Wow .... €50K Headphones ... What next

The interesting thing is Sennheiser makes headphones for all at all price points and they all tend to mostly all be good performers at their price points. Will these end that streak? It's not like Sennheiser only caters to the elite although their products have achieved a certain high status in their market over the years. Can any thing sound that much better though? I wonder. Sennheiser has earned a lot of good will over the years and mostly avoided gimmicks I think.

I suppose if they are good enough to earn clear acknowledgement as the worlds best headphones as the price would suggest then that accolade alone must infer some unique value.

Anything less would have to be considered a failure for that price I would think.

Gosh, wasn't it Sennheiser that had another really expensive set of headphones with amplifier twenty five or thirty years ago? You know, the ones everyone said was the Best in the World. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Here is what the "New" $55K Sennheiser should be compared to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afkYRJU0Dlw

At a savings of over $40K!!!!

What is REALLY the best????

The old Sennheiser Orpheus (HE-90) is, to me, a terrific sounding phone. I bet the price of the new phones and that set are not too far apart after adjusting for inflation. It was crazy expensive then (something like $18,000), but, people will pay about $35,000 for a good pair and the amp today, so it has more than held its value.

That does not necessarily mean that the new phones will do the same or be held in as high regards. These days, there are plenty of new phones utilizing a greater variety of approaches that were not around in the past (e.g., planar magnetics).

As for the Stax 009 and Woo amp mentioned above, I have not heard that specific combination, but, I have heard Woo amps (to me, they have been consistently crappy) and I have heard the OO9 on the headphone amp I own (Blue Hawaii SE). The 009s sound pretty good, but, in some ways I prefer the 007s (Omega II, Mk. 1) and the Sennheiser HE-60. It is a matter of taste, with no ultimate "best." I could not argue with someone much preferring the sound of phones like the Audeze (I like them too, and they sound completely different from electrostatic phones).