Readers with longer audio industry memories might recall the Sennheiser Orpheus, supposedly the best headphones in the world. Now the German company announces an update, the result of over a decade of work.
Released in 1991, the Orpheus HE90 were something of an audiophile's dream-- one complete with a companion HEV90 amplifier and a $16000 price tag. Production was limited, and currently only just 300 pairs are available in the world, meaning existing pairs get sold at a much higher price.
As for the 2015 Orpheus update, a very gushy Sennheiser says the headphones are hand-crafted from over 6000 components, including silver-plated OFC cables, gold-vaporised ceramic electrodes and platinum-vaporised diaphragms "exactly 2.4 micrometres thick, the result of extensive research that shows that any thinner or thicker would be sub-optimal.”
The flagship preamplifier includes triple FIFO buffering, DSP unsampling and apodising filters, a linear power supply and a master oscillator promising 40% less jitter for further improved audio performance. Connectivity includes Meridian SpeakerLink, enabling ultimate quality and convenience when driving Meridian DSP loudspeakers, as well as RCA and XLR outputs for connection with non-Meridian components.
"Adding the new Sage Cinema Series to the mix brings the advantages of the Sage Series to completely hidden applications in high-performance theaters and media rooms," the company says. "Its Modular Line Source concept makes it a true custom solution for any size room, while our Variable Directivity Point Sources will allow our dealers to deliver unparalleled clarity and intelligibility for every seat, and true compatibility with 3D audio formats.”
Such technologies include formats such as Dolby Atmos, DTS-X and Auro 3D. The formats and the aforementioned Trinnov technologies find use in the JBL Synthesis SDP-75, a sound system processor based on the Trinnov Altitude32 platform. Available in 16- and 32-channel versions, the SDP-75 is a configurable surround processor/preamplifier compatible with Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD formats, with full support for all major 3D audio codecs and upmixers, 4K UHD video and HDMI 2.0.
The regular-sized Zipp pushes up to 100W of audio, while the Zipp Mini reaches 60W. The two speakers are compatible with Spotify Connect and Apple Music, have an "intuitive" touch interface and pair with mobile devices via redesigned Libratone app.
The device includes a year-long subscription to a streaming service offering "millions" of songs, and plugs to TVs via HDMI. It also includes a 3.5mm line-out port for the addition of external speakers, and connects to the internet via wifi. Interestingly connection to the Electric Jukebox service requires no user account or password, and can only be accessed through the TV-connected dongle.
