Two decades ago, Sennheiser unleashed Orpheus, a $16,000 listening station with a tube amp and a pair of over-ear electrostatic headphones. They were (justifiably) touted as the best headphones ever made, and even now there are few challengers to that title. Well, you're going to want to cue up that SACD of Aja, because the German audio company has rebooted the concept, and has today unveiled a brand new Sennheiser Orpheus.
It is, in a word, bananas. Like the original, the new Orpheus is a package deal, with the headphones and the combo tube amplifier and DAC designed to work together as a set. The amp is sheathed in (of course) Italian marble, and the tubes are protected by (of course) bespoke quartz bulbs. The headphones deliver sound via diaphragms crafted of vaporized titanium, because nothing else will do. The Orpheus's frequency response reaches all the way down to 8Hz, so you'll be able to feel the bones of your skull rattling every time Bootsy zaps the Bop Gun.
The headphone system will be available starting next year for €50,000 (about $55,000). We'll get a chance to hear the setup next week, and we'll provide more detail about the design and the innards once we've gone ears-on. In the meantime, take a look at the beautiful photos above. Try to avoid thinking about liquidating your 401(K).
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of P-Funk bassist, the Man Who Put Bass In Yer Face, the original funk 'n' roll wild child, the Godzilla-toned high minister of the all-powerful, the one and only, Bootsy Collins. Our apologies, good sir.
