Matthew Miller
Nov 22, 2021

The top 10 headphone and audio brands in Asia-Pacific

Which brands have the ears of APAC consumers, both on a regional basis and in specific markets? Find out in this special report derived from Campaign's Asia's Top 1000 Brands research.

(Shutterstock)
(Shutterstock)

Some people like it frantic and pounding, while others prefer a slow, comfortable groove. Some like gentle whispering, while others can't reach their happy place without lots of ear-piercing vocalisations.

When it comes to music (Why? What did you think we were talking about?) different peeps like different beats. From metal to hip hop to yacht rock, and from podcasts to audiobooks to vinyl LPs, no matter what you want to hear, electronics brands want to insert themselves into your earholes and help you hear it. But which brands do APAC consumers prefer the most when it comes to headphones and other audio equipment? That's what we're here to find out.

The following facts about Asia's favourite headphone and audio brands are derived from the 2021 edition of Campaign Asia-Pacific's exclusive Asia's Top 1000 Brands research, done in partnership with Nielsen IQ. The region's most comprehensive research on consumer brand perception, Asia's Top 1000 Brands asks consumers in 14 Asia-Pacific markets to name the brands they consider the best in 15 major product and service categories. From this, we compile the overall Asia's Top 1000 Brands ranking, a list of the top 100 brands in each market, and a variety of features and category-based reports like this one.

Without further ado...

ASIA's TOP 10 HEADPHONE AND AUDIO BRANDS

Brand 2021 2020 Change
Sony 1 1 0
Bose 2 3 1
Samsung 3 2 -1
Panasonic 4 4 0
LG 5 5 0
Philips 6 6 0
Pioneer 7 7 0
Dolby 8 8 0
BoAt 9 NA
Bang & Olufsen (B&O) 10 10 0

NOW HEAR THIS
Turn on your noise cancellation and listen closely as we hear about the market-specific rankings of Asia's favourite headphone and audio brands.

Sony's domination

  • The brand is No. 1 in 13 of the 14 markets we survey*, finishing second only in Korea, where LG gets the top spot.

BoAt?

Bose attains its second-place regional rank thanks to these market-specific rankings: 
  • No. 2 in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore
  • No. 3 in India, Philippines and Thailand
  • No. 5 in Malaysia and Vietnam
Other brands with top 5 rankings in multiple markets:
 
Samsung:
  • No. 2 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam
  • No. 3 in Australia, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan
LG:
  • No. 1 in Korea
  • No. 4 in Vietnam
  • No. 5 in China, Indonesia and Philippines
Panasonic:
  • No 3 in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam
  • No. 4 in Malaysia
  • No. 5 in Taiwan, Thailand and New Zealand
Pioneer:
  • No. 3 in Malaysia
  • No. 4 in Japan and Thailand
Philips: 
  • No. 4 in Taiwan
  • No. 5 in India
Dolby: 
  • No. 4 in Indonesia and Philippines
Bang & Olufsen:
  • No. 4 in Singapore
  • No. 5 in Hong Kong and Korea
Sennheiser:
  • No. 5 in Australia and Singapore
Brands with only one top 5 finish:
  • Beats: No. 4 in Australia
  • BoAt: No. 2 in India
  • Hitachi: No. 2 in Taiwan
  • Huawei: No. 3 in China
  • Victor: No. 5 in Japan

Where's Apple?

  • Apple ranks 73rd on a regional basis in this category: Despite the popularity and seeming ubiquity of AirPods, it's simply not a brand that people think of when asked to name the best brand of headphones or audio equipment.

Brands 11-20 on a regional basis (alphabetical order)

  • Beats
  • Harman Kardon
  • Hitachi
  • Huawei
  • JVC
  • Kenwood
  • Logitech
  • Sennheiser
  • Toshiba
  • Yamaha

Rock on!

This article is filed under...
Top 10: Asia-Pacific's favourite brands in specific product and service categories

* The full list of markets surveyed is as follows: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.

Source:
Campaign Asia

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