Author Topic: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business  (Read 2012 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Black PhoenixTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1137
  • Country: hk
Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« on: May 07, 2021, 02:02:50 pm »
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksparrow/2021/05/07/sennheiser-finds-a-buyer-for-its-consumer-audio-business/?sh=5a6a39856bb0

Quote
Sennheiser, the premium headphone and audio brand, has found a buyer for its consumer business. Sonova Holding AG is based in Switzerland and is a global provider of medical hearing solutions and will take over all of Sennheiser's Consumer Electronics business. The sale is subject to regulatory approval and involves the complete transfer of the business by the end of 2021.

Quote
Both partners see great potential in the market for speech-enhanced hearables as well as true wireless and audiophile headphones. As part of the partnership, a complete transfer of Sennheiser’s consumer electronics business to Sonova is planned. This move will be aligned with the Sennheiser works councils. For the employees transferring to Sonova, the move to the internationally operating and well-positioned company, headquartered in Switzerland, opens up opportunities for the future. Currently, a total of 600 Sennheiser employees work for Sennheiser’s consumer business.
Arnd Kaldowski, CEO of Sonova

So the gaming division was sold to Demant A/S in 2019, and now the consumer division to Sonova Holdings AG in 2021. Sennheiser will focus in the professional market from now on. So the HD5**/6**/7**/8** line up is considered consumer.

I don't know how much the consumer line up counts in terms of revenue at the end of the year but I hope that this doesn't come later on to bite Sennheiser ass. At least is not a conglomerate or company that picks up a brand and releases all kind of products using that brand (Anyone remembers Blaupunkt?).

The headphone world sure is changing:
  • AKG was acquired by Samsung, gutted, and the talent left to form Austrian Audio.
  • The genius behind Sennheiser’s most acclaimed products (Axel Grell) left the company and formed Grell Audio. Now Sennheiser has sold its entire consumer audio business.
  • Top talent from B&W was poached by Apple, helping Apple to ascend into the audiophile space while Bowers is no longer what it was.

Oh, and there are all the big players that came out of nowhere, like Meze and Audeze. Even Hifiman and Focal are still pretty new to the scene.

The only constant through all of this seems to be Grado. But John is getting up there in years and we don’t yet know how well Jonathan will carry the mantle. It would be hilarious if this tiny family-run company out of Brooklyn manages to outlive all the massive global audio companies.

Of course not forgetting Beyerdynamic, family owned since 1924.
 
The following users thanked this post: tooki, sandalcandal, I wanted a rude username

Offline themadhippy

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3264
  • Country: gb
Re: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2021, 02:44:45 pm »
sennheiser  always seem to be buying  into various company's only to drop them a few years later,along with any support.
 

Offline duckduck

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 420
  • Country: us
  • 20Hz < fun < 20kHz, and RF is Really Fun
Re: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2021, 09:24:29 pm »
Top talent from B&W was poached by Apple, helping Apple to ascend into the audiophile space while Bowers is no longer what it was.

A doggone shame. I remember the first time I heard a pair of Bowers & Wilkins speakers. Oh, joy! Those silk dome tweeters were so smooth! No ear-hole icepick at all, even when they were cranked up! Like the first time drinking a glass of 15 year old Scotch, it was eye(ear?)-opening. In October of 2020, B&W was purchased by Sound United, a division of DEI Holdings, Inc. I'll just leave a little quotation from Wikipedia about Darrell Issa, DEI's first CEO ( from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_Issa#Quantum/Steal_Stopper ):

Quote
After leaving the military, Issa and his second wife, Kathy Stanton, moved back to the Cleveland area. According to Issa, he and his wife pooled their savings, sold their cars (a 1976 Mercedes and a 1967 VW Beetle) as well as a BMW motorcycle, and borrowed $50,000 from family members to invest in Quantum Enterprises, an electronics manufacturer run by a friend from Cleveland Heights that assembled bug zappers, CB radio parts, and other consumer products for other companies. One of those clients, car alarm manufacturer Steal Stopper, would become the path to Issa's fortune. It was struggling badly, and he took control of it by foreclosing a $60,000 loan he had made to it when its founder, Joey Adkins, missed a payment. Adkins remained as an employee.

Issa soon turned Steal Stopper around, to the point that it was supplying Ford with thousands of car alarms and negotiating a similar deal with Toyota. But early in the morning of September 7, 1982, the offices and factory of Quantum and Steal Stopper in the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights caught fire. The fire took three hours to put out. The buildings and almost all the inventory within were destroyed. An investigation of the cause of the fire noted "suspicious burn patterns" with fires starting in two places aided by an accelerant such as gasoline.

Adkins said Issa appeared to prepare for a fire by increasing the fire insurance policy by 462% three weeks previously, and by removing computer equipment holding accounting and customer information. St. Paul Insurance, suspicious of arson and insurance fraud, initially paid only $25,000, according to Issa.

Another great company turned into a zombie brand.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2021, 09:48:14 pm by duckduck »
 

Offline tszaboo

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 8217
  • Country: nl
  • Current job: ATEX product design
Re: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2021, 10:34:33 pm »
Aw man! I really like their headphones, have a whole collection of them, including an about 20 year old HD600. Replaced the cables and the pads, and it's like new. Maybe I should quickly buy that HD800s I always wanted, before anyone touches the design.
 

Offline tooki

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13156
  • Country: ch
Re: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2021, 07:03:26 pm »
sennheiser  always seem to be buying  into various company's only to drop them a few years later,along with any support.
But headphones isn’t something they bought and dropped, never mind after a few years.

At least they should be in good hands with Sonova.
 

Offline tooki

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13156
  • Country: ch
Re: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2021, 07:07:33 pm »

The headphone world sure is changing:
  • AKG was acquired by Samsung, gutted, and the talent left to form Austrian Audio.
  • The genius behind Sennheiser’s most acclaimed products (Axel Grell) left the company and formed Grell Audio. Now Sennheiser has sold its entire consumer audio business.
  • Top talent from B&W was poached by Apple, helping Apple to ascend into the audiophile space while Bowers is no longer what it was.
And Etymotic, sold to a big audiology store chain...

The only constant through all of this seems to be Grado. But John is getting up there in years and we don’t yet know how well Jonathan will carry the mantle. It would be hilarious if this tiny family-run company out of Brooklyn manages to outlive all the massive global audio companies.

Of course not forgetting Beyerdynamic, family owned since 1924.
There’s just one problem with Grado: they don’t make a product most people would want to use. Some friends of mine have, over the years, bought them at the recommendation of audiophile friends, but stopped using them after not too long. I’ve tried them out and just wasn’t impressed.

My favorite cans overall are Beyerdynamic. My Sennheisers have sat unused ever since I got the Beyerdynamic. For travel, I have Audio-Technica.
 

Offline Black PhoenixTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1137
  • Country: hk
Re: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2021, 01:45:36 am »
And Etymotic, sold to a big audiology store chain...
That one too, I didn't remember it.

Ohh and I forgot Japanese Stax, bought by Edifier.

In terms of audio I own a substantial collection, more than I'm able to use, although I try to make a rotation between all of them, with 2 having special use cases:

  • Audio Technica ATH-A900X and Audio Technica ATH-AD900X for Music/Movie/Gaming on the PC;
  • Audio Technica ATH-EM7x for Portable Gaming use on the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo GameBoy Advance;
  • AKG K845BT for Wireless use around the house or when going outside;
  • Sennheiser Momentum On Ear V1 currently gaining dust inside their carrying case. My wife doesn't use them since for her are too bulky to be used on transportation (not really but ok) and a little hot for the Southern China climate. Probably the ones I don't know what to do with them because all the other ones outshine them in every aspect.

Possible interests to check in the future - Buy the Fostex TH900MK2 and T909 (my brother in law own them and I want them so bad in terms of design and sound signature, Try some Focal, mostly the entry now discontinue line of the Elear and Elegia and probably also try the Beyerdynamic DT1770 Pro and DT1900Pro.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2021, 02:00:59 am by Black Phoenix »
 

Offline Bassman59

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2501
  • Country: us
  • Yes, I do this for a living
Re: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2021, 06:36:08 pm »
There’s just one problem with Grado: they don’t make a product most people would want to use. Some friends of mine have, over the years, bought them at the recommendation of audiophile friends, but stopped using them after not too long. I’ve tried them out and just wasn’t impressed.

Being a live-sound mix person (at least until the shit hit the fan), I've got quite the collection of headphones: the usual 7506, Sennheiser HD280, Pioneer HD-5 that I bought at the venue because I left the 280s at home, AT M40x, Grado SR125e.

I think the Grados sound the best. I can't use them for live cuing because they're not closed-back. And they get too uncomfortable to wear after a short time, as they press against your head to stay in place and the foam isn't all that thick.

The 7506 is fine, they're comfortable, they can take some SPL, and at $100 a pair, they're great. My wife uses them for her online stuff, although now I think she just uses the AirPods.

The Pioneers are fine for live cuing -- they don't fart out on kick drum and they have good isolation and can get loud. They don't fold up as nicely as the 7506 and I'm afraid they'll get broken in my backpack. The cable is not captive, which I like, but I think the connector is kinda crappy compared with the AT.

The 280s are darker sounding than the 7506 and they don't like loud PFL on kick drum. They're comfortable to wear and my kid uses them for online classes.

I think the MTH-40x sound great and are the most comfortable of all of them. I haven't used them on a show because we haven't had any. They fold up nicely so they'll fit in the kit.

My basic rule for headphones: never pay more than about $125 for something that's basically a consumable.
 

Offline tooki

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13156
  • Country: ch
Re: Sennheiser sold off its consumer audio business
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2021, 11:07:04 pm »
There’s just one problem with Grado: they don’t make a product most people would want to use. Some friends of mine have, over the years, bought them at the recommendation of audiophile friends, but stopped using them after not too long. I’ve tried them out and just wasn’t impressed.

Being a live-sound mix person (at least until the shit hit the fan), I've got quite the collection of headphones: the usual 7506, Sennheiser HD280, Pioneer HD-5 that I bought at the venue because I left the 280s at home, AT M40x, Grado SR125e.

I think the Grados sound the best. I can't use them for live cuing because they're not closed-back. And they get too uncomfortable to wear after a short time, as they press against your head to stay in place and the foam isn't all that thick.

The 7506 is fine, they're comfortable, they can take some SPL, and at $100 a pair, they're great. My wife uses them for her online stuff, although now I think she just uses the AirPods.

The Pioneers are fine for live cuing -- they don't fart out on kick drum and they have good isolation and can get loud. They don't fold up as nicely as the 7506 and I'm afraid they'll get broken in my backpack. The cable is not captive, which I like, but I think the connector is kinda crappy compared with the AT.

The 280s are darker sounding than the 7506 and they don't like loud PFL on kick drum. They're comfortable to wear and my kid uses them for online classes.

I think the MTH-40x sound great and are the most comfortable of all of them. I haven't used them on a show because we haven't had any. They fold up nicely so they'll fit in the kit.

My basic rule for headphones: never pay more than about $125 for something that's basically a consumable.
I agree with the Grado’s discomfort, but I don’t care for their sound either, so for me they bring nothing to the table.

Have you tried the Beyerdynamic DT-770 series? They’re superb and don’t cost a bajillion dollars. They’re also not fragile BS. (I have the MMX 300, which is basically a DT-770 with a boom mike, in a housing originally designed for airplane pilots, so durable.) They are the only headphones I’ve ever used that sound natural with zero acclimation period (unlike others, which all have a personality that takes a few moments of listening to no longer notice).

I have the ATH-M50x. They’re my second favorite after the Beyerdynamic. They’re almost as immediately natural as the Beyerdynamic.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf