Sennheiser sells its consumer business to Sonova
Sennheiser has announced that it is selling its consumer division to Sonova. The Swiss manufacturer of hearing aids acquires Sennheiser’s consumer headphone and soundbar business. Sennheiser’s Pro Audio division remains unaffected by the transaction.
Sonova acquires Sennheiser’s consumer division
Sennheiser sold to Sonova?! At first glance, the news sounds like yet another earthquake in the audio industry. In recent months, we’ve witnessed several high-profile mergers and acquisitions: Native Instruments’ and iZotope’s announcement of a joint-venture, Focusrite’s acquisition of Sequential and Gibson’s purchase of Mesa/Boogie, among others. And now Sennheiser, one of the most resounding names in pro audio, is being sold to Swiss company Sonova? Like many manufacturers of live gear, Sennheiser was hit hard by the pandemic and announced lay-offs at its Hanover factory last year, so could this be the end of another audio brand rich in tradition?
Take a deep breath and take a closer look, because this morning’s announcement isn’t so earth-shaking after all. As Sennheiser’s CEOs Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser explain in their message, the sale only affects Sennheiser’s consumer product division, which mainly manufactures consumer headphones, earphones and soundbars.
Sennheiser says that products like its true wireless headphones will benefit from the transaction · Source: Sennheiser
Sennheiser’s Pro Audio division remains unaffected
And it seems like they’ve found a good match in Sonova. The Swiss company is a renowned manufacturer of hearing aids and cochlear implants. Not surprisingly, makers of hearing aids are experts in miniaturization and battery technology. This can only be a good thing for Sennheiser’s consumer wireless headphones. Sonova also has expertise in noice cancelling and voice recognition tech. Other companies like DPA Microphones have already proven that collaborating with manufacturers of hearing aids can be beneficial to both sides.
As far as Pro Audio products go, nothing will change for now. Sennheiser says that the sale of its consumer division will enable the company to concentrate on its Pro Audio, Business Communication and Neumann divisions. In all of these fields, Sennheiser plans to focus on digital services and workflows, the company says.
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One response to “Sennheiser sells its consumer business to Sonova”
Twenty years ago this might have been shocking news if you included the great HD600 and it’s successors as being consumer hi-fi products. But these days, the far superior Planar Magnetic headphones (like Audeze) have pretty much taken over the market for all discerning quality consumer hi-fi and/or professional headphone buyers, so the demise of Sennheiser’s consumer dynamic phones range isn’t anything to lose sleep over anymore IMHO.