Australian HiFi - March-April 2016_

SENNHEISER

The

musical

poetry

of Orpheus

IT’S NOT OFTENwe write about a

product that we cannot sell you (well,

not yet at least). I recently had the

privilege of experiencing one of the

listening highlights of my life (outside

live music – and even then it came close).

I had the opportunity to listen to a pair

of Sennheiser Orpheus headphones,

one of only two pairs in the world.

There is not much that Sennheiser

doesn’t know about designing and

manufacturing headphones – they

have been doing it, and doing it well,

since 1968. So when they set out to

make the world’s best headphone,

you know you are in for something

special, and they did not disappoint.

Admittedly, price was obviously not a

consideration... the Orpheus will sell

for around $70,000 a pair when released.

But the result is a musical immersion that

is rarely achieved or experienced in the

world of reproduced music. The demo

that I had was a one-on-one affair, and I

could have listened and explored music

for hours on end, given the opportunity.

It was great going back over tracks that

I know well, and selecting music not

normally associated with the world of

audiophilia. In fact I came away thinking

that maybe there was no such thing as

a bad recording! – everything I played

sounded fabulous, even my much loved

50-year-old Cream tracks.

The Sennheiser Orpheus will be released

sometime in the second half of this year.

At this stage there is no definite plan of

how Sennheiser will take this product to

market, but I would encourage everyone,

given the opportunity, to have a listen. It

is an experience you will not often repeat.

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Len Wallis comes

away very

impressed with

the new Orpheus

by Sennheiser.