Huge, expensive and fussy, but Sennheiser’s first soundbar is well worth the money and effort

Rich; natural sound; Dynamic and detailed; Convincing surround effect; Great features

Large; Expensive; Fussy with positioning

I have long been of the opinion that $500 is the absolute maximum you should spend on a sound bar -- especially when something like the Dolby Atmos-toting Vizio SB36512-f6 offers all you need. Yet, while I loved the Vizio SB36512, it's not the best Dolby Atmos sound bar. The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is.

If you want the most realistic surround sound from a single speaker, the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is the best there is.

The Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is the best-sounding single speaker I've ever heard; It offers the most realistic emulated surround at any price; The sound bar offers advanced connectivity, including HDMI eARC and Wi-Fi; It costs and performs about the same as a receiver and speakers but doesn't fill your living space with boxes.

The Sennhiser Ambeo is one of the most expensive sound bars on the market, and it doesn't have a subwoofer; Spending more on a sub will open the sound up dynamically; Music can be a little harsh sounding; It's huge.

The Ambeo Soundbar is big, but the sound it makes is bigger still

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

Really big; Very expensive

No other soundbar currently available can do what the Ambeo can. Not with the solidity and confidence of the Sennheiser. That’s why, as well as being the biggest and the most expensive, it’s the best you can buy.

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

Really big; Very expensive;

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

Really big; Very expensive;

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;

If you want a surround sound system, but don't want to futz with wires, extra channels, or the possibility of having an outdated receiver: the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar is for you.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

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

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;

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;