[Jermo K]

I have a question for the Sennheiser representatives here on this ”official“ thread. Disclaimer: I am well aware that you might not be able to comment, but I think I should ask anyway.

Could you please comment on when you expect a steady availability of certain devices manufactured at Tullamore, e.g. via your website store?

Of course, also from my personal experience in a different industry, I do perfectly understand that even the most motivated workers/craftsmen and the most perfect machines have to run up learning curves, until there is a steady flow of goods that perfectly match all severe quality requirements.

Plus all parts and supply chain problems as of now. Plus the latest challenges to be caused by the COVID pandemic on top of all existing ones, e.g. massive quarantining due to Omicron (not to forget the human disasters and tragedies behind the mere numbers!).

Taking all that together, my personal guess for an answer to my question as a gut feeling out of the blue might be ”not before Easter“.

I would be grateful if Sennheiser reps could comment, please.

I should add that I am most interested to be able to purchase a ”freshly made and perfect“ IE 900 directly from you.

Hi, thanks for the great question. We have transferred production of different product lines over the past six months, i.e. 600 series headphones have been built since summer in Ireland. The team was already incredibly experienced with this product, so we never had better availability before with this product family. The IE 900 specifically was built since November in Ireland. Since launch, we have been overwhelmed with the community's excitement for the IE 900, so availability was limited. This compounds to be challenging for the manufacturing team since they have the learning curve of miniature assembly and a steep backlog to work against at the same time.
This means that all stock at our warehouses is cleared of German-made products. So if you see the IE 900 available on our website and live in one of the major regions, it will be Irish-made. Unfortunately, I can't say much about general availability. Still, the Irish team is already training additional production teams for IEM assembly, and they'll do everything humanly possible to speedily get the products you love in pristine quality in your hands. I'd look at the website every other week, but your gut feeling might be quite precise.

 

[111MilesToGo]

Hi, thanks for the great question. We have transferred production of different product lines over the past six months, i.e. 600 series headphones have been built since summer in Ireland. The team was already incredibly experienced with this product, so we never had better availability before with this product family. The IE 900 specifically was built since November in Ireland. Since launch, we have been overwhelmed with the community's excitement for the IE 900, so availability was limited. This compounds to be challenging for the manufacturing team since they have the learning curve of miniature assembly and a steep backlog to work against at the same time.
This means that all stock at our warehouses is cleared of German-made products. So if you see the IE 900 available on our website and live in one of the major regions, it will be Irish-made. Unfortunately, I can't say much about general availability. Still, the Irish team is already training additional production teams for IEM assembly, and they'll do everything humanly possible to speedily get the products you love in pristine quality in your hands. I'd look at the website every other week, but your gut feeling might be quite precise.

Thank you so much for your answer. Quite an exemplary one in detail and transparency! I think the community does appreciate this greatly.

 

[Evshrug]

Plus all parts and supply chain problems as of now. Plus the latest challenges to be caused by the COVID pandemic on top of all existing ones, e.g. massive quarantining due to Omicron (not to forget the human disasters and tragedies behind the mere numbers!).

It’s true, necessary health and safety measures have changed the way we work to some degree, but one of the benefits of consolidating manufacturing under one roof is that it should help mitigate some of the parts and supply issues when the parts are coming from down the hall!

Thank you so much for your answer. Quite an exemplary one in detail and transparency! I think the community does appreciate this greatly.

Sennheiser is indeed humbled and grateful for the amazing demand observed throughout the pandemic, overcoming the challenges and adjusting manufacturing creates an opportunity to improve this situation! The gut feelings of you and Jermo are probably more accurate than mine right now

 

[111MilesToGo]

It’s true, necessary health and safety measures have changed the way we work to some degree, but one of the benefits of consolidating manufacturing under one roof is that it should help mitigate some of the parts and supply issues when the parts are coming from down the hall!


Sennheiser is indeed humbled and grateful for the amazing demand observed throughout the pandemic, overcoming the challenges and adjusting manufacturing creates an opportunity to improve this situation! The gut feelings of you and Jermo are probably more accurate than mine right now

Thank you as well! Cheers!

 

[DudeMyCans]

This is great news. I live just down the road from you, but didn't realise the importance of the Tullamore site to your global strategy.

Good luck and I wish you every success.

I forgot to mention that if you're ever looking for somebody to take part in long term listening trials with some of your higher end models that I'll make the necessary sacrifices and volunteer my services

I'll be there in 20 minutes...

 

[gimmeheadroom]

The plant in Germany will exclusively focus on microphones and wireless systems, Romania will build the affordable microphone products as well as professional headphones like HD 25.
Ireland will be the manufacturing plant for most of our audiophile portfolio in the future, except affordable products like HD 560S and IE 300.

How will we be able to distinguish HD 600 made in Ireland (again) vs. the ones from Romania?

 

[ericpalonen]

How will we be able to distinguish HD 600 made in Ireland (again) vs. the ones from Romania?

Production location will be specified on the product box as required for export and import in most regions.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Production location will be specified on the product box as required for export and import in most regions.

I would guess most of your products are purchased online and we won't see the box until it's too late. There are visual cues that separate the Romanian HD 600 from the Irish ones. If there is another change or reversion to the old style and color scheme it would be helpful for you to let us know. Thanks.

 

[recincarnate]

I'd love for a Sennheiser rep to chime in on the validity of my understanding about the new Ireland-made HD 800S. From what I understand, it is not just the location of manufacture that has changed, but the process, which has FR implications. Apparently, the Irish revision of the HD 800S uses the same diaphragm moulding process that the HD 8XX does, but without the other 8XX specific tuning changes. According to new measurements, the result appears to be a welcomed bass elevation, but unlike the 8XX there isn't a huge midrange dip.

German 800S vs the new Ireland-made model:

Comparatively, this is the 8XX, which apparently was the first HD 8 variant to use the new process:

 

[Evshrug]

I'd love for a Sennheiser rep to chime in on the validity of my understanding about the new Ireland-made HD 800S. From what I understand, it is not just the location of manufacture that has changed, but the process, which has FR implications. Apparently, the Irish revision of the HD 800S uses the same diaphragm moulding process that the HD 8XX does, but without the other 8XX specific tuning changes. According to new measurements, the result appears to be a welcomed bass elevation, but unlike the 8XX there isn't a huge midrange dip.

German 800S vs the new Ireland-made model:

Comparatively, this is the 8XX, which apparently was the first HD 8 variant to use the new process:

I am not a Sennheiser rep (at least not anymore), but the variation between the two HD 800S could easily be down to several factors (individually or combined):
Rig seating position
Caliper pressure of the HD 800S sample (more clamp will increase bass)
Increased sensitivity and decreased precision (meaning repeatable results) the higher the tested frequency
Sample variation (age of pads, headband clamp pressure, drivers that match eachother but are within the target tolerance, etc etc)

And other factors could all easily result in a 1-2dB shift in results, with more variance in the highs to be expected. Even things like the car traffic outside, humidity and barometric pressure/air density that day can affect measurements. I do realize that you're implying the Ireland models might be more favorable! What I'm saying is, even before taking sample variation and age of the headphone into account, the first headphone could be massaged and moved around on the measurement rig to produce a result similar to the second sample, or even more different. Add to that, your own ears are going to "EQ" the sound and our ears are individual enough that you can essentially ignore everything above 7 kHz as being relevant to how a user will perceive a headphone's sound. The HD 8XX was tuned to be distinctly different, and it shows (imo, it's definitely a more "chill" HD 800S, very relaxed listening experience). I'm not saying Crinacle did anything wrong or intentional, but FR graphs can vary quite a bit and we as critical thinkers ought to view each FR graph with a certain amount of leeway in mind.

Here’s a graph from Harman showing how much variation you can see sometimes in open back headphones: