Skip to main content

Hi-fi Corner: Behold the most expensive headphones in the world

When it comes to high-end audio, hyperbole is the marketing department’s prime directive. But when Sennheiser claims it has made “the best headphones in the world,” the company is dead serious. And although we’ve seen nothing more than a short glimpse of these sparkling cups of of sonic glory, on specs alone, we’re inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. Introducing the Sennheiser Orpheus.

Named after the original Orpheus HE90 (which carried a $16,000 price tag back in the ’90s) the new Orpheus are a second coming of sorts, bundled with a hand-crafted amplification setup designed to complete a sonic system that surpasses everything that has come before it. The price for this outstanding engineering achievement: approximately $55,000. To put that into perspective, you’d have to purchase two of these top-tier WA 234 Mono headphone amps from Woo Audio, along with a pair of the Abyss 1266 Deluxe headphones — and then throw in a gently used Kia Optima — just to get close.

Recommended Videos

So what do you get for that staggeringly opulent sum? Enough features to knock the wind out of your average audiophile, positioning the Orpheus less as a pair of headphones and amp, and more as a totally new kind of listening system.

The Orpheus are assembled from over 6,000 individual components, from their ivory stand of Carrara marble, to gold vaporized ceramic electrodes, and plush leather cushions. The headphones boast electrostatic drivers, lauded for their stark clarity and lightning-fast transient response. The system’s power is produced in two stages, the first of which is a hybrid transistor/tube amp with 8 quartz-glass vacuum tubes that pop up from their marble base automatically when switched on. The marble stand is a nice aesthetic touch, but also allows for decoupling of the tubes to reduce structure-born noise.

Related: KEF’s stylish M400 bring bass with balance

The second amplification stage is built directly into each of the Orpheus’ earpieces, and takes the form of a patented “ultra-high impulse” amplifier system, aimed at circumventing any power loss that might occur on the way from the amplifier to the headphones via cabling. Sennheiser Portfolio Manager Audiophile Axel Grell claims that in traditional amplification systems of this sort, only about a third of the power generated is actually used to create sound.

“Our approach was therefore to amplify the alternating voltage to high voltages not at the beginning of the cable but at the point where it is really required,” said Grell, “directly at the gold-vaporised ceramic electrodes in the headphones themselves.” The company claims that puts the distance between power and driver at less than a centimeter. In order to prevent distortion, the amplification actually transitions from Class A power, to Class AB at certain frequencies, a distinction that leads Sennheiser  to call its system a “Cool Class A amplifier.”

The frequency range of the drivers, which measure a mere 2.4 micrometers thick, is claimed to extend from 8Hz-100kHz — eons beyond the human ear’s capacity to recognize sound. Sennheiser claims this allows for all sounds that do fall in the audible zone (from 20Hz to around 20kHz) to be virtually distortion free — total harmonic distortion is listed at .01 percent at 100 dB. The cables themselves are built from an eight-wire collection of oxygen-free copper coated with silver to provide optimum electrical conductivity, and sheathed in an insulating layer to ensure noise isolation.

Connection options for the Orpheus system includes both balanced and unbalanced sockets, a S/PDIF Optical input, and a USB port. Digital to Analog audio conversion is handled via an ESS Sabre ES9018 chip, with a total of eight internal DACs (four per channel) at a top resolution of 32bit/384kHz. The system also supports DSD signals, including 2.8MHz and 5.6MHz.

The Orpheus will launch in mid-2016 with a batch of 6,000, all hand-crafted in Germany (they ought to be at their staggering price point). Having designed the system for the highest performance possible in the genre, Sennheiser is confident that the outrageous price will translate to a sonic experience that is unparalleled.

“No other sound reproduction system in the world is able to deceive our senses like the Orpheus. It creates the absolutely perfect illusion of being directly immersed in the sound,” said Daniel Sennheiser.

We’ll be listening to the headphones at a special event next week in LA, so we’ll find out if that is indeed true soon enough.

This post first appeared in our “brother site” Digital Trends.

Ryan Waniata
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Waniata is an audio engineer, musician, composer, and all-around lover of all things tech, audio, and cinema. Hailing…
Don’t ruin your cigars: here’s how to properly season a new humidor
Seasoning secrets every cigar lover could use
faceless man presenting a cigar humidor with cigars inside with gloved hands

If you're a newcomer to the world of cigars or just bought a brand-new humidor, you'll need to season it. And no, I'm not saying to add salt and pepper to it. If you've never heard of it, you might ask, "What is seasoning for a humidor?"

Don't think you need to flavor the box or anything — seasoning is really about getting the wood inside your humidor so as not to rob your cigars of precious moisture. Easy to understand, and getting it done is relatively straightforward as well. The trick is figuring out the "why," and we'll get into that in a bit. But let's first discuss seasoning a humidor.

Read more
The NBA’s ultimate celebration tool: The victory cigar
A look at the players and coaches who smoke to celebrate
Jordan smoking a cigar image on a bag

Sports are synonymous with celebration. After winning the biggest trophy of their lives, athletes want to indulge in the payoff that comes with seeing their dreams realized. Teams go into the locker room, where a waterfall of champagne hits them in the eyes, and swimming goggles seem to be a requirement, lest you walk around on the best night of your life half blind. While drinking is often the activity of choice after winning a championship, the NBA has an alternative symbol of greatness that other sports don't use nearly enough: the victory cigar.

Basketball is a team game, but it's also an individual canvas for solo superstardom. After winning an NBA championship, the coaches and players who sit atop the throne have long smoked a cigar in the locker room, during the parade, or even on the bench before the clock has hit zero. There's nothing quite like a good stogie to signify the ultimate win over the rest of the league, but how did the victory cigar get so ingrained in NBA championship celebrations? We want to take a walk down memory lane and look at some of the historical moments and people who made the cigar what it is within the NBA today.
Red Auerbach's victory cigar on the bench
Red Auerbach: The Story Behind the Victory Cigar + His Disdain of NBA Officials - Red on Roundball

Read more
The best medical shows of all time to binge now
From ER to The Pitt, these are the best medical shows ever made
Noah Wyle in the Pitt

Throughout TV's long history, the medical drama has occupied a somewhat unique place in the landscape. Medical shows are often some of the most reliable on TV precisely because there's so much drama built in to working in a hospital.

Personally, I've found the medical drama to be deeply comforting for years, even if I have no desire to be a doctor myself. Understanding the stress of people in the healthcare profession is fascinating in and of itself.

Read more