Speaking of new toys...
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Looks like a great set-up. I find I'm increasingly listening via decent headphones. I bought a Sennheiser 800 a while back that is still connected to an Ayre Codex DAC/Headphone Amp. Recently, I also bought a pair of Hifiman 1000SE and have it connected to Topping D90SE and amp. I'm probably moving off of a Lenovo laptop to a Nucleus Roon server for the downloads, CDs I have. I'm hoping that with new ownership, Roon broadens its base of streaming services. As for those services, I have Apple, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and Idagio - haven't gone with Quboz or Tidal cuz I'm pretty happy with what I'm hearing already.
With two systems in the house, I find the headphone experience more enjoyable. I've thought of downsizing and selling off the main system - as it is used so infrequently.
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The article talks about the factory that builds Sennheiser headphones. But the below from teh article is interesting also.
Our shift complete, we’re led beyond the manufacturing maze to our last showcase. Partitioned behind glass is Damian, the artisan responsible for the 3,000 parts and hundreds of hours that go into each HE 1—the $70,000 bespoke headphone system. Want one? Sennheiser requires you put down a $10,000 deposit and prepare to wait up to 45 days, assuming component availability and Damian’s bandwidth allow (four were simultaneously in production during our visit). Once they’re ready, you pay the remainder. But what you get for your five-figure investment is a testament to transcendence.
What goes into the HE 1 is improbable, impractical, and awe-inspiring. It’s a middle finger to compromise. It’s not just a headphone; it’s a moonshot. Beyond mystique, the HE 1 is a block of Italian Carrara marble, selected for both its aesthetics and vibration-damping properties. Within this spring-loaded structure are all manner of routing options—S/PDIF, optical, USB, unbalanced RCA, and balanced XLR.
Whatever your source (turntables to DAPs), if it’s physical, there’s an input. This interface feeds eight ESS Sabre ES9018 digital-to-analog converters (four DACs in parallel per channel), supporting resolutions up to 32-bit/384 kHz. Gold-vaporized ceramic electrodes to separate L/R channel paths eliminate distortion. Those, in turn, feed the vacuum tube preamplifier—all in service of reproducing summit-fi technicalities.
The headset itself, found at the end of a specially tuned fabric-wrapped 99.9% silver-plated OFC cable, sits snugly thanks to luxurious, hand-sewn leather and reflection-absorbing microfiber cushions. It contains 2.4-micrometer platinum-vaporized diaphragms between conductive plates, each one powered by a Cool Class A MOSFET amplification found in a “fin” along the precision-machined aluminum ear cup. This fully decoupled power supply helps prevent electrical interference.
The result is reproduction of 8 Hz to more than 100 kHz, with distortion less than 0.01% at 1 kHz, 100 dB SPL. That translates to everything in its right place. Before he signs off on an HE 1, Damian runs extensive testing. Hundreds of cycles confirm acoustics and apparatus shouldn’t buckle under humidity or hubris.
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Bout time to replace?
Still works, but quite fancy a similarly compact SW radio + CD player (we have a separate vinyl player).@AndyD If I may ask, what type of things do you listen to on shortwave?
