A history of sound in perfection - An insight into Sennheisers high-end world

The milestones of headphones development

The history of audiophile sound began with the HD 414. The world s first open headphones revolutionised the headphones market in 1968. For the first time, the ears could hear in a way that they are accustomed to: open and free in space. The sound could travel to the ear drum much more naturally and clearly than in the closed models which were available at that time. With its new principle, the HD 414 triggered an absolute boom in headphones sales. More than 100,000 sets of headphones had already been sold by the end of 1969. Until today, the HD 414 remains one of the best-selling headphone models in the world, with a total of over 10 million units sold.

A further milestone followed when Sennheiser engineers combined the principle of open headphones with that of electrostatic transducer technology for the first time. Sennheiser's launch of the unipolar 2000 model in 1977 caused a sensation in the audio world. Its principle was once again an innovation in audio technology. In the electrostatic transducer, a high voltage is applied to two mesh-like electrodes. Just like in a loudspeaker, this voltage causes a coated foil diaphragm to vibrate in time with the audio signal. This results in an extremely fine resolution and low total harmonic distortion. Its frequency curve has a relatively deep curvature from 2 to 4 kHz. This is one of the reasons why these headphones generate an extremely spacious, detailed, transparent, airy and nevertheless powerful sound image in unprecedented quality," was how audio magazine Hifi-Stereofonie' sang the praises of the new headphones.

From a veritable flood of new headphones being introduced, one in particular stood out like a beacon in 1990/1991: the electrostatic Orpheus HE 90/HEV 90. With the boldly ambitious mission to build the best headphones in the world, Sennheiser developers set to work - and exceeded all expectations of the audio sector with these electrostatic headphones and their impressive tube amplifier. Two platinum-coated diaphragms vibrate between gold-coated glass electrodes. A 500 volt tube amplifier provides enough power to allow the Orpheus to fully unleash its sound. Due to the extremely complex technology involved, the Orpheus was produced in a limited edition of just 300 units.

Reshaping Excellence

Until the launch of its successor, the legendary Orpheus HE 90/HEV 90 remained the ultimate benchmark for audiophile listening. The new Sennheiser HE 1, launched in November 2015, now redefines this benchmark for a new era with peerless sound quality delivered by breakthrough technical innovations.

This milestone product delivers an unprecedented, ultra-wide frequency range from 8 Hz to more than 100 kHz - exceeding the human auditory range. The purity of the sound is formed by every component of the headphone system: A completely new amplifier design combines the best of tube and transistor amplifiers in an amplifier housing of the finest Carrara marble. Patented high-voltage amplifiers, which are integrated directly into the cups of the headphones, increase efficiency by 200% over other solutions currently available. Gold-vaporized ceramics are used in the electrodes to ensure outstanding acoustic performance, while silver-plated cables are used for optimum conductivity when carrying the sound to the headphones. Finally the sound itself is produced by 2.4 micrometer, platinum-vaporized diaphragms - proved by research to be the optimal size for sound reproduction. Sennheiser has developed a product with lower distortion than has ever been measured in sound reproduction equipment, at just 0.01 percent at 100 dB SPL at 1 kHz - and has once again created the world's best headphones.

The Sennheiser audiophile world today

This spirit of innovation embodied by the new Sennheiser HE 1 is also present across Sennheiser's latest audiophile products, which focus on perfect sound reproduction. With the HD 800 S, the audio specialist presented a new version of the audiophile classic HD 800 in late 2015. With the HD 800, the audio specialist had developed a set of high-end headphones that offer outstanding reproduction precision and unique spatiality. Acoustically, the proven transducer technology and the innovative earcup design of the HD 800 are still being employed in the HD 800 S, while the sound image has been further optimized in the medium and low frequency range

The digital headphone amplifier HDVD 800 offers a balanced sound image, maximum precision and impressive spatiality. The high-end device has a fully symmetrical layout for operation with analogue audio sources, thus ensuring absolutely symmetrical signal transmission from the source to the headphones. Especially designed for the use with digital sources, the HDVD 800 features an extra high-quality Burr-Brown digital/analogue converter that converts digital audio data into analogue signals with a resolution of 24 bits and a sampling rate of up to 192 kHz. This enables the amplifier to transmit the entire frequency spectrum of high-end audio sources without any loss of frequencies. It harmonizes perfectly with Sennheiser's audiophile headphone range, thus perfecting the Sennheiser sound experience.

The HD 700 features a perfect combination of outstanding acoustic properties and sophisticated product design. Its styling and material selection have been thought through down to the finest detail in order to fully exploit the sound potential of the acoustic unit. The ear cups are designed in such a way that the sound waves are directed to the ears at a slight angle. This results in an impressively natural listening experience. The ear cups themselves feature a completely open design. This not only ensures a highly transparent sound but also clearly displays the "heart" of these exciting headphones: the 40 mm Duofol tr

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