Music and the way in which we listen to sound is set to change According to Daniel Sennheiser the CEO the world’s leading headphone maker.
The future is ‘object sound” and 3D audio with people turning to where the sound is coming from.
He said that the future of audio will be centred on the technology at the heart of the Companies new Ambeo sound, with Sennheiser declaring that while today people listen to content that is mixed to whatever the sound engineer thought is right at the time, in the future, content will be mixed to whatever their physical environment looks like.
Daniel Sennheiser CEO of Sennheiser with David Richards CEO 4Square Media.
“It’ll be a club atmosphere in your headphones,” he says.
“With stereo you hear right and left, but you can’t really pinpoint which instrument creates which sound. With Ambeo, you can hear very precisely that “this guy has this voice and is playing this instrument, to the left”. It’s a much more emotional experience, and that’s the main driver behind Ambeo.
“It’s not about all the technology and format and everything behind the scenes. Our job is creating a much more emotional experience that gives you goose bumps.”
Speaking to ChannelNews at the Companies new Martin Place Company store in Sydney he said that the future for Sennheiser a key partner of retailers such as JB Hi Fi and the specialist channel is “premium sound” gear.
“We are a private “self-financed” Company who is investing in premium sound for the consumer, Pro AV and Commercial Business markets. “We believe this is where our future lies”.
In the consumer market the Company is about to release a $3,999 top end 3D audio AMBEO sound system that can be connected to a TV it is the Companies first attempt at delivering a home speaker.
“We don’t like to call it a sound bar as it is significantly better than other soundbars in the market”.
The German Company also has an Ambeo— binaural 3D audio-recording headphone.
Sennheiser says Ambeo is a “professional proposition”, one that started 15 years ago in their labs with research projects run internally.
The Ambeo Sound system we heard is going to be hard to top at the top end of the soundbar market.
Featuring Ambeo 3D technology specially tuned for a soundbar, the speaker comes with 13 speakers – six woofers, four tweeters and two top-firing speakers.
The soundbar replicates a typical 5.1.4 home theatre setup, with five regular speakers, one subwoofer and four additional corner speakers.
The device does this virtually using just the single speaker array and bouncing audio off your room walls to replicate the surround sound effect.
An Ambeo on off button on a remote revealed the difference when listening to formula one racing or the movie Everest.
“It’s something you need to try, it’s very difficult to talk about,” he says. “It’s a unique experience” said Sennheiser.
“Right now, we have to choose the battles we want to fight in the sound market. We want to deliver products where the customer gets something different from us especially in the premium space”.
“This is better for us from a financial prospective”. He said.
When asked how Sennheiser can grow in the consumer market he said “What we have to offer is extensive research, we created the world’s first consumer headphone and wireless microphones in the professional market. We focus on the customer trend and what a consumer really needs.”
He said that the trends right now are noise cancelling and wireless.
He said that in ear is coming back after being “popular 15 years ago”.
“We are currently launching True Wireless again because we believe this is what the consumer wants right now.
The Company was slightly late to the wire-free sound market, but that’s no bad thing especially if the objective is to deliver a superior products claims Sennheiser/
Taking time to get things right is something that Sennheiser has built into their D&A.
With their new Momentum True Wireless buds, Sennheiser is aiming to add a touch of class and audiophile quality sound to an increasingly crowded market.
“The quick charging from USB-C and the quality sound profile are big positives to take away that make these in-ears worth their asking price” Pocket Lint wrote recently.
Speaking about retail he said “the reality is” that we need all three, online via the likes of Amazon, retail and direct brand sell.
“In our Company store we can deliver an experience that you cannot get at Amazon or at most retailers”.
“we can showcase what makes us different in the market” he said.
“Retail in Australia is very mature, very sophisticated, they help us to reach customers”.
He said that in Australia Sennheiser sales are very much via a retailer while in China 65% of their business is via an online sale.