I am sad to see that the new owners of Sennheiser headphones have rationalised their product line and now seem to have discontinued manufacture of cans aimed at the audio enthusiast market. This kind of market is not even mentioned in their current “application” list which is designed to cater for various subsections of the professional market.
This means that the old highly regarded range of top of the line headphones like the HD6xx or HD800S models are no longer with us. A side effect for ( at least ) HD800S is that UK dealers appear to be selling off old stock at substantial discounts. I wonder if the Ireland factory remains?
Has there been a recent announcement about the discontinuation of the HDXX and HD800 line of headphones? I know the consumer division was purchased by a Swiss holding company a few years back.
I am unaware of such but you just need to look at the Sennheiser main home page. Incidentally not at the local distribution page as old stock may remain. Substantial evidence is that the HD800S is seemingly suddenly and uniformly eing offered at large discounts in the UK when previously it has only been available at msrp. A good sign of old stock being removed from inventory.
“HD 800 S is now sold and supported by a different organization called Sonova Consumer Audio. Please click on the link below to visit their website instead”
Hope you are right ( see my comment about local distribution) and it doesn’t explain the sell-off pricing now adopted by many. Right or wrong this is certainly time for UK customers to look at HD800S. Now circa £1090 at many dealers instead of £1400.
So it looks like there are now two companies who, from the consumer point of view, offer no distinguishing branding aside from close inspection of the website URL.
It will be really sad if this turns out to be true. My Sennheiser journey started with a pair of HD 25s back at University and I must have owned 7-8 different pairs in the years since, including the iconic HD 414, HD 580, HD 600, HD 650, HD 800, HE 60 and HE 90. Although I recently sold my last pair and mostly only listen to my Stax now, Sennheiser has been the connecting tissue of my headphone journey. This would in every way be the end of an era.
Hopfully there is a happy ending as this is turning into branding confusion rather than loss of these great products.
Incidentally I have owned most of the headphones you mention. Right now I am waiting for the doorbell to ring with a pair of IE 200s to go with my ecellent Roberts pocket DAB radio.
P.S. Phonak had already produced IEMs before the acquisition of Sennheiser, so they are not really a newcomer to the business Phonak Audéo PFE232 (soundonsound.com)
Ironically someone is right now waiting for the doorbell to ring with my Orpheus.
After a white hot affair followed by a 15-year relationship we had drifted apart and it was time to move on. We didn’t spend enough time together the last few years (I am ashamed to say that was because I was serially unfaithful) and I slowly came to realise that as much as she still gave me pleasure the fire was gone. Then someone saw a picture of her on the internet and fell in love with her from afar. I sensed it was true love so who was I to stand in the way? End of an era!
No regrets at all. I hope she will bring as much joy to her new partner as she did to me. She was literally one-in-a-million.
