German loudspeaker system manufacturer CODA Audio has had its finger held firmly on the pulse of audio innovation for a number of years now, continuing to put its stamp on the market with a revitalised global workforce and a haul of significant advancements in immersive sound technology.
Marketing director David Webster and director of global sales Paul Ward recently spoke to Headliner about how the company has coped throughout the pandemic, its position in the market, and what we can expect from the dark horse of pro audio in the near future…
Could you describe CODA’s trajectory over the last couple of years?
PW: Previously, we had been putting a lot of emphasis on the live sound touring market, building the brand image and the acceptance of the brand around that, and seeing a lot of traction and success.
Then Covid stopped everything in its tracks. It’s meant that our clients have realigned their businesses and have been doing a lot more installation and project-based work, so naturally, we’ve also flowed in that direction.
That being said, our levels of business have not dropped in any way – we have seen growth, and had it not been for Covid, we believe this growth would’ve been significant.
One of the big challenges for manufacturers coming out of Covid has been component and raw material shortages. Due to the fact that we produce our own unique technologies, and design and build the components inside the boxes, we’ve got a lot of control over that process.
It means that we can react to demands from the market a lot quicker, and be flexible when it comes to meeting requests.
What has been the main focus for CODA in terms of loudspeaker technology?
DW: We have been researching different ways of doing immersive audio for quite some time. We had already been involved in a number of immersive projects, but not with our own processor, so when we started going through the process of utilising existing platforms – and seeing what’s available in terms of software, algorithms, and licencing – we discovered that we could do things a lot more efficiently ourselves with enhanced engineering capabilities.
PW: Whether we’re talking about Space Hub [CODA’s new immersive audio ecosystem] or any of the other technologies, it’s more to do with analysing the market, interpreting what it needs, and reacting to that accordingly.
So for us it’s always been a question of, what can we do with our driver technology to be able to make a smaller, lighter box without compromising on sound quality. That has always been the CODA philosophy.