[CJG888]

I’ve just ordered a spare head pad and ear pads for my HD600…

I presume that the new owners (given their history) will focus more on the in-ear product range in future.

 

[roskodan]

Hate it all you want, but Sennheiser has not come out with anything relevant for the enthusiast niche fan base in like 10+ years (not that they needed, HD650 and HD800 still totl performers... HD820 maybe!?!?). Worst case scenario, nothing will change... or would that be the best case scenario? LOL!?!? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[RickB]

Hate it all you want, but Sennheiser has not come out with anything relevant for the enthusiast niche fan base in like 10+ years (not that they needed, HD650 and HD800 still totl performers... HD820 maybe!?!?). Worst case scenario, nothing will change... or would that be the best case scenario? LOL!?!? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Worst case scenario for me is they discontinue the HD600 series before I can buy a backup.

 

[Racheski]

Well this aged poorly. Jude got played by corporate America.

 

[Netforce]

There are industry wide shortages everywhere. Supply chains are still impacted and shipping routes are slow as heck! Demand is also quite strong that nearly every brand has had a hard time keeping up.

Sennheiser is very very large of a company in comparison to other Audiophile brands and are not immune from these impacts. That is more likely the cause of items being out of stock more so than panic related Sonova purchasing Sennheiser's consumer division.

Hard to say what is going to happen with Sennheiser under new ownership. The purchase is announced for now and they are seeking regulator approval for the sale to go through.

There is a countless number ways Sonova can use or approach owning Sennheiser, they can be a hands off owner and let the teams act independently and inject capital. They could spin off certain divisions. They could integrate their existing Sonova portfolio into Sennheiser. It is really hard to say for now.

I lean on a wait and see mentality. The sale is not complete yet and it will be a number of months until it is.

 

[darkarn]

Something tells me that Sonova's expertise will be excellent for Sennhieser's IEMs. It will be a nice pivot since IEMs are way easier to use in a pandemic (the masks' ear loops or even head loops affect sealing of headphones)

Beyond that it is hard to predict what will happen so I'll just buy reasonably enough whatever I know I like and then wait

 

[Steven31]

Apparently sales are not justifying expenditures. It's pretty obvious they're in the red in this particular aspect of business or they wouldn't be taking these steps. We don't have access to their books, but they fired what, 20-25% of the company and closed their entire retail presence....those are not signs of profit.

Well said. It really is the end of an era. It's quite unbelievable and a confusing, this is the very company that set the standard for headphones - not once but twice (first with the HD600 26 years ago then just 10 or 11 years ago with the HD800). Then within less than a decade after the release of the iconic HD800, they sell the branch of their business that was untouchable throughout the 1990's and 2000's. It just doesn't make sense, it's not logical! Not so long ago, Sennheiser's reputation was such that people who knew nothing about headphones (non experts or audiophiles/enthusiasts like us) automatically associated Sennheiser with "being the best sounding headphones", they really where regarded by the layman and masses as being the best. That was 10-15 years ago, now they are just "average". I think there design philosophy/business concept had limitations, or at least let them down after the advent of Beats - when headphones became mainstream and not just purchased by audiophiles. Sennheiser insisted upon a certain design, conceived by the founder and his son inherited the principles and his sons (the grandsons of the original founder) inherited the same principles which have proven to be outdated, but they refused to change. They could've so easily held on to their consumer audio business and went about radically redesigning all of their headphones to be more appealing to the layman/masses, but instead decided to call it a day and focus instead on providing concert equipment for bands. Sad.

 

[Whitigir]

Their prices in comparison to others are average, but the performances of hd800/S/820 are not average. They can give all of the new 4K release a run for their money. Just because they are too accurate and references, they are picky with sources, but those are not average at all

Unless you want them to price their stuff at 4-5K like the RipOff modern stuff ?

But then, sorry to disappoint you, non of the rip off products can be priced at $55K as Orpheous II from Sennheiser. And this Orpheous II is not a rip off either. It carries the real technology from DAC to AMP to the headphones diaphragms itself as a whole system. Beside Stax, no one can touch Sennheiser at E-Stat games.

What do you mean Sennheiser is average? They are far from it

The thing is that with the new company, I wonder if Sennheiser will still be keeping up with all of these uniqueness ? I would love to see HD800S successor

 

[Steven31]

Their prices in comparison to others are average, but the performances of hd800/S/820 are not average. They can give all of the new 4K release a run for their money. Just because they are too accurate and references, they are picky with sources, but those are not average at all

Unless you want them to price their stuff at 4-5K like the RipOff modern stuff ?

But then, sorry to disappoint you, non of the rip off products can be priced at $55K as Orpheous II from Sennheiser. And this Orpheous II is not a rip off either. It carries the real technology from DAC to AMP to the headphones diaphragms itself as a whole system. Beside Stax, no one can touch Sennheiser at E-Stat games.

What do you mean Sennheiser is average? They are far from it

The thing is that with the new company, I wonder if Sennheiser will still be keeping up with all of these uniqueness ? I would love to see HD800S successor

I should've worded it better - I meant from a business perspective, nothing to do with the performance of the headphones. In the eyes of the inexperienced masses (the average consumer,- those who do not know much about headphones), Sennheiser are average - to them. The average consumer is going to look at Focal and see their level of availability, presence and offerings in the high end headphone market as a sign of dominance. Then there is HifiMan with their offerings to. Sennheiser are no longer first place in the popularity wars, they lost that crown midway through the last decade, imo. Focal are probably the dominant brand in the high end headphone market now. I think it's Focal who were the death knell of Sennheiser, they seem to know what they are doing. Regardless, now we are going to have 2 Sennheiser companies - the one owned by Sonova making product under the Sennheiser name - and the real Sennheiser continuing to make specialised products in the studio recording and performance industry. I suspect that by the end of 2022/early 2023, the Sennheiser headphones you see on Amazon and such will gradually just disappear, one day you'll log on to find they are "out of stock" and that will be that. I suspect the value of headphones such as the popular HD500's series and especially the HD600's series and HD800's will sky rocket in value!
This new Sennheiser owned by Sonova won't be making the same products as the company they bought, don't expect a Sennheiser HD601 or something, I suspect it will be far different than that, perhaps not even headphones at all! could be hearing aids or medical equipment! lol. It's definitely the end of an era, when you properly asses the situation, the death of a giant in the industry, for sure. Sennheiser as we know it have gone. They committed suicide when they could've held on and made something better.

EDIT; oh and by the way, how can you declare that a $55K headphone is "not a rip off" ? I think you are missing the point with that headphone, it was just an (failed) attempt by Sennheiser to be seen as being on top, at a time when behind the scenes they where obviously struggling!

 

[dadracer2]

I disagree with your viewpoint on the HE1 being Sennheiser just wanting to be top and them being a rip off. I think it was Sennheiser genuinely trying to build the best headphone they could with the tech available. I am sure that Axel himself told me that Sennheiser were losing money on each one, which should not be a surprise.

It would be interesting to see the numbers and see who is the No1 for the different headphone tiers.

 

[Steven31]

How could a $55K headphone not be a rip off?! lol. You do realise it won't have cost Sennheiser anywhere near that to stick a couple of transducers in a headphone chassis. The Orpheus/ HE1 was nothing more than a business strategy - a publicity stunt, the type that grabs headlines "German headphone manufacturer releases $55,000 headphone" and makes people go WOOOOWW... I am sorry but Axel could tell you whatever he wants and since you have no way of knowing if he's being honest, you automatically take his word for it and assume it must be correct.
If they did indeed lose money with the development and manufacture of the HE1 then they must've thought it was a gamble that would pay off in the long run. They probably assumed it would create a hike in sales of their lower priced headphones - but this strategy didn't work, did it? otherwise they wouldn't have had to sell off this branch of their business.

 

[dadracer2]

If it cost $1k to make then it'd be a rip off. It is very expensive I grant you but it is clearly more than a "couple of transducers in a headphone chassis". Then again have you listened to one ? It is a headphone and a dac and an amp and it all looked bespoke and not carried over from other products. It is not uncommon for companies to build halo products which do not make money but help boost a companies profile in whatever business sector they are in, such as the Bugatti Veyron which was a minor success but did not make profit for VW quite the opposite, but showed they could make the "best" car in the world (possibly).
I have only met Axel once so cannot be sure he was not a liar but it did not seem as if he was lying or joking. Perhaps you know him much better?

 

[HipHopScribe]

How could a $55K headphone not be a rip off?! lol. You do realise it won't have cost Sennheiser anywhere near that to stick a couple of transducers in a headphone chassis. The Orpheus/ HE1 was nothing more than a business strategy - a publicity stunt, the type that grabs headlines "German headphone manufacturer releases $55,000 headphone" and makes people go WOOOOWW... I am sorry but Axel could tell you whatever he wants and since you have no way of knowing if he's being honest, you automatically take his word for it and assume it must be correct.
If they did indeed lose money with the development and manufacture of the HE1 then they must've thought it was a gamble that would pay off in the long run. They probably assumed it would create a hike in sales of their lower priced headphones - but this strategy didn't work, did it? otherwise they wouldn't have had to sell off this branch of their business.

Without knowing the material and production cost of the HE 1, which by the way includes the amplifier (and its solid marble housing) as a complete package, not just "a couple of transducers in a headphone chassis", and the R&D cost that went into them, you're really just blindly speculating

 

[Steven31]

Without knowing the material and production cost of the HE 1, which by the way includes the amplifier (and its solid marble housing) as a complete package, not just "a couple of transducers in a headphone chassis", and the R&D cost that went into them, you're really just blindly speculating

Yeah, okay then.

 

[Steven31]

If it cost $1k to make then it'd be a rip off. It is very expensive I grant you but it is clearly more than a "couple of transducers in a headphone chassis". Then again have you listened to one ? It is a headphone and a dac and an amp and it all looked bespoke and not carried over from other products. It is not uncommon for companies to build halo products which do not make money but help boost a companies profile in whatever business sector they are in, such as the Bugatti Veyron which was a minor success but did not make profit for VW quite the opposite, but showed they could make the "best" car in the world (possibly).
I have only met Axel once so cannot be sure he was not a liar but it did not seem as if he was lying or joking. Perhaps you know him much better?

Yeah well I am aware that companies make these kinds of products, in the case of Sennheiser, it may or may not have contributed towards their downfall. They where prone to get ahead of themselves and very boastful, perhaps another symptom of their downfall.
The BMW M5 is the "best car in the world" IMO.