1999 marked the birth of Sennheiser’s wireless microphone series: Evolution Wireless. Since then, the series has gone through several generations with its digital transformation in 2020 with the release of Evolution Wireless Digital and now celebrates its 25th anniversary.
“Our grandfather and father were trapped: They did not want to compromise the high Sennheiser quality but needed more affordable price points for the music market,” explained Daniel Sennheiser. “Then the Sennheiser engineers suggested that the company might possibly be able to produce high-quality microphones fully automatically – and we took the risk and invested in the necessary production lines.”
Andreas Sennheiser added: “They created the most modern microphone manufacturing line of the time, and the success immediately proved them right: Wireless sales surged tremendously.”
“From the start, the Evolution Wireless series has benefitted from Sennheiser’s RF expertise in the fields of theatre audio and broadcasting,” said Andreas. “And with every new generation that was launched, our customers and users could be certain to hold the latest in RF wireless technology in their hands.”
The second generation of Evolution Wireless was launched in 2004, followed in 2009 by G3 and in 2018 by G4, each generation improving on the previous one in features and usability. The classification into 100, 300 and 500 sub-series indicated the features and scalability to expect from the systems.
The fifth generation of evolution wireless launched in 2020 with a virtual launch event and it is still being expanded today. This generational change was needed to become digital to still present the audio and RF benchmark that Evolution Wireless users had grown accustomed to. Compatibility with the preceding generation was no longer possible, although analogue and digital systems can be operated alongside each other when using the accessories designed for Evolution Wireless Digital.
“To mark this move to digital and increase user awareness, the fifth generation of Evolution Wireless was not simply called G5 but Evolution Wireless Digital,” noted Daniel. “We also did away with the sub-series and instead created user-driven series within the product family.”
“Focus groups with expert end users from the respective fields contributed massively to the development of the Evolution Wireless Digital family,” said Andreas Sennheiser. “Up and coming bands, live sound engineers, business communications experts, videographers and filmmakers became a part of the product team – voicing their wishes and evaluating the development iterations.”
Turning digital has not only improved the audio quality, but adds many possibilities for users. “For example, bands and speakers can set up their wireless very intuitively via the Smart Assist app – something that was not possible before with a professional UHF wireless system,” said Daniel. “Videographers can remotely unmute an interviewee who has accidentally switched on their mute button. A live sound engineer doesn’t have to crouch in front of the rack but can conveniently link transmitters and receivers via Bluetooth now. An integrator can seamlessly integrate the wireless in their customers larger workflows. What all users get are meticulously engineered systems that were developed with their needs in mind.”
“Digital convenience and seamless workflow integration are key in professional audio today, and with Evolution Wireless Digital, we’re taking the heritage of Evolution Wireless into the digital future of audio,” concluded Andreas.
