Sennheiser’s Orpheus Headphones Are Back With A New Look & Price Tag

Got $55,000 that you were thinking about putting towards the downpayment of a new house? Maybe towards the college education of your children? Maybe you’re looking to pay off those student loans, or maybe you’re thinking about getting a new car? How about taking that $55,000 and putting it towards a pair of headphones instead?

If you’re wondering what kind of headphones would cost you $55,000, we’d like you to meet the Sennheiser Orpheus. This is essentially a reincarnation of the original Orpheus headphones that was released in the 90s. The originals sold for $16,000 and was limited as only 300 units were produced. If you missed out back then, here’s your shot at redemption.

According to Sennheiser, it seems that the new version of the Orpheus took a team of experts about a decade to create, and to be fair its price tag has also taken the fact that it is a headphone plus valve amplifier combination into consideration. These are a pair of reference electrostatic headphones that is similar in concept to the original Orpheus, but has seen some upgrades.

For starters the setup relies on quartz glass which apparently eliminates airborne vibrations, thus reducing unwanted noise in the preamp. The wood used in the original amp has since been replaced by marble which is a classy touch, but apparently serves a purpose as well since its mass, purity, and solidity make for good sound damping.

The company has also created 2.4 micrometer thick platinum coated diaphragms for the headphones. Apparently they could have gone much thinner, but it seems that 2.4 micrometers was the ideal thickness. The headphones also sports an ultrawide frequency range from as low as 8Hz to more than 100kHz, more than what humans can hear.

Interested in getting your hands on them? Sennheiser expects them to debut mid-2016 but given its price tag, we’re sure that these are definitely not a pair of headphones for the average Joe.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Audio, Gadgets
Tags: Headphones, sennheiser