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Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

asia.nikkei.com

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Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#11

Post by pcurve »

countvonbalzac wrote: post #2

How hard would it be for them to just take their existing stereo and hook it up to alexa or sonos or some other existing streaming service. If the audio quality is good then quality + decent interface seems straightforward?

Most a/v units have long offered good connectivity and even mult-room setups using one. So, interoperability and connectivity are easy. Aside from reasons mentioned in the article, you now have 1-2 generations of people who grew up without having much exposure to a/v receivers and large speaker setups, whether at home or big box store electronic stores.

Even the ones who have, the marginal benefit of having pricier and higher end units cannot detected easily.

Market for receivers will always be around, but it is shrinking for sure.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#12

Post by akmarinov »

This isn’t big news, the actual “Onkyo” that consumers know will carry on, the Bankruptcy is the remains of the company that had already sold off the hardware divisions.

“The company sold its core home audiovisual business to Sharp and U.S.-based Voxx International and its earphones and headphones business to an investment fund, both in September. A joint venture between Sharp and Voxx is expected to continue using the Onkyo brand”

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#14

Post by garyfirestorm »

boulos wrote: post #5
countvonbalzac wrote: post #2

How hard would it be for them to just take their existing stereo and hook it up to alexa or sonos or some other existing streaming service. If the audio quality is good then quality + decent interface seems straightforward?

Many modern receivers support both Chromecast and Airplay, as well as some level of HomeKit / Google Home / Alexa integration. I think for Onkyo, they just fell in an awkward middle. Not as high end as Denon/Marantz/etc. and not as cheap as . Combined with the drastic decrease in people "needing" receivers and speakers (many people now just get a sound bar, or Bluetooth speakers) and the market squeezed them.

Unfortunately AirPlay doesn't support Atmos music. Despite spending thousand dollar plus on a Denon and Klipsch setup, I quickly found out that my Apple Music Atmos songs play only as stereo using AirPlay. It's probably Apple's fault...but it reduced the value of my receiver for me. Buy a 7.1 channel setup and effectively listen to only 2 channels :/

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#15

Post by boulos »

garyfirestorm wrote: post #14
boulos wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many modern receivers support both Chromecast and Airplay, as well as some level of HomeKit / Google Home / Alexa integration. I think for Onkyo, they just fell in an awkward middle. Not as high end as Denon/Marantz/etc. and not as cheap as . Combined with the drastic decrease in people "needing" receivers and speakers (many people now just get a sound bar, or Bluetooth speakers) and the market squeezed them.

Unfortunately AirPlay doesn't support Atmos music. Despite spending thousand dollar plus on a Denon and Klipsch setup, I quickly found out that my Apple Music Atmos songs play only as stereo using AirPlay. It's probably Apple's fault...but it reduced the value of my receiver for me. Buy a 7.1 channel setup and effectively listen to only 2 channels :/

Yeah, AirPlay is such a disappointment. I'm thinking about investing more heavily into Chromecast related things since they're more amenable to custom code. Unfortunately, there's no way I'll sign up for any Google-based music service (and I work for Alphabet!).

Edit to add: Dolby is also a bit of a fiasco. LG TVs went through multiple firmware updates to attempt to correctly negotiate Dolby Vision. I appreciate that they want to push audio / video quality, but it seems weird that the industry testing process for integration is so poor.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#17

Post by boulos »

akmarinov wrote: post #12

This isn’t big news, the actual “Onkyo” that consumers know will carry on, the Bankruptcy is the remains of the company that had already sold off the hardware divisions. “The company sold its core home audiovisual business to Sharp and U.S.-based Voxx International and its earphones and headphones business to an investment fund, both in September. A joint venture between Sharp and Voxx is expected to continue using t…

Right, the big news was that it was already sold off months ago. But just because Sharp / Voxx is going to reuse the brand name (and likely some base IP) that doesn't mean people won't notice. (It's not likely anyone has noticed yet, since it takes until the next production or two to actually make cost / design changes).

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#18

Post by agumonkey »

boulos wrote: post #6

It's too bad Denon (DENki ONkyo) didn't buy this Onkyo to make the merger complete :). I'm guessing it wasn't worth it to go downmarket via Onkyo, and it sounds like Onkyo had been accumulating debt for years.

I had no idea Denon was related to Onkyo :)

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#19

Post by danachow »

garyfirestorm wrote: post #14
boulos wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many modern receivers support both Chromecast and Airplay, as well as some level of HomeKit / Google Home / Alexa integration. I think for Onkyo, they just fell in an awkward middle. Not as high end as Denon/Marantz/etc. and not as cheap as . Combined with the drastic decrease in people "needing" receivers and speakers (many people now just get a sound bar, or Bluetooth speakers) and the market squeezed them.

Unfortunately AirPlay doesn't support Atmos music. Despite spending thousand dollar plus on a Denon and Klipsch setup, I quickly found out that my Apple Music Atmos songs play only as stereo using AirPlay. It's probably Apple's fault...but it reduced the value of my receiver for me. Buy a 7.1 channel setup and effectively listen to only 2 channels :/

It’s entirely limitations of Apple Airplay that are known and not new. Whether it’s Apples fault - I mean Airplay does what it says it does. Anybody that cares about would simply not use Airplay. If you want to use Apple Music then the best bet is an Apple TV which can stream it over HDMI to the receiver.

But it’s not like there aren’t alternative music providers - Spotify, qobuz, tidal, your own pick your poison DLNA all +/- Roon.

I’m not an Apple fanboi but having to purchase an Apple TV when it’s pretty clear they’re a lifestyle brand just doesn’t make me feel too bad for anyone.

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