The Headphones that make me cry... HE-1 Review

I had to opportunity to try out the HE-1 a couple years ago and I still remember it vividly. It really is beyond words, there is no way to describe how good it is. You put on a song and every single miniscule detail is revealed to you, it's like you're transported to the place where the song was recorded

🥲 "Doesn't matter what song you've heard, when you hear it on HE 1, you are hearing it for the first time." Did you hack into our R&D files and access the top secret "TECHNICAL FINDINGS AND SUMMARY PDF" file??!?! Perfectly said, DMS!

I was lucky enough to hear he1 twice and I cried both times. It doesn't have the mesmerizing bass of the abyss 1266, or the insane resolution of the stax x9k. But the sound it makes is just so magical and enchanting, I just couldn't help crying😭

You have a gift of using words! Listening to you describe your experience may be the closest I get to experiencing the HE-1, I can live with that.

Great video. Most will never hear it, but its pretty cool to watch a review on it. 👌

Beautiful work DMS. 🐅 Sonically, the HE one is definitely one of the most seductive experiences I have had in the audio space. having listen to this side by side with the aperio and having lived with the Aperio over the last three months, sonically I am still undecided which is more to my liking, hopefully we can do a side-by-side at the studio with HE one, but bloody hell. The Warwick system is terrifyingly expensive, but unfortunately the HE one is literally almost unobtainable. Aperio he1 Shang sr Battle Royale is my goal LOL

That thing you said, about the difference between speakers letting you look in, but headphones putting you in was artful. My wife isn't an audiophile, or much into it, but even she had to remark that you were exactly spot-on in your description. We haven't even finished the video yet, but we just had to say: that was well done.

I just listened to it at CanJam in Chicago yesterday. We only had 10 minutes. It's what I would call "Etherial". It somehow seems to pull the music out of your chest, as if it were coming from within you. That's why it can make you cry. It is truly an experience on a whole other level, and it was an item I checked off my bucket list! The song that really pulled at my heart was called "Land O the Leal" by Rachel Hardy. She literally sounded like an angel on the HE-1!

Totally believed this review and hung on every word lol! They have been my dream Headphone since the Orpheous, i'm so happy you got to review this piece of heaven, not jealous at all lol!

wow this is sick! great review!

Beautiful dude. Cheers for that xx

This was a review worthy of the HE-1 Well Done DMS!

Great review. I'd love to see this system in a blind test vs other tiers of headphones on some non-audiophile people!

I would cry too if a piece of the marble broke off while I had it. Tell us the story!

I listened to it to get a reference of what the ceiling of headphones is, but I actually didn't expect to like it. I appreciate different styles of tuning, even with polar-opposite tonalities like Audeze vs. Hifiman, but never had I tried a pair of headphones which I considered flawless. I didn't expect any difference with the HE 1, since all my experiences with headphones falling into the "unobtainium" category had been less than stellar. All of that went away when I put on the HE 1. "This is a well-tuned estat." Well-tuned is an understatement. I want a headphone with that exact tuning. The closest I found was the HD 800 S with a couple of filters. But there's nothing I can do to replicate that bass response of the HE 1. If Sennheiser really did tune the bass like that without any filter, passive or active, that's an achievement at any price. However, the entire thing is sold as a complete system so we'll never know. Here are a few thing to note if you have a chance to try it: It is the most pleasing sound I've heard out of a headphone. Nevertheless, the sound is unmistakably headphone-y. It doesn't nor try to replace speakers. If you expect a "Dolby Atmos experience," you'll be soarly disappointed. On the other hand, I didn't expect bad recordings to sound good, but they were. For highly "detailed" headphones, especially with that treble forwardness, I expected distortion and compression to jump out immediately. They didn't. Maybe there are some FR features contributed to this, or it's just placebo. Anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised. If you have the chance, just bring your favourite songs, regardless of their recording qualities. Don't focus on the "audiophile technicalities," just enjoy your music. And hey, just because it's my favourite tuning ever, doesn't mean it'll be yours. I wish Sennheiser would release an "obtainable" version of this, but that's only if the HE 0.6 or whatever had the exact tuning as the HE 1. Otherwise, try EQ. It's the next best thing, at least for me. As for "technical performance?" I'll leave that for others with more on-head time than me. It also depends on your experience with other headphones and your own HRTF. Though, having tried hundreds of headphones from dirt cheap to flagship/halo/unobtanium, to my unique ears and HRTF, the HE 1 excels in every single categories, in my subjective, biased, and flawed opinion.

Excellent video. I had the privilege to listen to the Orpheus and was blown away. I almost don’t want to here this one. Sennheisers and tubes are always magic.

I pray to the audio powers that be: Let the spirit, passion and expertise that created the HE-1 continue at the new Sennheiser. The world would be a lesser place without the combination of dreamer and engineer we see here. Not only for the direct creation of objects like this, but for the inspiration objects like this create in others to visualize and bring into reality from the dream.

At Munich High End I was lucky enough to try all 3 halo flagships in less than 1 hours between all of them and with the same music. The shangri-la highlighted the biggest strengths of all big hifiman headphones. It had the largest, widest, deepest sounding sounstage ive ever heard on a headphone, but unlike the hd800, it was completely coherent and seemless. The aperio was the most dynamic, the least sacrificed slam for being an e-state, though dms way way overhyped how dynamic the bravura was (saying its on the same level as the flagship planars is simply misleading). The aperio was the headphone dms described in the bravura, and like the shang, it had that level of separation accuracy and stage size that it didn't feel like you were listening to a headphone. The funny thing about the HE-1 is its noticeably less detailed than the other two. Both the shang and the aperio are a noticeable step up from a susvara or x9000, while the HE-1 is no clearer sounding. Its also the most headphone like, with a much smaller stage. What it did had a massive advantage over any headphone I've ever heard was its timber. Its the most life like headphone experience ive heard by a pretty considerable margin, made in no small part by it having a mild bass boost, which sounds more natural to us than the DF flat line. Its the one I would buy if I had infinite money.

Great video review. So most of us will never own a HE-1. You’ve heard a ton of headphones. Would you list some that are characteristicly similar? Cheers.

Sir, what an absolutely articulate and illuminating review you have offered of this head system! Your sincerity is utterly apparent and your understanding of the elevated level of sonics you experienced with this unique world class craftwork is extremely well explained. How does one share the ineffable? Maybe you can find a way to own the HE-1….you deserve to. Thank you.