• /home/pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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    5 days ago

    For example, in the headphone world, the Sennheiser HE-1 headphones are said to be like the pinnacle of headphones and most expensive, costing $59000 for a pair.

    Edit: added image

    • Geometrinen_Gepardi@sopuli.xyz
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      5 days ago

      The irony with those is that once you’re at a stage of life where you can afford those, you probably can’t hear anything over 14kHz anyway. At least there’s that sweet midrange!

    • hactar42@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Out of curiosity, what would you plug those into to get the best use of them? I couldn’t imagine the headphone jack on my motherboard would be able to take full advantage of them.

      • hovercat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        5 days ago

        They’re super special electrostatic headphones, so they have to be run with a special type of amplifier, and the one they come with come is absolutely insane, and is a huge part of the cost. Honestly, I bet you could cost cut the whole thing down to under $20k, but you’re paying a LOT of money for stuff like the fact that the amplifier case is made of marble and has one of the coolest boot sequences imaginable, where all the tubes and knobs rise out of it and retract back in so the whole thing is seamless. It’s very much one of those things that get built when engineers are handed a blank check and told “We don’t care what it costs, have fun”

      • TheOakTree@lemmy.zip
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        5 days ago

        That thing has an inbuilt DAC, as well as S/PDIF and USB inputs, so I’d imagine any device with enough processing power to play lossless audio files and has the proper drivers should be enough.

      • bluesheep@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        You’d use a dedicated audio setup with it, yeah. I don’t know if the 59k is the headphones only or if it includes an amplifier, but a hi range amplifier can cost thousands too.

        I’m not an audiophile tho, ain’t got the money, and even if I did my setup would at most cost €1000. So if anyone wants to post some real numbers go ahead.

    • AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today
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      5 days ago

      I had the pleasure of using some at Sennheiser’s booth at CES a few years back. They sound VERY nice, but I don’t think they’re worth $59k. Maybe 8k or something, although I know a lot of the cost is in the tubes and accessories.