“The Ambeo is a paradigm-shifting sound machine.”

Incredibly detailed sound for all formats; Breathtaking Atmos virtualization; Polished; intuitive interface; Loaded with features; Dolby Atmos; DTS:X; and MPEG-H decoding

Beefy size (and no IR repeater) requires mounting

The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is an excellent speaker for anything you want to listen to and creates an impressively wide sound field, though for $2,500 it can benefit from a dedicated subwoofer.

Powerful audio with rich bass depth, crisp highs, and listening modes tailored to music, film, and TV; Ambeo modes widen stereo field and create immersive listening experience.

Wildly expensive; Big and heavy; We'd still like to add a subwoofer.

We rarely review speakers that top out over $1,000, so why are we checking out Sennheiser's $2,499.95 Ambeo Soundbar? Curiosity, for one—this is the company's first and only soundbar, so to come out of the gate with an offering that costs twice as much as some of our top picks is a bold move. But more than that, the Ambeo is marketed as the all-in-one solution you've been waiting for, with 13 drivers, 5.1.4 audio, and no need for surround speakers. We've heard claims like this before, though the products rarely astound as promised. But when a trusted brand comes out with a $2,500 behemoth that claims to do it all, we're more than willing to kick the tires. So does the Ambeo justify its insanely high price? Yes and no. The sound quality is top-notch and the immersive audio modes are impressive, but we'd still like to see a dedicated subwoofer. Design and Setup Measuring 5.3 by 49.8 by 6.7 inches (HWD, with rubber feet installed) and weighing nearly 41 pounds, the Ambeo is perhaps t...

The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is an excellent speaker for anything you want to listen to and creates an impressively wide sound field, though for $2,500 it can benefit from a dedicated subwoofer.

Powerful audio with rich bass depth, crisp highs, and listening modes tailored to music, film, and TV; Ambeo modes widen stereo field and create immersive listening experience

Wildly expensive; Big and heavy; We'd still like to add a subwoofer

When it comes to single-box 3D audio, no product does it better than this Sennheiser. Ambeo adds polish to Dolby Atmos and upscales stereo like a boss.

Add proprietary Sennheiser Ambeo audio processing to Dolby Atmos and you get what is arguably the best-sounding soundbar on the planet. Superb cinematic audio from a single-box solution – and it's wonderfully musical too.

Superb 3D audio performance; As good with music as it is movies;

Eye-wateringly expensive; Big and not exactly pretty;

In 2015, I got an early look at the first Dolby Atmos soundbar ever created, Yamaha’s YSP-5600. Devised as a singular solution to all your Atmos and DTS:X needs, the 5600 forgoes discrete surround speakers for gobs of “beam drivers” that bounce audio off your walls to immerse you in 3D sound. With similar aspirations — and a ton of homegrown innovations — Sennheiser’s first soundbar, the Ambeo, takes that idea to a whole new level. Packing glorious detail, rich and lyrical performance for both music and film, and shockingly realistic Dolby Atmos virtualization, Sennheiser’s $2,500 Ambeo soundbar isn’t some vanity system for the wealthy. It’s a holistic sound solution designed to please audiophiles, cinephiles, and everyone in between. And on almost all accounts, it does just that. As with a lot of new tech, there were some nagging issues inherent in Sennheiser’s first shot out of the gate when I initially received it — namely some latency problems for sound sourced directly from a TV —...

Incredibly detailed sound for all formats; Breathtaking Atmos virtualization; Polished, intuitive interface; Loaded with features; Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and MPEG-H decoding;

Beefy size (and no IR repeater) requires mounting;

Sennheiser's first foray into home theater was worth the wait. The Ambeo soundbar, with Ambeo 3D processing, is currently the best soundbar on the market.

Convincing immersive sound; Powerful bass; Chromecast built-in for music streaming

Heavy and large; Expensive

If you want a surround sound system, but don't want to futz with wires, extra channels, or the possibility of having an outdated receiver: the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is for you.

3D sound; Excellent audio quality; Execellent connectivity; Chromecast; Bluetooth support; Slew of ports

Price

The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar will put a dent in your bank balance but if you’re after the best sounding soundbar, this is it

Best-in-class sound quality; Spectacular DTS:X and Dolby Atmos performance; Ambeo brings stereo content to life;

Extremely expensive; Inconveniently large; Doesn’t include rear speakers nor a dedicated subwoofer;

Utterly convincing Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D sound; Ample power; Lots of inputs;

Really big; Very expensive;