Yes, as a matter of fact I just read it now. Or at least part of it… I was eating taco’s and watching hockey an the same time.
The tab is still open and I plan to devote some time to enjoying the rest later tonight.
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And the additional advantage of simple wiring.
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Yes, I saw that post too. I was a really good read. He had a really interesting take on things. It did begin the discussion on regarding people’s listening experiences whilst high. I don’t personally dabble in drugs due to health reasons but I don’t begrudge or judge anyone that does. If they feel that it enhances their listening experience then good for them. Live and let live. Obviously as long as they don’t put their health at risk.
-Paul-
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Other headphones - no doubt . Plenty of great amps and dacs out there waiting to come home with me.
Maybe they’ll invent a “goldtooth” version. 
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Here are the Sennheiser HE-1 frequency response measurements done on the B&K 5128 and GRAS 43AG
I’ll post harmonic distortion measurements soon as well.
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Very cool - exciting to see a 5128 measurement of it.
So this could be your new number 1, eh? When are you purchasing your very own? 
so really the secret recipe is 1,5k dip, huh?
Maybe if I had Crinacle money hahah
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It has quite a bit more dip than I expected tbh. When I tried it I didn’t really notice it at all. I definitely noticed the mid-treble forwardness though.
If anyone’s in the Toronto area, the HE-1 might be appearing again. Upside is that you can basically hook it up to whatever you want to listen to and the staff won’t bother you. The downside is it’s an open table type thing, no special listening room.
Also also, I had the chance to speak with Dr. Grell at CanJam NYC. He mentioned to me that the heads at Sennheiser told him they wanted the HE-1 at $50k hence all the fancy marble etc. Grell had originally designed it to be much more affordable. If only…
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Somewhere Fang Bian is smiling in his sleep without knowing why exactly.
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It is not that hard to imagine. It is pretty obvious that they won’t be making a cheaper version of it at this point.
Very cool. Would it be possible to graph the 5128 measurement compensated to the DF+tilt together with the GRAS also compensated to DF?
Would have also liked to see how it reacts to leakage.
Yeah, with that price tag and the inherent exclusivity even people who know nothing about headphones assume it’s “the best headphone in the world”. And those of us who DO know about headphones hardly question it. Is it “The Best”? 
I had the opportunity to listen to HE-1 at my house for about an hour, with my source and music and with no pressure of a show… quite an experience!
This was a couple months ago but I’m pasting this from another forum I shared it on.
Some impressions:
- Tuning is surprisingly consumerish, was warmer than I expected
- Internal DAC is not great, improved significantly with the Wavedream
- Single ended and balanced sounded similar when tested with the same cables, afterwards Danacable was much nicer than Prion4S
- Bass is very fun with plenty detail all over the FR
- Stage isn’t huge but accurate
- Separation wasn’t great or competitive with its competitors (thinking Shang Sr on good energizers)
- HE-1 worked better with modern music or smaller classical ensembles / more intimate jazz
I don’t believe it’s worth the money and probably not even its used pricing considering I would definitely have a DAC feeding it and then we’re comparing full systems. For its cost I see little reason to own it compared to what you can get with other options like Shang Sr, Susvara and X9000 to name a few if we’re thinking about one chain alone, but for the cost I would probably prefer owning a few options anyway and that’s easily achievable at this price.
tl;dr yes it’s great, it’s not $60K great and you can do better for different preferences and genres. The market for a type of system like this exists, it’s not really audiophiles or gear enthusiasts.
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It’s an interesting piece (I need to remember to take pictures of mine, since it’s at the other house and I’m not there much while it’s being remodeled). I can’t name a better one-stop all-in-one solution for headphone listening - but that doesn’t make it good value … or even make it make sense.
There are, for sure, various individual technical areas in which other setups will beat it. As you cite, the Shangri-La Senior has more pronounced separation, but that comes at the cost of shitty build quality and completely limp bass. A Warwick Bravura (never mind the Aperio) has more bass weight/impact, but doesn’t compare in any other regard. None of the conventional (non-electrostatic) options compare on raw resolution, nor on micro dynamics, though the SR1a, well-driven, gets very very close.
For me, it’s mostly about the convenience, and simplicity (lack of choice*), vs. having multiple boxes and cans to deal with. I think that’s partly an age-related thing. The older I get, the less I’m willing to deal with “stuff” … and just want nice, simple, things.
I’ve had (still do, just don’t use … and am in the process of selling) a combination of sources, amps and headphones that, in aggregate, have advantages over the HE1 … but they take up a lot more mental and physical space to do it.
*Reducing the number of choices I make when listening to music has been a very welcome thing. Pretty much, at this point, the choice is “headphones or speakers”. Previously, it was first choosing a source (analog or digital), then the DAC if digital, then what sort of headphones I was going to use (electrostatic, ribbon, dynamic). Then what amplification I wanted. If that was tubes, then it was what power tubes to use (2A3, 45, 300B), and possibly also what rectifier and signal tubes. Anymore? If the listening mode is “headphones” then it’s “HE1” or “AirPods Pro 2” … depending on if I’m home or not.
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I’m convinced that Holo May>DNA Stellaris>Utopia is a worth competitor for HE-1 as an all-in system. Likewise, I would consider Chord Dave>Holo Bliss/Enleum>Susvara worthy competition. The problem with calling HE-1 “the best headphone in the world” is that it’s not just a headphone, it’s a whole system and that complicates the conversation (which is likely exactly as Sennheiser wants it)
For me, it depends heavily on what musical genres we’re talking about. I listen to almost everything (with Country and Metal being rather under-represented, but everything else is relatively even).
For me that depends on whether we’re comparing technicalities or just musical enjoyment. I think the HE1 is sufficiently far ahead of the Utopia, in enough areas (tactility and dynamics definitely going to the Utopia) that it pulls ahead. Poor value, relatively speaking, but technically better.
For enjoyment?
10 minutes into listening and I probably don’t care.
Hell, I spent most of the last 6 weeks with an iPhone and AirPods Pro 2 and was entirely content.
I can’t take the Susvara seriously anytime bass is a factor in the music. It’s just limp and unsatisfying. I don’t care how they’re driven. Even off my $670K D’Agostino speaker amps, they’re just limp.
I think that’s a big part of why so many people spend so much time chasing amps for the Susvara … as good as they are in so many respects … they just don’t rock.
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Interesting take, particularly from an actual HE-1 owner. Thanks. 
It’s Utopia’s tactility & dynamics that keeps me coming back - even for acoustic music, there’s just something about the dynamics that makes Utopia more engaging to me than anything else [so far]. And I hear you re: Susvara. Having owned Arya for a couple of years I do agree there’s something about the Hifiman signature that despite all its technical prowess just comes across limp. I’ve heard Shangri-La Sr, though, and was wildly impressed. I hope to hear HE-1 too someday to compare!
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Honestly, while i do think sus can get extremely close to he1 (my personal sus system (see my sig) is on a similar level imo) i dont think either system you listed ends up getting all that close from a technical perspective (though that obviously says nothing about enjoyment). I think the matter of it is simply that when driver tech is so so so far behind in technical areas you need to do some real heavy lifting with sources to get even close.
I honestly find this realy intersting. While sus is certainly a pita to drive right even off of my aic id put sus’s bass impact, tactility, texture, and basicaly everythint else to do with bass ahead of my he1. Just different strokes kinda thing. Would be curious to hear what your “peak headphone bass” reference is if you have one though.
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