Sennheiser unveiled its impressive and pricey soundbar in January at CES and today at IFA GPC I could get a sneak peek of the audio performance. Sennheiser is best known for the audio quality of its headphones, and with the AMBEO, the German company proves it can master great sound in a home theater system as well.
Thanks to its 13 drivers, AMBEO delivers 5.1.4 immersive sound from an all-in-one device without the need of an external subwoofer. The system is quite complex, and users need to calibrate the device to their living room by placing the microphone included in the package on their couch. Sennheiser stated that the operation is simple and takes only 3 minutes.
The 13 drivers includes six 4” long throw woofers for deep bass, five 1” alloy fabric dome tweeters and two3.5” top-firing speakers. AMBEO supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and MPEG-H. On the connectivity side it features Google Chromecast, Bluetooth and HDMI eARC/CEC. There are three additional HDMI inputs, an optical audio port, and an AUX (RCA) input. The input is displayed on a small LCD display in front of the soundbar.
The system adapts the sound to different type of content with the five different presets for movie, news, music, sports and neutral. Using the Smart Control iOS or Android application you can choose from three different mode: light, standard and boost. New features are expected to be added via WiFi and Sennheiser Smart Control updates
Its Upmix Technology recreates stereo and 5.1 content in 3D sound, and honestly, the audioquality is fantastic. The Sennheiser team hosted a demo at IFA GPC 19, and played different videos, a soccer video, a Dolby Atmos short movie and a few minutes of Blade Runner 2049. The sound was crisp and very powerful, and truly immersive by giving the impression it was coming from all around me.
The AMBEO will be available in one month (in May) for a high price tag of 2,499 euros, in Germany, UK, and Australia. It will be available in the USA in June. Read more on the product page on Sennheiser website.
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