Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Sennheiser sold its consumer audio division

To a hearing aid company. There is general concern that this won't be good for those of us who like their headphones: https://thenextweb.com/news/sennheiser-sold-consumer-audio-business-sonova-hate-analysis

Edit: Was just thinking, on the other hand, maybe this is a brilliant move. Headphones actually probably cause a need for hearing aids, so buy a business to drum up business?

The Sennheiser family may have needed the resources due to the long-term decline of the audio industry and current global pandemic. Sonova has expertise in earphones and financial resources, but doesn't have the retail distribution. Some deals will do fine and some will go sideways. Time will tell.

It is worth noting that premium Japanese headphone maker STAX was sold to a Chinese firm in 2011; that helped finance some new products and push into the Chinese market.

https://www.edifier.com/int/en/blog...h-end-electrostatic-headphone-brand-stax

I just hope they keep their current products available. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to develop even better products in the future.

This is sad news . Their headphones were excellent and that was thanks to their research and taste. Wonder what will remain.

I hope this is not sad news. I'm a huge Sennheiser fan. But like Johnny said "...maybe they'll be able to develop even better products in the future"

I still believe the HD650 is by far the best headphones for most digital pianos (subjective... I know). I have been using these cans almost every day since 2015 and have had no regrets at all. Great quality sound and build. True listening pleasure. Comfortable for hours with no fatigue whatsoever. Warm and detailed but not colored. Perfect in my opinion.

> But like Johnny said "...maybe they'll be able to develop even better products in the future"

The message in the link in the OP and that does not give much reason for optimism

I read about that, really sad 😥 I'm a huge fan of Sennheiser. Hopefully it won't be as bad as it sounds.

This gives me fears. I hope beyerdynamic doesn't end up this way. But nevermind; I already have most of their headphones anyway

Much ado over nothing.

The author of that linked article writes ...... but he offers no justification. None at all.

Actually it's you who makes the blank statements and does not debunk any of his claims.

He gives a full page of previous failed sellouts, a.o. Olympus cameras, VAIO, Polaroid, Blackberry

https://thenextweb.com/news/begone-brand-license-buy-outs-blackberry-opinion-analysis

Consumer audio technology has converged, and the products have become commodities.

It's the industry's own fault for not establishing new objective acoustic goals.

I made no claims at all. The author does, without justification.I simply look for evidence.

The author's citations of company acquisitions fails to include any that were successful. It's a biased tale.

Those business he chooses to highlight were already in decline:
Polaroid was adrift in the days of digital photography, right?
Olympus was likewise, as cell phones took away most of the consumer photo business, right?
The demise of Blackberry was predicted (prematurely) more than a decade ago, right? It's amazing that it held on as long as it did.
VAIO laptops were also-rans in the highly competitive laptop market, right?

Conversely, the sale by IBM of its ThinkBook laptop business was a success for its new owner, Lenovo. They own more than 25% of the market.

Not all sellouts become failures.

So ... is Sennheiser already in decline, suggesting that the buyout will cause its demise? I don't think it is. But what do I know?
In any case, it's yet to be seen what will become of Sennheiser products.[/quote]

[/quote]


Thanks. This already becomes a more concrete discussion input. Now you're giving some actual arguments instead of blanket statements.

I don't like the tone though ( "right?" )