Sennheiser’s smallest soundbar is a sonic swing and a miss
Dolby Atmos Soundbar | £699 | whf.cm/AmbeoMini
Sennheiser’s Ambeo lineup has been a benchmark of premium soundbars since it launched in 2019. The Soundbar Max, its original super-sized soundbar, has sat steadfastly on our Awards list since then, while last year’s Soundbar Plus model was a stellar five-star soundbar that threatened to unseat Sony’s excellent HT-A7000.
The baby of the Ambeo range sits below the Soundbar Plus (£1299) and the Soundbar Max (£2199), but this Mini variant faces tough competition. It’s in an awkward position between two Award-winning Sonos Dolby Atmos soundbars – the Arc (£899, though it’s frequently discounted to around the £700 mark) and the Beam Gen 2 (£449). As an additional cost, the Mini can also be connected to up to four Ambeo Subs (£599 each).
The Mini is roughly the same length as a baguette, and is a much more style-conscious soundbar than the Beam, with its sharp angled lines and monochromatic matt black and mesh exterior.
The top of the soundbar is entirely covered in a matt-plastic panel, with no speaker grilles, as the Mini has no dedicated upward-firing drivers. Instead, you will find a small LED-light status bar, as well as capacitive touch buttons for volume, source input and muting the four on-board microphones. On the rear of the bar is a power input, a single HDMI eARC connection and a USB port.
Dolby Atmos support is delivered via the higher-quality Dolby True HD format via HDMI eARC. The Mini also supports DTS:X, MPEG-H and Sony 360 Reality Audio immersive audio codecs. But, as there are no upward-firing drivers, the Mini takes the “phantom speaker” route using clever digital processing to deliver immersive sound around the listener and that trademark Atmos overhead sound.
Ambeo, Sennheiser’s sound processing system, sets out to further enhance the three-dimensional effect of the sound. We do rather like the effect it creates. It’s worth noting that the Ambeo system works alongside Dolby Atmos to enhance the 3D aspect of the immersive audio.
Despite a lack of HDMI passthrough, thankfully, wireless connectivity is stellar. You can stream to the bar over wi-fi, Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay 2, as well as link streaming services such as Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect. Sennheiser’s app also has its own media player controls built in, meaning you can stream to and control the soundbar from one convenient place. Finally Sennheiser has equipped the Mini with six drivers: four full-range drivers
