Sennheiser - AMBEO Soundbar | Max 5.1.4 Channel with Dolby Atmos/DTS:X - Black

I purchased the Ambeo after a lot of soul searching, review reading, and nervous sweat. After all, spending $2500 on a single component and then needing to drop an additional sum on a subwoofer is no easy decision. I read reviews that said the Ambeo was amazing in a home theater setting, and others that said it just wasn't as good at home theater as the Samsung HW soundbars with their additional satellite speakers, much less a dedicated Atmos setup with discrete speakers and home theater receiver. Some reviews said the Ambeo sounded great with music; others said that music was 'harsh' sounding or just didn't sound good. With all these varied reviews, how does one pull the trigger on something that is pretty pricey? Here's what I needed in a soundbar: 1) It needed to sound good with music. I've had dedicated integrated amplifiers with B & W speakers, so I've become picky when it comes to stereo music. 2) I wanted it to be capable of playing music from Roon. For those of you who don't know Roon, it is a specialized music library software that brings all your music from Tidal, Qobuz, and personal drives together and organizes it for listening. Only certain devices are Roon Ready or Tested, and it's been tough to find a soundbar that has this ability. 3) I need a soundbar with an aux input so I can feed it a signal from my Technics SL1200 and DJ ART phono preamp. I prefer actual L/R RCA cables versus a headphone plug. Hard to find a soundbar with this option! 4) I needed it to sound good with Atmos surround, without the need for all sorts of cables, wires, and speakers. I have limited room and my room is far from optimal with an open floor plan on one side. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a soundbar that meets those four requirements. Most met only two. I had the Samsung HW-Q90R, and while it sounded great with music and movies, there is no aux input and no Roon ability (as well as requiring rear speakers to sound its best). The Sony HTST 5000 had an aux input but the sound quality was only so-so for me. The LG SN11RG got loud and proud, with an aux input, but sounded harsh and also needed rear speakers to sound good. When I first saw the Ambeo, I scoffed at its high price. When I include in the $800 price tag for the Martin Logan sub I have, you're looking at $3500 for the package. But, the result of this pairing? Audio nirvana. The Ambeo has a RCA L/R input that I can run my turntable into. It is Chromecast ready, so I can cast music from Roon. Music, with the Ambeo Music function engaged, is three-dimensional and has great height and width. It sounds very close to a nice, budget audiophile stereo system. It has three HDMI inputs so I don't have to run everything into the back of my TV. It sounds shockingly good with surround sound material including Atmos encoded movies. In summary, it ticked all my boxes. Listening to Captain Fantastic and the Dirt Brown Cowboy on 180 gram vinyl through the Technics and DJ Art preamp fed into the aux inputs with Ambeo Music reveals the Ambeo's musicality. Instruments are spread out in their distinct locations, while Elton's piano is dead center as well as his voice. The final track on this album, Curtains, has a closely miked drum kit with a ton of tom work. The thumps of the toms were realistic and exciting. Using Roon and listening to Tool's Undertow album fed via Chromecast to the Ambeo (again with the Ambeo Music setting engaged) revealed the Ambeo's ability to get loud. Danny Carey's drum kit was distinct, and the growl of the bass and shriek of the guitars was immaculate while not fatiguing. I've watched a handful of movies, and come away feeling like I'm not missing anything over a dedicated 5.1.4 setup. Riddick has a scene where rain starts falling on the building that the group is huddled in before getting attacked by a bunch of really crazy looking creatures with scorpion-like tails and giant jaws. The rain sounded like it was coming from directly above me, and at all times I was surrounded by a distinct sound field that really surprised me. I thought that with my open floor plan enveloping surround sound would not be possible with the Ambeo. I was wrong. I don't find myself wanting when it comes to surround sound. The Ambeo comes with a calibration microphone to help it achieve the amazing sound. It also calibrates the sub while its at it. The remote is nice and heavy. Everything about the Ambeo shouts high quality. When I brought the Ambeo home, I hoped I would hate it. I hoped that I would take a listen and then take it back. How could I pay so much for just this one component of my home theater? In conclusion, it has been worth it. Gone are all the speakers, speaker cables, and different wires needed to power a discrete setup. Now, all I have is the Ambeo and a sub. My place looks so clean and organized! Ambeo made it possible. What a piece of audiophile equipment this is!

My initial “out of the box” thoughts on the Sennheiser Ambeo: 1.) I think it can hardly be called a “sound bar”, it’s huge and weights 41lbs. I even had to raise the height of my TV on the stand because the soundbar is 6” tall. 2.) It rivals audio quality from almost any home system I have ever personally heard. No other single soundbar even comes close. I think adding an additional subwoofer would be best for me because I love over the top base at times. However, it really blew me away as a single unit. That would ideally add an additional $500-$1000 however for something of similar quality (thinking one from SVS). 3.) Dolby Atmos sound is incredible, but “other” processed codec is far less impressive due to an absence of dedicated rear channel speakers with their physical location behind you. The Ambeo engine does do a really nice job of simulating 3D spatial sounds however. It can be a pain to find rear channel speaker locations with power readily available in the ideal speaker location. 4.) Is it worth $2700 with tax? I’m not sure. I will continue to use it for a week or so and then decide to keep or return and try something else. 5.) Reported lip sync issues seem to be fixed with firmware upgrades. There is also an adjustment within the Sennheiser App to address this issue if it still exist. 6.) I still need to test this on my LG GX OLED. There have been some reported issues with eARC with this unit. 7.) Finally, stop reading negative reviews and just test myself and enjoy.

I've had the AMBEO for about two years, and I wanted to get my thoughts out in a review. This thing rocks, but has some serious annoyances. First, the pros: Sound quality - I'm not an audiophile, so I'm not gonna quantify this with words. However, the sound is excellent, and brings my games/movies/music to life. Bass - The bass is strong with this one. Is it inferior to a standalone subwoofer? Yes. However, you have the choice of adding one if you prefer. I live in a condo, so I kept it subwoofer free for my neighbor's sanity. Size - I know it's one massive 40 pound bar, but it's still way smaller/cleaner than a traditional surround sound system. It goes a long way in keeping your entertainment area clutter free. Mixed: The AMBEO effect - The surround sound effect does work, but you need a perfect room with rectangular walls to receive the full effect. For example, my living space has a flat wall on the right, so the surround sound is absolutely UNCANNY there. The left, though, extends off into a kitchen/dining area. Not as many perpendicular walls for the audio to bounce off, so the effect is weaker and more diluted on that side. Definitely think about your room setup before you buy this. It can be the difference between an excellent experience VS a poor one. Cons: Jank - I've had this soundbar freeze on me, to the point that I can't even power it off and on. Only way to fix it is with a power cycle. Happens once a month, just enough to be a nuisance. Wi-fi reliability - every 3-4 months, this thing will disconnect from my home network and refuse to reconnect. Sometimes a simple router/soundbar reset will fix it, sometimes I really need to go digging. If that's the case, it's a 30-45 minute experience in frustration. Reliance on app - 80% of the functionality of the soundbar, including fine-tuning the audio and most soundbar settings, is built into the app. Therefore when the wifi breaks or the app glitches out, the show stops until you can get it working again. Final verdict: Solid hardware, but lots of bugs and jank and connectivity issues that makes it painfully obvious that this thing has teething issues. Frankly, I've owned it for 2 years, and even after multiple firmware updates, these problems still occur. Without any software issues, this soundbar is tremendous. It's worth the asking price. However, we don't live in that world. I'd still recommend this AMBEO, but only after a deep, DEEP discount.