We measured the Sennheiser HE-1 $60,000 headphone system 

Perhaps because he kept his glasses on, which could actually be worse for seal than his beard.

@@GH0STST4RSCR34M Depends on the headphones.

​@@GH0STST4RSCR34MMost are okay, but some lose all bass and kinda ruin the sound.

@@Godbluffer Actually these glasses are my specific listening glasses. I've tested headphones that are very sensitive to seal with these glasses by using in-ear mics and there's no effect. With other glasses that have thicker arms, you do get an effect.

@@ResolveReviews What model and brand are those glasses? I want to have listening glasses.

320kbps and v0 are literally fine and we have the measurements to prove it. Spotify hifi plays at 320 which is all we will ever need. Mp3 compression is far above and below the audible spectrum and has been for decades at this point. Flac and wav are fine for longterm storage but for actual listening mp3 is literally fine. The "perfectionists" are pretentious prices who need to get off the copium.

@@ChuuniKaede There was a time when an IT, Engineering and Electronics oriented magazine in Germany conducted a listening test with 'Audiophiles' when Fraunhofer came up with the mp3 algorithm. They did blind tests with Vinyl, CDs and mp3 files (128kbps if i remember correctly). through a system worth around 100K (DAC/receiver, Amp and Boxes) The results were devastating for the participants ... No one could tell with certainty which source the mp3 file was.

​@@ChuuniKaedesome people can tell the difference between 320k and 44.1/16 flac (not me) but even then they really need to concentrate

@@-aexc- yeah some songs are easier to tell than others. For example Daydreaming by Radiohead is easy to tell between AM and Spotify (listening on 660S - controlled by my partner so I was blind tested), but more pop stuff like Ed Sheeran it made no difference

@@ChuuniKaede this has too many likes for how bad a take it is

I think plenty, but probably not the same type of “audiophile” you might find with 50 different junk devices in each of their drawers. A lot of people love high fidelity and I wouldn’t be surprised if rich people are introduced to nice quality audio items and become, technically, audiophiles. They probably lean more into speakers, but this could be a legit non-regretted option for people with enough income.

Yeah technically compared to ultra high end speakers the HE-1 is pretty affordable

There are a lot of pretty rich audiophiles around mostly older generations

​@@TheVeganVicarany experience with TAD?

They'll probably go the smarter route and build a system that can outperform he-1 for much less

yessssss

And most importantly the audiophile cognac and pipe cleaners....

I just wanted to add that I did’t felt the three blob effect as much as on the hd600 and that it was less spacious and incredibly directional as the hd800s. Also I could really be biaised AGAINST the HE-1 because if it was an upgrade for me I should have to organise my life to buy it someday 😂

I’m glad you admitted you are biased against the HE-1 in your reply. I was going to say that this sounds very much like a ‘it’s not as great as [my setup] so I won’t be buying it’ and a creative way to justify that! 😂😂😂

Thank you @Fluterra, yes I hope the fact that I stated that I could be bias gives more credit to my mini review. On the other hand I am very surprised about my unfavorable opinion of HE-1 as every reviewers love it, so I will try to understand my possible bias and more importantly explain why I think the neutrality of the HD600 is better than the Neutral/fun tuning of He-1 for me. Sorry for the long reply, I love this subject :) Everybody feel free to contradict, support, add to my reasoning.

EXPLORING MY POSSIBLE BIAS: I admitted that I could really be biased because the HE-1 is pretty damn expensive for me, but as it’s the most expensive of all headphones it also means that it’s the most common bias against it, so my mini review and everybody’s review has more chance to be equivalent in bias than for any other headphone. I also could be more biased against expensive audio gear because I already bought a 2000 dollar IEM (U12t) supposed to be one of the best to finally spend most of my time with a hundred dollar IEM (hexa). Same with HD800s and HD600. On the other hand I also could not be biased because of my motivation: I am fully determined to hear the best sound reproduction on earth as a pure hobby so I was also eager to get out of the store thinking that the HE-1 was the best for me and start thinking « how can I get it » and « how can approach it by playing a few/lot more hours with eq and target curves while developing my ear and knowledge of sound ». And as a matter of fact I never regretted or sold my gears either iems / headphones / dac-amp because I just love to play with them anytime to experiment and train with sound so my bias toward money isn’t predominant. I also could not be biased because of my practice with audio and preparation against bias: I play live music since childhood and learned to recognize instruments / chord progressions / poly-melodies / sound effects / nuances / etc from church music to Sean Paul. I listen to headphones / iems for music / games / movies either in stereo or virtualized binaural dolby digital about 5 hours a day minimum and train to recognize 3db eq on several bands with more or less success for sheer pleasure. I also know that despite this training I already fell completely wrong about sound analysis a lot so I can now listen with total freedom of judgment about what I can think or feel. As a last thought about bias, when I remember my session with the He-1, I remember feeling as a « Sherlock Holmes of sound » with a mindset of extreme pleasure of novelty, opportunity and relaxing moment and not so much about my own HD600 even if I think it sounded better at the end, because I embraced the experiment of this new headphone with total enthusiasm. In conclusion I don’t feel very biased about HE-1 and as I still remember the confort of it at 95% and the sound of it at around 70% I will now explain more my opinion about sound reproduction and confort.

ABOUT CONFORT: - FIT: He-1 was pretty confortable at first for me but it’s the first time I had to open the headband of a headphone to the maximum to fit so the lack of margin wasn’t reassuring. - WEIGHT: He-1 felt heavier than both HD600 and HD800s which isn’t a good point for me. - CUPS : The HD800s is more confortable as it doesn’t touch my ears at all. HD600 is also really confortable, more than HE-1 as I prefer the refreshing texture of it. - HEADBAND: for me HE-1 was as confortable as HD600. I wore HD800s for more than a year exclusively and it was a relief to use HD600. - CLAMP: the clamping force of HD600 is the more powerful but it’s the only way to get a good stability. - HEAT: In ten minutes I started to feel the heat push on my ears, and it was confirmed when I adjusted it that the cups were getting hotter. It could be an advantage in winter, but for pure versatility it wasn’t an advantage. In retrospective it was less hot than my sony XM4 which is a closed-back that I just retried. - MOBILITY: I really like to walk with my headphones or just lay in different positions. I think the HE-1 was around the stability of the HD800S, which means you can’t look down or up without readjusting. Walking is ok but slowly at your home. HD600 is really good, you can walk outside without fear of loosing it. It is as stable as my sony XM4 which is supposed to be a commuting headphone. - ISOLATION: As I stated before, I learned to enjoy open-back design outside as it gives my music an unparalleled movie soundtrack effect, so they are all excellent. For my confort : HE-1 : 7/10 HD800s : 8/10 HD600 : 9/10

Looks like an amps and sound Mogwai

@@orthosympa6993 thank you kind stranger :-)

Sorry I had to

Cutest r/headphones user

Headphone case is smoked glass. Tube sleeves are Quartz.

We've talked at length about this before, but you need to look into what's called the headphone transfer function or "HpTF" for this to make sense - note, NOT HRTF, as that's a different thing. Basically, because the head and ears are different, many headphones will literally behave differently depending on the head that's wearing them. The same is true of the GRAS KB5000 vs the 5128 ear and cheek contours because they are effectively different 'heads'. Dr. Olive also knows this, and so I wouldn't expect Harman to run with that quick fix method for their actual research.

@@ResolveReviews Yes, I know that it's not something you can easily apply across the board, but you have two discrete measuring systems here. Is the point I missing the potential fact that headphones will react completely differently on the same two heads? Like, the treble on the GRAS will spike upwards compared to the B&K on a Hifiman can, but crater downwards on a Sennheiser one?

@@lummond Sort of yeah. Like each headphone will literally behave differently depending on its HpTF variation effects. Think of it like this. Any headphone measurement is NOT the truth about that product in all conditions, rather it is only ever the truth about that product in the given condition of being on THAT particular 'head' and ears. If you change that condition, its not just the HRTF that changes but the literal behavior of the headphone as well.

@@ResolveReviews Thanks for the rundown. I am just wondering when the B&K measurements will eventually trickle down to stuff like AutoEQ so we can potentially "hear the hear the difference" and figured you'd be able to get a transfer-ish function once you had enough samples. Cheers.

@@lummond You'll have to ask Jaako, but I'd be surprised if it's not on the way. Although I think you're missing the point slightly. No target curve is perfect for everyone. Not even Harman. That's based on a statistical model and DF+slope is made to be a convenient reference point. The GRAS system still does a pretty good job at simulating a human. What Andrew just described, and what we see when comparing GRAS and B%K data, underlines the fact that headphones can behave very differently on different people's heads. So if you're listening to an EQ made to a certain common target, you're NEVER hearing exactly the same thing as someone else. If you want to hear something they way it sounded on the test rig you need to figure out a transfer function for this one particular headphone going from the test rig to your ears and brain. This is basically the same thing as trying to find an elegant way of converting GRAS data to B&K data. Except even worse. So just use different rigs and targets for what they're meant for; points of approximate common reference. The differences between them, and how they perceive "neutralness" isn't actually that interesting.

Subjectively they don't sound all that similar tbh. He1 have a thicker richer sound while pretty well every hifiman (hek stealth included) lean fairly lean and a bit thin in the mids (in comparison to he1)

That’s bc hifiman targets after senn😅

@@tonywang6927 uh.... unless fang Bian has said that I don't think that's true. The two companies have pretty damn different house sounds that are quite consistent across their product lines

I did this side by side AB test on an ipad with a cheap ifi uno to truthear hexa setup. I could hear that subtle change consistently. I have a feeling these music player engines have an inherent sound the way they were programmed.I say this because I find the difference in players more than even lossy vs lossless in tone. It also depends what the wasapi/asio buffer settings are and the dithering algorithm etc in the case of windows based systems. There was a day where I actually sat down comparing the ipad vs a windows jriver machine vs a custom volumio streamer going to an ifi zen signature dac vs a denafrips pontus/slow os filter and found that windows also colored the ssound as a transport more than an ipad and the volumio streamer which I would guess colored the sound less because they sounded almost indistiguishable from each other vs the warmer sounding jriver/windows source.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

according to the FR, no

@@abhaykalsi158how does FR illustrate timbre

@@gibgun Doesn't crazy peaks and dips illustrate timbre?

According to how I interpret DMS' sentiment, yeah, probably.

​@gibgun it doesn't. Overall I wouldn't say he1 has crazy timbre though. It's a bit rich and vivid of what I would call "realistic timbre" but the detail and texture jump alone will make it sound significantly more real in general than 600/58x

Warwick Aperio

There's a common misconception about square wave and CSD (waterfall) that it provides additional information in headphones, however those are just worse ways of looking at the same thing because headphones are generally minimum phase devices. We've done several videos on this but I suggest watching the 10 stages of reading headphone measurements one linked in the description of this video for that explanation.

Do not listen to Goldenone lmao @@ResolveReviews

probably: look at the 1.5k dip and 7k bbost: thats what it does.

Ace combat has a lot of songs that could make you cry

Neither. Get qualia

Honestly, just get he90. Being able to play with electronics and given current prices he90 will far far out compete he1 for even less money much the less similar money

hi :)

Except a huge number of "normal" headphones such a Koss Porta Pro or AKG K701, AKG Y50 and so on... I had both the HD650 and HD800 a few times (like 3 times each) and right now I own the LCD2 Classic. My first Audeze. I am borrowing ZMF Atrium that costs about kinda rough 3000 USD with Swedish taxes, import fees and such. Now this is a "home demo" (payed and in line waiting at the moment) and I actually think it is wild. 3000 USD would be a serious stretch and would take time for me to actually get my hands on. Mainly because of different priorities. Not impossible, but clearly less priority. We talk barely half the price of Susvara, I would say already there we talk about a pricing that is really crazy. If you are not like dirt rich, I don't think it's simply not reasonable to streatch more. HE-1 doesn't fit to your home anyway, if you don't have "real" antique furniture and a million dollar flat in a city or something like that. Probably you have a Lexus, Porsche or other very nice car before and also "everything else" pretty much. Possibly a very nice beach villa abroad and yacht. Before having all that, you have to be either crazy or stupid to get it. In my opinion. The value isn't simply there for being justified, it's like for a woman to go to the Hermés store and buy a Birkin bag. How many does that? Except Madonna and Royale families.

@@user-lo5dk7uv7r this is a statement piece. It’s definitely not for those people who have to think about the price, very much agreed. You should be put in 70 K into stocks and shares not into a headphone.

Mfw you spend 60k and still have to eq

@@mini-337 obviously they didn't spend 60k on getting a flat frequency response so of course you have to EQ.

Anechoic chamber isn't useful for measuring headphones. The result would be the same, since we measure at the eardrum reference point. The only difference would be with readability of THD levels, which can also be identified just by increasing SPL. That's why I did the sweep at 114dB.

No you don't

I didn't have my 24bit 96k vinyl rip .wavs on my laptop of course :)

i hope that was a joke, spotify is awful

@@nitraM321most people cannot tell the difference. Everyone else thinks they can.

@@DaveRessler Maybe on cymbal hits. Maybe. :)

@@DaveRessler You will rather hear the difference between the players (for example, foobar and something else). Comparing mp3 and FLAC in one player, it seems to me that the FLAC has a slightly clearer bass and a feeling of airiness. But this is on an ephemeral level.

I have FiiO K9 PRO and Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250 ohms, they sound so that they cause sonic ecstasy and I cry from the incredible pleasure of listening to music. I also experienced the powerful pleasure of playing Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora with FiiO K9 PRO and Beyerdynamic MMX150 headphones. The sound is like being in a cinema with Dolby Atmos and when I got to ikran on the soaring mountains, it was an incredible soundtrack with a bunch of ikran that growled so powerfully, and when I found my ikran and flew, my emotions just flooded out and I cried with bated breath. FiiO K9 PRO and Beyerdynamic MMX150 in the game, and FiiO K9 PRO and Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250 ohms in music and cinema, for less money they can give a chic, powerful, clean, analytical sound. I never thought that I could cry from the sound, but I am extremely happy for the impressive experience. It is difficult to convey such an experience in words. But there is a problem, the iiO K9 PRO and Beyerdynamic MMX150 are so analytical in sound that not all games are suitable and some games have bad sound, it is better to play with ordinary headphones, such as Logitech G Pro X, Sony INZONE H3, HyperX Cloud Alpha S, they do not hear distortions and artifacts in the sounds, do not A bejeweled sound stage is heard. FiiO K9 PRO with Beyerdynamic MMX150 is only for games with good sound and a rich sound world. Hogwarts Legacy pales in sound against the background of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Cyberpunk2077, Watch Dogs: Legion, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Halo Infinite, Battlefield 5 are terrible in sound, it's better to listen to them without FiiO K9 PRO, otherwise it's impossible to play. These games are bad with sounds. Far Cry 6, Forza Horizon 5, Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection, Alan Wake 2, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora sound great in FiiO K9 PRO and it's a pleasure to play. The Beyerdynamic MMX150 is 100% for games and they have specially raised the mid and high frequencies, and the low frequencies have been slightly reduced. The Beyerdynamic MMX150 in games provides excellent sound detail, all sounds that the Beyerdynamic DT 770/880/990/1770 PRO 250 ohm, Beyerdynamic MMX300 cannot provide are audible. The Beyerdynamic MMX300 is the same Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 32 ohm, only with a microphone.

sometimes it's got 10% off!!

lol

😆

Need a new home for the new headphones.

Honestly I would buy 3-4 flagships like an LCD-4, Utopia, abyss Diana, and then maybe an l700

Already got a home lol, just, would obviously get a better home. As for other flagships... Oh yeah, dontcha be worryin' lol, there are other 'toys' I would have my eyes on to 'Treat my ears to' 😉 including such exquisitely designed Meze Empyrean (Standard or Elites), top end Technics SL12 series (love vinyl too), decent Integrated amp, like McIntosh or others, a mixture of Dali, Klipsch, B&W, Wilson Audio (and others) speakers... and other delights! 👌

Haha, I've often thought that too. From my experience the Superlux HD681 could be that headphone. When amped with a bit of eq I honestly don't know how the sound could get any better. The bliss of audiophile ignorance maybe. 😂

I think the FR is a very modest characteristic, it tells you about the nature of the sound, about the accentuation of some frequencies. At least the resolution, dynamics and soundstaging are not displayed here. The FR just simplifies the choice among models by the nature of the sound (bass-heavy, neutral, bright, V-shaped, etc.). You still need to listen to the headphones for yourself to know what they sound like. For example the FR of ADX5000 headphones looks weird and bright for me, but in fact I really liked them.

Yeah, there are straight up better measuring headphones IN EVERY REGARD than these for $400

Considering all the research and development and the fact that the thing is more or less hand built from exclusive materials and low volume components, I would not be surprised if the profit margin for Sennheiser is fairly small. A hundred HE-1s every year is not the last drop of decadence that brings the rapture or revolution upon us. While trickle-down economics is bullshit, trickle-down innovation is not. The luxury market has been a key source of innovation since trade first became a thing. It's how pioneers have been testing and funding innovation for thousands of years. We probably wouldn't have anti-lock breaks without cars you might have thought were so expensive that they shouldn't exist.

​@@Joelsfilmer Except by the time that level of sound quality & tech trickles down from Sennheiser to the everyman, to be offered out-of-the-box with even somewhat affordable headphones, after a few decades of waiting & saving pennies and some eventual smart choices of separates like the amp & dac, I'll still be too old and deaf to hear the difference. Screw anyone who's gatekeeping good sound quality of music like this because the majority "aren't worthy yet". If you have the tech & you're a mass manufacturing capable company (which Sennheiser is) figure out a way to make it cheaper for those who want it or quit dangling it in front of us all. Because I'm not gonna hype a product I will never be able to afford, that could be made more affordable right now. They could easily make a cheaper version that sounds almost, if not exactly as good without all the flashy crap like a marble case and motorized tubes & display case lid. I don't need "bespoke" to enjoy my music. This is why I like DIY communities, small businesses like Modhouse Audio and Chi-Fi. They can get me at least 80% of the way right now for a fraction of the cost and none of the pretentiousness.

They frankly can't get all that close. Starting with someone obscenely detailed like lambda signature and throwing some realy solid source gear at it would get you a good base line to eq off of but that headphone is peaky as shit and would be a real bear to eq tbh

@@eskamobob8662 I'm saving for Modhouse Audio's upcoming "Tungsten" and I'm going to upgrade the amp and DAC whenever I can. Starting with a Fosi V3 (with spade to XLR adapter cable) and Mojo 2 for the DAC. A couple people, having heard the Tungsten reckon they prefer them over Susvara, so I can't wait to hear them.

Heavy R&D, new technology, low volume exclusive components, low demand, and low manufacturing volumes make costs add up. We're spoiled by the economics of scale. I would be surprised if the profit margins of the entire project are as massive as you seem to think.

​​​​@@Joelsfilmerpeople always forget about R&D cost. The reason China could make cheap stuff is not only because of them mass producing low quality stuff, it is also because they skipped R&D, copy most of not all the technologies that other companies spend a lot of money to do R&D on and combined with cheap inhumane wage for the laborers we get super cheap stuff.

​@@Joelsfilmeryeah, tbh I'd bet that Sennheisers profit margins on the HE-1 are similar or less than most of their cheap products. Especially the Bluetooth earbuds

heavy tech is half the cost.....half in quality, half in assundries associated with "top of the line"

this is better, electro-implants yield "metallic" sound