[dstarr3]

I assure you, no one at Sennheiser ever thought "This $55,000 headphone will be a commercial success." They did some R&D that will trickle down into subsequent headphones in the long term, and in the short term they released this prestige product aimed squarely at the half a dozen people on the planet that would spend $55k on a headphone and no one else. Companies in all industries do it all the time.

 

[Whitigir]

If it is easy to design a DAC yourself, and an Amp yourself, then you could do it right ?

If following DIY published by others were easy, then you could do it right ?

I kindly ask any of you enthusiasts to rethink the values of these products. They are small scales and they are uniques. They were never about the money. However, I don’t think it is going to be easy for everyone and the mass consumers to understand the price point either.

I myself , DIY a lot of things, and to properly built a high end DAC/Amplifier, the materials are not cheap, the chassis are not cheap, even the jacks and plugs, wires can’t be cheap, the beautiful chassis are not cheap either. Then the unique headphones that if you try and DIY, are not cheap. There are enough recipes and blueprints to attempt a DIY your own E-stat, DAC/amp, you are welcome to try, and before you realize that, you are probably be dwelling into the 20-30k ranges (this is with other engineers schematics and designs). Then another 20k is probably to support a company running as paying the engineers, the logistics…customer services…etc…

 

[Steven31]

It costs next to nothing to build a basic amplifier module. The prices of transistors, resistors and capacitors does not run into the thousands...

 

[Whitigir]

Depends, if you buy a raw chicken and compare that price to a prepared apple cider grilled chicken served on a plate. The differences is huge. Transistors and part don’t just crawl into themselves and make an amp automatically

 

[dstarr3]

When did the HE-1 come out? I wouldn't be surprised if, once COVID kicked off, Senn just said to their engineers "Hey everyone, while the whole world is experiencing some downtime, build something fun, no limits, go wild." The engineers did, then Senn slapped some chrome and marble on it and priced it such that the very few they'd sell would pay the engineers' salaries for the COVID times when they couldn't work on anything else.

Not to mention it's just marketing. Some clickbait articles float around, "OMG a $55k headphone," Sennheiser's name as a prestige manufacturer is refreshed, and probably more than 0 of those clicks translated into sales of their ordinary consumer products. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the existence of the HE-1 inspired some HD800 and 560 sales. And thus it fulfilled its purpose.

 

[Whitigir]

Orpheous II was released many years back, it is not news, possibly back in 2015 or so. However, it is a special customized order. They will be made once the order is placed, not before, and then when you paid off, the delivery team will contact you with white gloves delivery, including setting it up with your existed systems, showing you how it works and so on.

It is definitely unique

 

[T 1000]

Well said. It really is the end of an era. It's quite unbelievable and a confusing, this is the very company that set the standard for headphones - not once but twice first with the HD600

Correction for young people reading this thread, Senn. set the standards before the HD 600

 

[Steven31]

But the HD600 was the one that lasted.

 

[dstarr3]

HD414 and HD540 come to mind as standard-setters prior to the HD600. The only thing special about the HD600 is that it is the first standard-setter in the era of headphones that still hold up today. Like, it's not just Senn, nobody was making headphones prior to the mid-'90s or so that are still worth buying today, unless you're a collector. Headphone technology just wasn't there yet. The AKG Sextett is the single exception I can think of.

Senn's always been a big name in the headphone biz, including well before the HD600.

 

[kman1211]

HD414 and HD540 come to mind as standard-setters prior to the HD600. The only thing special about the HD600 is that it is the first standard-setter in the era of headphones that still hold up today. Like, it's not just Senn, nobody was making headphones prior to the mid-'90s or so that are still worth buying today, unless you're a collector. Headphone technology just wasn't there yet. The AKG Sextett is the single exception I can think of.

Senn's always been a big name in the headphone biz, including well before the HD600.

Many vintage Beyers are quite good and desired as well. But yeah there wasn’t many dynamics outside of Sennheiser, Beyers, and AKG’s worth buying back then. They were basically the classic trio even before the HD 650, DT 880, and K701.

 

[T 1000]

Not really, Sony MDR-R10, AKG K 1000 are some of the ones, but my favorite is definitely the HD 540 RG

 

[Whitigir]

At the present time, I love HD800S. Don’t know what will happen once it is stopped production. IMO, the HD800S is still plenty of references for many to look upon

 

[T 1000]

Have one new pair in reserve.Some Senn. series are definitely headphones for life

 

[Whitigir]

Have one new pair in reserve.Some Senn. series are definitely headphones for life

I don’t have any in reserve, but I have all 800S , except the original 800. My collection is now consisting of 800S, Anniversary, and 820. Then again, the 820 is an abomination that is totally different than the 800s family LOL!!! Like it is in the family but totally a different beast

 

[T 1000]

Unfortunately I haven't heard any of the 800 series, but I'm a fan of how Senn. does it harmoniously and coherently performed in a large space