Sennheiser
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| Sennheiser | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Industry | Audio electronics, professional audio |
| Founded | June 1945 (as Laboratorium Wennebostel) |
| Founder | Fritz Sennheiser |
| Headquarters | Wedemark, Germany |
| Notable Personnel | Andreas Sennheiser (CEO), Daniel Sennheiser (Chairman of the Board of Directors) |
| Products | Microphones, wireless microphone systems, professional headphones, conference systems, AMBEO VR Mic |
| Website | https://www.sennheiser.com |
Sennheiser is a German family-owned audio company based in Wedemark, near Hanover. Fritz Sennheiser founded it in June 1945 as Laboratorium Wennebostel ("Labor W"), and it took the name Sennheiser electronic in 1958.[1] The group makes microphones, wireless microphone systems, professional headphones, conference and streaming products and 3D audio software, and its brands include Neumann and Merging.[2][3] Since March 2022 its former consumer division (headphones, soundbars and hearables sold under the Sennheiser brand) has belonged to the Swiss hearing-care company Sonova, which holds a perpetual licence to the brand.[4][3]
Sennheiser's work in VR and AR runs through AMBEO, a 3D audio program it unveiled at CES in January 2016.[5] Its best-known XR product is the AMBEO VR Mic, a four-capsule Ambisonics microphone for recording 360-degree sound for VR content.[6] In 2018 the company partnered with Magic Leap and made the AMBEO AR One earphones for the Magic Leap One, and in 2019 it took a majority stake in the VR/AR audio software maker Dear Reality, which it later folded into the group.[7][8][9]
History
Founding and growth (1945-2012)
Fritz Sennheiser set up Laboratorium Wennebostel in June 1945 in a farmhouse in the Wedemark that is still part of the company's premises. Its first products were measuring instruments, which it sold to Siemens. Siemens also asked the laboratory to rebuild a microphone from an Austrian supplier, which came out in 1946 as the MD 1, and the lab's own first microphone, the MD 2, followed in 1947. The company was renamed Sennheiser electronic in 1958.[1]
The company's history document lists several early products in sound recording and playback. The MD 82, its first shotgun microphone, appeared in 1956. In 1957 the lab introduced a wireless microphone system for professional television, developed with the broadcaster NDR, and from 1958 it was sold with Telefunken as "Microport". The HD 414 of 1968 is described by Sennheiser as the world's first open headphones. In 1974 the MKE 2002 head-worn stereo microphone enabled binaural recordings on the dummy-head principle.[1]
Fritz Sennheiser handed management to his son, Jörg Sennheiser, in 1982. The first foreign sales subsidiary, Sennheiser France, opened in 1988. Sennheiser bought the Berlin studio microphone maker Georg Neumann in 1991 and the loudspeaker maker Klein + Hummel in 2005.[1]
Third generation and the consumer sale (2013-present)
Daniel Sennheiser joined the company in 2008 and his brother Andreas Sennheiser in 2010. In 2013 the two grandsons of the founder became managing directors and ran the company as co-CEOs.[1] On 1 January 2026 Daniel Sennheiser became Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Andreas Sennheiser continued as CEO in charge of the operational business.[10][3]
In February 2021 Sennheiser said it would concentrate on its professional business and look for a partner for consumer electronics. On 7 May 2021 it announced the sale of the consumer business, including headphones and soundbars and about 600 employees, to Sonova. Sennheiser kept its Pro Audio, Business Communications and Neumann business areas.[11] The sale closed on 1 March 2022, and Sonova formed a Consumer Hearing business unit from it.[4]
In July 2022 Sennheiser bought Merging Technologies, a maker of high-resolution recording systems and audio networking products in Puidoux, Switzerland, to expand the Neumann range. The terms were not disclosed.[12] For fiscal 2025 the group reported revenue of 463.1 million euros, down 5.9 percent from the previous year, and EBIT of 19.4 million euros. Pro Audio and Business Communication were merged into one business unit in early 2026, alongside a separate Sennheiser Mobility business.[3]
AMBEO and XR work
AMBEO program
Sennheiser unveiled AMBEO at CES in Las Vegas in January 2016 as its focus on 3D immersive audio. The VR studio Visualise received the first working prototype of the company's VR microphone and used it on Grace, a piano recital recorded at St Botolph's Aldgate church that was shown at the show.[5] The company's history document says AMBEO was presented in 2016 as a 3D audio technology program, with the AMBEO VR Mic launched the same year, the AMBEO Smart Headset announced in 2017 and the AMBEO Soundbar released in 2019.[1] In its 2025 statement on immersive audio, Sennheiser also listed Netflix's AMBEO 2-Channel Spatial Audio and Sennheiser Mobility's AMBEO In-Car sound systems as AMBEO applications.[9]
AMBEO VR Mic
The AMBEO VR Mic was shown at IBC 2016 in Amsterdam, after the AMBEO range had appeared at CES 2016 and the microphone at IFA 2016 in Berlin, and Sennheiser said it would become commercially available in November 2016.[6][13] It has four matched KE 14 cardioid capsules in a tetrahedral arrangement and is powered by 4 x 48 V phantom power.[14][6] The capsules produce a four-channel A-format signal, which Sennheiser's AMBEO A-B format converter plug-in turns into Ambisonics B-format.[15][6] The microphone was developed with field testing by VR content producers and a creators' program with participants from the VR audio and video industry. Product manager Kai Lange said it "has been designed specifically for VR/AR purposes".[6][13]
AMBEO Smart Headset
The AMBEO Smart Headset, made with Apogee, is an in-ear headset with microphones placed to record binaural sound and an Apple MFi-certified Lightning connector for iOS devices. Apogee supplied its Soft Limit, the microphone preamplifier and the A/D and D/A conversion. Production Expert reported its release in November 2017 at 299.95 US dollars. A switch controls a "Situational Awareness" mode that either passes outside sound through or turns on noise cancellation.[16] Sennheiser describes it as the first AMBEO product for the consumer market.[1]
Magic Leap partnership
On 21 September 2018 Sennheiser announced a partnership with Magic Leap and joined its "Works with Magic Leap" certification program for accessories made for the Magic Leap One. Magic Leap's chief product officer Omar Khan said that "the spatial soundfield is an integral part of the spatial sensory experience".[7] Engadget noted that the Magic Leap One Creator Edition had built-in speakers and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and that Sennheiser planned accessories for the device.[17]
On 9 October 2018 the company launched the AMBEO AR One in-ear headphones, which it called the first spatial listening accessory to receive official certification from Magic Leap. They cost 250 US dollars and were sold in the United States only, through Magic Leap, from November 2018. A Transparent Hearing button sets how much outside sound from the built-in microphones is mixed in. Sennheiser also released a free Magic Leap app, AMBEO Augmented Audio Lab (listed as "AMBEO Lab"), in which users record real-world sounds as loops and arrange them as spatial soundscapes shown as objects they can grab and move.[18]
Dear Reality
Sennheiser took a majority shareholding in Dear Reality GmbH of Düsseldorf on 1 July 2019, after about 18 months as an investor and partner. Dear Reality, founded by Achim Fell and Christian Sander, made the dearVR spatial audio software, including dearVR PRO (a binaural, Ambisonics and multichannel encoder) and dearVR SPATIAL CONNECT for mixing VR content inside VR. Uwe Cremering, head of Sennheiser's AMBEO Immersive Audio business, joined the founders as a third CEO.[8] On 27 March 2025 Sennheiser said Dear Reality would no longer continue as an independent company and brand and would be phased out by the end of 2025. Its products are no longer developed or maintained; the license manager was to be switched off on 31 July 2025, existing customers received license-free full versions of the plug-ins they had bought, and most Dear Reality plug-ins were offered free to the public through a sign-up for Sennheiser's AMBEO newsletter.[9]
Products
| Product | Year | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AMBEO VR Mic | 2016 | Ambisonics microphone | Four KE 14 capsules in a tetrahedral array; A-format to B-format conversion software[6][14] |
| AMBEO Smart Headset | 2017 | Binaural recording headset | Developed with Apogee; Lightning connector for iOS[16] |
| AMBEO AR One | 2018 | In-ear headphones | Certified "Works with Magic Leap" accessory; US only, 250 US dollars[18] |
| AMBEO Augmented Audio Lab | 2018 | Magic Leap app | Free spatial sound sandbox[18] |
| dearVR software (Dear Reality) | 2019-2025 under Sennheiser | Spatial audio plug-ins | Phased out in 2025; most plug-ins made free[8][9] |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Our History: Milestones of 75 Years Sennheiser". Sennheiser Newsroom. Sennheiser electronic. 2020. https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/a6ec9afd-a3d3-4255-9cb3-c0f4e92ef7ec/-/inline/no/75Years%20Presskit_Our%20History_EN.pdf. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ "About us". Sennheiser. Sennheiser electronic SE & Co. KG. https://www.sennheiser.com/en-us/about-us. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Sennheiser Group demonstrates resilience in challenging market environment". Sennheiser Newsroom. Sennheiser electronic SE & Co. KG. 2026-06-10. https://newsroom.sennheiser.com/sennheiser-group-demonstrates-resilience-in-challenging-market-environment. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Sonova completes acquisition of the Sennheiser Consumer Division and forms a new business". Sonova. Sonova Holding AG. 2022-03-01. https://www.sonova.com/en/sonova-completes-acquisition-sennheiser-consumer-division-and-forms-new-business. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Henry Stuart (2016-01-07). "Sennheiser Virtual Reality Mic Showcase at CES". Visualise. https://visualise.com/2016/01/sennheiser-virtual-reality-mic-showcase-at-ces. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 audioXpress Staff (2016-09-15). "Sennheiser Introduces AMBEO VR Mic Compact Ambisonics Microphone". audioXpress. https://audioxpress.com/news/sennheiser-introduces-ambeo-vr-mic-compact-ambisonics-microphone. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Sennheiser and Magic Leap partner for spatial computing applications". Sennheiser Newsroom. Sennheiser electronic. 2018-09-21. https://newsroom.sennheiser.com/sennheiser-and-magic-leap-partner-for-spatial-computing-applications. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Dear Reality becomes part of the Sennheiser Group". Sennheiser Newsroom. Sennheiser electronic. 2019-07-11. https://newsroom.sennheiser.com/dear-reality-becomes-part-of-the-sennheiser-group-249247. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Sennheiser Group consolidates immersive audio initiatives". Sennheiser Newsroom. Sennheiser electronic SE & Co. KG. 2025-03-27. https://newsroom.sennheiser.com/sennheiser-group-consolidates-immersive-audio-initiatives. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ Matthew Corrigan (2025-10-23). "Sennheiser shakes up leadership". TVBEurope. https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/people/sennheiser-shakes-up-leadership. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ "Sonova acquires Sennheiser Consumer Business". Sennheiser Newsroom. Sennheiser electronic. 2021-05-07. https://newsroom.sennheiser.com/sonova-acquires-sennheiser-consumer-business. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ Joao Martins (2022-07-05). "Sennheiser Acquires Merging Technologies to Reinforce its Growth Strategy for Neumann". audioXpress. https://audioxpress.com/news/sennheiser-acquires-merging-technologies-to-reinforce-its-growth-strategy-for-neumann. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 AVNetwork Staff (2016-09-26). "Sennheiser Launches Mic for VR/AR Recording". AV Network. https://www.avnetwork.com/avnetwork/sennheiser-launches-mic-for-vr. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "AMBEO VR Mic". Sennheiser. Sennheiser electronic. https://www.sennheiser.com/en-cn/catalog/products/microphones/ambeo-vr-mic. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ "AMBEO VR Mic: Product information". Sennheiser Documentation. Sennheiser electronic. https://docs.cloud.sennheiser.com/en-us/ambeo-vr-mic/product-info.html. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Mike Thornton (2017-11-02). "Sennheiser Release iOS Binaural Recording AMBEO Headset". Production Expert. https://www.production-expert.com/home-page/2017/10/31/sennheiser-release-ios-binaural-recording-ambeo-headset. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ Mariella Moon (2018-09-23). "Sennheiser is making spatial audio accessories for Magic Leap". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2018-09-23-sennheiser-magic-leap.html. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Sennheiser launches "AMBEO AR One" in-ears for Magic Leap One glasses". Sennheiser Newsroom. Sennheiser electronic. 2018-10-09. https://newsroom.sennheiser.com/sennheiser-launches-ambeo-ar-one-in-ears-for-magic-leap-one-glasses-214868. Retrieved 2026-10-21.