Sennheiser Orpheus $50,000 Headphones

[blacksheeplogic]

I imagine that for most people, a $50 headphone will enable the same "experience" than a $1,000 headphone.

No you can tell the difference. Whether it sounds better or not however is a subject of opinion. When you get into the higher end earphones it comes down too which engineered sound profile you prefer. For example the Sure SE535's sound very different to the Sure SE846. Depending on the type of music you listen to and your personal preferences you may prefer the way the SE535 sound but there is a very noticeable and clear difference in the sound  between the two sets.

The same thing is very true of microphones. You can spend a *ton* of money on this or that device. Switch back and forth between them... you *can* hear the difference.

Crazy demo in a speaker factory ..errr ... decades ago:

I don't understand your point. Both the SE535 and SE846 are balanced armature with the SE535 being a older design and like most balanced armature earphones lacked base. The SE846 improvement over the SE535 primarily focused on that weakness. For base heavy music they still don't compare with dynamics but they are a lot better than the SE535's.

[MrSlack]

What else do you expect from Dr Dre?

Nothing. It wasn't my allowance I spent on the things

[uncle_bob]

I imagine that for most people, a $50 headphone will enable the same "experience" than a $1,000 headphone.

No you can tell the difference. Whether it sounds better or not however is a subject of opinion. When you get into the higher end earphones it comes down too which engineered sound profile you prefer. For example the Sure SE535's sound very different to the Sure SE846. Depending on the type of music you listen to and your personal preferences you may prefer the way the SE535 sound but there is a very noticeable and clear difference in the sound  between the two sets.

The same thing is very true of microphones. You can spend a *ton* of money on this or that device. Switch back and forth between them... you *can* hear the difference.

Crazy demo in a speaker factory ..errr ... decades ago:

I don't understand your point. Both the SE535 and SE846 are balanced armature with the SE535 being a older design and like most balanced armature earphones lacked base. The SE846 improvement over the SE535 primarily focused on that weakness. For base heavy music they still don't compare with dynamics but they are a lot better than the SE535's.

Hi

To be very clear: Your ears can hear very small differences in sound.

Bob

[blacksheeplogic]

I imagine that for most people, a $50 headphone will enable the same "experience" than a $1,000 headphone.

No you can tell the difference. Whether it sounds better or not however is a subject of opinion. When you get into the higher end earphones it comes down too which engineered sound profile you prefer. For example the Sure SE535's sound very different to the Sure SE846. Depending on the type of music you listen to and your personal preferences you may prefer the way the SE535 sound but there is a very noticeable and clear difference in the sound  between the two sets.

The same thing is very true of microphones. You can spend a *ton* of money on this or that device. Switch back and forth between them... you *can* hear the difference.

Crazy demo in a speaker factory ..errr ... decades ago:

I don't understand your point. Both the SE535 and SE846 are balanced armature with the SE535 being a older design and like most balanced armature earphones lacked base. The SE846 improvement over the SE535 primarily focused on that weakness. For base heavy music they still don't compare with dynamics but they are a lot better than the SE535's.

Hi

To be very clear: Your ears can hear very small differences in sound.

Bob

You may not notice if the treble is turned all they way up and base all the way down, but most people can tell the difference.

[blacksheeplogic]

You'd be wrong.  Now which one sounded better would be a matter of taste, but they would almost certainly sound different.  I own several "high end" ($150-400 range) headphones, and they all sound very different.

Likewise, all of my earphones sound different.

All equally good, but in different ways, and more at-home with different musical genres.  My HD650 is probably the best all-around, but I also enjoy my HifiMAN and Audio-Technica cans as well.  Even the Senn HD595 sound completely different than the HD650.

Also depends on the type of music you listen too. Some like the Bowers and Wilkins are good earphones but over emphasized the base which can be really unpleasant.

[timb]

I spent some proper money on some decent headphones (Sennheiser HD25) about 10 years ago and it was money well spent but only because you can replace every part on them without having to fish out for a whole new pair and they sound pretty good, plus the cable is really long and is virtually impossible to break. Prior to this I destroyed a pair every 6 months which was getting expensive.

I'd wager that in a blind test they don't sound any different to these $50k things.

You'd be wrong.  Now which one sounded better would be a matter of taste, but they would almost certainly sound different.  I own several "high end" ($150-400 range) headphones, and they all sound very different.  All equally good, but in different ways, and more at-home with different musical genres.  My HD650 is probably the best all-around, but I also enjoy my HifiMAN and Audio-Technica cans as well.  Even the Senn HD595 sound completely different than the HD650.

My daughter has some beats one and they sound like a dog shitting in a bin and cost more than the HD25's did.

What else do you expect from Dr Dre?

I bought a HD650 about 7 years ago and they're fantastic. I ended up spending about $500 between them and a new amp. (I ended up with an Audio-Gd Compass, which I've heavily customized.) It's funny though, when you tell people you dropped half a grand on a nice pair of headphones, they look at you like you're nuts. But, these are the same people that spend way more than $500 on a surround sound system, or car stereo system. I mean, the original Walkman was over $200 in today's dollars; the iPod nearly $400!

I personally prefer headphones because I can listen to what I want as loud as I want whenever I want without waking up the entire house/neighborhood.


Also, Sennheiser is a really great company. I bought the 650s to replace my HD595s, which had somehow broke in half (I must have fallen asleep listening to music and rolled over on them). I'd had the 595's for 6 years at that point and, after buying the 650's, I decided to contact Senn to see if I could get parts to fix the 595s, because I didn't want to travel with the 650s. They asked me to ship them back, which I did. Then they sent me a brand new pair. For free. 6 years after purchase. Despite me breaking them. Great customer service.

[borjam]

I spent some proper money on some decent headphones (Sennheiser HD25) about 10 years ago and it was money well spent but only because you can replace every part on them without having to fish out for a whole new pair and they sound pretty good, plus the cable is really long and is virtually impossible to break. Prior to this I destroyed a pair every 6 months which was getting expensive.

That model is especially tailored for the professional market. Apart from being popular with DJs it's the staple model for live sound recording, both for nature and film sound recordists

[tszaboo]

I had a HD555, it was the first nice headphones I bought. I bought a HD600, never regret buying it, sound was better and more detailed. Probably I'll buy a HD800 one day, and a nice amplifier for it. That is above the limit of spending for most people. I guess if I would have more money, I would buy the Orpheus.
Most people here dont realise that not everything sound related is snake oil. There are good reason to have balanced cables for headphones or have planar speakers or in this case tubes.
These are planar headphones, they dont have coils on the speaker. They work differently. Since there are no coils, which are heavy, the moving part is lighter, and so the frequency it can move is greater. Also, they need higher voltage than the usual headphones. So you either throw together a BJT/FET based amplifier, or you use tubes, since there arent many opamps for high voltage. They choose tubes, since they work. You will notice, there isnt the usual transformer on the output, it is not the bullshit amplifier.
The rest is just for the show. Price included. So what? Some people spend more on their cars.

[continuo]

So what? Some people spend more on their cars.

It's really a hard decision. Should I get the headphones or a bottle of Whisky for 60.000€ (plus 6.69€ shipping)? Or should I save it all up to be able to pay the taxes on free scopes?

http://www.amazon.de/Rarit%C3%A4t-Macallan-Anniversary-Holzkiste-Lederriemen/dp/B00DQDJBGM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458031436&sr=8-1&keywords=B00DQDJBGM

Decisions, decisions... 

[MrSlack]

I spent some proper money on some decent headphones (Sennheiser HD25) about 10 years ago and it was money well spent but only because you can replace every part on them without having to fish out for a whole new pair and they sound pretty good, plus the cable is really long and is virtually impossible to break. Prior to this I destroyed a pair every 6 months which was getting expensive.

That model is especially tailored for the professional market. Apart from being popular with DJs it's the staple model for live sound recording, both for nature and film sound recordists

This was a big seller for me actually. They have very few compromises for the money.

[AndyC_772]

I agree, my HD25 'phones are one of those excellent products that 'just work'. Excellent sound, solid build quality, and they do a particularly fine job of keeping the music in and other sounds out.

I still have an HD650 for ultimate sound quality, though. I used them daily for years in the office, driven from my PC via a dedicated USB DAC. These are plenty good enough to show up the terrible production jobs on most modern music, so personally I wouldn't spend any more.

[Zero999]

It's unlikely these $50 000 headphones sound any better than some which can be bought for a fraction of the price. There probably are other reasons than sound quality, why some people spend $50 000 of headphones: comfort, reliability, aesthetics, brand and status symbol: "Wow they've spent 50k on a pair of headphone, they must me loaded." This isn't too different to spending large sums of money on jewellery, clothes, art etc.