Happily, I have re-discovered the joy of headphone listening, something I did a lot of during my high school and college years, but not so much since then. So it's been decades.
Before I even put on the headphones, I spent some time planning what music I would choose for my first listening session. I had to really make this count. It was only at the last moment that I realized that the very first thing I should hear on my new Sennheiser set was one of my all-time favourite hi-fidelity albums, Crime of the Century, by English pop/rock virtuoso band Supertramp. Track number one, School, couldn't have been a better choice for the first thing I heard out of those "cans" (an old slang term for headphones in the industry). The crystalline highs and the thrumming lows were all perfectly reproduced, suitably knocking my socks off. Supertramp's twinkling piano, falsetto vocals, throaty horns, and persuasive percussion were impressively voiced by my brand new Senns.
After checking out nearly the entire Crime of the Century album, I moved on to two of my favourite Supertramp songs, which lead off their Crisis... What Crisis album. Easy Does It and Sister Moonshine are those tracks, the second of which positively burst with even brighter energy and dynamics than I'd ever heard before.
Then on to a handful of James Bond film music. I have almost every single Bond soundtrack (missing only the few worst entries in the series), and chose some of the earlier theme songs (composer John Barry's works) to kick things off. You Only Live Twice was a beauty, but Diamonds Are Forever sounded even more amazing, Shirley Bassey's full and powerful vocals better than ever. The lush instrumentation, particularly the horns and strings, was almost more than I could bear, and that also applied to the theme song from For Your Eyes Only, and the main theme from On Her Majesty's Secret Service (plus its exciting Battle at Piz Gloria). I also tried out some of the other Bond incidental music, all of it given new vitality through the new headset.
Still got my 45rpm single of James Bond movie theme
Nobody Does It Better (1977)
Then on to some dance-pop: I chose a few favourite Kylie Minogue songs, starting off with the near-EDM club track I Believe In You, which really popped, revealing subtleties I'd never heard before. Next was Confide in Me, the version off The Abbey Road Sessions... this was an hypnotic beauty. The One and Everything is Beautiful were both equally impressive, too, lending themselves nicely to the fidelity assessment.
Steely Dan seemed to be a required band to test on the new 'phones, so I chose my fave Dan song, FM. Two thumbs up. Then it was finally time for what most people would have chosen as their number one: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Even this early CD pressing, not a later remaster, sounded pristine in its presentation. Lead-off tracks Speak to Me, Breathe, and Time were enough to convince me. Oh yeah.
Back to some film music, I put on Star Wars: A New Hope. I've heard this soundtrack a gazillion times since I first bought it on vinyl back in '77. Now on CD, it sounds crazy good, crisp, clean, and majestic. I went to key tracks... the Main Title/Rebel Blockade Runner (which appear in the opening scene of the movie) and then the tense and riveting Imperial Attack. The depth of the horns and strings was more evident than ever this time around. The Rebel Blockade Runner piece contained ominous and thrilling sections, and yet the several "movements" within the track allowed for a variety of moods and tempos; sometimes light and melodic, sometimes sweeping and dramatic.
Gotta get some Rush in there, so I flipped on two tracks from A Farewell to Kings, the album from the band's Golden Era that features the best dynamic range and varied song styles. I chose Xanadu and Cygnus X-1, both of which displayed stunning clarity and detail, not to mention a kick that rocked harder than ever. Xanadu in particular is a complex and multi-layered arrangement, perfectly suited to the up close and private listening experience. These Sennheiser 'phones were up to the task. Again, this was an early (the first, in fact) CD pressing, un-remastered, yet the precise and sharp reproduction was dazzling.
Stone-faced Beethoven, overlooking the MΓΌnsterplatz
in Bonn, Germany
Then it was time for some ol' Ludwig Van... so I played the last two movements of his Ninth Symphony (my fave classical piece), the Deutsche Grammophon recording featuring conductor Herbert Von Karajan. "Angel trumpets and devil trombones", to quote Beethoven admirer Alex from the film A Clockwork Orange. Glorious, timeless music. This 1962 recording sounds unbelievably clean and ambient, superior and sophisticated for its era. The Senn headphones did the music justice, believe me, beautifully translating the grandeur, majesty, and elegance of Beethoven's original work. This spiritual musical drama moves us with its sublime soft passages and its intoxicating orchestral barrages, and most notably, in its final "acts", renders us helpless to the emotional power of the tenor, baritone, soprano, and the choral vocalists. Whew!
These were just the highlights of my three-hour headphone listening marathon. I scoured my music collection, playing DJ for the evening, spinning favourite songs that I considered the best to test the audio fidelity of my new headphones. What a way to re-discover great music, plus the joy of hearing it in the best way possible. These Sennheisers are the most impressive darned "ear-goggles" (as Mr. Jimi Hendrix dubbed his headphones) I've ever tried.
- It should be noted that I have no affiliation or association with Sennheiser. These are my opinions only, based on personal experience with the product.
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