Fun fact that Masimo acquired Sound United in 2022 for 1B. Neither market nor investors were happy about this strange choice of company with health equipment focus doing this move. In 2024 Masimo changed CEO and now divesting audio brands business for just 350M.
Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
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Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#252The most interesting recent acquisition of this kind I'm aware of is the Bose acquisition of McIntosh. As this article [0] notes:
Dr. Amar Bose donated the majority of his namesake company to his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. So technically, MIT now owns both McIntosh and Sonus faber, two of the biggest players in luxury audio. (MIT has non-voting shares of Bose, so although the university owns the majority of the company, it does not control business decisions.)
Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
"How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experience? Just like every retailer has embraced usury with their credit card programs, every technology company has decided they are in the data harvesting business." isn't like this our goal here??? I mean we are comment on YC site that produce startup aiming just that
>> isn't like this our goal here??? I mean we are comment on YC site that produce startup aiming just that NO! I've been here long enough to remember PG saying to build something people WANT. YC has become less about technical founders building an MVP and more about the investors finding something they can make money from. The later often depends on "monetization" which has become the driver of enshitification, which…
Agree; though it's not just a change in the type of people involved in YC, the actual people - Paul Graham included - have changed dramatically. When I look at PG's essays over time I see an obvious shift from someone trying to explain th HOW (often naively or inaccurately, but usually genuine) to someone trying to rationalize the WHY of positions, ideas and actions that seem inconsistent and at odds with the hacker sensibility.
Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#254What is the alternatives (that aren’t Chinese)? Also why don’t TVs and AVRs use display port instead of hdmi (license costs)?
Look into Schiit Audio! They're American designed and manufactured. Their receivers aren't as consumer friendly as those of sony/denon etc but the quality is amazing, they have low, mid, and high end devices for each category, and they dont have/require any wifi connectivity. I've been daily driving their headphone DAC and tube amp for the last 8 years with no problem.
They don’t do surround sound
Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
What also contributes to this, is that there are new (Chinese) players on the market that offer incredible value for audiophiles. Brands like Topping, Fosi Audio and SMSL completely outperform the incumbent brands.
You've listed DAC/Amp brands, what about actual speakers?
I'm an audiophile (Revel speakers) and while I know of some good Chinese DAC/Amp brands I don't know of any Chinese speaker manufacturers yet.
Top speakers are still extremely expensive, and sound just as good as well.
Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#256I feel that sound bars + speakers directly attached to TVs has decimated the "home theatre receiver." "Back in the day", home theatre receivers made sense when you wanted Radio + CD inputs in addition to the TV input. But radio and CD players are gone. There is just TV. Even when I do audio, I run it through the TV. Thus why do you need a separate box? It just seems like a waste. Instead everyone these days are just…
I have an 7.1.4 Atmos system with a Sony ES receiver.
I can definitively tell you that sound bars to not come anywhere close to the quality of what I have, and at a decent price too (the entire audio setup cost less than my OLED tv).
I think most people are never exposed to real home theater audio so they don't know what they are missing. Similar with high end stereo audio these days (which I also have).
Every time I show Top Gun Maverick in my theater room to a friend, they want to go out and buy a real setup. Several have. It sounds better than an actual theater plus I get to lounge on my couch with my dog.
Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#257Now there are more avenues for Samsung to shove bloatware down our throats. I have a modestly high-end home theater and it is utterly maddening waiting for devices to “boot” and “handshake”. And after the wait, I’m presented with another “User Agreement” to sign that insists on shoveling ads down my throat and harvesting data. How much do you have to pay for a quick boot, no ads, and a private movie or music experien…
For my stereo setup, around $4000 for everything. It's also used for game emulators, kids to watch movies and cartoons, wife to watch whatever she feels like, etc.
Projector (Optoma laser) - $1200
110" powered retractable projector screen - $100
Mid tier PC - $600
DAC (Schiit modi 2) - $180
Amp (Behringer A500) - $100
SVS prime towers - $1000
SVS Sub - $750
All of my music is running off Jellyfin. I have a turntable that barely gets used but that's because I don't have enough space for it to keep it out of the reach/ damage radius of my kids.
You can of course do this for much less if you don't spend 2 grand on the audio part.
Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel like this is tied to the overall decline in movie and music quality. Maybe I'm just getting old. There is no more "Titanic" or "Nirvana". Lots of people have noticed the decline in audio mixing in movies as well, which has led to a generation of younger adults who need captions for regular movies. A discrete audio system would probably help with this but for what? How many times are you going to watch latest A…
There are 2 problems currently with movie audio. One is that the channel separation is not as good as it used to be. New movies have 5.1 audio the effect is minimal which no longer justifies the expense on the sound system. People online are saying this is because many movies are made for primarily for streaming and that majority of people listen on their TV or sound bar instead of dedicated surround systems. The sec…
I mean, I am an audio/videophile with a proper 7.1.4 Atmos setup at home.
I cannot even watch streaming tv or movies on it as it sounds so bad.
But I put in a 4K UHD disc and wow. It sounds better than a real movie theater.
I just think most people are never exposed to what high end movie audio sounds like anymore. I can tell you that channel separation is as good as ever. It's just most people never realize what's possible at home or don't have a room conducive to the setup. Or frankly don't care. My wife loves good movies and she could care less about the sound quality.
Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
For most people a good 2.1 system vs surround or soundbars is where it’s at these days. As you say most surround mixing is an afterthought now anyway. The physics of moving air to create sound hasn’t really changed in any meaningful ways; the biggest upgrade is usually larger drivers fed with more power. I think most would experience that as much more of a theatre like experience than 7+ tiny underpowered satellites…
I'd say "specific format surround mixing" like 5.1 or 7.1 is mostly an afterthought, but Dolby Atmos (which is "mix once and it automatically folds down properly to the actual number of atmos speakers" has become huge in the audio world according to multiple interviews I've read with pro audio mixers and film/video/TV post folks.
Be careful about Atmos. Most Atmos discs (I refuse to stream it) are a 5.1 TrueHD main setup with atoms layered in. So it's still 5.1 or 7.1 with some atmos effects.
That being said, I have a 7.1.4 Atmost setup and it is on the level of "HOLY SHIT" good.
Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk
#260Samsung acquired Harman Audio some years ago. Harman owns several well-known brands like JBL, Infinity, and Revel. They've invested billions in audio R&D, and Samsung has clearly benefited from that. Their soundbars now exceed the sound quality of Sonos systems that cost twice as much (or three times as much during sales). Denon and Marantz are arguably the best AVR manufacturers. It’ll be interesting to see what Sam…
Sony already does some wireless surrounds. They sound like crap.
The problem with wireless speakers is you can't really stream at a high enough bitrate to them to make for decent audio. Plus to really work, they need a plug nearby.
People without a proper room really can't enjoy surround sound which is a shame. There's this whole world of high end home theater equipment most people never get a chance to hear.
I try to show everyone my theater room to get more people excited. Several friends have run out and bought setups after hearing it. It's not too hard to run wires and mount speakers. I genuinely think most people just don't know what they are missing.