Sennheiser Orpheus 2

What I love about this is it turns the formerly "I shouldn't do it, it's too much money" SR-009 into "this is totally reasonable."

That microsite… when the intro started I thought it was a pre-roll ad for another product (antacids or some other medication) before the main ‘video’. I also like how the “Full Experience WebGL” version made my MBP fans max out. I didn't even bother to wade through much more of it.

 

We are on a limited budget, and loaners on expensive headphones and gear doesn't seem practical. Sure, I would really like to hear them too - but considering what the price will be (as we all expect it to be up there in price) it just doesn't seem practical. I believe we received a headphone that others wanted for the loaner program that went out of the budget already, and when you start getting into expensive headphones and equipment, it isn't practical IMO, and I would personally be a little nervous having a loaner pair of gear that was so expensive, accidents happen and things can get damaged, and we just don't have the funds for something like this when considering all of the other costs that need to be paid for. Of course this is all up to Marv, but I cannot see us having a loaner pair of headphones that are that expensive. Like I said, I would LOVE to hear them - but we have a limited budget, and such an expensive pair of headphones is probably not possible at this time. Like I said it is up to Marv, but I am pretty sure it would not be a good idea to start spending all of the site's funds on expensive gear, at least not until our budget gets much higher, or something financially changes. There was a similar discussion with HD800s - we all would like to check those out too -but we must manage the budget efficiently and take care of the most important things first, such as funding the hosting costs, measuring costs, etc..

Again I am speaking from my own opinion, these things are ultimately up to Marv, and not to put words in his mouth, he can say what he feels, but I have a feeling he may feel similar to my opinion.

 

I apologize, it seemed serious when I read it.

 

I'm kind of surprised it doesn't come with it's own power generation. For a halo product of this type I would prefer to have control over all technical aspects involved in it. Imagine having a finely tuned transducer like this and plugging it into a dirty mains. 10 year's of development into an electrostatic driver, I'm sure it must sound as amazing as it looks. Stax appears to have stalled a bit on electrostatic driver technology, so will be interesting to see what Sennheiser managed to extract out of the technology, especially since planar magnetic headphones have risen and progressed to such prominence in that past 5 years.

A pity Sennheiser didn't set up a factory in South Africa for something like this, since all the raw materials (platinum, gold, silver and marble) are in abundance here which seems to have been widely used in the production, but I guess whether it was $25k or $55k is a moot point. For all intent and purposes this is a halo product, fit for angels, not be purchased by mere mortals.

Realistically speaking for me, for this money it is Vivid Audio Giya speaker and Devialet amplification territory...

 

Is it really? I have a Devialet 200, I got it for € 4000 because it was a demo model and I pair it with my DynAudio C2s. All of it combined is below 10k haha.

I'd say this is getting knee deep in full size Avant Garde territory and the likes. Terrifying, if we would correct the inflation the Orpheus was 25-30k in today's money. That's a hefty 22k increase...

Still though including the healthy criticism on the DAC, the pricing and the lack of detaching it from the amp, I'm still quite excited. If it really is beyond Orpheus it should be something to look forward to in auditioning.

 

Pretty damn weird. I just went through the webGL experience:

I was entrusted with a profoundly powerful stone. I sculpted the sound at the monolith's core then sent it to the monument.

I have helped build the monument to sound.


What have y'all done today?!

 

Honestly I think the over the top marketing is very fitting.
Seems like Sennheiser wanted to show they are still years ahead of the Audezes and Hifimans with their underwhelming 4k "flagships"

 

I wish more was mentioned about the crossfeed. Makes me feel like its an afterthought at this point. I know the bulk of engineering was put into the headphones, but I feel like DSP is really the last area headphones can improve on as a practical listening medium

Frequency reproduction is already sick, but the separate listening channels still holds headphones back from achieving a seamless sound stage

Of course I'm sure they'll be amazing, but they won't be bridging the gap to speakers without powerful DSP which the headphone world currently lacks

 

Well, despite the overwhelming "nah" votes, we've got an answer now:

Source: post #469 @ Head-fi thread

Seems like I guessed right. Senn kinda knows not a lot of folks will buy the whole system, and they don't want to limit sales to Arab princes.

 

Nanananabooboo....I was right nerdling

 

Not sure if this is a new article but...

http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/06/sennheiser-orpheus-hands-on-but-no-ears/

Fail!!!!!!

 

That's what I was hoping for!

 

I don't envy anyone who can afford this. Wouldn't mind listening to it, but not necessarily something on my bucket list.

 

Alright, time to see if Spritzer and Kevin Gilmore can reverse engineer the requirements for the amp.

 

Considering that amplification is integrated in the headphone itself, offering this separately seems like you would need a really special amp to power it.

 

Hey guys, i just got the news that we're gonna have an Orpheus kit at my job (I work in an audio store) for 1 year with a loaner program. I will post some impressions when we will get it!