Sennheiser Gears Up for 2016 Launch of Next-Gen Orpheus Reference Headphone System

Sennheiser announced a successor Orpheus reference two-piece electrostatic headphone system set for mid-2016 release at 50,000 euros ($54,715 at Tuesday’s exchange rate). The next-generation Orpheus incorporates eight vacuum tubes in a new amplifier design class Sennheiser has dubbed Cool Class A. Cool Class A provides Class A power at any volume, and in the high- and ultra-high-frequency ranges, the amplifier switches from Class A to the usual Class AB operation, said the company. Vacuum tubes offer “superior impulse processing,” said Axel Grell, Sennheiser’s portfolio manager-audiophile, but they're sensitive to airborne noise so Sennheiser designed a housing made from Carrara marble to reduce structure-borne noise to a minimum, said Grell. Orpheus comprises more than 6,000 individual components chosen for their acoustic characteristics, including gold-vaporized ceramic electrodes and platinum-vaporized diaphragms, said the company. Production of the hand-assembled system, to be manufactured in Germany, is 250 per year, a spokesman told us. The original Orpheus had a 300-unit production run, he said.