The third and least expensive soundbar offered by the German audio company Sennheiser is the new Ambeo Soundbar Mini. In comparison to the company’s original $2,499.95 Ambeo Soundbar Max and $1,499.95 Ambeo Soundbar Plus, the Mini’s asking price nearly appears entry-level (almost). It is still an expensive AV device at $799 (€799 / £699).
Many of the fundamental features of Sennheiser’s earlier soundbars are still present in the Ambeo Soundbar Mini. It can still be paired with an absurdly excessive four Sennheiser Ambeo Subs, and it still supports a wide variety of streaming options like Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Chromecast built-in, and AirPlay 2. It also still supports a range of 3D surround sound formats like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, 360 Reality Audio, and MPEG-H.
The Ambeo Soundbar Mini has been scaled back in comparison to its older brothers, as its price suggests. To start, Sennheiser claims that the Mini, at 70 x 10 x 6.5cm in dimension, has less than half the cubic capacity of the Soundbar Plus. As a result, there is less room for drivers (the Mini has six instead of nine, with four full-range and two woofers), and none of the full-range drivers are angled upward to reflect sound off your ceiling and give the impression that it is coming from above you. For its height channels, it is entirely dependent on virtualization technology, similar to the second-generation Sonos Beam.
Sennheiser claims that the Ambeo Soundbar Mini can virtualize 7.1.4 audio channels despite the absence of specialized up-firing drivers or the ability to purchase and pair extra rear surround speakers. Given that we discovered there were restrictions on the amount of surround sound the speaker could produce from a single position, even with the more expensive Ambeo Soundbar Plus, this is a big claim that we’ll undoubtedly be putting to the test in our next review.
Physical connectivity is yet another concession made in comparison to Sennheiser’s more expensive soundbars. There are no optical or auxiliary inputs or HDMI passthrough available on the Ambeo Soundbar Mini, which just has one HDMI eARC port for connecting to your TV. This implies that the soundbar will occupy an HDMI port on your TV without providing any substitute ports, and it also means that you are dependent on the formats that your TV can output or pass through.
Otherwise, a variety of wireless audio streaming solutions are supported by the Ambeo Soundbar Mini. You receive support for Tidal Connect in addition to the previously mentioned services, and the soundbar has Alexa built-in for instantly reacting to voice commands picked up by its microphones. The soundbar can be adjusted to the space it is in using the same microphones, and it offers options for night mode and speech enhancement audio.
On September 1st, Sennheiser’s Ambeo Soundbar Mini will be on sale. Stay tuned for a soon-to-be-released comprehensive review.
