Sony is acquiring Audeze
- Thread starter Mediahound
- Start date
interesting that it's the Sony interactive arm. I think they just want gaming headphones? I sure hope they don't kill off the audiophile headphones!
i think they may kill those models and just do gaming ones because it's Sony Interactive buying, not Sony itself. Just my speculation though.
i think they may kill those models and just do gaming ones because it's Sony Interactive buying, not Sony itself. Just my speculation though.
Last edited:
David A Silva
1000+ Head-Fier
I agree @Mediahound .
With the motive gaming headset design, I hope the audiophile product line is also fed RnD $$$ long term.
Last edited:
Kevintj604
Headphoneus Supremus
Yeah. Sankar's not going to be giving away the company that he built. This is only good news.
Audeze just got a huge influx of money to push R&D ahead on new products.
The Maxwell is a monster of a headphone at a super competitive price. I can see Sony pushing out products like that at a rapid pace.
Sony LCD-2
cashmonee
New Head-Fier
I wonder what ends up happening here. From what I can tell, Audeze's revenue is a rounding error for SIE (even more so for Sony). It appears to only be several million dollars a year. Also, I find it notable that the SIE subsidiary is the one that bought them, not Sony Electronics. The reality is, Audeze was just purchased by a video game company. I don't think that is good news for their audiophile line.
PixelSquish
Previously known as idiotekniques
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2005
- Posts
- 2,716
- Likes
- 2,054
Agreed. This will most likely suck overall for audiophiles. And Xbox owners eventually.
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
The name means something to audiophiles, that might be the most valuable thing Sony got - if they nurture it. If it was me, I’d offshore (or use Sony’s current chain) the manufacturing to increase profits, and split efforts - the audio and the gaming with emphasis on the long term reputation of impressive bass. That could mean Audeze recent emphasis away from the LCD era might be the first thing that dries up.
cashmonee
New Head-Fier
I suspect the most valuable thing SIE got, and the reason for the purchase, was the patents Audeze holds. Most of what I can find has Audeze's revenue under $10 million a year. Their name means nothing outside our VERY niche hobby.
To me, it seems too much of a coincidence that SIE is releasing planar gaming headphones just before they bought Audeze. I imagine what happened was an announcement of the new Pulse and Explore headsets, followed by Audeze saying they violated patents and a generous offer from SIE.
WizardKnight
Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 30, 2011
- Posts
- 66
- Likes
- 27
I’m not a fan of Sony. I would have preferred Audeze to not have been sold.
Sony is worshipped in Japan but is not a completely above-board company that is going to chuck money at Audeze and then just let Audeze use this money to do whatever they want. The moment anything goes wrong, the people at Sony who pushed for the deal will blame Audeze and then take a super hands on approach running this acquisition.
Just look at the MSFT-activision deal and the desperate behavior of Sony when it looked like something bad to them was about to happen. Sony got hosed when it fed a pack of lies to gov't agencies trying to fight the MSFT-Activision merger. Even the U.S. judge got tired and said she's not interested in looking at the harm to Sony, she only cares about consumers. Needless to say, she rejected Sony's arguments.
Just look at the MSFT-activision deal and the desperate behavior of Sony when it looked like something bad to them was about to happen. Sony got hosed when it fed a pack of lies to gov't agencies trying to fight the MSFT-Activision merger. Even the U.S. judge got tired and said she's not interested in looking at the harm to Sony, she only cares about consumers. Needless to say, she rejected Sony's arguments.
sahmen
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Posts
- 2,970
- Likes
- 2,586
So what is the official position of Sankar and Audeze in this deal, and what should it imply for Audeze's Audiophile clientele, as seen from Sankar and Audeze's own perspectives? I think Sankar/Audeze have to make their own position about this new order of things and their expectations officially known to their established clientele of Audiophile customers, instead of leaving things to wild speculation, allowing the narrative of Audeze's acquisition by Sony to drift as it seems to be doing now, or, worse, allowing Sony (Playstation) the sole responsibility of controlling that narrative of the acquisition. From the perspective of a customer like me, what counts most, for better or worse, is the policy or agenda Audeze itself intends to pursue in this merge/acquisition.
Last edited:
Users who are viewing this thread
