https://www.techhive.com/article/3539990/sennheiser-ambeo-soundbar-review.html
If you want a true surround or immersive audio system, and you can spend this kind of money on it,
- I recommend getting a set of speakers and an A/V receiver.
- To stay close to a total cost of $2,500, for example, you can assemble a 5.1.2 speaker system from SVS consisting of two Prime Bookshelf speakers for the front left and right, a Prime Center, two Prime Satellites for the surrounds, two Prime Elevation speakers (reviewed here) for the overhead channels, and a PB-1000 subwoofer, all for about $1,900.
- You also need a 7.2-channel Dolby Atmos-capable A/V receiver,
- such as the Denon AVR-X1600X ($600), which provides twice as many HDMI inputs as the Ambeo Soundbar. Granted, this system is 5.1.2, not 5.1.4, but I didn’t really hear four overhead channels with the Ambeo anyway.
Finally, I listened to some music via Bluetooth from Tidal’s Master library. My selections included “Falling Slowly” by Josh Groban and Idina Menzel, from Groban’s album
Bridges Live: Madison Square Garden; “Everything’s Right,” from Phish’s album
Sigma Oasis; “My Blue Heaven,” sung by James Taylor on his album
American Standard; and Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, as recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Guido Cantelli with horn soloist Dennis Brain, one of my favorite horn players of all time.
In all cases, Music mode sounded a bit thick with slightly muddy bass, while Movie mode sounded clearer, and Neutral mode was, well, neutral—cleaner and more transparent than the other modes. Once I settled on Neutral mode, the sound quality was excellent overall, with clear vocals, airy highs, clean mids, and well-balanced bass. When I turned off the Ambeo effect, the soundstage shrank dramatically, and the sound thinned out, so I turned it back on and left it there.
Or can it? That’s the goal Sennheiser set for itself with its Ambeo Soundbar. This high-end behemoth sits near the top of the soundbar price range and claims to reproduce a virtual 5.1.4 immersive soundfield—a claim that has some merit, though it never fooled me into thinking I was listening to an actual immersive multi-speaker system.
So, how does a single soundbar—even such a large one—simulate the effect of a 5.1.4 speaker system? In this case, it uses all those drivers and some serious DSP to direct the surround and overhead channels to the room’s walls and ceiling, where they are reflected toward the listening area. According to Sennheiser, the effect is best if the
- walls and ceiling are no more than five meters (about 16 feet) from the soundbar;
- otherwise, the reflected sound might be noticeably delayed.
The Ambeo Soundbar can decode a wide range of audio codecs, including virtually
- all varieties of Dolby (including Dolby Atmos) and
- DTS (including DTS:X and DTS 96/24).
- Other supported codecs include DSD (the format used with SACD discs) and
- MPEG-H, a relatively new codec intended for use with next-generation TV broadcasting via ATSC 3.0.
- It can also upmix stereo and 5.1 content into a fully immersive soundfield.
If the audio is in one of the Dolby formats, the Ambeo Soundbar can utilize
- Dolby Virtualizer, in which case the Ambeo 3D audio effect is disabled. It also offers
- Dolby Dynamic Range Control (DRC) with three different settings (Auto, Normal, Heavy) and dialog normalization. If the audio is a
- DTS bitstream, you can set DRC to any value from 0 to 100 percent and boost dialog up to 6dB.
- These and most other controls are found in the Sennheiser Smart Control app (more in a moment).
I started my formal evaluation by playing the 5.1.4 test tones—pink noise, actually—from the Dolby Atmos demo Blu-ray. Of course, the front LCR channels came from where they were supposed to, but the surround and overhead channels were also in front of me. The surround channels were farther to the sides than the front LR channels, but they didn’t appear to come from the sides of the room. The overhead channels appeared to be coming from the upfiring speakers in the soundbar, not from the ceiling.
Of the musical selections on the demo disc, I especially like the Atmos mix of “Bailando” by Enrique Inglesias. As rendered by the Ambeo Soundbar, the soundstage was quite wide with some overhead high-frequency sounds, and the bass sounded great. Likewise, the soundstage on Cappella SF’s recording of “Dance,” from
Invocation and Dance by David Conte, extended well beyond the soundbar’s physical cabinet with some high-frequency percussion overhead but not as far as the sides of the room next to me.
During the musical selections, I tried the different sound modes. The Music mode emphasized the bass more than the others and sounded a bit congested. Movie mode was richer than Neutral, and both were cleaner than Music mode. In addition, I tried listening with the Ambeo effect turned on and off. Turning it off greatly shrinks the soundstage and thins out the sound quite a bit.
