Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus.
After much anticipation, Sonova Singapore finally brought its second-generation Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus (and its separately-sold Ambeo Sub subwoofer) to Singapore.
Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus
The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus is a fully kitted home audio device with nine class D amplifiers within its hefty build. Among its speakers, two are 4-inch up-firing cellulose cone woofers, while the other seven are 2-inch aluminium cone full-range drivers facing the front and sides of the soundbar.
Together, the soundbar grants an audio experience across a wide variety of films, along with popular streaming platforms. It has Apple AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Google Assistant, and Chromecast built-in thanks to its Ambeo|OS operating system, which practically covers all the core voice assistants and streaming services.
What sets Senneheiser’s 400W plus-sized soundbar aside is its proprietary Ambeo tuning, which can be toggled on independently from the bar’s built-in Dolby Atmos support. Ambeo offers virtualised 3D surround sound. Instead of brute-forcing all its speakers to create virtual surround sound above and beside you, Ambeo generates “artificial speakers” around the listener by reading the room’s acoustic properties (which takes up to 10 minutes for calibration). It uses its reflective properties and proceeds to project up to 11 virtual speakers around the user for a mind-bending, immersive audio experience.
In our quick demo with short, memorable clips from movie titles like an audio-remastered The Matrix (1996) and King Kong (2005), Sennheiser demonstrated the difference between Ambeo-powered surround sound against its Dolby Atmos-only playback. According to Sennheiser, the 3m+ tall demo room took only three minutes to calibrate. The result was a playback that felt like it had nearly doubled Dolby Atmos’ acoustic height, with non-existent ‘speakers’ playing just behind both ears.
Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus also checks all the important boxes for a comprehensive listening experience across films and songs. Besides Dolby Atmos support, it also supports 360 Reality Audio (Sony’s surround sound technology), DTS:X, and MPEG-H audio.
Wired connoisseurs get two HDMI 2.0a, one HDMI eARC (HDMI 2.1), Optical In (1x S/PDIF up to 192kH sampling rate), Aux In (Stereo RCA), USB-A with 5V/1A, and an RJ-45 Ethernet socket. Wireless users have Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 with BLE.
An Internet connection to the Ambeo Soundbar Plus matters because of Sennheiser’s proprietary Smart Control app, which houses its customisation and controls all in one place. That said, you can still control the soundbar with its included remote control. Like its predecessor, the Ambeo logo lights up when triggered.
Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus retails at S$2,299 (standalone). If you purchase it with the Ambeo Sub, the bundle goes at S$3,098. It is currently available at authorised Sennheiser Consumer Hearing webstores and selected authorised retailers.
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