Yesterday, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced it signed an agreement to acquire Audeze, the California-based brand of high-end headphones. Audeze will continue to operate independently and its products will still be multiplatform, but they will benefit from being part of the PlayStation ecosystem. For its part, Sony believes the acquisition will allow continued innovation of the audio experience of PlayStation games. The financial terms of the deal will not be publicly disclosed.
Hideaki Nishino, Senior Vice President of Platform Experience at Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in a statement:
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. We’re excited to bring Audeze’s expertise into the PlayStation ecosystem, building on the great strides we’ve made with PlayStation 5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech and the Pulse 3D wireless headset.
Sankar Thiagasamudram, CEO at Audeze, added:
Sony Interactive provides Audeze with a unique opportunity to scale our business as we continue with our mission to deliver best-in-class headphones to recording professionals, audiophiles, and gamers. We’re also looking forward to contributing to Sony Interactive’s efforts to take PlayStation audio experiences to the next level.
The news comes just after Sony unveiled of the Pulse Elite wireless headset and Pulse Explore wireless earbuds. Both of them are equipped with 'custom-designed planar magnetic drivers', which are the signature of Audeze products. They'll also utilize PlayStation’s new wireless audio technology called PlayStation Link which purportedly delivers low latency, lossless audio thanks to its USB adapter. PlayStation Link will support PS5, PC, Mac, or the upcoming streaming focused handheld device PlayStation Portal.
Sony announced the pricing of the Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore: $149.99 and $199.99, respectively. There's no release date yet, but they're expected to launch before the end of the year.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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