Audiotonix to buy DPA, Wisycom, and Austrian Audio

[Jim Feeley]

The company that acquired Sound Devices a few years ago is acquiring again. Hope this all works out (not a side-eye diss; I do hope it works out).

 

DPA Microphones, Wisycom and Austrian Audio, join the Audiotonix mix

Chessington, February 2nd, 2026 — Audiotonix has announced its agreement to acquire three pioneering microphone and wireless audio companies to complement its current roster of global technology brands: DPA Microphones, Wisycom, and Austrian Audio. The acquisition is now being filed for regulatory approval and should be completed in H1 2026.

 

The press release with some more details and statements:

https://audiotonix.com/news/dpa-microphones-wisycom-and-austrian-audio-join-the-audiotonix-mix/ 

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

Hmm ... Wisycom & SD both have competing wireless.  Hopefully they continue operating as separate companies and we don't lose a competitor.  I've definitely noticed the shift in SD's business emphasis away from film & TV since the acquisition, and prices have jumped quite a bit but it hasn't been terrible overall.  They do seem legitimately interested in building decent gear.  And they like high end brands (SSL, DPA).

Not much we can do except wait & see.

 

 

[inspire]

I wonder if this thing is making the prices of those manufacturers' microphones even more expensive? I have quite a few DPA microphones, they are very good, and if their price goes up, I will only be happy about it.

[codyman]

5 hours ago, inspire said:

I wonder if this thing is making the prices of those manufacturers' microphones even more expensive? I have quite a few DPA microphones, they are very good, and if their price goes up, I will only be happy about it.

Market consolidation = less competition = higher prices (amongst often less innovation, customer service, etc etc.).  We've seen this play out in other industries with less than desirable results.

[Jim Feeley]

I would say we've seen mixed results from consolidation. I mean, it looks like Audiotonix has a lot of investment from private equity companies, but at least Audiotonix is focused on audio. So maybe Audiotonix will be a better fit than DPA's and Wisycom's previous owners (?) Palladio Holding, which also owned/invested in shoes and the dooms-day lawnmower shown below.

 

The SD gang, at least publicly, say they're happy with the Audiotonix relationship; access to capital, collaborating with colleagues at the other companies, stuff like that. But I'm not an insider.

[IronFilm]

Whoa.... how many "major" but independent brands do we have left? Zaxcom is the obvious example. What others are there? I guess various brands such as Tentacle and Orca Bags, if you can count them as "major" players in our little industry niche.

 

As Lectrosonics is part of the Rode family, and now Wisycom/DPA/SoundDevices/etc are all in the same family, to mention just a couple of the recent major acquisitions. And we've seen others such as Aaton disappear completely, or others like Nagra and AETA cease to make products for us any longer. And others are likely on the way out too, such as Sonosax. (nice to see Tascam attempt a return to semi-relevance though, with their FR-AV4. It's hardly a modern day HS-P82 though)

 

Going to be curious as to the future of SD Wireless, I wonder if Wisycom have any digital wireless prototypes they're working on? 

[palmeirim]

Happy for Wisycom and DPA but worried for our future.
Little to no competition in both wireless kits and in mixer-recorders built specifically for us does not bode well for innovation (keep on keeping on Zaxcom!)

I would agree with Jim that we’ve seen mixed results from consolidation but prices do tend to go up specially in markets as small as our own. 

 

9 hours ago, The Documentary Sound Guy said:

Hmm ... Wisycom & SD both have competing wireless. 

Yes and DPA had recently entered the market with some rack (2channel) receivers and some antennae that looked a lot like they were kind of collaborating with Wisy.

So building pro wireless with bag mountable receivers outside this we have Zaxcom and Lectro ? Does the Shure system include a bag mountable receiver or is it all rack based ?  

[Philip Perkins]

Hopefully this will improve DPA support....

 

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

A DPA in every studio, a dooms-day lawnmower in every driveway.

Yeah, if that is the change in ownership, I share Philips hope.

It could have been like Vimeo & Bending Spoons.

[Patrick Tresch]

6 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Whoa.... how many "major" but independent brands do we have left? Zaxcom is the obvious example. What others are there? I guess various brands such as Tentacle and Orca Bags, if you can count them as "major" players in our little industry niche.

 

As Lectrosonics is part of the Rode family, and now Wisycom/DPA/SoundDevices/etc are all in the same family, to mention just a couple of the recent major acquisitions. And we've seen others such as Aaton disappear completely, or others like Nagra and AETA cease to make products for us any longer. And others are likely on the way out too, such as Sonosax. (nice to see Tascam attempt a return to semi-relevance though, with their FR-AV4. It's hardly a modern day HS-P82 though)

 

Going to be curious as to the future of SD Wireless, I wonder if Wisycom have any digital wireless prototypes they're working on? 

 

The audio recorder market isn't interesting anymore for the highend manufacturer. How can you sell a machine when the competitors make 10 input machine for less than 2k with automix. Or a recorder for 250$. 

Even preamps aren't used on the machine anymore. Tracks are filled from an AES input be it from a wiereless device (even the boom...) and often don't use them for the final mix, as a big chunck of the sound is now done in post. Wireless has grown such a big thing on movie set that the recorder becomes a managing platform.

I believe that there are still some purist out there (probably in the older generation 50+?) who still use a cable in a 24bit workflow. Music recording is still the only market where analog sound matters, using a cable to take advantage of the preamps and sometimes using analog filtering before recording. I see it less and less in the movie industry.

 

What future would you propose to the audio manufacturer?

The market has enormously changed and the market creates the tool. 

 

Patrick 

 

 

[IronFilm]

10 hours ago, palmeirim said:

So building pro wireless with bag mountable receivers outside this we have Zaxcom and Lectro ? Does the Shure system include a bag mountable receiver or is it all rack based ?  

They have their high end Shure Axient Digital which are SuperSlot compatible. 

Then at the prosumer level, they have their brand new Shure SLX-D+ series, which has a receiver that runs on a couple of AA batteries (or Shure's own battery). If I had to start over complete from scratch, buying everything myself brand new, then I think this is what I'd get. It is ridiculously good for its price. 

 

https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/wireless-systems/slxd-plus/slxd5plus 

 

 

They've got the ShowLink Ease system, so you can control transmitters remotely. It can even change frequencies automatically if there is interference. It's got digital encryption, for if you want that privacy. They've got a rack mount quad receiver with dante if you wish to use this system with a sound cart as well. Works with the Wireless Workbench Mobile app, so you can name devices, identify open channels, adjust gain, and manage frequencies. So many features.