Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that it has acquired headphone creators Audeze, in a deal that will allegedly see the brand continue to make multi-platform headsets.
The world of gaming headphones is incredibly fierce, and it takes a lot to stand out in a sea of headsets. But, audiophile-grade headphone manufacturer Audeze made a huge splash with the launch of the Audeze Maxwell this year, which has seemed to attract the attention of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
“Audeze is a premier brand for headphones, and this acquisition highlights Sony Interactive’s focus on innovation and providing the best audio experience to PlayStation players,” states Hideaki Nishino, Senior Vice President of Platform Experience at Sony Interactive Entertainment in a press release.
Planar Magnetic drivers are Audeze’s secret sauce
Audeze’s secret weapon is Planar Magnetic drivers, which are different from many traditional drivers seen in a plethora of other gaming headsets. Planar Magnetic drivers offer a more crisp audio reproduction experience, and in our review of the Audeze Maxwell, we said that they offered “the best audio that any gaming headset can muster.”
Audeze CEO Sankar Thiagasamudram said: “We’re also looking forward to contributing to Sony Interactive’s efforts to take PlayStation audio experiences to the next level.”
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It appears that Sony is planning on making use of Audeze’s headphone design technology in order to launch a future lineup of PlayStation-focused headsets. However, the company has also committed to continue operating independently and creating headphones for multiple platforms while remaining a part of the overall PlayStation ecosystem.
This could be a huge boon for PlayStation, which launched its “Inzone” brand of gaming peripherals in 2022. We could expect to see Audeze playing a key role in creating audio products directly for Sony in the future.
Currently, there are no details of how much the planned acquisition cost Sony’s deep coffers.