Sennheiser and the company that now makes its audiophile headphones have just been fined €6 million over price fixing

Sennheiser HD 550 on a white box. — (Image credit: Sennheiser)

The business relationship between audio brand Sennheiser and audio care conglomerate Sonova is a little confusing, but basically what you need to know is that Sonova finalised their purchase of Sennheiser's consumer division for €200 million back in March 2022. Sennheiser still makes their own studio kit for professionals, but amateur audiophiles are served by Sonova draped in Sennheiser's brand banner. To put it another way, when you pick up some Sennheiser branded headphones—like the HD 550 that Jacob just reviewed—they're actually made by Sonova.

What's far easier to understand is that Sennheiser and Sonova are being fined to a total of nearly €6 million for price fixing. The Bundeskartellamt—that's the federal cartel office in Germany—found that Sennheiser had been engaging in price fixing since at least 2015. What's more, Sonova continued the practice after its purchase of the brand, right up until the antitrust investigation began in September 2022.

The Bundeskartellamt describes a "code language" being used for internal conversations about price maintenance measures at Sennheiser, though that's far from the wildest detail. According to Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt, "Sennheiser employees even underwent antitrust training but used that knowledge to cover up their price-fixing practices." He adds, "This illustrates that companies must not only adopt compliance measures but also put them into practice.”

The result is a fine in the millions that apparently takes into account the fact Sennheiser and Sonova co-operated fully with the Bundeskartellamt's investigation. Besides the audio giants at the centre of this case, three Sennheiser employees specifically are also being fined and, boy, would I hate to be any one of those guys.

Mundt also said, "When it comes to illegal cartels, what first comes to mind are agreements at the same market level, for example between manufacturers or between retailers. However, price competition is also significantly hindered to the detriment of consumers if manufacturers and their retailers conclude agreements on fixed retail prices. Over a long period of time, Sennheiser hampered the free pricing of premium headphones."

Perhaps €6 million is just a drop in the ocean for Sonova, but perhaps it's not naive to hope this federal fine sends a message. If nothing else, maybe my next headphone purchase will be slightly less dear—or maybe I shouldn't dare hope for premium audio at a slightly less than premium price. Ah well, back to the best audiophile headset guide for me, then.

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Jess has been writing about games for over ten years, spending the last seven working on print publications PLAY and Official PlayStation Magazine. When she’s not writing about all things hardware here, she’s getting cosy with a horror classic, ranting about a cult hit to a captive audience, or tinkering with some tabletop nonsense.

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