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Businesses Music

Sennheiser Sells Its Consumer Audio Business To Hearing Aid Specialist Sonova (engadget.com) 65

Posted by BeauHD from the hearing-and-consumer-audio-tech dept.
Sennheiser has sold its consumer electronics division to a Swiss company called Sonova that specializes in hearing care, Sennheiser has announced. Engadget reports: Sonova said it made the 200 million euro ($241 million) deal to expand its aging demographic to younger customers, particularly in the wireless in-ear segment. "Even if they don't have hearing loss, most of them will gradually get hearing loss with age, and devices like Sennheiser's allow us to have earlier consumer access to such people," Sonova chief Arnd Kaldowski told Reuters. The company said it would build on Sennheiser's HiFi expertise and "combine it with its own technology expertise and strengths in the field of innovative hearing solutions."

As part of what the company called a "partnership," Sennheiser will completely transfer its consumer business to Sonova. Sennheiser said it had 600 employees in its consumer division, but made no mention of possible layoffs. Sennheiser's Co-CEOs, Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser, said Sonova "not only shares our passion for audio and a commitment to the highest product quality, but also very similar corporate values." Sonova will gain permanent licensing to the Sennheiser brand, giving it an entry into the consumer headphone segment. "Combining our audiological expertise with Sennheiser's know-how in sound delivery, their great reputation as well as their high-quality products will allow us to expand our offering," Kaldowski said.
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Sennheiser Sells Its Consumer Audio Business To Hearing Aid Specialist Sonova More

Sennheiser Sells Its Consumer Audio Business To Hearing Aid Specialist Sonova

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  • Thank you for not diluting your brand with low quality products.

    • Hey, at least Samsung doesn't own EVERYONE yet... (Samsung now owns Harman which owns a whole lot of major audio brands)

      • Not sure what the problem there is. As long as ownership comes with a somewhat hands off approach (like WD buying Hitachi) then ultimately it's not an issue. If you buy a company to continue to support what they are already doing and provide them resources that is great. The issue comes when buying a company to change them.

        E.g. the former Facebook CFO who founded Eva Automation backed by the Foundation Group's VC funding and decided to buy Bowers and Wilkins, a HiFi speaker company with 70 years of heritage

        • Re:great (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Pierre Pants ( 6554598 ) on Friday May 07, 2021 @08:16PM (#61361068)
          You're not sure why huge monopolies are bad? Really? Have you ever heard of Luxottica? Or "EssilorLuxottica". They own... an unfathomable margin of the "eyecare" business, from frames to lenses to you name it. In March of this year, they even took over the only remaining serious competitor, Walman. You will easily find countless descriptions by professionals (opticians, optometrists, small and big optical shop owners) about how prices of everything get jacked up again and again and again the more control that this conglomerate has over the eyecare business. Guess what picture the conglomerate tries to paint, always? Of course, that they "support small businesses" and have a "hands off approach" and "allow the businesses they own freedom and thriving", in almost every news release they have. Ah, do read that recent Walman takeover news release... Luxottica has countless unfair advantages over anyone else who may be trying to compete (that's hardly anyone anymore, anywhere in the world). The reason that you can find a LOT of information about the bad things caused by Luxottica owning the entire market is that it's a very serious market full of very serious people on both the selling and buying sides. Audio market? (both consumer and professional) - full of let's say different kinds of people on both the selling and buying sides. By owning a vast amount of consumer and professional audio companies (and patents), Harman can and does control and unfairly manipulate the prices of entire markets, prevents competition, all while often claiming that they enable "freedom" and support people. All this stuff is ages old monopoly tactics.

          • Harman can and does control and unfairly manipulate the prices of entire markets, prevents competition, all while often claiming that they enable "freedom" and support people.

            And Harman is now merely a brand owned by Samsung Electronics.

          • I bought my last pair of glasses for 14€ from aliexpress with all the possible coatings. There's nothing wrong with them.

            • The problem becomes that it's either taking your chances with cheap Chinese glasses, or the monopolist. Nothing really in between. Of course, sometimes the cheap Chinese stuff turns to be just fine. The problem with that stuff isn't so much that it's poor quality, but quality can be very inconsistent. You can order a pair of glasses, get a perfectly good set of glasses, order the exact same thing next month, and get a total piece of junk.

          • You're not sure why huge monopolies are bad? Really?

            Firstly that's not what I said, and secondly what do you think a hearing aid manufacturer buying some headphones has to do with a monopoly? Your rant is wildly off topic. The resulting company is not any larger, and the industry has experienced zero consolidation as a result.

            The only question then remaining is will the new owners take the business in a different direction.

            Please calm down.

          • Harman can and does control and unfairly manipulate the prices of entire markets

            In the audio industry Harman owns precisely 5 brands of relevance in the market. The idea that you think they manipulate prices of entire markets where literally hundreds of companies are involved is a complete and utter fantasy.

            Sorry for the double post, but I felt your post is just so wrong it warranted multiple corrections.

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          • Re: (Score:3)

            by spth ( 5126797 )

            How can the "eyecare" business be a monoply?

            They are facing tough competition from hearing, touch, smell and taste.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

            Have you ever heard of Luxottica? Or "EssilorLuxottica". They own... an unfathomable margin of the "eyecare" business, from frames to lenses to you name it. In March of this year, they even took over the only remaining serious competitor, Walman. You will easily find countless descriptions by professionals (opticians, optometrists, small and big optical shop owners) about how prices of everything get jacked up again and again and again the more control that this conglomerate has over the eyecare business.

            T

    • If you are looking for alternatives this is a cool guide [hifiguides.com] that lets you narrow down your search.

  • I have 2 of their cans, one wireless and one wired. Both are a great value for the money. Now I suspect the name will be dragged in the mud of "consumer dreck".

    • Now I suspect the name will be dragged in the mud of "consumer dreck".

      Based on what? I'm curious what relation you think a specialist medical device provider has to do with "consumer dreck"

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by ahodgson ( 74077 )

        I'm thinking they probably don't care about great audio in the way that Sennheiser did.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          There must be a reason why Sennheiser sold it, presumably not profitable enough. The market is flooded with crap brands and consumers seem more interested in technology than quality.

          So fundamentally something has to change to keep Sennheiser consumer products viable. Either they cut costs, or they make the brand attractive to consumers, or they improve the technology through R&D research.

        • Is that why they bought a high end audio company instead of one of the many consumer companies they likely could have gotten cheaper?

        • Sonova owns both Phonak and Advanced Bionics (cochlear implants). Several years ago they forced a full R&D sharing program, which resulted in the Advanced Bionics Q70 product line. This sort of synergy hass been unbelievably good for use cochlear users, and the newest product shipped earlier this year based on the Phonak Marvel chipset. I am really excited to see what Sonova can do with all this new intellectual property in terms of making lives better for Deaf and hard-of-hearing folks around the wo

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by malkavian ( 9512 )

      Actually, I suspect the opposite.
      The medical device company has access to a consumer channel for audio products that they can design specifically NOT to damage ears, and have access to a market that with age will experience hearing loss, and have access to that same channel to mass produce high grade, high quality audio components at scale, so lower cost.
      While not a guarantee of the Sennheiser brand carrying on being great (all my cans are Sennheiser), it's an interesting path for it to follow. I think th

      • There's always a need for better microphone and speaker technology in hearing instruments. Also, any proprietary signal processing, feedback reduction, etc algorithms might have made this a perfect acquisition to further advance Sonova's two main companies, Phonak (hearing aids) and Advanced Bionics (cochlear implants). I have Advanced Bionics on both sides, and can tell you that Sonova's focus on being the leader in technology has led to amazing products.

  • Get off my lawn.

  • It makes sense (Score:4, Funny)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Friday May 07, 2021 @07:56PM (#61361026) Journal

    It makes sense, since they've been deafening people for the last 30 years with their mediocre headphones.

    Now that they've successfully generated a giant group of hearing-impaired people, it's time to cash in, baby!

  • One cheap chinese brand sells to another (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    *Yawn*

    Color me completely apathetic. So what of one branding company sells their cheap Chinese shit to another company that brands cheap Chinese shit.

  • It was disappointing to find out after getting my HD-58X headphones that they were made in Romania. Not so much for the fact that they were poor quality but the only other thing I know of that came from Romania was Count Dracula.

    • Count Dracula, but also the Numa Numa song. Other than that... Romaine lettuce maybe?

  • But now a headset will run you at least $5,000.

    • $200 [amazon.com] for the HD560S is extremely good value.

      Not everything needs to cost $2,000+ like the HD820 .. which don't even sound that great for the price.

      • Of course, but the point is that this will change now that a hearing aid company is running things.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by malkavian ( 9512 )

          I suspect not, because of market forces. That constrains what the headsets will sell for.
          What it may do is reduce the cost of the hearing aids, and allow some of the damage prevention mechanisms to enter the headset market early.

    • What's a "Sennherisers"? My wife's cost her $10. Mine cost me $800. Did we buy the same product but one of us got lucky?

      • > What's a "Sennherisers"?

        Someone who can't spell Sennheiser. /s

        • > What's a "Sennherisers"?

          Someone who can't spell Sennheiser. /s

          Speling is a concept invented to give pedants something to complain about. Lanuage is about getting a point across. ;-)

  • What are the ethical issues around expanding your access to a potential future market for your hearing loss products and selling them devices that will cause hearing loss?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by malkavian ( 9512 )

      None. The headphones don't cause hearing loss. Misuse and bad practices surrounding them do.
      Having this in a company producing medical devices (thus is used to incorporating clinical ethics into decision making) is a very positive thing, ethically speaking.

  • Pah (Score:2)

    by dwater ( 72834 )

    I never much cared for their "new" stuff, neither aesthetically nor in sound quality which seemed too bass heavy and lacking in mid/treble for my ears. Still, my favourite pair of headphones is an aging set of hd-25s...I tried out a supposed upgrade, "Ampera" or something, with metal casing, but they didn't sound even close to as good as my older pair. Time to stop up on parts, I've been through many padding bits, but maybe I should get new cables too... that's one of the neat things about the hd-25s,... so

    • I have a pair of HD-650s that are super comfortable and sound "great", but they quickly get boring. The complete opposite of my set of Grado SR80s that are incredibly uncomfortable but make me want to listen to anything that's recorded decently well.

    • The HD560S are phenomenal value at $200. I'm not sure where you are getting the HD580, HD600, HD650 are "bass heavy" from?

      • The HD560S are phenomenal value at $200.

        As are the HD-6XX from Drop for $220.

        • Yup, those are great value as well!

          I'm still trying to decide what I like more: The HD 560S, the HD 58X, the HD 6XXX, or the HD 650. Sennheiser has some really great headphones.

    • which seemed too bass heavy and lacking in mid/treble for my ears.

      Ironically this is usually the exact opposite of a typical complaint about Sennheiser's higher end stuff. Compared to the rest of the industry they both sound and measure bass light. The poster below contrasted them to his Grado SR80s, which historically was the headphones people recommended to alleviate the lack of Sennheiser's bass.

  • As usual, the summary misses the important bit (Score:4, Informative)

    by bersl2 ( 689221 ) on Saturday May 08, 2021 @01:46AM (#61361666) Journal

    With the partnership for the Consumer business, Sennheiser will now concentrate its own strengths and resources on the Pro Audio, Business Communications and Neumann business areas.

  • Sennheiser was one of the several companies from which I was able to get decent headset microphones for speech recognition. Thankfully technological trend is that soon anything working will suffice. Hopefuly before further monopolization (in business circles called "consolidation") happens.
  • I wouldn't be surprised if Sonova developed some novel tech that is suited for headphones. Instead of trying to build a brand from the bottom up, it's easier to buy an established one to integrate it.

  • If Sonova have shelled out €200 million, I bet they'll be under pressure to satisfy their shareholders that it's a good investment. Unfortunately, that usually means firing a bunch of people in the name of "streamlining & efficiency," whether it's actually a good idea or not. I hope this doesn't happen to the staff at Sennheiser. I'm grateful to them for providing such great headphones & earbuds over the decades.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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