[Chefguru]

In years of selling equipment I've only seen one pair on the secondary market for the Orpheus. 2 years ago a high end dealer in Miami had a mint condition set for $45,000 and they sold in a week. They aren't even the most expensive pair, the Focal Tournaire cost €110,000 if you get them with the optional €10,000 display stand.

Plenty of he90 have sold on here. Last year a mint condition he90 with headamp’s hev90 sold for $18.5k.

As for spare drivers - unlikely. A lot of those were purchased and then turned into clones . There is a he90 for sale on eBay that is exactly that (real drivers but cloned body).

 

[Googaliser]

In years of selling equipment I've only seen one pair on the secondary market for the Orpheus. 2 years ago a high end dealer in Miami had a mint condition set for $45,000 and they sold in a week. They aren't even the most expensive pair, the Focal Tournaire cost €110,000 if you get them with the optional €10,000 display stand.

Will do dome digging - I recall that some of the Orpheus units that have sold, included a spare set. Hadn't heard of the Focal Tournaire until now - am not surprised they exist

 

[Googaliser]

Plenty of he90 have sold on here. Last year a mint condition he90 with headamp’s hev90 sold for $18.5k.

As for spare drivers - unlikely. A lot of those were purchased and then turned into clones . There is a he90 for sale on eBay that is exactly that (real drivers but cloned body).

I saw those, thought the wood was bit dark, but didn't click on the advert. Again - didn't know that was a thing.
Am in discussions with a seller of a very nice HE90/HEV90 matching set. Am just doing my due-diligence and making sure I know what I am getting into. The lack of replacement driver availability needs to be factored-in

 

[Tanalasta]

They’re a statement piece. A work or art. A centrepiece in an acoustic room to say “I can afford Sennheiser’s best”

I was underwhelmed. From a technical perspective, is the DAC on par with best in the market from DCS or Chord? Probably not. Are the headphones technically the best on the market? Again, no. But if you view the Orpheus as a work of art then it will appeal to a very niche market.

 

[Googaliser]

They’re a statement piece. A work or art. A centrepiece in an acoustic room to say “I can afford Sennheiser’s best”

I was underwhelmed. From a technical perspective, is the DAC on par with best in the market from DCS or Chord? Probably not. Are the headphones technically the best on the market? Again, no. But if you view the Orpheus as a work of art then it will appeal to a very niche market.

The DAC is completely outdated and probably no longer on par with even an iPhone.

 

[Tanalasta]

The DAC is completely outdated and probably no longer on par with even an iPhone.

I didn’t want to explicitly outline that… just in case anyone owned the Orpheus. From a technical perspective, I was more than disappointed.

Whilst an iPhone is a tad harsh - the Orpheus deserves an update.

 

[number1sixerfan]

They’re a statement piece. A work or art. A centrepiece in an acoustic room to say “I can afford Sennheiser’s best”

I was underwhelmed. From a technical perspective, is the DAC on par with best in the market from DCS or Chord? Probably not. Are the headphones technically the best on the market? Again, no. But if you view the Orpheus as a work of art then it will appeal to a very niche market.

Assuming you're talking about the Orpheus 2 with the built in DAC? At least from my experience, it's been consistent that DACs/Amps that are included with premium offerings are pretty underwhelming, and/or you're paying too much of a premium for just on par performance. It's a big reason I wanted the SGL Sr. and original Orpheus without the matching amps.

I know for resale value, many prefer a whole "system", but it doesn't ever seem worth it for me.

That said, HE90 alone, is pretty phenomenal. I would say it's two weaknesses are 1) price lol... it's just really priced extremely high. But I think a reason for that, beyond rarity, is that they really are well built and their quality is easily maintained if you take care of them. Mine are pristine for how old they are, barring just one small issue I have with them. But most pairs I've seen look to be in amazing quality for the years they have on them; and 2) They don't have an extreme wow factor. They are incredibly balanced across the entire spectrum of sound, with just enough technical prowess to be a top performer. But their resolution, spaciousness, etc. aren't going to wow you against the competition. They probably have the best tonality of any headphone, but I don't think it stands out as a real wow factor.

It's one of those rare headphones that you can just put on and just entirely forget about anything else and listen forever. Still very competitive today for sure imo.

 

[Googaliser]

Assuming you're talking about the Orpheus 2 with the built in DAC? At least from my experience, it's been consistent that DACs/Amps that are included with premium offerings are pretty underwhelming, and/or you're paying too much of a premium for just on par performance. It's a big reason I wanted the SGL Sr. and original Orpheus without the matching amps.

I know for resale value, many prefer a whole "system", but it doesn't ever seem worth it for me.

That said, HE90 alone, is pretty phenomenal. I would say it's two weaknesses are 1) price lol... it's just really priced extremely high. But I think a reason for that, beyond rarity, is that they really are well built and their quality is easily maintained if you take care of them. Mine are pristine for how old they are, barring just one small issue I have with them. But most pairs I've seen look to be in amazing quality for the years they have on them; and 2) They don't have an extreme wow factor. They are incredibly balanced across the entire spectrum of sound, with just enough technical prowess to be a top performer. But their resolution, spaciousness, etc. aren't going to wow you against the competition. They probably have the best tonality of any headphone, but I don't think it stands out as a real wow factor.

It's one of those rare headphones that you can just put on and just entirely forget about anything else and listen forever. Still very competitive today for sure imo.

Both the original Orpheus and HE1 have built-in DACs. As an owner of the later and having just agreed to buy an example of the former - I think you have summed things up perfectly above. I can't wait to spend time with the Orpheus - my use case for it is narrow - classical and film music. That's it - and certainly no plans to use the built-in DAC. And if it isn't as great as everyone says - it wont stay. Rack space is too valuable for works of art unless they are working daily

 

[number1sixerfan]

Both the original Orpheus and HE1 have built-in DACs. As an owner of the later and having just agreed to buy an example of the former - I think you have summed things up perfectly above. I can't wait to spend time with the Orpheus - my use case for it is narrow - classical and film music. That's it - and certainly no plans to use the built-in DAC. And if it isn't as great as everyone says - it wont stay. Rack space is too valuable for works of art unless they are working daily

Oh I'm sorry, you're referring to the HEV90 amp/dac. I was assuming you were referring to the HE-1 because of how the dac/amp is partially integrated within the actual headphones. But yea, same thoughts either way.

 

[neilvg]

It's helpful to be clear on what Orpheus models we are talking about obviously. However mainly, it would make sense if the DAC portion was designed more as a module. That way people could replace the DAC with whatever was the state of the art as time went on... or some such thing. As it is, all of us who use/used the old HE90/HEV90 system used our own external DAC's because when your paying that kind of money - every component is scrutinized. We like the HE90.. we sort of like the HEV90 (much better after 45 minutes of warm up and assuming tubes are biased correctly), and we much much prefer 3rd party amps. Same goes for DACs..