I swear by Sennheiser's HD-25, so would be gutted if production stopped

If you hadn't heard already: Sennheiser, the world-renowned headphone-maker, has been 'discontinued' – as its owner looks to sell the brand.

That's the renewed strategy of Sonova, which is chasing the 'core hearing care' market instead. AKA: chasing a more certain cashflow.

I have a real soft spot for the brand's DJ headphones, namely the HD-25, which have been close to a life-long partner for me – so I'd be gutted if production had to cease.

For me, the HD-25 are the best on-ear headphones on the planet for DJs in particular – not only for their superb isolation capabilities, but also for their durability and fully replaceable parts.

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Now, believe me, I'm not on my first pair of HD-25 headphones. But, even three pairs in over the last couple of decades, these on-ears have serious shelf life – however much you throw them about and sweat to pieces whilst wearing them.

I've been lucky enough to more recently purchase the 75th Anniversary special edition of the headphones, as pictured, replete with their yellow earcup coverings.

They currently live with my Alpha Theta XDJ-AZ setup – and certainly now won't venture anywhere else, if getting hold of another pair in the future becomes untenable.

You can still buy the blue earcup Thomann Special Edition for just £99 though:

Save 23% (£30)

Sennheiser HD-25 Thomann Special Edition: was £129 now £99 at Thomann

There's almost a quarter off the Thomann 70th Anniversary Special Edition pair of the HD-25 headphones, which feature distinctive blue earcup coverings instead. Everything else remains the same as the core HD-25 product, though, making this a decent little deal.

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I'm not the only one who's gutted about Sennheiser's apparent demise: my colleague wrote about being in a near state of mourning upon hearing the news. Which goes to show what this brand means to people.

For me it's been there my whole life. Watching DJs in clubs using nothing but these cans, and – after using many sub-par alternatives – getting to cut my teeth trying them out and understanding why there was nothing else to match.

I really hope there's a buyer to be found for Sennheiser's consumer audio division, because I'm such a long-time fan. I'd be gutted to see it severed from the market. As many others will be.

Problem is, of course, that the best headphones are so, so competitive right now. There's barely a key electronics company that's not in the game – and the market is simply too saturated.

Will an unknown step in to the rescue? Is there even a business case good enough for it in the here and now? Or is this, sadly, the end of an era with no way around it? We'll see what comes over coming weeks...