Sennheiser Sells Headphones and Soundbars Business

[Tsing]

Image: Sennheiser



Sennheiser, one of the world’s most recognized brands for audiophile products, has sold its entire headphones and soundbars business to hearing aid company Sonova. Founders Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser confirmed the business deal in a press release published yesterday, noting that the decision will allow the company to focus on its Pro Audio, Business Communications, and Neumann lineups. Some of Sennheiser’s most notable audiophile products include the HD 600, HD 650, and flagship HD 820 headphones, the latter of which features an innovative glass reflector and ring radiator transducer technology for exquisite sound at a cost of $2,400.



Expanding our offering and entering new growth markets – Sonova to acquire @Sennheiser Consumer Division...

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[AntiQuark]

The only product I knew Sennheiser for are headphones, with good repute.
If whoever bought it cant keep the name it will be a quick downhill.

 

[Brian_B]

Expanding our offering and entering new growth markets – Sonova to acquire @Sennheiser Consumer Division...

Yeah I read that as starting to make cheap crap that will probably sell for a while just based on the name. Then it will just be another cheap crap name.

Ugh... hate to see this. I don't expect it to turn out well.

 

[Auer]

Do some research on Sonova: https://report.sonova.com/2019/en/group-structure/

 

[LazyGamer]

The only product I knew Sennheiser for are headphones, with good repute.

Well... about that.

After the HD600, Sennheiser as a 'premium' headphone brand has gone relatively downhill; the HD650, originally >US$500, sells on Massdrop as the HD6XX for ~US$200. The HD660s, while a small improvement, isn't worth its price tag. The HD700 line, which were pretty good, were cancelled- and they want so much for the HD800 line, which have no bass, that I can't imagine them moving many units.

I stopped at the HD600. I love them, but Sennheiser has nothing for me outside of their Drop-branded headsets.

Now, outside of audiophilia, Sennheiser does have studio monitoring cans that at least aren't of poor repute, and they do have a stellar microphone lineup that hangs with the best.

But for their high-margin stuff one does find themselves asking 'who actually buys this stuff?'.

 

[MacLeod]

Seems to happen with all quality audio brands I used to be big into car audio and the same thing happened there. Great small brands like Precision Power, Orion, MB Quart and others made stellar products, just superb. Then one by one they were all bought out by much larger companies and their quality went straight into the crapper. Can't blame the original owners. Some big corporation wants to write you a check for $50,000,000 for the company you build, I would probably sell too and retire to a sailboat off of Key West. Still sucks tho.

 

[Zarathustra]

Interesting, I thought their headphone business was the majority of what they did. Didn't realize they owned Neumann or operated in the pro audio space.

They make pretty **** good headphones. Hope the new owners don't **** it up!

 

[Zarathustra]

Well... about that.

After the HD600, Sennheiser as a 'premium' headphone brand has gone relatively downhill; the HD650, originally >US$500, sells on Massdrop as the HD6XX for ~US$200. The HD660s, while a small improvement, isn't worth its price tag. The HD700 line, which were pretty good, were cancelled- and they want so much for the HD800 line, which have no bass, that I can't imagine them moving many units.

I did not realize the 700's had been discontinued. That's a shame.

Their 650's were market leading when they launched, but that was almost 20 years ago now.

I picked up the Massdrop HD6xx and for the $199.99 back in 2016 during the initial drop, and at that price they were pretty **** amazing.

They supplement my old 250 ohm Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro's at my desktop, powered by a first gen Schiit Jotunheim, and fed by a current gen Schiit Bifrost.

When things are noisy, I'll use the closed Beyerdynamic's, but when things are quieter, I'll enjoy the larger soundstage of the open DT6xx's

I really haven't felt the need to upgrade beyond this. A lot of the higher end stuff certainly sounds good, but I honestly don't notice enough of a difference to warrant lightening my wallet any further.

 

[LazyGamer]

When things are noisy, I'll use the closed Beyerdynamic's, but when things are quieter, I'll enjoy the larger soundstage of the open DT6xx's

So... I use the Drop tune of the DT1770, called the DT177X GO. I also have the Focal Elex, which are Drop's tune of Focal's sub-kilobuck open cans, and they sound basically like the HD6xx but with more detail, more bass, and more directionality.

Mostly with the HD6xx you're lacking low end and some fraction of detail that you probably won't miss, while the DT770 lack a bit of detail and have a wacky FR that's not actually really suited for most uses. The DT770 really are a studio monitoring can meant to show you problems which is why they're not at all flat; neither are the DT1770, which is why I got the Drop tune instead.

In general though, most non-gamery cans around US$100 and up are pretty usable. Up to US$1,000 you get more detail in general and various improvements all around, and if you want 'perfect', well, prepare to trade the down payment on a car