When you first lay eyes on the Sennheiser HE 1, you are immediately drawn to its beauty.
Far from a sonic powerhouse, it outwardly resembles an ornate box housing an invaluable treasure. When you turn it on and bring it to life, the HE 1 slowly transforms into perhaps what an elegantly designed nuclear football ought to look like! But what about its sound?
The sound of music is difficult to express. But thankfully, music can move you in ways that¡¯s perhaps not so difficult to translate into words.
And I was definitely moved, in ways that I cannot express easily. I heard songs that I¡¯d listened to more times than I could ever remember, but listening to them through the Sennheiser HE 1 was like listening to them for the very first time, like never before, permanently rewriting deeply-etched and long-cherished aural memories. It was like having my ears popped, after years of reduced auditory range, experiencing sounds and sensations I just didn¡¯t think was possible to hear.
The Sennheiser HE 1 reproduces the sound of music in a way that it comes alive. Let¡¯s be honest: listening to music can be mundane at times, where you always feel physically detached from the source of the music, despite being actively engaged in the act of listening. But not with the Sennheiser HE 1 wrapped around your ears.
Music through it places you at the heart of the action, closest to the source of a sound that you can get without physically being there, transporting you to a magical state of mind that you never knew existed. Almost in a meditative state, withdrawing and isolating you from your immediate physical surroundings. Where only you and the music remain. It¡¯s a soul-stirring experience. A moment of pure catharsis.
I heard five songs on the Sennheiser HE 1 -- three of them were reference tracks (two of which most of us have heard), and two songs streamed over Deezer (which Sennheiser highly recommends for high quality streaming audio). The reference tracks were: Strive by Amber Rubarth, live version of Hotel California by Eagles, and Thriller by Michael Jackson. Songs streamed over Deezer were Adele¡¯s Rolling in the Deep and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan¡¯s O Re Piya. Except Strive, all the other four songs were familiar to me. Or so I thought.
I've since heard the song across various devices and headsets, but it refuses to sound as majestic as it did through the Sennheiser HE 1. The first strike of the cello had me almost turn my head around for the directional source of the sound behind my left shoulder -- the note was so precise and natural sounding. The first few seconds of the song also had me mentally searching for a speaker in the room from where I thought the sound was emanating from -- a testimony to the HE 1¡¯s awesome soundstage. The song is barely over a minute long, but it floored my sense of hearing completely. All the musical instruments seemed to be right around me in the room, cloaked in invisibility, and I felt my eyes were cheating me as I lost track of any semblance of having the headphones around my ears at all.
Who hasn¡¯t heard the Hell Freezes Over version of this timeless epic? I thought I had -- several times, knew it inside out, and then some, but of course I was in for a surprise on the Sennheiser HE 1. Again, as the song started out with the opening guitar notes, the audio forced my brain to acknowledge that the guitar was just a few feet away from me, in the room -- something that¡¯s never happened before. The next explosion of sonic sensations appeared when the live audience makes itself heard -- unlike innumerable previous instances of hearing this song, for the first time I felt the crowd was truly alive, that it was real and had me surrounded in its midst. I could for the first time pick individual voices in the crowd -- with varying frequency pitches -- that I thought I had heard before, but never so clearly, precisely and realistically. The rest of the song revealed itself in a way that I hadn¡¯t ever heard before.
When that door creaks on its hinges, swinging in a loud and creepy manner, I felt I was walking through it, never realizing those were my footsteps I¡¯d been listening to all these years. That¡¯s the spell the HE 1 had me under as Thriller started playing. That clap of thunder, the wind whistling down the street, it all sounded so darn real -- and those howls in the background! I¡¯ve never heard those howls so clearly, failing to realize that they¡¯re incessantly erupting throughout the song and not just the few times you hear them loud and clear in the beginning. And listening through Vincent Price¡¯s sinister monologue until his cackling laughter at the end sent a shiver up my spine -- for the first time ever. Michael Jackson¡¯s vocals and Thriller¡¯s electronic instruments had never sounded so magnificent, either!
These are tracks that I¡¯ve heard a good number of times across various sources, through different headsets and speakers, and I have them on my playlist. Be it the sound of the flute and Rahet Fateh Ali Khan¡¯s voice in the former, or Adele¡¯s enormous vocal range and clearly defined bass notes in the latter, both songs sounded much better through the HE 1 than any previous instant. Ever.
As the music ended, the room came back into focus, and I acknowledged the presence of Dr Andreas Sennheiser sitting beside me -- he's the CEO of the company that holds his last name, started by his grandfather, a tour de force in the audio and entertainment industry. He smiled knowingly, allowing me to process everything I¡¯d just heard. I learned from him that Sennheiser is a privately held family business, where everyone¡¯s obsessed with great audio. The result of which was the Orpheus, debuted in 1991, a predecessor to the new HE 1 sitting in front of me. The Orpheus was universally hailed as the best pair of headphones ever made! I¡¯ve never had the pleasure of listening to the Orpheus, but Sennheiser claims that the new HE 1 goes beyond where the Orpheus has ever been, in terms of its sound reproduction capability.
Listening to sound this amazing isn¡¯t possible without great source files with lossless audio formats and, of course, great audio equipment. Reproducing sound that is as natural as possible and precise in every detail, which makes you feel that you¡¯re in the front row of a concert hall every time is very difficult. This makes you appreciate the engineering and craftsmanship of Sennheiser even more, for the HE 1 claims to have unmatched bells and whistles in its sonic arsenal.
Despite being an electrostatic pair of headphones -- which are lightyears ahead of most dynamic headphones popular in the market -- the HE 1 pushes the boundary of what¡¯s physically achievable through it. At the heart of the HE 1¡¯s amplifier are eight vacuum tubes that process the incoming audio signal. Not only do the tubes have a high-quality patent-pending enclosure consisting of quartz-glass bulbs that perfectly shield them from their surroundings, but the HE 1¡¯s amplifier housing is crafted from granular, inhomogeneous Carrara marble and is freely suspended with the amplifier to ensure air-borne-noise and structure-borne vibrations are canceled out better than anything else.
During the listening session, Dr Andreas Sennheiser gave me further insight into the HE 1. For instance, it claims to have over 6,000 individual components, all carefully chosen after their acoustic characteristics were evaluated -- since it is the interaction between all components that is ultimately responsible for the audio quality of the headphones. For example, to ensure the outstanding performance of the acoustic unit, Sennheiser used gold-vaporised ceramic electrodes and platinum-vaporised diaphragms on the new HE 1. The headphone¡¯s wires, too, are sheathed in an insulating layer to eliminate any electromagnetic waves or interference acting on the cable.
This new HE 1 has been in the works for over 15 years, according to Dr Andreas Sennheiser, and it¡¯s demonstrated in the headphones auditory range. A normal human can hear audio frequencies between 20Hz to 20KHz, but the HE 1 is tuned to reproduce audio between 8Hz and 100KHz. Why? Sennheiser believes that this extremely wide frequency response does influence the sound experience, as it ensures that, in the audible range, the sound of the headphones is virtually free of distortion. Due to this even the slightest nuances of the music become audible, claims Sennheiser, adding to the overall effect the sound of music produces.
At this point, I paused and felt the genuine leather ear cushions on the Sennheiser HE 1, examining the breathable microfiber fabric on the inside that¡¯s designed to provide additional acoustic absorption. As I prepared to walk away from the listening room, I realized that I¡¯ve had the headphones on for over 40 minutes and my ears are cosy, my pinnas non-sweaty, and there¡¯s no additional clamping feeling around my head. Ergonomically, the Sennheiser HE 1 seems to be doing as good a job as the Sennheiser HD700 -- the most expensive headphones I'd listened to before this -- if not better.
It's taken more than 15 years to give birth to the new HE 1, how long before a challenger dethrones it from its crown? Not for another 10-12 years, Dr Andreas Sennheiser tells me confidently. It probably will be the HE 1¡¯s successor, for who can bet against a man who¡¯s obsessed with the idea of making the best headphones in the world? After all, he¡¯s done it for 26 years!
I wish there was a way to bottle up every tiny sensation I experienced during my time with the Sennheiser HE 1, because it was nothing short of magical. And whenever I hear those songs I heard on the HE 1, it will be with the heavy burden of knowledge that nothing will compare to the mood created in an ordinary Mumbai hotel room by a truly extraordinary device.