At a dinner party recently one of the guests said to my husband who is a professional violinist in an orchestra say how surprised they are by headphone reviewers describing a pair as excellent for classical - unless it’s Gustav Mahler. We really didn’t want to spend the evening talking about music - i.e. work! But you know when a topic comes up somehow it takes on a life of its own. Anyway, though my husband kept it all very friendly of course, he nearly exploded because Mahler is exactly what he wants to listen to when testing headphones. Obviously his work takes in all the great classical music works but even Rachmaninoff and Holst are not what you listen to when you want the best headphones for classical music the market has to offer!

Classical Music Headphones

As my husband explained to my patient dinner guests, although other composers use the full range of the large orchestra only when you get Mahler through high-grade headphones can the full breadth of power needed to represent this musical genius be heard. Cheaper ones sadly reduce the louder passages to an indecipherable blur he claimed! It was then a fellow musician sat at the table who is also in the same orchestra challenged my husband to test the best! He had with him some headphones he’d bought specifically for classical music at under 200 and then out came my husband’s latest Sennheiser Orpheus headphones that he admitted cost 50,000!

Before I report on the result of the challenge it’s important to know what the Orpheus claims! From the blurb: “Its 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 but also prevents structure-borne noise.” and “Outstanding electrical and acoustical performance is ensured through gold-vaporised ceramic transducers …” Okay, my husband is testing these for Sennheiser so we haven’t actually spent all that money. But guess what - both musicians very quickly identified the Orpheus to be the best. It was like, yes, this IS what music is meant to sound like! They say you get what you pay for, these truly are the best headphones for classical music - we’re hoping the product stays in our world!