It may be a gloomy autumn day outside, but innovation burns brightly inside the headquarters of Sennheiser in Wedemark, Germany.

I’m invited here as a guest for the brand’s 80th anniversary celebrations, and this visit includes a rare glimpse of the factory floor and demonstrations of the brand’s most innovative technologies.

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To start the day, a keynote presentation by CEO Dr Andreas Sennheiser — grandson of founder Fritz — is poignantly interspersed with clips from pivotal historical speeches captured using Sennheiser microphones, including Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” in 1963 and Ronald Reagan’s “Tear down this wall” in 1987. Musical artists are also well represented in the keynote, from The Scorpions approaching the brand to create a “fat-sounding” mic for live use, through to the exuberant, acrobatic energy of P!nk’s live performances, which rely on Sennheiser wireless tech.

Quoting Fritz Sennheiser, Andreas explains that “engineers need to have space and time for crazy ideas”. Judging by my experiences, these crazy ideas are indeed alive and well, as they jostle to innovate while continuing to support existing products, many of which are workhorses that have remained unchanged for decades (as they just work).

A few surprises came up on my trip, though. Here’s what I found out:

1. HD25 headphones gained popularity aboard Concorde (and not in a DJ booth)

The HD25 headphones are beloved by DJs the world over for their near-indestructible quality, user-replaceable parts, swivelling ear-cups and inherent sound quality. These qualities translate well into on-the-go headphones for favourite tunes.

It comes as a surprise to me, then, that a variant of the HD25s was developed for use on the passenger in-flight entertainment system of the luxurious, fast — but discontinued — Concorde aircraft.

The story goes that high-profile, wealthy musicians flying Concorde took such a liking to them that they simply took them away with them so they could use them at home and in the studio. I don’t think anyone in modern-day Economy class has had a similar spark of inspiration when listening to the crappy, 50p prong-connector headphones they’re provided — hopefully, today’s DJs are better equipped!

2. Sennheiser’s headquarters remain in the same spot as when the company was founded

In a transition from fields to factory, the Sennheiser campus has grown around a farmhouse in the German countryside that served as the original headquarters when the company was founded. While state-of-the-art offices, factories and even a creche have sprung up around it, the farmhouse remains a peaceful corner of the campus that serves as a reminder of the company’s roots.

On my tour, I also spot an older factory building, now used as office space, bearing a previous reincarnation of the company’s logo, preserved for posterity. Sennheiser strikes a great balance of honouring the past while constantly looking forward.

3. Immersive audio on speakers is far more achievable in a car than at home, and Sennheiser is nailing it

There’s lots of hype around immersive audio formats such as Atmos, but the reality is that, without a considerable budget and the right size and type of room, playback of immersive audio on speakers — to fully realise the creative intention — is not at all practical. Spatial audio in headphones approximates the extra dimensions offered by a 3D soundfield, but never gets close to the sheer power and immersion of, say, a 7.1.4 speaker array. For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s all a gimmick; I believe that, when done well, an Atmos mix can surpass a stereo mix for many types of music.

This is where AMBEO comes in; clever immersive audio software that Sennheiser licenses to a range of car manufacturers including Cupra and Smart. The software processes immersive audio and upmixes conventional stereo material to send it to a surround speaker array built into the car interior. The whole system is scalable, including the 12-speaker horizontal-only setup on Cupra cars, and a 22-speaker, ‘with-height’ system on newer Smarts.

I’m hugely impressed by both systems, with the larger Smart setup having the edge for level of immersion. It’s great fun auditioning a load of tracks, and even stereo releases upmixed by AMBEO’s Concerto algorithm sound a little more three-dimensional and alive; we’ve come a long way from dodgy upmixes of stereo music to make Dolby 5.1 concert DVDs, with their phasey, reverb-drenched rear surround channels.

It strikes me that this all works best in EVs, since engine noise won’t get in the way of the impeccable audio. Hey, with AMBEO on board, you’d almost want to get stuck in traffic. I’ve rarely wished such a thing.

4. Sennheiser’s latest wireless technology is a big deal

“Sweat is ugly”, remarks Volker Schmitt (Technical Application Manager) as he explains the challenges of stress-testing wireless systems. He’s here to present Sennheiser’s new Spectera; a revolutionary wireless system that combines up to 64 channels into a single, 1U controller box.

Spectera replaces the racks and racks of gear you’d previously need to handle this many wireless channels, and employs dynamic utilisation of system resources that can be user-controlled using various priority lists and codec settings. For example, using a lower quality codec for in-ear monitors while reserving maximum quality for the lead singer’s vocal mic. It’s all impressive and hugely flexible.

The pièce de résistance, however, is the bidirectional capability of the system. Both a microphone and in-ear monitors (IEM) can be handled by a single transmitter/receiver beltpack – especially handy for energetic performances where you want the tech to be as unintrusive as possible.

Spectera and its associated hardware don’t come cheap, but I’m struck by the creative possibilities and the relative ease of set-up. I predict that Spectera will become the go-to system for all manner of live events, film and TV.

5. Hand assembly still plays a huge role in production

The Wedemark factory makes a range of Sennheiser-branded products, and Neumann microphones (a Sennheiser brand since a buyout in 1991). With a vast complex of factory buildings, the campus-wide workforce has grown to 2200, with a three-year training programme for factory workers being run in a college on site.

Touring the factory, I’m taken back by the amount of hand assembly that’s going on, from soldering, to paint spraying, and assembling dynamic mic capsules. Many of the individual workstations are equipped with Sennheiser’s self-devised jigs to assist with holding and moving components while they’re being worked on, and test gear is all developed in-house too.

The high level of attention to detail is plain to see. At one point, factory boss Andreas Gruening recounts the amount of effort and testing required just to find a suitable fabric for the inside of the headbaskets of Neumann mics. The factory sends test gear to the fabric supplier and makes them test every roll to find the ones that work best as pop shields — charmingly, ‘Popschutz’ in German — and only buys those best few rolls of fabric to mount inside mics at the factory. Fussiness pays off.

There are a number of what Gruening refers to as “collaborative robots” — I like how this makes them sound friendly and helpful. The prize for neatest and most mesmerising robot is a lively, yellow arm that mills the surface of capsules for the iconic Neumann U 87 microphone.

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