Sennheiser[1] is one of the most popular audio brands and the company grabbed many headlines around the world when it came up with new version[2] of its Orpheus[3] range of premium headphones two years ago (mostly because of the $55,000 price tag). On Thursday, the company launched the successor to Orpheus, new Sennheiser HE 1, headphones in India. If you want to put your hand to your heart for the price, now is the time to do so, as the company has priced the headphones at Rs. 45 lakhs for the country and will be made available from May 27.
If you are wondering why these headphones cost as much as a house does, it could potentially be because the company says that just the development of these headphones took around a decade. As per company's claims, the new HE 1 premium headphones offer "a frequency response that extends beyond the range of human hearing and the lowest total harmonic distortion that has ever been measured in an audio reproduction system."
In order to achieve improved sound, the new Sennheiser HE 1 headphones use a tube amplifier. The amplifier comes with eight vacuum tubes that are used to process the incoming signal. The company claims that the use of tube amplifiers is because of their superior impulse processing. However, as the tubes are sensitive to air-borne-noise, the company says that it crafted amplifier housing from granular, inhomogeneous Carrara marble and says that it is freely suspended with the amplifier.
"The decoupling of the tubes in combination with the damping properties of the marble has the effect of reducing structure-borne noise to an absolute minimum. The tubes themselves also have a high-quality patent-pending enclosure consisting of quartz-glass bulbs...