Ambeo Soundbar Mini: Sennheiser launches a compact and (more) accessible Dolby Atmos soundbar

Sennheiser has just announced a compact soundbar under 1000 euros, the Ambeo Soundbar Mini.

The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Mini // Source: Sennheiser

Sennheiser may be a young player in the soundbar market, but the German manufacturer has stood out for particularly high-end models with excellent spatialization and surround and Dolby Atmos effects that are incomparable on the market. After tackling very high-end models with its Ambeo Soundbar Plus and Ambeo Soundbar Max, Sennheiser now wants to conquer the mid-range with its new Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Mini soundbar.

Announced at the IFA in Berlin which opens its doors this week, the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Mini is a much more accessible soundbar than the manufacturer’s two previous models. It is also intended to be more compact and aims to tackle the benchmarks of the genre, whether it is the Bose Smart Soundbar 900 or the Sonos Beam (Gen 2).

A Dolby Atmos soundbar with full connectivity

To do this, the new Ambeo Soundbar Mini incorporates four 40 mm diameter full-range loudspeakers and two woofers specifically dedicated to bass. Enough to allow, on paper, a frequency response of 43 to 20,000 Hz. The soundbar also integrates a virtualization system – thanks to autocalibration – allowing it to be compatible with films, series and music with Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Sony 360 Reality Audio formats. Concretely, Sennheiser promises that this virtualization system will allow the soundbar to emulate a 7.1.4 audio system. It should also make it possible to add surround and vertical effects to films mixed only in stereo or 5.1.

From bottom to top: Ambeo Soundbar Max, Ambeo Soundbar Plus and Ambeo Soundbar Mini // Source: Sennheiser

On the connectivity side, the Ambeo Soundbar Mini has an eARC compatible HDMI 2.1 socket, a USB-A socket used to power external devices (such as an HDMI dongle), Bluetooth 5.0 (with support for codecs AAC and SBC) and Wi-Fi. The soundbar benefits from an integrated Chromecast, but also AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect. It is also equipped with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.

A compact and accessible Sennheiser soundbar

Where the Ambeo Soundbar Mini differs from its big sisters, however, is in its dimensions of 700 x 100 x 65 mm, compared to 1051 x 121 x 75 mm for the Ambeo Soundbar Plus. Much more compact, it is displayed at a more accessible price of 799 euros at launch.

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