[kman1211]

No. They're consumer stuff sonova is taking over.

The audiophile division is part of the consumer division it seems so it seems it does include the HD 6xx, HD 8xx, He-1, etc. Those headphones were never really considered professional by Sennheisers own definition or marketing really.

 

[flargosa]

It seems Sennheiser wasn't as active innovating their products, competitors like Focal and many others has been steadily improving their headphones and releasing improved models every 1 - 2 years while Sennheiser took 10 years to update their HD800 to the HD800S and it was a minor update. Old models, no buzz, low sales, bad business.

 

[Mightygrey]

It seems Sennheiser wasn't as active innovating their products, competitors like Focal and many others has been steadily improving their headphones and releasing improved models every 1 - 2 years while Sennheiser took 10 years to update their HD800 to the HD800S and it was a minor update. Old models, no buzz, low sales, bad business.

I, for one, hope that this added injection of capital means more focus on innovation and returning to a point of category leadership once more.

 

[MrGoat]

I, for one, hope that this added injection of capital means more focus on innovation and returning to a point of category leadership once more.

Call me a pessimist, but I see this as destroying anything that is not "profitable" and anything that remains will be produced in China.

This Swiss company just spent several millions to buy the name Sennheiser... I don't see them turning around and investing in R&D any time soon.

 

[Mightygrey]

Call me a pessimist, but I see this as destroying anything that is not "profitable" and anything that remains will be produced in China.

This Swiss company just spent several millions to buy the name Sennheiser... I don't see them turning around and investing in R&D any time soon.

Dropping $250 mill on the name Sennheiser implies to me that they are indeed very interested in investing in the future headphone market.

 

[MrGoat]

Dropping $250 mill on the name Sennheiser implies to me that they are indeed very interested in investing in the future headphone market.

I hope you are right.

 

[jasswolf]

Call me a pessimist, but I see this as destroying anything that is not "profitable" and anything that remains will be produced in China.

This Swiss company just spent several millions to buy the name Sennheiser... I don't see them turning around and investing in R&D any time soon.

Their R&D will likely focus around what they can do with Sennheiser drivers in ANC headphones, and that ANC tech will have a flow on effect for the TWS and hearing aid tech, but there's still plenty of room for over-ear open back headphones, especially if they want to bring in multi-driver setups going forward.

This is something else that the ANC/hearing aid tech can take us towards as we model acoustics more and more. I doubt we'll see 7.1 setups in headphones any time soon, but the idea of mixing together ribbon, BMR and dynamic drivers to deliver better stereo sound is feasible if you can drive down R&D costs through machine learning-driven solutions. The pieces are already in place to manually tune such a headphone, too.

But back to the nearer-term, I just hope they have the fortitude to not use huge amounts of bass to mask detail losses and block ANC shortcomings out, but as we're moving into the LC3 codec era, that should be less of a concern.

 

[Sennheiser]

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/newsroom/sonova-acquires-sennheiser-consumer-business-wpc768

We couldn't have asked for a better partner than Sonova: Not only do we share a passion for sound - we also share very similar corporate values. This gives us an excellent foundation for a successful future together. Our Consumer Electronics products stand for the best sound and a unique audio experience. Sonova will build on this and combine it with its own technological expertise and strength in the field of innovative hearing solutions. Sonova is expanding its existing portfolio to include Sennheiser headphones and soundbars, thus opening up new markets. Sonova sees great growth potential - in particular in the market for speech enhanced hearables as well as true wireless and audiophile headphones. We are convinced that Sonova will strengthen Sennheiser's Consumer business in the long term and make the best possible use of the major growth opportunities - especially in the dynamic True Wireless market. As one of the leading companies in the field of hearing solutions, Sonova has exactly the strength needed to make Sennheiser products even more visible in the highly dynamic and competitive Consumer market.

This is very good news for Consumer business!

 

[cddc]

I think it is a very very bad deal for Sennheiser.

1. the selling price is so cheap, not even a billion $

2. losing the consumer/audiophile market will make Sennheiser less and less known, so much so that only a tiny handful of guys in the Pro market will know the name in the future.

3. I can understand why Sennheiser couldn't keep up with Apple/Samsung/other cellphone makers in the TWS market - it requires tech and device compatibility, of course only those cellphones makers know how to work best with their own cellphones. But even if Sennheiser is less competitive in the TWS market, Senn should still hang onto it, reduce its TWS products (maybe only keep one or two), so that consumers in the market can still know that there is a famous HiFi brand called Sennheiser, and maybe some people are willing pay for it for a premium (just for the sake of good sound quality, albeit less technical). Losing the TWS market =/= losing the HiFi market.

4. I believe HD600/650/660/800S/820/etc are still profitable, all Sennheiser needs to do is to cut their non-profitable product lines - the ones below HD600 which are non-profitable. Sennheiser is well-known to the HiFi world because of the existence of their legendary HD600/650/660/800/800S/820 product lines. Now that these lines were cut, Sennheiser is doomed.

 

[jbarrentine]

You must be privy to profit/loss reports none of the rest of us see to make these assumptions.

 

[432789]

Hearing aid company? it seems Sennheiser headphones are about to get smaller in size.
I doubt they will continue with the passion projects which fascinate us about sennheiser like HE1 etc.
Lets see...

 

[A Jedi]

If they drop the HD6 line, they lost the audiophile market. Maybe they care, maybe they don't.

 

[Tano]

No surprise. 0 innovation and living with a few old headphones that are outperformed by cheaper products. That's likely a death sentence in a crowded market.

I like Sennheiser but they need big changes if they want to come close to what they used to be in the past.

 

[432789]

No surprise. 0 innovation and living with a few old headphones that are outperformed by cheaper products. That's likely a death sentence in a crowded market.

I like Sennheiser but they need big changes if they want to come close to what they used to be in the past.

Are you talking subjectively or objectively?
No headphone beats the HE objectively. Period.
the headphone with the best soundstage is still HD800. By far.
the headphone with the best timbre, is still HD6X0 line.

even when you go to the studio where they recorded your favorite songs. I can bet you they used a vintage microphone.

it’s very hard to beat a classic transducer.

innovation or no innovation sennheiser still remains the best with even their current line up.

you think other companies are really innovating? Most of them are just frequently repackaging in the disguise that it’s an innovation.

 

[Tano]

Are you talking subjectively or objectively?
No headphone beats the HE objectively. Period.
the headphone with the best soundstage is still HD800. By far.
the headphone with the best timbre, is still HD6X0 line.

even when you go to the studio where they recorded your favorite songs. I can bet you they used a vintage microphone.

it’s very hard to beat a classic transducer.

innovation or no innovation sennheiser still remains the best with even their current line up.

you think other companies are really innovating? Most of them are just frequently repackaging in the disguise that it’s an innovation.

Well this is a hobby that is subjective and Im giving my opinion which is also subjective.
Sadly I don't have the ability to rank headphones objectively.

I've owned and tried various Sennheiser headphones (Hd600,660,800,Momentum ...)
They are good headphones, but theres loads of alternatives for less money and that's the reason why Sennheiser is struggling atm.