Sennheiser Says It's Open To Selling Its Consumer Audio Business (theverge.com) 81
Sennheiser announced on Tuesday it's looking for a new partner to buy its consumer audio business, which consists of headphones and soundbars. From a report: It's going to shift its focus entirely to professional audio, including its Neumann microphone division and what Sennheiser calls business communications. In a press release, Sennheiser says it wants to increase visibility in the competitive headphone and soundbar markets, and it thinks its products can be popular amid "strong competitive pressure." But it needs an investor to make that happen. It also says that talks with potential partners will start soon. "To be best able to exploit the potential in each of these markets, we are concentrating our own resources on the three business areas in the Professional division and are looking for a strong partner to invest in our Consumer business," Daniel Sennheiser, co-CEO of Sennheiser, says in the press release.
Apple (Score:1)
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So, made from Chinesium and welded shut.
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Well OK, see how this plays for you: Beats buys Sennheiser.
Same difference, just different marketing.
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Didn't they already buy something that competes with this?
Sennhaiser is looking for an investor who can boost their brand, they're not liquidating.
Apple wouldn't even be able to get a meeting with them to talk about it.
Re:Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
Didn't they already buy something that competes with this?
Sennhaiser is looking for an investor who can boost their brand, they're not liquidating.
Apple wouldn't even be able to get a meeting with them to talk about it.
You're thinking the lifestyle company Apple purchased, Beats by Dre. Those are not really competitive to the well respected (especially among Audiophiles) Sennheiser headphones.
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"lifestyle company" LOL
They don't sell lifestyles, they sell headphones.
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"lifestyle company" LOL
They don't sell lifestyles, they sell headphones.
If you consider the devices that literally add weights to feel more premium [techtimes.com] to be headphones, I'm sorry for your added strain. Those cans suck.
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That's a product feature, not a lifestyle.
I'm not sure why you think I'd be wearing them. Whatever the reason, perhaps it explains why you can't comprehend the words.
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They sell $1 drivers (speakers), wrapped in $14 of pretty plastic and a $7 package. They sell that for $200.
People aren't paying $200 because they want dollar store speakers. They're paying $200 for "by Dre".
You can get headphones with literally the exact same electronics, the same part number, for $25. The other $175 is for the image. That's what's called a "lifestyle brand".
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They sell $1 drivers (speakers), wrapped in $14 of pretty plastic and a $7 package. They sell that for $200.
People aren't paying $200 because they want dollar store speakers. They're paying $200 for "by Dre".
You can get headphones with literally the exact same electronics, the same part number, for $25. The other $175 is for the image. That's what's called a "lifestyle brand".
While I wouldn't buy Beats - I much prefer neutral headphones, if I wanted to distort the music with lots of bass that's better done elsewhere - manufacturing costs are always a small part of the total cost to the consumer. If you want to make it look even more absurd, just look at the material costs...
The final price also has to cover stuff like research and development, packaging, company operating costs, marketing, taxes, support, warranties, softtware, the store's margins and more.
While I have no dou
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> The final price also has to cover stuff like research and development, packaging, company operating costs, marketing, taxes, support, warranties, softtware, the store's margins and more.
True, and marketing can be well over 50%, or it can be 5%.
Which means you can buy the exact same product under two different brands for $100 or $200, with the extra hundred going to the celebrity endorser and such. I think there is a useful distinction to be made between products with marketing budgets of 5-7% vs those
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They don't sell lifestyles, they sell headphones.
They sell Beats by Dr Dre. Calling them headphones is a stretch since headphones that sound better and are more comfortable cost much less.
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Beats don't compete with Sennheiser. Audio Technica, Sony, AKG, Koss etc do.
Re: Apple (Score:1)
Well, AKG does.
Sony? Koss? Nobody shopping Sennheisers is cross-shopping that garbage.
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Sennheiser has a pretty broad product range that spans from sub $100 to over a grand. All of the brands I listed make serious products within that range. Beats are not serious headphones at any price.
I swear, audiophiles are some of the most elitist, gatekeeping fanboys I've ever met.
Re:Apple (Score:4, Informative)
Apple wouldn't even be able to get a meeting with them to talk about it.
Anyone with enough money to make a serious offer would get a meeting to talk about it. Hell they'd sell to Coca-cola if the price were right. That's just how business works.
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Nope. Having lots of money impresses you. The person trying to make the deal wants to spend their time meeting with potential partners. Just having lots of money, but being a company that is a competitor and has a poor history of supporting their partners, that's not a potential partner. That is somebody you actually don't want to tell the details to.
Look at all the car companies that announced they didn't meet with Apple. Why? Because meeting with them is a bad idea for anybody who isn't going to sign a de
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That's just how business works
No, that's how publicly listed companies on the stock market in a purely financial world work. On the flipside Sennheiser, is infamously a family owned business for 3 generations who refused to go public as they never wanted to "sell out".
Some people still believe in things like integrity and care about a product that has their namesake. I'm sure this will come as a complete shock to a Wallstreet Moronic Business Assimilator.
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That's the logical purchaser.
I don't see it. Apple is perfectly capable from an engineering standpoint of making high-end headphones if they wanted to . The only reason to buy Sennheiser would be for the name, and Apple is already established in the consumer headphone market with both Apple and Beats brands, and I don't see them getting more of a foothold into the prosumer and pro markets if they bought Sennheiser. Heck, it might actually hurt Sennheiser sales with high-end headphone buyers.
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The Sennheiser brand would move from the label to the feature list:
The new Beats VM-32765S Home Theater Soundbar w/Sennheiser woop-de-woop technology
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That's the logical purchaser.
That is no more a "logical" argument than trying to claim Beats are audiophile-grade hardware.
This, isn't Apples forte. Not even close. And we can only hope Sennheiser is smarter than that. They're looking for a partner, not someone to turn their audio legacy into the latest fashion statement, gone like a fart in high wind by next hardware season.
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That's the logical purchaser.
That is no more a "logical" argument than trying to claim Beats are audiophile-grade hardware.
This, isn't Apples forte. Not even close. And we can only hope Sennheiser is smarter than that. They're looking for a partner, not someone to turn their audio legacy into the latest fashion statement, gone like a fart in high wind by next hardware season.
To be fair, while Beats are crap Apple's Airpod Max [whathifi.com] are great. I guess them recognizing how bad Beats headphones are is why they launched them Apple-branded.
This is sad news ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sennheiser has a great reputation of building good quality headphones due to German engineering / precision.
Selling off this business puts this entire reputation into limbo. What guarantees do we have the new investors / owners will have the same passion for quality engineering?
I guess the consumer business division isn't as profitable as it once was? While I can understand this from a business perspective as a customer this is sad news. :-/
Disclaimer: I own the following Senn. cans: HD 380 Pro, HD 58X, HD 600, HD 650.
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While I can understand this from a business perspective as a customer this is sad news. :-/
Disclaimer: I own the following Senn. cans: HD 380 Pro, HD 58X, HD 600, HD 650.
Yeah, this saddens me a great deal. I went from their gaming cans to their HD800 cans, then right to their 820 cans with their HDV820 amp. I just can't imagine not using Senn cans. :-(
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No kidding. I can't afford the 800s but I still dream.
Re: This is sad news ... (Score:2)
I'll third this sentiment. I've had 580s for almost 20 years and they're still going strong (with a couple of cable replacements). It would be a shame to see the brand weakened in any way, so I hope they are careful.
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I've been recording with Sennheiser gear for years now. Mainly pro line stuff, but I'm still saddened by this announcement. Their consumer gear was a good, lower cost substitute for their pro gear. I wonder if that will still be the case after the sale. I'd guess it depends on who buys them.
Balanced (Score:2)
I've listened to other headphones but I always go back to Sennheiser. Some have better bass, some have better treble, some are more comfortable, but none hit all the strong points like Sennheiser.
Lineup: HD-414II, HD-580, HD-6XX (Massdrop)
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I've listened to other headphones but I always go back to Sennheiser. Some have better bass, some have better treble, some are more comfortable, but none hit all the strong points like Sennheiser.
Lineup: HD-414II, HD-580, HD-6XX (Massdrop)
I got the HD-6XX (Massdrop) too like... a year and something ago, just before covid. Really happy with them, in terms of sound clarity and accuracy they feel similar to my Etymotic ER4s, just with some actual bass and without having to jam them in my surfer-ear infested ear canal. Very comfortable to sit in the whole day too.
It seems like you can charge people half a grand for basic over the ear headphones if you just add a $1 bluetooth module to it, so they should probably get on that racket if they want t
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They offer that, too. The PXC550 is one of the better high end consumer bluetooth ANC headphones and the Momentums are fairly popular in the mid range market.
Momentums (Score:2)
I had a pair of Momentums that were my go-to headphones for computer use, as the inline microphone worked pretty well for video calls. My wife's earbuds stopped working, so she borrowed them once, and now they are hers :) She does more meetings than me anyways, so I don't mind. I got to replace them with a cheap webcam with built-in mic, and a pair of HD6XXs, so it's a fair trade.
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I had two sets of the PXC550 cans, and the amplifier failed on both. When they worked, they were glorious - one of the best features is that you could plug them in with the USB charging cable and they would present as a USB audio device to a computer, doing the DAC work in the headphones and assuring that you weren't going to get any interference or deal with a bargain-basement piece of shit DAC built into the laptop.
Dealing with their customer service to get them fixed / replaced was awesome, but I need s
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Some have better bass, some have better treble
What you want is linearity. Don't be fooled by tinsel.
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Some have better bass, some have better treble
What you want is linearity. Don't be fooled by tinsel.
That's not how it works. The amplitude linearity across either band might be better in one model than the other. Same for the phase shift vs. frequency.
You can adjust the relative bass vs. treble in your amp; unless you have a high-class equalizer you can't "flatten" each band within its own response curve.
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Sorry, that is how it works. If you think otherwise then you have not learned the definition of linearity. This is the difference between phones that "sound good" and phones that studios use.
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Selling off this business puts this entire reputation into limbo. What guarantees do we have the new investors / owners will have the same passion for quality engineering?
They probably won't. Assuming the company would let the products continue to be sold under the Sennheiser brand (and I don't see why they would) it will just be bought up by someone who wants to shovel cheap crap at a markup under a once respected brand name. I've seen this kind of situation play out far too many times to think anything else would happen.
I guess the consumer business division isn't as profitable as it once was?
Most consumers don't want expensive high-quality gear, so it's hardly surprising that other companies have gradually taken more of the market or even custo
Re:This is sad news ... (Score:5, Informative)
Sennheiser has a great reputation of building good quality headphones due to... engineering / precision.
Selling off this business puts this entire reputation into limbo.
Nonsense, you were merely tricked by the headline. They're not trying to sell it. They're not even willing to sell it without a lot of conditions. They're trying to find an investor, because they have debt and the interest is leaving them losing money even when they have good sales volume.
"Sennheiser’s press release makes it seem like the company is interested in partners to fund its consumer audio business, but it isn’t opposed to selling it off completely. "
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Shut up, you didn't read it.
That's what the whole story is about; Sennheiser doesn't have that plan, they're pivoting to the pro-audio stuff, where they do have a plan.
But they have a popular brand, so they're looking for an investor who has a plan for the consumer products.
You have it exactly backwards, because you didn't check wtf is going on before opening your mouth.
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Sennheiser has a great reputation of building good quality headphones due to German engineering / precision.
Selling off this business puts this entire reputation into limbo. What guarantees do we have the new investors / owners will have the same passion for quality engineering?
Well, you can wax nostalgic, but it would hardly be the first time something similar has happened.
ThinkPad by Lenovo, for example. Does it have the same level of engineering as when they were sold by IBM? Lenovo was already manufacturing them before it bought the division. /me shrugs
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They dont seem to understand their consumer division is an advertising and PR arm of the company.
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As someone in Germany, I used to like Sennheiser too. But I assure you, Sennheiser quality and sound is mediocre at best over the last 6 years.
I was flabbergasted when 40€ no name headphones sounded better than 150€ Sennheisers. No joke. And the build quality was not bad either. The only inconvenience was the 20 day shipping time from China, when I could get the Sennheisers immedaitely by walking into any brick and mortar shop here.
No wonder Sennheiser is willing to sell. They have begun to suck.
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Funny how cheaply you can afford to manufacture things for when you eliminate R&D costs almost completely by ripping others off...
Re: Sane choice (Score:2)
Itâ(TM)s not like there is an extant patent on the functionality of headphones or microphones these days. There isnâ(TM)t any special sauce in the $800 Sennheiser compared to their cheaper $100 prosumer counterparts, and whoever says they can hear the difference, I have a pair of gold plated network cables to sell. There is only so much you can do to make the headphones have a flat frequency response and good passive noise rejection. There is plenty of room in the active noise cancellation systems
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The items that give Sennheiser its good name are the $300+ over-ear headphones, not the low end commodity stuff. The thing that makes higher end Sennheiser's (and others) good is the depth of the soundstage and the ability to create clean sounds at all frequencies (rather than faking it by doing things like boosting the base or shaping the sound levels).
Once you get to the commodity end there's no real advantage in good engineering and in a way I think its kind of sad that Sennheiser even tried (although I
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OK I just bought a pair of KZ ATEs on eBay. Not quite 8$, but affordable and I'm willing to test your assertion.
If they sound like crap, I'll want my money back from you, is that OK? /jk
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Competition from Bose is tough (Score:3)
I've had a couple of Sennheiser ear buds and ear phones (ie cans) over the years and I've been happy with them - maybe not as ecstatic as other people here but not satisfied nonetheless.
About ten years ago, I won a set of Bose QuietComfort 2 headsets that worked quite well and I used them a lot for travel until they died two years ago while I was on a trip. It so happened I was passing through Denver where they had a Bose store and told them my story of woe and said that they couldn't help me because I was Canadian, but call the Bose office in Canada and see about a defective out of warranty exchange plan. I called, Bose apologized that the headsets failed and said that they just finished an exchange program for customers like me but were willing to extend it - two days later I had a set of QuietComfort 35 IIs for $175 CAD (normal retail is $399.98 CAD).
Now, I don't believe for a second that Bose lost a cent on the deal, but they sure stepped up and stood by their brand and I am very hard pressed to consider looking at other vendors after this experience. When I exchanged the headphones, they obviously got my contact information and every 2-3 days I get an email listing new Bose products and their sale prices. If Bose treats all their customers the way I got treated AND is continuously bombarding them with information about new products, I think Sennheiser is going to have a tough hill to climb to be seen as a serious contender to Bose in the premium personal audio space.
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Bose sells overpriced unrepairable plastic crap that breaks easily. My colleague had these Quietcomfort 35. They fell down once, the hinge broke and that was it. Sennheiser Momentum uses metal where it counts.
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Sennheiser also sells less than amazing plastic. I've had 5 copies of the MM 550 over a decade so far: bought, warranty replacement. Bought, warranty replacement. Bought, still holding up.
In the middle there I tried Parrot Zik, those also broke and had a warranty replacement.
The headband is plastic and always ends up going.
Unfortunately for some reason the combination of bluetooth, over the ear, and noise cancelling seems to be rare.
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Like I said, Momentum has metal hinges. I own a Momentum Wireless, this is exactly the combination you want. They have survived a lot of abuse.
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Is that model new? Because yes, that would be the kind of thing I'm looking for, but I didn't run into it back when I was looking.
Well, good to know, thanks. I hope those are still around and still good quality by the time I need a replacement for my current ones.
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It is a few years old, but they still sell it.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00SU... [amazon.de]
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Sennheiser's warranty process is great. My HD580s lasted me about 20 years and when the drivers went bad I sent them in and they replaced the drivers with the HD600 drivers(since the 580s were discontinued at that point) for about $75.
Wow. I had the same thing happen to my HD580s after about 15 years. Didn't know that was even an option. I might still have that 580 carcass lying around here somewhere, but have since replaced it with the HD800, which was quite an upgrade (especially with the HDVD 800)
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Buy Other Stereo Equipment. For real headphones I'm a fan of Grado.
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Buy Other Stereo Equipment. For real headphones I'm a fan of Grado.
Gotta admit, they are a force to be reckoned with. Tried the low-end cans years ago, but couldn't quite find the comfort level. I'm guessing that's improved over the years.
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I have a set of Bose QC35 IIs. I don't for a second even delude myself that they are as good as my Sennheisers at the same price point.
Even right now I'm wearing my Sennheiser in the home office. In precisely 6 minutes I'm going to take them off and put on the Bose's since they are relatively good as a Teams headset, when the meeting is done I'll put my more comfortable and better sounding headphones on again.
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Bose also seems to want every last detail about you so you can log in to your phone app to setup your headphones. What the hell? I need an Internet account so I can use some goddam headphones? Use of an app should be at least reasonably optional, and if you do have to use one, don't put all those barriers in the way.
I've lost count of the colleagues who had Bose headphones in the offices I've worked in over the years (before you needed an app to use your headphones). When I finally wanted some decent over-e
Obvious Choice (Score:2)
The obvious choice for a meme stock boost... merge with Koss (and sell their products at GameStop).
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I had to do a search to see if KOSS even existed any longer.
Man at one point they had some okay to decent products, but the last one I had from them was terrible.
Are they still that bad?
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The Koss Porta Pro still looks and sounds like it did in the 80s.
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Haha! As someone who actually was able to turn a nice profit on KOSS that is too funny.
what a shocking news (Score:1)
Sad news (Score:3)
Sennheiser has been amazing value, although I have seen their quality decline a bit. At home, I still use (only had to change earpads) a pair of HD 202 I bought as a grad student in 2005 for $37 (checked my Amazon account, I didn't actually remember the price), it is better than most headphones I've tried under $100 usually in both sound and comfort. There is really no reason to "upgrade" when I don't mind them being wired, as they are what I would call "transparent" in both sound and feel. I have a couple of other Sennheiser sets for work and holiday home, also more than 10 years old, also great.
So the only flaw I see is that they used to make their stuff so well, you only ever needed to buy one. Imagine apple making an iPhone that never failed, battery easy and cheap to replace to make it new again, and no OS updates demanding a newer model or making it slow. They would probably be looking for a buyer for their phone business as well...
not buying (Score:2)
I'm open to not buying 'consumer audio' of any kind. Anyone can take a shit in a box.
Pre-cursor to a slide? (Score:1)
I’ve seen comments about them not wanting to give up their strong presence and want a financial partner. Thing is, who gives money without something in return? Something significant if they cannot finance the money themselves.
Need better leadership and accountants?
Bluemic (Score:1)
Does Bluemic (Logitech) have the money power?
I hope it works better than B&W (Score:2)
I hope Sennheiser if they do sell at least sell themselves to an audio company. This can go horribly wrong for a company as shown by what happened several years ago at Bowers and Wilkins who sold out to a VC firm in Silicon Valley (Formation Group) backing a former Facebook c-suite who thought that high end audio was precisely what his tech company (EVO Automation) needed to compete with Google.
Fast forward 4 years, the executives at B&W largely quit their jobs. Their new products are all utter frigging