Sennheiser Orpheus/HE-1

The striking design of the Sennheiser HE 1 marries form with function, one of the most expensive headphones. Their amplifier sits on a housing crafted from glass and a solid block of Carrara marble. This luxurious natural stone – the type made famous by Michelangelo’s Renaissance sculptures – lends beauty and prevents structure-borne noise. To create a visually stunning design, control dials are painstakingly crafted to the highest quality. Each dial is milled from a single piece of brass before being plated with chrome.

The flagship Sennheiser boasts an audio range from 8 Hz to more than 100 kHz and the lowest distortion ever measured in a sound reproduction system. The HE 1 is the first electrostatic headphone with a Cool Class A MOS-FET high voltage amplifier integrated into the ear cups.

Eliminating the capacitive reactance of the cable, they deliver an ultra-high impulse fidelity 200% more efficient than any other solution currently available. 2.4-micrometer platinum-vaporized diaphragms are employed as their size was shown by Sennheiser’s research to deliver optimal sound reproduction.

Price: 59,000 USD