Tier 1 · Rank #2

Sennheiser — Germany’s family-owned audio giant

Founded in 1945 in a farmhouse outside Hannover, Sennheiser is still owned by the founding family and brings in roughly a billion euros a year. The pro audio side — broadcast, film sound, live wireless — is what Sennheiser is best known for today.

Founded1945

HQWedemark, Germany

OwnershipSennheiser family (private)

Revenue~€1 billion

What they make

Broadcast, film, and pro live sound

Sennheiser sells consumer headphones too, but in 2021 they sold the consumer audio division to Sonova (the hearing-aid company). The pro audio business — microphones, wireless systems, conference systems, headphones for broadcast and aviation — is what stays under the Sennheiser name today.

They also own Neumann, the legendary studio microphone maker. So when you buy a Neumann U87, the corporate parent is Sennheiser.

The famous mics

The Sennheiser microphones worth knowing

MD 421 — a dynamic mic from 1960. Tom toms, guitar amps, broadcast voice. The 5-position bass switch is a classic.
MD 441 — supercardioid dynamic. Often called the “dynamic mic that sounds like a condenser.”
MKH 416 — the shotgun mic of film and TV. If you’ve heard a movie boom mic, you’ve heard one of these.
MKH 8000 series — modern small-diaphragm condensers for orchestras, foley, and field recording.
e835 / e845 / e935 — the live vocal mics. The closest direct competition to the Shure SM58 and Beta 58A.
e906 — flat dynamic mic that hangs over a guitar amp on its own cable.
Evolution Wireless (EW) Series — the standard live wireless system for thousands of venues, churches, and tour buses.
Profile USB — Sennheiser’s late entry into the podcast/streamer USB mic market.

Should you buy one?

The short answer

Get a Sennheiser if You’re shooting video and need a shotgun mic (MKH 416 or the budget MKE 600), if you’re mic’ing drums and want the best tom mic ever made (MD 421), or if you need rock-solid wireless for a church or venue (Evolution G4).

Skip Sennheiser if You just want one mic for podcasting on a desk. Sennheiser’s Profile USB exists, but the Shure MV7+ and Blue Yeti are more popular for that use.