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Watch the Power-On Ritual of Sennheiser's Insane $55,000 Non-Portable Headphones

Press a button and the show starts

By Rain Noe - November 10, 2015

in Consumer Electronics | Star Wars | Bags

It’s always interesting, if a bit alienating, to see the most extreme version of a product category. Who can’t help but turn their head at a Ferrari zipping past, or an AmEx Black Card perched on the edge of a restaurant table? Now joining the ranks of exclusive products few can afford are Sennheiser’s Orpheus HE 1060 headphones, “perfectly engineered” and intended to be “the best headphones in the world.”

As a design blog, what fascinates us is not the $50,000 price tag, nor the decade-long development time, nor the “gold-vaporised ceramic transducers” inside, nor the 6,000 components assembled by some 50 workers per set. What fascinates us is the neat, but arguably contrived, user experience they’re seeking to design, which is similar to those Star Wars books. Take a look at what happens when you turn it on:

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As you can see, the Orpheus is intended for home use, thus it comes attached to its own amplifier housed in a slab of Carrara marble—“the type made famous by Michelangelo’s Renaissance sculptures,” the company points out—whose damping properties prevent any contamination of sound created by the structure vibrating. Those eight tubes you see popping out up top are old-school vacuum tubes, and you’ve surely figured out those are the control knobs on the front.

Now obviously the tubes and knobs receding into the structure when not in use does not confer any functional advantage; it’s not as if they’re then safely out of the way of the golf balls you like to drive through your study. But as with the Star Wars books, the act of pressing a button is meant to provide a visual preamble of kinetic interest, an affirmation that the object is special, containing engineering disguised as magic.

Audiophiles among you: Let’s say you had the 55 large to cough up for one of these, and could somehow snag one of the only 250 pairs they plan to produce each year. Would you enjoy the little ritual of the device revealing itself, the lid slowly winding open? Would it enhance your listening experience, and continue to excite you each time you turned it on?

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Tucker Drake

9 years ago

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I'm sorry, but for that kind of money, I expect the headphones to raise themselves out of the case. If I have to reach in and remove them myself, I might injure my money counting hand, and we can't have that, now can we?

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1stlvl Humanoid

9 years ago

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There is an unnecessary 20 second interval between when you turn it on and when you can retrieve your headphones. Don't make me wait!

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Sean Horita

9 years ago

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Sorry, underwhelmed. Yes its cool that things rise up and poke out, but the lid to the headphones opening - which should have been the finishing flourish - instead reminded me of any old used car. I'd like to know what percentage of the $55K was dedicated to the power-up ritual, and then think about what else could be done on that budget.

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Daly Pancake

9 years ago

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Yes.

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Chee-Kent Yong

9 years ago

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Personally, if I had the 55k to spend on this, I would be spending it on something more useful to me, unless I get to the point where 55k becomes comparable to pocket change (yea right). I do appreciate the focus they put into the details of the device. At least it makes a good conversation starter :) Nice one!

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