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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

#141

Post by givinguflac »

alasdair_ wrote: post #66
rixrax wrote: post #59

I feel that the AV-receiver market has gone the way of the DSLR market. Compact speaker systems like Sonos (that don't need a separate AVR) simply got good enough. Thus the need for buying a separate AVR to drive your Dolby / DTS / etc. setup has all but vanished except maybe for the most determined audiophiles (and even most of these would do well to simply get a compact wireless speaker setup instead of some monstr…

Sonos still has severe limitations and I regret buying two 5.1 setups from them. As a simple example: there is no 7.1 support at all and the Atmos support is a sort of faked 5.1.2 support where the upward firing speakers try to bounce some sounds off the ceiling. Sonos only supports 2.4GHz (no 5GHz support at all) so in a congested area network degradation is a big issue. Codec support is limited as well. For example…

I just want to point out that while sonosnet is 2.4 only, most of their products support 5ghz APs. In addition, DTS support has been included for a little while now.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#142

Post by rodgerd »

layer8 wrote: post #107
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…

> the actual “Onkyo” that consumers know will carry on I’m not so sure. The mainstream market (by that I mean excluding expensive “high-end” brands like NAD) can’t support a lot of independently designed products. In the AVR mainstream market there’s currently Denon/Marantz, Onkyo/Pioneer, Sony, and Yamaha (did I miss any?). There’s bound to occur more consolidation if the market keeps shrinking. The brands may conti…

Depends what you consider mainstream - the licensing gouged for everything from HDMI to Atmos, DTS:X, and so on means that there aren't as many price differences as there used to be, so anything above (e.g.) bare-bones Denon will be in the same price bracket as NAD and Anthem (for example).

Then you get into the exotica such as Trinnov, Storm, etc.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#143

Post by JKCalhoun »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #139
JKCalhoun wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I discovered full-range I disavowed multiple drivers, crossovers. Try it sometime. It's like headphones without the headphones. Crossovers + multiple drivers kill phase information and you throw the "sound stage" out the window.

You can have 2-way coaxes. I do like the sound, but they tend to bundle so the sweet spot is small.

I understand the cross-over also destroys phase — so I think you're still losing the headphone-like quality that full range give you.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#144

Post by itsoktocry »

christoph wrote: post #117
leokennis wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think “listening to music as an activity” and “buying, tweaking and upgrading expensive audio setups” are two separate activities that often overlap but do not require each other. As an example, I fiercely enjoy sitting on my couch with my eyes closed listening to full albums of the White Stripes or Stars of the Lid or Boards of Canada or Sufjan Stevens on my AirPods Max, streamed via Bluetooth from my iPhone. Ever…

It’s exactly this. “Audiophiles” are a weird bunch. Much of what they claim to hear is scientifically proven as total nonsense. Audio Science Review is a great place where they scientifically analyse audio equipment. The quality of speaker wire for all meaningful measurements is utterly irrelevant for instance. Realistically, as long as you are enjoying the art, how you are enjoying it should be irrelevant. I often m…

On one had, totally agree. The audiophile world is full of so much nonsense.

On the other, a decent home theatre amplifier and set of speakers is going to blow away a sound bar. I think people who think "it all sounds the same" have never heard a really good stereo. I have an alright, but far from high end, stereo set up in a listening environment in my basement, and everyone I've ever listened to music with down there is blown away.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#145

Post by rbanffy »

kringo wrote: post #80

What's astounding is, how they didn't adapt to new demands or pivot? Got comfortable or outdate?

Some markets simply disappear. Ice was once a subscription business, but refrigerators ended it.

Average sound equipment is good enough for most people. I enjoyed the chest thumping that my parents high end setup could deliver, but not everyone wants that and even though I would like to have that kind of ability available, my priorities place it down the list for the foreseeable future.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#146

Post by 14u2c »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #93
adra wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has a healthy immigration system that brings in a consistent stream of workers and tax payers to support all the old people about to clog social assistance channels for decades. That's the strong trap that Japan has been stuck in for decades, and the one that'll start befalling China in a decade or so. It'll be interesting to see if Japan can escape the population deflation or if this is a constant shrinking p…

Ponzi schemes are good at kicking the can down the road but when they eventually collapse, they're orders of magnitude worse than they would have been if the core problem the scheme was implemented to address was just addressed when it first became a problem.

The fact remains that the US is in a far better position to deal with aging demographics than the majority of Western countries. Immagration policy needs to be adjusted as soon as possible as to not squander this.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#147

Post by jay_kyburz »

overcast wrote: post #126
Gordonjcp wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any of those compact speaker systems that actually sound good, though?

No. You can't change physics. What usually suffers is the midrange(woofer) because everything is tiny. So you get high frequencies, and then usually some paltry subwoofer. There is no replacement for displacement.

This!. I've been searching for a set of speakers for my lounge room with a nice big cone in them, but I just cant find that is not priced for audiofiles. I have been looking second hand, but everything I can find is over 40 years old and the cones have all started disintegrating.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#148

Post by gog »

Gordonjcp wrote: post #62
rixrax wrote: post #59

I feel that the AV-receiver market has gone the way of the DSLR market. Compact speaker systems like Sonos (that don't need a separate AVR) simply got good enough. Thus the need for buying a separate AVR to drive your Dolby / DTS / etc. setup has all but vanished except maybe for the most determined audiophiles (and even most of these would do well to simply get a compact wireless speaker setup instead of some monstr…

Are there any of those compact speaker systems that actually sound good, though?

Sony HT-A9 (+ a sub) has been praised, but it is not cheap.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#149

Post by supernovae »

I switched to sonos and never looked back. I had a lot of Onkyo over the years and it always felt like they should have gone the software route much sooner.

ultimately i think smart tvs and roku were a bigger part of the receiver demise - it just didn’t fit the receiver mindset and the experience sucked

sonos wasn’t cheap but i’m on year 7 and it still works and i only saw one product refresh on soundbar but my old one still works - just sticking to spdiff. with 7 years of onkyo i would have been on 2nd or 3rd receiver just trying to stay ahead of dvd to bd and hdmi 1.x to 2.x and evrything between.

Re: Japanese audio brand Onkyo files for bankruptcy

#150

Post by christoph »

itsoktocry wrote: post #144
christoph wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s exactly this. “Audiophiles” are a weird bunch. Much of what they claim to hear is scientifically proven as total nonsense. Audio Science Review is a great place where they scientifically analyse audio equipment. The quality of speaker wire for all meaningful measurements is utterly irrelevant for instance. Realistically, as long as you are enjoying the art, how you are enjoying it should be irrelevant. I often m…

On one had, totally agree. The audiophile world is full of so much nonsense. On the other, a decent home theatre amplifier and set of speakers is going to blow away a sound bar. I think people who think "it all sounds the same" have never heard a really good stereo. I have an alright, but far from high end, stereo set up in a listening environment in my basement, and everyone I've ever listened to music with down the…

Absolutely. 100%. Last night we turned the “stereo” up really loud after Eurovision to listen to Mikas album for the first time in years - Full height Revel fronts, monitor audio rear effect speakers, dual subs, blasted it. I spent hours tuning curves on the Denon amp with an external microphone last year… Anyone that thinks a sound bar would sound anything like what we hear is honestly deluded. But, I also wouldn’t spend much more money on it… it’s way more than good enough for us… audiophiles would tell me I could spend another £10k on equipment chasing another 1%, I’m not sure at this point it would deliver anymore intrinsic value. At a different token, two Sonos in Stereo in my kitchen are more than good enough while I’m cooking to listen to music and podcasts.

I’d never, ever, want to see high end audio equipment die. When it all works together, the experience is truly sublime, engrossing and immersive like nothing else.

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