IMO. Not all BHSE + 009s systems sound the same in other words.
 
I may get to hear the HE-1 one day at Can-Jam in London. Then I will be on here adding my thoughts. But it is all good IMO. Yes the price is high, way too high for most, but TBH I have spent £25K on my HP setup, and would try and buy the HE-1 if I had the money and it beat my 009s.

 

[icebear]

  I too had the pleasure of experiencing the HE1 at Bay Bloor Radio and would like to thank the staff for the hospitality and organizing this experience. 
 
To echo bigfatpaulie and to save from making additional superfluous statements, I was not moved with emotions but I was left impressed. There was nothing I was left wanting, it just sounded real. Anyone that is fortunate enough to acquire a set will be looking for a new pastime. Personally, I'm content with my HD800, it's good enough. Knowing this now I'm happier, the next level up is not within my reach and all things considered, not worth the money but this is not a product for people like me. If you have the means, stop wishing and buy one. If you're curious just how much better it gets track down a pair of HE1 - you'll be surprised.
 
Like anything else luxury or exotic I've had the pleasure of enjoying, happy to say that I have experienced it. I can stop wondering now.

 
Nice non hype 1st post

 

  So I had an opportunity to hear the HE-1’s at Bay Bloor Radio.  Everyone was given 15 minutes with the statement setup.  There was a gentleman, Wally, from Sennheiser who gave a brief explanation of the key design elements (the drivers, headphones, silver cable and so one) afterwards he played a chunk of a few selected tracks that were recorded with Neumann microphones (Sennheiser owns Neumann).  One was a raw studio take: no editing, no mastering, no crappy ‘engineer’ messing things up.  Then he let me go rip-snorting on Tidal…
 
I walked into the demo with the blessing of my wife to buy a pair knowing full well that if I had the space for a speaker system I would have already long surpassed the price of this little rig.  I walking into the session knowing that I was going to hear an over-priced, gimmicky set of headphones designed for executives with fancy objet d’art a la M.A.D. Gallery: an item that looks out of place and when you push a button does something that will make even the most jaded person pause and take notice.  Something made for people who listen 15 minutes a week.  Sadly, the set was already up and running so I didn’t get to see the silly startup show.  And that’s okay because 15 minutes would be more than enough time for me to spend with the over-priced headphones.  Diminishing returns would come cascading down like an anvil in a Loony Toons cartoon.
 
Honestly, I’m glad I only had 15 minutes.
 
I walked out thinking that they sounded very good.  Emphasis on ‘very’.  But my wallet is very safe.  Emphasis on ‘very’.   
 
I chatted for a little bit with another fellow from Sennheiser (whose name escapes me) and he did NOT suggest that there would be a new dynamic flagship in the next year or so.  Nope.  Pas ici.  But stay tuned.
 
We also talked about the 18 month lead time to get a pair of HE-1’s and also that they are not limited in total production, just limited in their ability to produce the HE-1’s as they apparently are a lot of work to make and go through very rigorous testing and individual tuning.
 
The look of the Carrara marble, from photos, to me, looked lackluster.  In person I saw the design magic – the gentle sloping of the marble and careful attention to its finish.  It reminded me of the pull down marble trays you can get in the back seat of a Maybach.  German opulence at its very finest.  This thing truly is a luxury item, through and through.  It is supremely well crafted and the design in photos is deceptive and well-lost: just like any other purebred luxury object.  It’s actually a masterpiece.
 
But it was all a whirlwind.  What do you really do with 15 minutes?  Particularly considering all that there is to take in.
 
After hearing them I sat for a while in silence and tried to really articulate what I heard.  I mean, I was expecting some divine experience, and it would have to be given the price, right?  There was nothing supernatural about it at all.  Tears did not uncontrollably explode from eyes.  My body didn’t go numb.  My mouth wasn’t dry and my arms weren’t like my mom’s spaghetti.
 
One of the tracks I played once I commandeered the Tidal account that I know oh so well was Eva Cassidy’s take on Stormy Monday from Live at Blues Alley.  The clapping at the beginning was behind me.  Let me restate that: The audience was behind me.  I don’t mean like in a headphone with Out Of Your Head running behind me kind of way, I mean they were there sitting in the room in a physical sense behind me kind of way.  Cassidy starting singing and she blossomed up out of a totally vacant space, filling it completely.  The gentle hi-hat was tapping away in the room and the piano to my left had to be rolled in.  It wasn’t about staging or imaging, I was inside the microphone.
 
The HE-1 exactly portrayed what the microphone heard.  Emphasis on ‘exactly’.
 
I could go on but the HE-1’s are outstandingly detailed and portray every nuance, every speck, every space, everything.  But that’s not what makes them special.  What makes them special is how they do it organically.  They are so natural sounding even the strictest vegan or paleo fanatic would approve.  Aside real life, I have never heard something so real sounding.  Not from speakers, not from a BHSE + 009 or DNA Straus + HD800, not from Moon 600i + Abyss or DAVE + Utopias.  Upon reflection that’s more and more what comes to mind.  We headphone folk talk about things like being ‘smooth’ or ‘natural’ vs ‘neutral’.  This system makes all those discussion moot.  None of it is up for debate.  Everything just sounds like it does and there isn’t much to be said about.
 
“This, gentlemen, is how it sounds.”  Is Sennhesier’s statement with its Statement; its Magnum Opus.
 
If I tried to put them in normal headphones terms, the highs are masterful, the mids are rich and full and the bass is dynamic fluid if not a bit light (these are estat headphones after all).
 
They are deceptively good.  They aren't in your face good.  They are quietly masterful.  Have you ever had a restaurant server who was always there just when you wanted them, and never when you didn't?  When your water glass somehow was never empty no matter how thirsty you were and the next course always arrived just as you thought, "I'm ready."  A server who was so good that you almost didn't recognize it because it was so effortless?  Have you ever seen a talented painter paint?  Or master chef cook?  Simply put, they make it look easy so it can be easy to misjudge and underestimate their mastery of their craft.
 
The headphones vanish.  Actually, no they don’t that’s wrong.  Other good headphones vanish.  You vanish.  You vanish from the room and are transported to where the microphone was sitting.  You are shrunk and humbled and are fit in that tiny transducer behind the pop shield.  I can't emphasize this enough: you are the microphone, for better or worse.  This, my friends, is a very, very special system.  But is it worth $74,000CAD? 
 
Honestly, I’m glad I only had 15 minutes.
 
Because the answer just might be yes.

 
Although I was not that impressed when I auditioned the HE-1 in NYC (see previous page) I agree with the point of the system (phones/DAC/amp) being tuned to represent a certain target and not a personal preference of e.g. "moar bass". This is the important problem with less perfect pairings of the HD800 and people don't like what they hear, which basically is their source.
I found the sound OK, definitely not significantly ahead of the HD800 with the latter having a unique ability for a headphone to create an out of my head sound stage. The impression of listening directly to the mic feed (or your words you are the mic), I do have this impression with my set up.

 

[Arnold Schwartz]

Thanks icebear I generally refrain from making my thoughts public, but the HE1 has me excited about the future - for those with the money, you can have it now. Sennheiser has thrown down the gauntlet. Like realist painters of the past, they strove to represent the natural world. Once the limit of the art form was achieved it was time to move on - impressionism and cubism followed. I hope that whatever breakthroughs were made in the HE1 trickle down, but the HE1 is demonstrative of how far we've come with gear that's already within our reach. Another impression I was left with is that for the money I'd rather a proper 2 channel with tower speakers. The realism of the HE1 was not held back for lack of accuracy, but because you can't feel the sound in the way only towers can deliver. Sennheiser has been able to achieve a realism that I'm not sure can be improved upon much more within the existing format.
 
I also had an opportunity to try the HD800S and felt it was a side-grade compared to the original. If Sennheiser were so inclined I'd like to see an HD900 that gets us half-way to the performance of the HE1 at a price that's attainable - they have it in them but will they deliver it, might be a longer wait still.

 

[davidhunternyc]

  So I had an opportunity to hear the HE-1’s at Bay Bloor Radio.  Everyone was given 15 minutes with the statement setup.  There was a gentleman, Wally, from Sennheiser who gave a brief explanation of the key design elements (the drivers, headphones, silver cable and so one) afterwards he played a chunk of a few selected tracks that were recorded with Neumann microphones (Sennheiser owns Neumann).  One was a raw studio take: no editing, no mastering, no crappy ‘engineer’ messing things up.  Then he let me go rip-snorting on Tidal…
 
I walked into the demo with the blessing of my wife to buy a pair knowing full well that if I had the space for a speaker system I would have already long surpassed the price of this little rig.  I walking into the session knowing that I was going to hear an over-priced, gimmicky set of headphones designed for executives with fancy objet d’art a la M.A.D. Gallery: an item that looks out of place and when you push a button does something that will make even the most jaded person pause and take notice.  Something made for people who listen 15 minutes a week.  Sadly, the set was already up and running so I didn’t get to see the silly startup show.  And that’s okay because 15 minutes would be more than enough time for me to spend with the over-priced headphones.  Diminishing returns would come cascading down like an anvil in a Loony Toons cartoon.
 
Honestly, I’m glad I only had 15 minutes.
 
I walked out thinking that they sounded very good.  Emphasis on ‘very’.  But my wallet is very safe.  Emphasis on ‘very’.   
 
I chatted for a little bit with another fellow from Sennheiser (whose name escapes me) and he did NOT suggest that there would be a new dynamic flagship in the next year or so.  Nope.  Pas ici.  But stay tuned.
 
We also talked about the 18 month lead time to get a pair of HE-1’s and also that they are not limited in total production, just limited in their ability to produce the HE-1’s as they apparently are a lot of work to make and go through very rigorous testing and individual tuning.
 
The look of the Carrara marble, from photos, to me, looked lackluster.  In person I saw the design magic – the gentle sloping of the marble and careful attention to its finish.  It reminded me of the pull down marble trays you can get in the back seat of a Maybach.  German opulence at its very finest.  This thing truly is a luxury item, through and through.  It is supremely well crafted and the design in photos is deceptive and well-lost: just like any other purebred luxury object.  It’s actually a masterpiece.
 
But it was all a whirlwind.  What do you really do with 15 minutes?  Particularly considering all that there is to take in.
 
After hearing them I sat for a while in silence and tried to really articulate what I heard.  I mean, I was expecting some divine experience, and it would have to be given the price, right?  There was nothing supernatural about it at all.  Tears did not uncontrollably explode from eyes.  My body didn’t go numb.  My mouth wasn’t dry and my arms weren’t like my mom’s spaghetti.
 
One of the tracks I played once I commandeered the Tidal account that I know oh so well was Eva Cassidy’s take on Stormy Monday from Live at Blues Alley.  The clapping at the beginning was behind me.  Let me restate that: The audience was behind me.  I don’t mean like in a headphone with Out Of Your Head running behind me kind of way, I mean they were there sitting in the room in a physical sense behind me kind of way.  Cassidy starting singing and she blossomed up out of a totally vacant space, filling it completely.  The gentle hi-hat was tapping away in the room and the piano to my left had to be rolled in.  It wasn’t about staging or imaging, I was inside the microphone.
 
The HE-1 exactly portrayed what the microphone heard.  Emphasis on ‘exactly’.
 
I could go on but the HE-1’s are outstandingly detailed and portray every nuance, every speck, every space, everything.  But that’s not what makes them special.  What makes them special is how they do it organically.  They are so natural sounding even the strictest vegan or paleo fanatic would approve.  Aside real life, I have never heard something so real sounding.  Not from speakers, not from a BHSE + 009 or DNA Stratus + HD800, not from Moon 600i + Abyss or DAVE + Utopias.  Upon reflection that’s more and more what comes to mind.  We headphone folk talk about things like being ‘smooth’ or ‘natural’ vs ‘neutral’.  This system makes all those discussion moot.  None of it is up for debate.  Everything just sounds like it does and there isn’t much to be said about.
 
“This, gentlemen, is how it sounds.”  Is Sennhesier’s statement with its Statement; its Magnum Opus.
 
If I tried to put them in normal headphones terms, the highs are masterful, the mids are rich and full and the bass is dynamic fluid if not a bit light (these are estat headphones after all).
 
They are deceptively good.  They aren't in your face good.  They are quietly masterful.  Have you ever had a restaurant server who was always there just when you wanted them, and never when you didn't?  When your water glass somehow was never empty no matter how thirsty you were and the next course always arrived just as you thought, "I'm ready."  A server who was so good that you almost didn't recognize it because it was so effortless?  Have you ever seen a talented painter paint?  Or master chef cook?  Simply put, they make it look easy so it can be easy to misjudge and underestimate their mastery of their craft.
 
The headphones vanish.  Actually, no they don’t that’s wrong.  Other good headphones vanish.  You vanish.  You vanish from the room and are transported to where the microphone was sitting.  You are shrunk and humbled and are fit in that tiny transducer behind the pop shield.  I can't emphasize this enough: you are the microphone, for better or worse.  This, my friends, is a very, very special system.  But is it worth $74,000CAD? 
 
Honestly, I’m glad I only had 15 minutes.
 
Because the answer just might be yes.

I love your sober review. I live in NYC and I should go listen to them but I'm still on the fence like, nah, it's just another headphone. Well, it isn't and it is. Maybe I'm just jaded. Audio equipment never seems to jump through hoops. (Perhaps the Devialet Gold loudspeakers do, especially for their price point.) After reading your review and several other reviews I'm wondering if the weak link isn't the HE-1 but the microphones used on the recordings. For instance, my favorite classical music recordings are 2 channel recordings but when I listen to a binaural recording of the same piece the binaural recording is clearly superior. Most of the time, however, the musicality in binaural recordings are not up to snuff. There's a reason why Alfred Brendel is a master and, in the end, I will always chose 2 channel recordings if the performance is better.

 

[ALRAINBOW]

If you want to hear a headphone that's behind all others I have ever heard try the new Jackson float
I'll be doing a review soon. It's clumsy looking and an open design but when you hear them the Dealmos done.

 

[LaCuffia]

Is there any way to book a listening session for the HE-1 at the Soho NYC store ahead of time? Perhaps via email or phone ?

I'll be in NYC for a brief time next Monday and don't want to risk it being booked up. Thanks